19 Health and Medical Leaders in Australia and NZ.

Health and medical organisations across Australia and New Zealand sit where clinical judgement, technology, research, public policy and everyday care meet. The leaders in this list work across that whole picture, from diagnostics and medical devices to health cover, aged care, public health and community services.

This is a practical directory for people who want to understand the leadership work shaping health organisations in 2026. Some lead large listed companies, while others carry responsibility for national systems, research capability or culturally grounded care.

The common thread is not a single leadership style. It is the ability to keep human outcomes visible while making complex systems clearer, safer and more useful.

1. Jim Newcombe.

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Sonic Healthcare.

Jim Newcombe is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Sonic Healthcare, appointed to the role in November 2025. He is a pathologist specialising in clinical microbiology and an infectious diseases physician.

Before taking the group role, Newcombe was CEO of Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology in Sydney, Sonic's founding practice and one of its largest laboratories. His path brings clinical experience into the leadership of a major diagnostic healthcare group.

That combination matters because diagnostic organisations have to make scientific quality, operational discipline and patient trust work together every day.

2. Gordon Naylor.

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, CSL.

Gordon Naylor is CSL's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, appointed in February 2026 after a 33-year career with the company. His previous roles included Chief Financial Officer and President of Seqirus.

Naylor brings deep knowledge of CSL's operating model, products and global health responsibilities into the top role. That kind of internal experience can help a complex organisation make change without losing sight of how its work reaches patients and public health systems.

His appointment is a useful example of leadership continuity in a science-led organisation that operates across several different health businesses.

3. David Koczkar.

Chief Executive Officer, Medibank.

David Koczkar has been Chief Executive Officer of Medibank since May 2021. Before becoming CEO, he served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Customer Officer.

His remit sits at the meeting point of health cover, customer experience and long-term trust. People do not experience a health insurer as an abstract balance sheet. They experience it through decisions, service and the moments when they need help.

Koczkar's career inside those customer and operating functions gives him a practical view of how a large health organisation can make its systems easier to navigate.

4. Mick Farrell.

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, ResMed.

Mick Farrell has led ResMed as Chief Executive Officer since 2013 and also serves as Chairman. He has spent more than 25 years with the company, including time as President of the Americas.

ResMed connects medical technology with sleep health and care delivered in the home. Farrell's long company journey gives him a close view of how product design, clinical needs and adoption have to work together if technology is going to improve real lives.

His role shows why health technology leadership is not only about invention. It is also about making useful care easier for people to access and sustain.

5. Dig Howitt.

Chief Executive Officer and President, Cochlear.

Dig Howitt is Cochlear's Chief Executive Officer and President. He was appointed in January 2018 after joining the company in 2000 and working across manufacturing, logistics and the Asia Pacific region.

That experience gives Howitt a view across the full path from product development to delivery. Cochlear's work depends on technology being supported by clinical confidence, trained professionals and a strong experience for customers.

His leadership is a reminder that innovation becomes valuable when an organisation can turn technical capability into a service people can use.

6. Lewis Gradon.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare.

Lewis Gradon has been Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fisher and Paykel Healthcare since April 2016. He has spent 41 years with the company across engineering, product, manufacturing, quality, supply chain and clinical research functions.

That breadth is unusually close to the complete health technology value chain. It links the technical work behind a product with the manufacturing and clinical systems needed to deliver it reliably.

Gradon's career shows how long-term organisational knowledge can support both innovation and the steady operational work that makes care possible at scale.

7. Christian Behrenbruch.

Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Telix Pharmaceuticals.

Christian Behrenbruch is Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Telix Pharmaceuticals and one of the company's co-founders. His background includes more than two decades in radiopharmaceuticals and a DPhil from Oxford focused on technology commercialisation.

Radiopharmaceuticals require scientific depth, regulatory care and commercial execution. Behrenbruch's role sits across those demands as Telix develops and brings specialised products into clinical use.

His example is relevant to health leaders building organisations where research can become a responsible, usable treatment pathway.

8. Sam Hupert.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Pro Medicus.

Sam Hupert co-founded Pro Medicus in 1983, trained as a general practitioner and returned as Chief Executive Officer in 2010. He leads a medical imaging software business that grew from a close understanding of clinical work.

That clinical foundation matters in health technology. Software is most useful when it respects the decisions, pressures and responsibilities of the people who rely on it.

Hupert's story shows how a founder can keep clinical purpose connected to the development of a sophisticated health technology organisation.

9. Malcolm Parmenter.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Partnered Health.

Malcolm Parmenter became Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Partnered Health in September 2023. His earlier leadership roles included Healius, IPN and Sonic Clinical Services.

Partnered Health works across medical centres and clinical services, so the leadership challenge is close to the daily experience of practitioners and patients. Parmenter's career across related organisations gives him a broad view of how networks can support quality care while remaining workable for clinicians.

His role illustrates the importance of connecting central systems with the people delivering care locally.

10. Lorraine Thomas.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, HCF.

Lorraine Thomas was appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HCF in July 2025 after joining the organisation in 2015. Her earlier work included product, innovation and operations.

That mix puts member experience and practical health cover decisions close to the centre of her leadership remit. It also gives her a useful view of how service design and organisational improvement affect the people who depend on health cover.

Thomas represents the kind of leader who has grown through the business while keeping the customer experience visible in executive decisions.

11. Victoria Atkinson.

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Monash IVF Group.

Victoria Atkinson commenced as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Monash IVF Group in January 2026. She brings more than 30 years of healthcare experience, including work as a cardiothoracic surgeon and Chief Medical Officer at Healthscope.

Her clinical background gives her a direct connection to the patients, families and clinicians behind fertility care. It also brings a clear understanding of the trust and emotional weight carried by decisions in this part of healthcare.

Atkinson's role shows how clinical experience can shape the way a health organisation thinks about service, quality and people.

12. Andrew Kinkade.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Regis.

Andrew Kinkade commenced as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Regis in July 2026 after serving as Managing Director of Bupa Villages and Aged Care.

Aged care leadership is expressed through the quality of everyday systems, places and relationships. Kinkade's experience across aged care keeps attention on the practical conditions that help residents feel safe and help teams deliver consistent support.

His appointment is a reminder that health leadership includes the environments where care happens, not only the technologies or policies around it.

13. Adam Hall.

Chief Executive Officer, EBOS Group.

Adam Hall was appointed Chief Executive Officer of EBOS Group in July 2025. His previous senior roles include President of Orica Asia, along with leadership experience at CF Industries and Bunge.

EBOS sits in the distribution and supply chain work that helps health systems keep moving. Hall's background in large operating businesses is relevant because reliability, scale and disciplined execution are part of health outcomes even when patients do not see the supply chain directly.

His role brings an important operational perspective to the wider picture of health organisation leadership.

14. Dale Bramley.

Chief Executive, Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.

Dale Bramley is the Chief Executive of Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. The organisation's executive team page lists him in the role as the national health system continues its work across services and regions.

His position carries the challenge of connecting national priorities with the experience people have in local services. That requires attention to system design, workforce capability and the practical realities faced by communities.

Bramley's role makes visible the leadership work required when a health system has to hold consistency and local responsiveness together.

15. Audrey Sonerson.

Director-General and Chief Executive, New Zealand Ministry of Health.

Audrey Sonerson was appointed Director-General of Health and Chief Executive of the New Zealand Ministry of Health in April 2025. She previously served as Secretary for Transport and held other senior public service roles.

Her work sits where public policy, system stewardship and the everyday needs of communities meet. A ministry leader has to translate long-term priorities into choices that affect funding, regulation, service design and public trust.

Sonerson brings a public administration perspective to the leadership of a national health system.

16. Bindi Norwell.

Group Chief Executive Officer, ProCare.

Bindi Norwell is Group Chief Executive Officer of ProCare. She brings more than 25 years of leadership experience and previously served as Chief Executive Officer of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.

ProCare's work connects primary care, health equity and the practical challenge of helping people navigate services. Norwell's remit highlights how leadership in healthcare is also about access, coordination and trust across communities.

Her experience across sectors adds a useful perspective on how organisations can combine strong operating discipline with a clear social purpose.

17. Hannah Buckley.

Chief Executive, Health Research Council of New Zealand.

Hannah Buckley was appointed Chief Executive of the Health Research Council of New Zealand in May 2026. She previously served as an Associate Dean and Professor of Ecology at Auckland University of Technology.

Research organisations need leaders who can protect curiosity while keeping public value in view. Buckley's academic background brings analytical thinking to the decisions that shape health research, funding and future capability.

Her role points to the long horizon of health leadership. Better care depends partly on the questions an organisation chooses to fund and pursue today.

18. Chris White.

Chief Executive Officer, Southern Cross Healthcare.

Chris White is Chief Executive Officer of Southern Cross Healthcare. His role links the organisation's clinical leadership with the practical experience of people using private healthcare.

That connection matters because private healthcare organisations have to balance clinical standards, member experience, service access and sustainable operations. The quality of those choices is felt by patients and clinicians as well as by the organisation itself.

White's position adds a private healthcare perspective to this wider leadership picture.

19. Hariata Vercoe.

Chief Executive, Te Arawa Whānau Ora.

Hariata Vercoe is Chief Executive of Te Arawa Whānau Ora. She was welcomed into the role in February 2026 after four decades in Māori health and community development.

Her leadership keeps whānau, culture and community strength visible in conversations about health outcomes. That is important because care is not only a service delivered to people. It is also a relationship built with people, families and communities.

Vercoe's work adds a grounded community perspective to the range of leadership represented here.

Conclusion.

Across this group, three themes stand out. Health leadership is increasingly connected to technology, but technology only matters when it improves the experience of patients, clinicians and communities. It also depends on operational discipline, because care cannot be reliable when the systems behind it are fragile.

The third theme is the need to keep purpose visible through complexity. Whether the work involves a national system, a medical device, a health insurer, a research council or a community organisation, leaders have to make decisions that people can understand and use.

That is close to the leadership work I care about most: helping teams make hidden tension discussable, name the real trade-off and make the next move small enough to start.

About the Author.

Jonno White is the author of Step Up or Step Out and a Certified Working Genius Facilitator. He helps leaders build organisations people would move cities to work at, with practical tools they can use on Monday morning.

Next Read or Related Reading.

If you want to explore the clinical leadership picture in more detail, read our guide to key nursing leaders in Australia and New Zealand. You can also browse thought leaders in healthcare leadership across Australia and New Zealand for a wider view of the ideas shaping the sector.

If your health or medical organisation needs clearer decisions, stronger leadership conversations or a workplace worth choosing, I can help through a keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership team session. I focus on practical changes that help people work better together, not ideas that disappear by Friday.

Email me at jonno@consultclarity.org and tell me what your team is working through.