Speaker information

Clare joined HCC in September 2018 and took on the role of Executive Director in May 2023. Her passion for consumer advocacy comes from her own experience of an adverse event in the UK and how difficult she found it to get answers for herself when she was seen to be challenging “the system”.

Clare’s background is in change management and communications in the health and social care sector in the UK and Australia. At the WA Department of Health she worked with Health Networks, Activity Based Funding and Management and in the safety and quality team. At the WA Primary Health Alliance she was the Operations Manager for Perth North Primary Health Network. In the UK, she worked on a national frontline leadership program in the National Health Service which brought frontline staff and consumers together to work on improving health services in their local area.

She is passionate about creating opportunities for people who use the health system and people who work in the health system to work together to improve health outcomes. She is trained in change management, project management, facilitation and Gestalt therapy.

Clare oversees HCC’s involvement in The WELL Collaborative – a forum which brings together consumers and people with lived experience, with clinicians, academics and policy makers to change and improve how we talk about and manage healthcare for people with overweight and obesity.

Outside of HCC, she Chairs the national Weight Issues Network, a consumer-led advocacy group for people impacted by weight issues, and is Chair of the Medical Advisory Board at Curtin University. She is a member of the Advisory Board for the Australian Centre for Value-Based Healthcare. In her spare time, she loves listening to podcasts, watching British crime dramas, and doodling with thread.