Economics Sub Committee (ESC)
Page last updated: 22 November 2024
Information on members of the Economics Sub-Committee (ESC) of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC)
The Economics Sub Committee (ESC) of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) assesses clinical and economic evaluations of medicines submitted to the PBAC for listing, and advises PBAC on the technical aspects of these evaluations.
ESC contact details can be found in PBS Contacts
Current Membership
Professor Kirsten Howard (Chair) is a health economist and Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney. She is also a member of the PBAC.
Professor Emily Callander is a health economist in the School of Public Health at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
Dr Hannah Carter is a health economist and Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland University of Technology.
Professor Zanfina Ademi Delaney leads the Health Economics and Policy Evaluation Research Group at Monash University. The program of research centres around prevention of cardiovascular disease, population genomics, epilepsy management and other chronic health conditions.
Dr Geoffrey Herkes is a consultant neurologist with clinical and teaching appointments at the Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH), North Shore Private, and Sydney Adventist Hospital (and is currently Senior Staff Specialist in Neurology at RNSH, and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Northern Clinical School).
Associate Professor Kate Mahon is the Director of Medical Oncology at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney, and conducts clinical research at the University of Sydney and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
Dr Kylie Mason is a clinical haematologist/bone marrow transplant physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and an NHMRC Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She is also a member of the PBAC.
Associate Professor David Newby is a community pharmacist in Newcastle, and an academic in the Discipline of Pharmacy and Experimental Pharmacology, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, at the University of Newcastle.
Professor Richard Norman is a health economist, leading the Health Economics and Data Analytics discipline in the School of Population Health at Curtin University.
Dr Kathleen O’Brien is a clinical general practitioner and a senior lecturer in the Academic Unit of General Practice, School of Medicine and Psychology, at the Australian National University.
Dr Ray Parkin is a consultant physician and cardiologist in Bathurst NSW, who has many years’ experience working in rural and regional health centres. He also has a postgraduate qualification in Bioethics and Drug Development, and has co-ordinated a number of Phase II/III trials in Australia. He is also a member of the PBAC.
Dr Adrian Pokorny is a medical oncologist at the Royal Darwin and Alice Springs Hospitals, and a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney.
Associate Professor Alice Richardson is the Lead of the Statistical Support Network at the Australian National University, with specific interests in multilevel modelling, statistical properties of computer intensive methods, multiple imputation of missing data, and statistics education.
Dr Sam Salman is a Clinical Pharmacologist and Clinical Immunologist with research interests in Pharmacology, affiliated with the University of Western Australia.
Dr Jean Spinks is a health economist based at the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland. She is also a registered pharmacist with training in Public Health
Professor Robyn Ward AM is the chair of the PBAC and an academic leader, cancer researcher and medical oncologist. As the former Chair of Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) and a previous member of PBAC, she has extensive experience in health technology assessment. Professor Ward is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Sydney. Until 2023 she served on the Council and Executive of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In 2013, Professor Ward was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to medical research and patient care in the field of oncology. Professor Ward will be appointed as the next Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) of Monash University in March 2025.
Ms Jo Watson is the Deputy Chair of the PBAC. She is also the Chair of the Health Technology Assessment Consumer Consultative Committee, Deputy Chair of the Consumers Health Forum, and a long-standing consumer nominee and advocate.
Ms Heather Wrightman is the industry member nominated by Medicines Australia. She is also the industry member of the PBAC Drug Utilisation Sub-Committee.
