The Médecins Sans Frontières Australia (MSFA) Association votes in new Board members at its Annual General Meeting. The MSFA Constitution provides for a maximum of ten elected members and the appointment of a Director from the Board of MSF France.
All members of the MSFA Board, except for the President, are volunteers and are not remunerated for their work for Médecins Sans Frontières Australia.
Katrina was re-elected to the MSFA Board by the Association and elected as President by the Board in 2021. Her appointment builds on significant experience as a Board member having performed the role of Vice President from 2013 to 2019.
Katrina is a founding Trustee to the MSF New Zealand Charitable Trust and a founding member of the Auckland MSF support network group.She began her work with Médecins Sans Frontières in 2002 and has been an MSF Association member since that time. She and has worked in the field in Afghanistan,Nepal, Yemen, Haiti and Sierra Leone as a nurse, midwife, hospital manager and field coordinator. From 2006 to 2009 Katrina worked in the Human Resources department of Médecins Sans Frontières Australia.
Since returning from Australia back to New Zealand, Katrina has worked in Midwifery care, Refugee Health, Public Health, Cultural Competency and recently as the Returning Officer for the Northland Electorate for the 2020 General Election. Katrina currently lives in rural Northland, New Zealand with her husband managing their Avocado Orchard.
Dwin Tucker is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He was one of the founding Médecins Sans Frontières Australia Board members as Treasurer from 1996-1998. More recently, he returned to the Board, being re-elected in May 2021 by the association and elected as Vice-President by the Board. For MSFA, he has been Treasurer for eight years, a Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk, and Branding and Resources Committees, a member of the Remuneration Committee and a representative to both the Operating Centre, Geneva Congress and Operating Centre, Paris Group Committee. Dwin has undertaken field audits in Thailand and Laos and facilitated a Field Association Debate in Nigeria in 2019.
Outside of MSF, Dwin has been a CEO of seven companies (from small-medium to large) and has been a director of public, private and not-for-profit boards. He has a depth of experience in leadership, strategy, finance, technology and marketing and has advised numerous companies and leadership teams as a consultant and mentor.
He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Masters in Business from UTS and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Dwin is based in Sydney and amongst other involvements, chairs/owns Clearasound, a leader in technologies and services for the deaf and hearing-impaired community in Australia.
Ghassan Abou Chaar is currently the Vice-President of Médecins Sans Frontières, France. He was appointed to the Médecins Sans Frontières Australia Board in September 2022 as the MSF France representative. Ghassan is a French resident and Lebanese citizen.
Ghassan began working with MSF in 2009. He has worked in the field in Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Somalia, Kenya, Mali, Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Yemen as a project coordinator, emergency coordinator and head of mission. From 2018 to 2020, Ghassan worked in the Emergency Cell of MSF France.
Since then, Ghassan has worked as an independent consultant in the development and humanitarian sector, and has continued being involved in various MSF initiatives. and was elected to the board in June 2022.
Kerry was elected to the Board in May 2019, and holds a Graduate certificate in Humanitarian Leadership. She has done field missions in Libya and Nigeria with MSF and has also worked for the MSF Australia office in financial management roles. Kerry has worked for many locally focused NGOs within Australia including the Black Dog Institute and the Sunrise Project, as well as with Oxfam supporting programs in Timor Leste and Mount Isa. She has experience and skills in capacity building, leading teams, implementing change, initiating strategic processes, operational planning, and governance. Kerry is currently Director of Finance and Operations, and Company Director at The Nature Conservancy Limited.
Maria Cartwright was elected to the Board in May 2021. She is a nurse and midwife and has a Degree in Social Sciences. Her first field mission with MSF was in Ethiopia in 1996. Fifteen missions followed in both the African and Asian context, including as Head of Mission and Medical Coordinator. She also spent 3 years in the MSF Australia office as Field Human Resources Director. In the 8 years since her last mission, she has been the MSF Association Network Coordinator for Victoria. In recent years she has been volunteering with the Oro Community Development Project in PNG as Medical Team Leader.
Maria has held nursing and midwifery positions in large Australian hospitals, community-based refugee health programs and in indigenous communities. She has also had academic roles at ACU and Deakin University. 25 years of involvement with MSF at many levels has given Maria extensive knowledge of MSF’s field-based activities and challenges, human resource management and insight into the issues that most concern association members.Maria had been working in the emergency department of the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne prior to her recent retirement.
Thomas was appointed to the Board of MSF Australia in December 2021 and elected as a Director in May 2022. He has extensive experience in public health management of rural and indigenous communities and currently works as Executive Manager Operations for Albany Community Care, a not-for-profit organisation in Western Australia providing services for the aging community in the Great Southern of WA. Thomas is a multi-lingual, orthopaedic surgeon with significant experience in general orthopaedics. Thomas has completed 6 field placements in Gaza and Haiti with MSF since 2019.
Sivapalan (Siva) Namasivayam is an Anaesthetist who joined MSF in 2011 and a year later became an Association member. He has been on 9 field missions in Yemen, Nigeria, Syria and Iraq. While his main contribution to the Board would be his experience from the field as a medical doctor and thereby an understanding of MSF’s field projects and their challenges, he also brings knowledge in health management from his work with a District Health Board in New Zealand. Siva has also participated in governance roles with a professional medical association and several health care facilities. He is multilingual and his tertiary education has included an undergraduate medical degree from India, a Masters degree in Anaesthesia from Malaysia and thereafter a Postgraduate diploma in Health Service Management from New Zealand.
Andrea Atkinson is a Urogynaecology Fellow who joined MSF in 2015. Andrea is originally Zimbabwean and has completed missions with MSF in South Sudan, Libya and Pakistan working in both clinical and management roles. Before commencing work with MSF, Andrea completed a Diploma of Tropical Medicine in the UK and an Advanced Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Western Australia.
Between missions with MSF, Andrea completed her Obstetrics and Gynaecology training in Western Australia as well as a Fellowship in Reproductive Infectious Diseases in Canada- focused on management of HIV in pregnancy. Andrea joined the MSF Australia Board in May 2023.
Michael Hoey was appointed to the board in July 2023. He brings with him a breadth of experience, with postgraduate qualifications spanning both healthcare and business management. Michael’s journey into humanitarian work has come via various roles in nursing, healthcare management, commercial operations and refugee and asylum seeker advocacy. He has undertaken field work with MSF in the Occupied Palestine Territories, Uganda and Kiribati.
Matthew Reid has been a member of the MSF Australia Board in 2007-2010, 2015-2018 and in 2023, and was MSF Australia President in 2008-2010. He is also a MSF New Zealand Trustee. He has worked for MSF in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Russia and most recently in South Africa in 2012-2014, as doctor, project coordinator and medical coordinator.
He represented MSF Australia at the MSF International General Assembly, the highest governing body of MSF in 2011-2017. He is a public health medicine specialist and medical officer of health working in Õtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand for the National Public Health Service, and has a Master of Public Health and a Diploma in Child Health.