Dianne Stephens

State Medical Director - A/Prof Dianne Stephens

A/Prof Dianne Stephens graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1988 and completed her Anaesthesia and Intensive Care training in Melbourne, moving to Darwin in 1998 as the first Intensive Care Specialist in the Northern Territory. Dianne has built a robust intensive care service at Royal Darwin Hospital with a reputation for high quality care and outcomes.

A/Prof Stephens established LifeNet NT in 2001, the first organ donation agency in the NT. Dianne is a founding member of the AOTA Advisory Council and has worked as the NT Jurisdictional Representative on successive national committees driving reform in the organ donation sector for over 10 years.

A/Prof Stephens has academic interests in improving organ donation knowledge in Indigenous communities, the critical care management of Indigenous people, management of disasters, trauma and sepsis and has published widely in these areas. She has a strong academic, research and teaching record and a reputation for passionate pursuit of improved outcomes for patients and families.

Agency Manager - Lee Wood

NT State Manager Lee Wood

Lee Wood is the State Manager for DonateLife in the Northern Territory.

After completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia in 1994 with a double major in Exercise Science and Psychology, Lee Wood
worked in a variety of roles in both the Northern Territory and West Australian Departments of Health, including overseeing the WA Quit Campaign.

Lee joined the NT organ donation agency in 2004, becoming DonateLife NT’s Program and Policy Director in July 2009. During this time she has established herself as a highly regarded member of the national organ donation community through her advisory roles on many Commonwealth and national committees including the Organ and Tissue Authority (OTA) and the Australasian Transplant Coordinators Association (ATCA).

In 2011 Lee was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to continue her research in strategies to improve organ and tissue donation in culturally diverse populations, including the NT Indigenous population.

DonateLife NT Staff

The DonateLife NT team consists of six Organ Donation Clinical Nurse Consultants who are responsible for facilitating the donation process, providing education to a variety of audiences, together with implementing new programs and best practices in donation to help increase organ and tissue donation performance in the Northern Territory.

DonateLife NT clinical nurse consultants are based at Royal Darwin and Alice Springs Hospitals.

Alice Springs: Michelle Thomas and Andrea James         Darwin: Elle Madex, Lisa Picone, Jennifer Mahoney (admin), Lee Wood, Kelly Anstey and Justine Clarke