Who is Queensland’s next top doctor

5 days ago 5

Uncertainty over Queensland’s next top doctor has been resolved, with former NSW deputy chief health officer Dr Marianne Gale appointed to the coveted position after a lengthy and controversial recruitment process.

Queensland Health director-general Dr David Rosengren confirmed Gale had been appointed chief health officer and Deputy Director-General for the Population Health Division.

It came after former candidate Dr Krispin Hajkowicz’s offer was abruptly rescinded in August.

Dr Marianne Gale became a familiar face during the COVID-19 pandemic, often appearing alongside chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant and former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Rosengren said Gale was “one of Australia’s foremost public health experts” with “expertise and passion” in communicable diseases, health equity and chronic disease prevention.

The incoming doctor has worked with some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities, including five years as a field doctor with Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders treating refugees from Myanmar on the Thailand border.

“Dr Gale is well-equipped to lead our Population Health Division and to guide all Queenslanders as we navigate future pressing public health challenges,” Rosengren said.

Who is Dr Marianne Gale?

Gale started her medical career as a junior doctor at Townsville Hospital.

She holds a bachelor of medicine/bachelor of surgery (hons), a master of public health and tropical medicine and a doctorate of public health, and is a fellow of the Australian Faculty of Public Medicine.

Before joining NSW Health, Gale spent five years working as a field doctor for Medecins Sans Frontieres and as a consultant with agencies such as the World Health Organisation on TB control in various countries, including the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

Her passion for communicable diseases and health equity has also taken her to West and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caucasus, South America and the Asia-Pacific region, where she often worked with sick and malnourished children.

“The time I spent in Niger, West Africa, in 2008 was particularly challenging for me,” Gale said in an interview with NSW Health in 2021.

“The program I worked in was a large operation treating children with malnutrition. Mothers would walk long distances to bring their young children for treatment, often extremely sick by the time they arrived with severe malnutrition, malaria and other complications.

“Sometimes these young children didn’t survive. It was a very confronting time, both personally and professionally.”

The doctor was thrust into the public spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic when she was seconded to the NSW Ministry of Health, promoted to deputy chief health officer alongside Dr Kerry Chant.

Before that, she worked at the NSW Ministry of Health as an acting director for the Centre for Population Health, a medical adviser in the CHO’s office and as the director of Population and Community Health for the south-east Sydney local government area.

Former candidate dropped

Queensland’s last chief health officer, Dr John Gerrard, stepped down from the role at the end of his three-year term in December.

After a search by recruitment agency HardyGroup on behalf of Queensland Health, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital senior infectious disease specialist Dr Krispin Hajkowicz was picked to be next in line, and was set to be announced as Gerrard’s formal replacement in August.

This was abruptly rescinded by the LNP government, with HardyGroup recommencing recruitment for the near $400,000-a-year job.

After extensive probing, the LNP said Hajkowicz was deemed unsuitable for the CHO role as he had pulled out of the role for personal reasons in 2021, days before he was due to start.

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