Paula Arnol (Gunggandji)
Acting Chief Executive Officer
Paula has more than 20 years of experience in senior executive positions within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Comprehensive Primary Health Care. The majority of senior positions held has been as Chief Executive Officer in both an urban and very remote ATSICCHOs.
She has also held Director positions and responsibilities on CRC Tropical Health, CRC Aboriginal Health, NACCHO, Indigenous Health Equity Council (Federal Ministerial appointment) and NT ACCHO Peak Affiliate directorships. Paula has experience in governance and leadership within a community control framework, community engagement, policy advocacy, strategic planning and business development and implementation; providing extensive learnings and opportunities that assists her to maintain ongoing commitment and passion to seeing increased access and equity in consistent strong community owned primary health care services across Australia, in particular remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities.
David Harmer
Acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer
David has more than 15 years of experience in senior leadership roles in the Queensland Government.
He has held Director positions in various policy divisions at Queensland Health, including the Executive Director of the System Policy Branch.
David has also worked for the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning and the Department of Transport and Main Roads.
David is a qualified Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.
Gregory Richards
General Manager - Policy and Research
Greg has 17 years of experience in the government and Aboriginal and Community Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO) sector.
As General Manager of Policy and Research, Greg manages key translational research projects, reports on key data to assist in planning and advocacy, develops and responds to policy matters and undertakes Secretariat Services for the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Partnership and the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coalition.
Previously, Greg has worked at Queensland Health in roles including the Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health division and Acting Director of the Community Services Funding Branch. He has also held various roles in the Department of Health and Ageing (Commonwealth) in the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and the Allocations and Places Management Team.
Greg has a First Class Honours in Life Science - Protein Biochemistry at QUT and a Bachelor of Applied Science - Biochemistry/Microbiology from QUT.
Associate Professor Sophia Couzos
Public Health Medical Director
Sophia is a public health physician and the Public Health Medical Director with the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC).
She has over 30 years’ experience working for the Aboriginal community-controlled health services (ACCHS’s) sector including health services in remote Australia (WA), the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services Council, and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) as the inaugural public health medical officer for the Secretariat from 1998-2012.
Sophia has been working for QAIHC since 2015 and teaches medical students for the College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University.
She has instigated and influenced a wide range of national policies, programs, and research towards achieving health equity for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population within the Australian health system. Most recently, she was lead investigator for the IPAC Project (Integrating Pharmacists within Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services to improve Chronic Disease Management) Trial (2018-2021).
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