Our Organisation

Dr Rod Pearce AM
MBBS, FAMA, Immunisation Coalition Chairman

Rod Pearce is a practising grassroots general practitioner and policy adviser. He was President of The Australian Medical Association (SA) from 1998 to 2000, GP Nationally Elected Representative on the Federal AMA and Chair of the AMA Council of General Practice for 3 terms from 2004 to 2010.

In 2008 he was appointed by the then Health Minister, The Hon. Nicola Roxon, to the External Reference Group to develop Australia’s National Primary Health Care Strategy for the national health reforms.

He is a member of the Asia Pacific Alliance for the Control of Influenza (APACI) and former Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) member.

On Australia Day 2012 Dr Pearce was admitted to the Order of Australia (AM) for service to medicine as a general practitioner, through contributions to national medical organisations, and to education.

Jon Griffin
BEcon

Jon is a director of APL Financial Chartered Accountants and a member of Chartered Accountants Australia & NZ and has been advising not for profit organisations for the previous 20 years. Jon completed a Bachelor of Economics in 1978, a Diploma of Financial Services in 2006 a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment in 2014. He is also a registered ASIC company auditor, registered tax agent and a registered self-managed superannuation auditor.

In a paid and unpaid capacity Jon consults, supports and audits over 30 not for profit and charitable organisations.

Jon’s special interest is Social Value Accounting which looks to add to your traditional financial statements and provide a complete and accurate account of the value you provide in dollar terms. By taking the standard financial statements and adjusting those reports for social benefits, social costs and social responsibility and recognising the five pillars of capital per the International integrated Reporting Framework the financial statements show a more complete picture.

Prof Paul Griffin
MBBS, B.Sc. (Hons),FRACP, FRCPA, FACTM

Paul Griffin is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Infectious Diseases at the University of Queensland and Mater Hospitals, South Brisbane, Australia.

He has fellowships in Infectious Diseases from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, in Clinical Microbiology from the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and from the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine.

He is the Principal Investigator and Medical Director at Nucleus Network Brisbane; a specialised contract research organisation specialising in early and late phase trials predominantly in Infectious Diseases where he has been the Principal Investigator on over 125 clinical trials, predominantly vaccines.

Finally, as a Clinical Microbiologist, he maintains an active interest in diagnostic microbiology.

Prof Gary Grohmann
B.Sc. (Hons), PhD, FASM

Gary Grohmann was employed by the TGA in Canberra as the Director of Immunobiology (Vaccines), and Director of the WHO ERL, Office of Laboratories and Scientific services from 1997-2015. He is currently working as an independent consultant virologist, primarily working with the WHO in Geneva on a number of influenza related projects with the Immunisation, Vaccines and Biologicals group. 

Previously, he has been on a number of WHO steering committees, including the committee for the review of the IVTM database on influenza viruses and reassortant influenza viruses, and the WHO VCM committee that recommends virus strains for influenza vaccines (until 2015), and a member of the Technical Advisory Group (2007 – 2015) of the Global Action Plan (GAP) for Influenza – a strategy to reduce the present global shortage of influenza vaccines for seasonal epidemics and pandemic influenza in all countries of the world, especially developing countries. He also worked with the PIP Review Secretariat and as consultant on switching from seasonal to pandemic vaccine production (2015-17). In addition he worked on the review of Biocontainment documents (2018). 

His primary interests are in vaccines, vaccine regulation, medical and veterinary virology, and infectious diseases resulting from contaminated food and water as well as other environmental sources. He is currently a Director of Environmental Pathogens P/L and also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, University of Sydney.

Dr Leanne Jones
MBBS B Med Sc

Leanne Jones is a member of the Immunisation Coalition and joined the board in 2013.

She has been a GP for over 30 years, currently practicing at Windmill Hill Medical in Launceston Tasmania.

For over 20 years Leanne has been involved in supporting GPs in vaccination working with GP Tasmania, Medicare Locals and more recently Primary Health Tasmania. she has been involved with Primary Health Tasmania in planning events and spoken at various education events for GPs, Practice Nurses and pharmacists.

Leanne has been on various state-wide committees and advisory boards in relation to vaccination.

Dr Ginni Mansberg
B.MED Grad Dip Journalism GAICD

A General Practitioner in Sydney’s Sans Souci, Ginni has a special interest in women’s health. She teaches at the Medical Faculty of the University of Notre Dame in the Discipline of General Practice.

Her other professional interest is in communications, with a Post Graduate Diploma of Journalism from University of Technology, Sydney. Ginni is the resident doctor on Channel 7’s “Sunrise”, as well as host of “Embarrassing Bodies Down Under” on the 9 Network and “Medicine or Myth” on SBS. She is the Co-host of the Podcast, “Things You Can’t Talk About on TV.”

She is the author of 5 books: “The M Word – How to Thrive in Menopause,” “The New Teen Age,” “Why am I so Tired?”, “How to Get your Mojo Back” and “How to Handle your Hormones”. She is a wife and mum with a family of eight.

She runs an advisory practice and is Co-Founder of cosmeceutical skincare company, ESK. She is also a Co-Founder and Director of the Asia Pacific HPV Coalition, Advisory Board member of the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation, Advisory Board member of DropBio and Director of the Jodi Lee Foundation.

Dr Marita Walmsley
BSc (Hons), PhD, MBA

Marita Walmsley is an executive with the Victorian Government Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions. Marita has had a career-long involvement in innovation, science and technology.

Originally a medical research scientist with expertise in molecular immunology, infectious diseases and autoimmunity, then as a director of a management consulting firm, Marita has provided commercialisation advice to Government, academia and the private sector.

More recently, in a range of senior and executive roles within Government, she has managed some of Victoria’s larger science and technology programs and contributed widely to economic development policy initiatives. Marita holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Melbourne, a PhD (Immunology) from Imperial College, London and an MBA from Melbourne Business School.

Suzanne Coutinho
BSc

Suzanne is a senior executive and medical education professional with expertise in the healthcare, publishing, and media sectors.

In an executive capacity she has a two-decade career within healthcare organisations, holding leadership positions with a strong commercial and digital focus.

In her leadership roles with Australian Doctor, MDBriefCase and Inside Practice she has focused on developing new and evolving products and models to deliver to the information and educational needs of healthcare professionals.

Suzanne holds a Bachelor of Science from Sydney University, a Graduate Diploma in Accounting from Macquarie University, and the Directors Certificate from the Australian Institute of Management.

Nicholas Chung

Nicholas is a Quality Assurance Lead in the Systems Performance area of the South Australian Department for Education. He manages the Quality Assurance Information Technology activities for current data holdings and has delivered the program that has seen the Department for Education migrate to the Cloud.

With over 21 years’ experience in the technology industry, 17 of those with the multi-national IT giant IBM, he has worked in various roles across the IT landscape, most notably as the IBM Asia Pacific Test Manager for internal business, managing the Quality Assurance of numerous complex programs.

As a father of two and working for the Department for Education, Nicholas has an interest in the health, wellbeing and development of young Australians. He believes every child has the right to a good education and proper health care, and had great satisfaction in his current role delivering an IT solution for the Smith Family that enabled them to better utilise data to support their work with families in need.

Nicholas holds certificates in Conflict Management, Project Management Fundamentals and Leadership in a Project Team Environment (from Macquarie School of Management) and Certificate IV Leadership and Management from ASC Training and Development.

Johanna Hersey
DipAccounting, CertIVBusAdmin, Secretary

As Secretary, Johanna Hersey oversees critical governance functions, including the management of meeting agendas, minutes, and compliance with regulatory requirements. Her proactive approach and organisational skills contribute significantly to the Coalition’s effectiveness in advocating for public health and immunisation policies.