Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) Membership
Page last updated: 5 December 2024
The PBAC is an independent expert body appointed by the Australian Government. Members include doctors, health professionals, health economists and consumer representatives.
Its primary role is to recommend new medicines for listing on the PBS. No new medicine can be listed unless the committee makes a positive recommendation. The PBAC also makes recommendations regarding vaccines. The PBAC meets three times a year, usually in March, July and November.
When recommending a medicine for listing, the PBAC takes into account the medical conditions for which the medicine was registered for use in Australia, its clinical effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness (‘value for money’) compared with other treatments.
PBAC has two sub-committees to assist with analysis and advice in these areas:
Contact details for the PBAC can be found in PBS Contacts
Agendas, outcomes and public summary documents of PBAC meetings can be found under elements of the listing process
Current Membership
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 Drug Utilisation Sub-Committee of the PBAC. Jo is a long standing consumer nominee and advocate.
Ms Michelle Burke is the industry nominee. She has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, contributing in areas which include access to medicines and industry development.
Professor Joseph Doyle is an infectious diseases and public health physician at Alfred Health and Monash University, and Deputy Director of Disease Elimination at Burnet Institute. He is President of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases and President of Hepatitis Australia.
Professor Christopher Etherton-Beer is a professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Western Australia and a Consultant Physician of Geriatric Medicine at the Royal Perth Hospital. He is also the Chair of the Drug Utilisation Sub-Committee of the PBAC.
Dr Peter Fox is a medical oncologist in central west New South Wales. He is an oncology clinical trial investigator, and has an interest in equity of access to health care in rural areas. He is a senior lecturer at Western Sydney University.
Associate Professor Peter Grimison is a medical oncologist at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney, and conducts clinical research at the University of Sydney.
Associate Professor (Peter) Shane Hamblin is the head of unit, Endocrinology and Diabetes for Western Health, Melbourne and is also a consultant endocrinologist at the Alfred Hospital. He also has current university appointments with the University of Melbourne and Monash University.
Professor Kirsten Howard is a Professor of Health Economics at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney. She is also Chair of the Economics Sub-Committee of the PBAC, with extensive experience in the health economics field.
Dr Amanda Johnston is a clinical and laboratory Haematologist at Westmead Hospital, Sydney.
Professor Michael Kidd AO Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Services, is a primary care, public health and health systems clinician researcher, based at the University of New South Wales and the University of Oxford. He is a former Deputy Chief Medical Officer with the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.
Professor Clement Loy is a cognitive neurologist and clinical epidemiologist. He serves as Director of the Huntington Disease Service at Westmead Hospital Sydney, and Head of School & Dean of Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie University.
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. She is also a member of the Economics Sub-Committee of the PBAC.
Dr Kylie Mason is a clinical and laboratory haematologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and an National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Susannah Morris is a social policy expert by profession who works as health consumer advocate and representative with particular interests and experience in the field of cancer care. She is also a member of the Health Technology Assessment Consumer Consultative Committee
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. He is also a member of the Economics Sub-Committee of the PBAC.
Professor Richard Norman is a Health Economist in Curtin University’s School of Population Health, with considerable experience in economic evaluation. He is also a member of the Economics Sub-Committee of the PBAC. He is also a member of the Economics Sub-Committee of the PBAC.
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 qualifications in Bioethics and Drug Development, and has co-ordinated a number of Phase II/III trials in Australia.
Associate Professor Ines Rio is a specialist general practitioner with several postgraduate qualifications relevant to the provision of clinical care and the optimisation of healthcare systems. Associate Professor Rio combines her clinical work as a general practitioner with medical advisory, health care system governance and reform and leadership roles.
Associate Professor Melanie Turner is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the Deputy Chief Psychiatrist for the South Australia (SA) Office of the Chief Psychiatrist. Mel works in her own practice as a child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and teaches at the University of Adelaide as well as trainees in the RANZCP training program.
