Our Advisory Board

Chair

Dr Helen Szoke has had a career spanning community, health, education, regulation and international development. She is a strong advocate for human rights and has extensive experience in management, advocacy and public presentations.

She is a non-executive Director, currently sitting on the Council of the University of Melbourne, the Board of Life Without Barriers. Helen is co-chair of the Collingwood Expert Advisory Group on Anti-Racism, advisory committee member of the Climate Project Griffith University, member of the Expert Panel to Indigenous Business Australia and is an independent member of the Judicial Commission of Victoria. She sits on Advisory Boards for the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Australia and New Zealand Obstetrics and Gynaecology which are addressing bullying, discrimination and harassment in those medical specialities.

Dr Szoke was Chief Executive of Oxfam Australia until 2019. She previously served as Australia’s Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner and as the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner. During her time with Oxfam, she was both a Vice-President and a board member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), and the ACFID Humanitarian Reference Group (HRG) Champion. Dr Szoke sat as an Executive Board Member for Oxfam International and was previously also a Board member of the Cranlana Foundation.

Professor Carol Pollock is an academic nephrologist and renal transplant physician with over 290 publications in basic research and clinical medicine. She is an inaugural Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2015), was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research Supervision (2012) and recognised as a ‘Distinguished Professor’ by the University of Sydney (2012).

Carol was the 2014 recipient of the Ministerial Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research and was Scientific Chairman of the 2013 World Congress of Nephrology. She is Chair of the NSW Cardiovascular Research Network and Chairs the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology.

Her health leadership roles include inaugural Chair of the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation and past Chair of the Clinical Excellence Commission. She remained a Director of both organisations till April 2016. She was Chair of the Northern Sydney Local Health District Board from its inception in 2011 till 2016, and since 2016 has been Director and then Chair of the NSW Bureau of Health Information. She is the current Chair of Kidney Health Australia.

Carol was recognised for her significant contribution to medical research, education and science, to nephrology, and to clinical practice and governance, by being awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2021.

Margaret (Margie) Kruger is a practising solicitor in the area of family law and child protection. She has worked in service delivery to children and families, policy and the courts, both as a social worker and lawyer for 30 years.

She was admitted to practise as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland in May 2000 and was subsequently admitted to practise as a Solicitor in October 2000. She is also admitted as a practitioner to the High Court of Australia. She has been recognised in the Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession as a leading or recommended family lawyer since 2012. Margie is a partner at Ryan Kruger Lawyers in Queensland, who specialise predominantly in family law.

Margie is the Deputy Chair of the Queensland Law Society Family Law Committee. She is a Board Member of the Child Protection Practitioners Association of Queensland (CPPAQ) and former President. Previously, she was a member of the Queensland Law Society Children’s Committee.

Oren Klemich commenced his career in real estate in 1985, after studies at The University of Adelaide. His company, Klemich Real Estate, was established in 2002.

In 2009 Oren and his wife Gill tragically and suddenly lost their oldest son, Jack, to meningococcal disease. Jack, aged 18, was a registered organ donor and the lives of 5 Australians have been transformed from Jack’s precious gift of life.

Since Jack’s death, Oren has been a strong advocate for meningococcal research and the promotion of organ donation. As a donor parent, he looks forward to contributing nationally in his role as a member of the OTA Advisory Board.

Ms Shelly Park has extensive experience in the health sector and holds a Master of Science Degree from Ashridge. Shelly is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is currently a Non-Executive Director of St John of God, and a Non-Executive Director of the Emerge Women and Children’s Support Network.

First practicing as a Registered Nurse, Shelly transitioned to senior line management and leadership roles within Health and subsequently held various Chief Executive and Board roles in NZ, Australia and Asia.  These roles have included Chief Executive/Director of Australian Red Cross Lifeblood from 2016 to February 2022, where she was responsible for leading the safe supply of life-giving biological products across Australia. Prior to that she was the Chief Executive Officer of Monash Health in Victoria (2007-2016), leading the provision of healthcare services to over a million people in Melbourne. Shelly’s previous significant roles also include Chairing the Asia Pacific Blood Network (2016-2021), Executive Board Member Global Advisory Panel for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2016-22), Non-Executive Director Jessie McPherson Private Hospital, Victoria (2007 – 2018) and Board Member of the Australian Commission in Safety and Quality in Health Care (2009 – 2014).

Shelly was recognised for her business leadership in 2011 where she was Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year.

Nick comes to the Advisory Board of the Organ and Tissue Authority having enjoyed a varied career in the Australian Defence Force as an Army Officer.

Hailing from the Riverland region of rural South Australia, Nick, his wife Lisa and their daughter Winnie currently live near Ipswich where Lisa, a serving Airforce Medical Officer, is commanding the Royal Australian Air Force’s only deployable hospital.

His career has taken him from Puckapunyal to Tokyo and everywhere in between, including Afghanistan and significant periods in Townsville and Hawaii. After studying a Bachelor of Arts at the Australian Defence Academy and officer training at the Royal Military College, Duntroon Nick has spent the majority of his regimental time as a Combat Engineer. His staff experience has seen him support the Army’s partnerships with international armies and industry partners. For this work he was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours and Awards.

Most recently he was the Chief of Army scholar, affording him the opportunity to read and think about deterrence before being seconded to work in sensitive issue management. He is currently posted to the Army’s Directorate of Workforce Strategy.

Along with Winnie, Nick joined the Donate Life family in 2019 following the sudden death of Nick’s late wife and Winnie’s mother, Leanne. Leanne lost a long battle with bipolar disorder, taking her own life when Winnie was 8 months old. With the support of Donate Life staff, intensive care specialists and organ retrieval surgeons, Nick and Leanne’s family were able to help Leanne donate her organs and tissue. Knowing that out of such tragedy there might be hope was powerfully restorative for their grief.

Nick also holds a Masters in Military and Defence Studies from the Australian National University and is a Peer Ambassador with SANE Australia.