20 Hospital and Health Service Leaders Across Queensland Outside Brisbane
Last updated: 12 August 2026.
Queensland's public hospital system is organised through Hospital and Health Services, each governed by a board and managed by a Health Service Chief Executive. Outside Brisbane, the leadership brief stretches from rural and remote access to digital health, clinical governance, workforce and major hospital operations. This directory introduces 20 current leaders whose official roles and biographies show that range.
Why these leaders matter.
The phrase hospital CEO is useful shorthand, but it does not describe every senior leader who shapes a Queensland hospital and health service. Alongside Health Service Chief Executives, the official teams include chief operating officers, chief medical officers and executive directors responsible for strategy, medical services, nursing, governance and digital health.
The profiles below use current official Queensland Health or Hospital and Health Service pages. They focus on the person's current role and one specific part of the public biography. They do not rank the leaders, and they do not claim that this is a complete list of every capable person in Queensland health.
1. Leena Singh, Cairns and Hinterland Health Service.
Chief Executive, Cairns and Hinterland Health Service
Leena Singh is Chief Executive of Cairns and Hinterland Health Service. The service says she began in the role in February 2023 after more than 20 years in senior executive health roles across New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand.
Her public biography highlights strategic development, governance and health system improvement. That combination matters in a large regional service, where day-to-day hospital leadership also has to connect with the needs of rural, remote and tropical communities. Read the Cairns and Hinterland executive profile.
2. Jenelle Matic, Cairns and Hinterland Health Service.
Chief Operating Officer, Cairns and Hinterland Health Service
Jenelle Matic is Chief Operating Officer at Cairns and Hinterland Health Service. She was appointed in July 2024 and previously worked as General Manager of Westmead Hospital.
Her background combines nursing and business. The role gives her a direct place in the operational work that turns a health service's strategy into safe, coordinated hospital and community care. Read the Cairns and Hinterland executive profile.
3. Lisa Blackler, Central Queensland Health Service.
Health Service Chief Executive, Central Queensland Health Service
Lisa Blackler is Health Service Chief Executive of Central Queensland Health Service. She was appointed in April 2024 after working as Group Director Operations with Te Whatu Ora in New Zealand, and she had earlier experience at Gladstone Hospital.
The official biography also records more than 20 years in health leadership. That regional experience is relevant to a service that works across Rockhampton, Gladstone and surrounding communities, with a mix of major hospital, rural and remote responsibilities. Read the Central Queensland executive profile.
4. Heera Bhullar, Central Queensland Health Service.
Executive Director Strategy Planning and Expansion, Central Queensland Health Service
Heera Bhullar is Executive Director Strategy, Planning and Expansion at Central Queensland Health Service. She joined in November 2024 after leadership in planning and funding with Health New Zealand.
Her public biography says she led regional system planning and a team of 12 senior leaders. That makes her role a useful reminder that hospital leadership is also about planning future services, capacity and investment across a wide region. Read the Central Queensland executive profile.
5. Benjamin Pearson, Central Queensland Health Service.
Executive Director Medical Services, Central Queensland Health Service
Benjamin Pearson is Executive Director Medical Services at Central Queensland Health Service. His public biography describes him as a specialist paediatrician with health service management experience.
It also points to clinical governance, workforce and service improvement work. That blend places medical leadership inside the wider task of improving how patients, clinicians and hospitals work together across a regional system. Read the Central Queensland executive profile.
6. Anthony West, Central West Health Service.
Chief Executive, Central West Health Service
Anthony West is Chief Executive of Central West Health Service. His public biography records more than 35 years in health, including seven years with Central West and service as Health Service Chief Executive since 2021.
The central theme of his profile is access to care close to home for remote communities. The service also describes work across mental health, maternity, child health and primary care, showing how broad the executive brief can be outside a capital city. Read the Central West executive profile.
7. David Walker, Central West Health Service.
Executive Director Medical Services, Central West Health Service
David Walker is Executive Director Medical Services at Central West Health Service. He is a rural generalist who has worked in Longreach for 14 years and has spent five years in the medical services director role.
His biography also records health service medical leadership since 2020. In a region where distance shapes every clinical pathway, that local rural experience is a practical part of the leadership story. Read the Central West executive profile.
8. Annette Scott, Darling Downs Health Service.
Health Service Chief Executive, Darling Downs Health Service
Annette Scott is Health Service Chief Executive of Darling Downs Health Service. She was appointed in 2021 after a career that began in physiotherapy and moved into large-scale health service leadership.
Her public biography highlights the Telehealth Pre-admission Clinic at Toowoomba Hospital and her work as COVID Health Incident Commander and vaccination rollout lead. It is a clear example of clinical experience and system-level change sitting in the same leadership career. Read the Darling Downs executive profile.
9. Ron Calvert, Gold Coast Health.
Chief Executive, Gold Coast Health
Ron Calvert is Chief Executive of Gold Coast Health. The official executive page places the role within the service's operational strategy and day-to-day running across a large and growing health system.
Gold Coast Health's executive structure brings together operational, medical, nursing, corporate and specialty leaders. That structure gives useful context for Ron Calvert's role: the chief executive leads a broad system rather than a single hospital building. Read the Gold Coast executive profile.
10. Sean Birgan, Mackay Health Service.
Health Service Chief Executive, Mackay Health Service
Sean Birgan is Health Service Chief Executive of Mackay Health Service. His public biography records 40 years in nursing and more than 20 years in senior leadership.
He also led Queensland Health's COVID-19 System Response in 2022. That experience links frontline clinical understanding with the coordination needed when a health system has to respond at scale. Read the Mackay executive profile.
11. Charles Pain, Mackay Health Service.
Chief Medical Officer, Mackay Health Service
Charles Pain is Chief Medical Officer at Mackay Health Service. His public biography describes more than 25 years in patient safety, clinical governance and medical administration.
His previous work includes roles in the Top End and at Royal Darwin Hospital, along with acting Chief Health Officer responsibilities in the Northern Territory. The profile shows how a chief medical officer can connect clinical standards, safety and executive decision-making. Read the Mackay executive profile.
12. Anthony Brown, South West Health Service.
Health Service Chief Executive, South West Health Service
Anthony Brown is Health Service Chief Executive of South West Health Service. He is a rural generalist doctor with more than 30 years across Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory.
His public profile focuses on improving access in rural and remote communities and on outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. That is a useful picture of leadership where geography, workforce and community trust are closely connected. Read the South West executive profile.
13. Peter Gillies, Sunshine Coast Health.
Health Service Chief Executive, Sunshine Coast Health
Peter Gillies is Health Service Chief Executive of Sunshine Coast Health. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators and holds an MBA.
The service says he has nearly 30 years in medicine and more than five years as a Health Service Chief Executive at Toowoomba. His career brings clinical knowledge and formal health management together in one of Queensland's major regional services. Read the Sunshine Coast executive profile.
14. Tanya Grant, Sunshine Coast Health.
Chief Operating Officer, Sunshine Coast Health
Tanya Grant is Chief Operating Officer at Sunshine Coast Health. Her background is in social work, with more than 25 years across clinical practice, operations, education and research.
The official profile connects her work with safe and equitable care. That is a valuable operational lens because access and patient experience are shaped by the systems around clinical treatment, not only by the treatment itself. Read the Sunshine Coast executive profile.
15. Rex O'Rourke, Torres and Cape Health Service.
Health Service Chief Executive, Torres and Cape Health Service
Rex O'Rourke is Health Service Chief Executive of Torres and Cape Health Service. He began in the role in January 2024 after regional executive leadership with WA Country Health Service in the Kimberley.
His public biography highlights rural and remote health leadership and work with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations. Those relationships are central to understanding how executive leadership works across a dispersed service with many communities and long travel distances. Read the Torres and Cape executive profile.
16. Andrew Quabba, North West Health Service.
Health Service Chief Executive, North West Health Service
Andrew Quabba is Health Service Chief Executive of North West Health Service. A dated service announcement says his appointment took effect on 6 July 2026 after he had acted in the role since October 2025.
The same announcement describes his background as a pharmacist with rural and remote leadership experience. The dated update matters because it confirms a newer appointment than older system-level directory pages may show. Read the North West appointment announcement.
17. Peta Bryant, Townsville Health Service.
Acting Chief Executive, Townsville Health Service
Peta Bryant is Acting Chief Executive of Townsville Health Service. The service's executive page is dated 24 July 2026 and places her in the current acting role.
Before that appointment, her public profile describes senior Queensland Health system policy and planning work. It includes negotiating Queensland's share of the National Health Reform Agreement, leading legislative policy reform and work connected with the Mental Health Levy. Read the Townsville executive profile.
18. Hannah Bloch, West Moreton Health Service.
Health Service Chief Executive, West Moreton Health Service
Hannah Bloch is Health Service Chief Executive of West Moreton Health Service. Her public biography records more than 15 years in the Queensland public health system and six years as a Gold Coast executive.
The profile emphasises leadership across large and complex services. That experience is especially relevant to a fast-changing region, where hospital capacity, community growth and service integration all need to be managed together. Read the West Moreton executive profile.
19. Nicola Murdock, West Moreton Health Service.
Executive Director Medical Services, West Moreton Health Service
Nicola Murdock is Executive Director Medical Services at West Moreton Health Service. Her career includes Chief Medical Officer roles in the United Kingdom and Australia, together with general practice and paediatrics experience.
Her biography also records work with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Queensland Child Death Review Board. Those details show how medical executive leadership can extend from day-to-day clinical services into professional standards and public accountability. Read the West Moreton executive profile.
20. Deborah Carroll, Wide Bay Health Service.
Health Service Chief Executive, Wide Bay Health Service
Deborah Carroll is Health Service Chief Executive of Wide Bay Health Service. Her public biography records 40 years in public health, beginning in Mackay in 1981, followed by senior leadership in Wide Bay.
She has overseen Bundaberg Hospital infrastructure and new services, and established the first Clinical Governance, Risk and Quality Unit in regional Queensland. It is a career that links long local experience with major service and governance change. Read the Wide Bay executive profile.
A wider view of Queensland health leadership.
These 20 people show why a useful Queensland health leadership directory needs more than a single job title. The work includes clinical standards, operations, workforce, capital planning, rural access, digital health and partnerships with communities.
For more leadership context, you can also read 25 Essential Leaders in Global Health Care Facilities and 50 Influential Leaders in Toowoomba QLD.
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