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ABOUT OUR CONSUMER ADVISORY COUNCIL
Asthma Australia is a for-purpose, consumer organisation with a history of improving the lives of people with asthma since 1962. We have a bold mission to help people breathe so that they can live freely.
We lead education and training in evidence-based prevention and health strategies to more than half a million people each year across Australia.
We work with people with asthma, their carers, health professionals, researchers, and governments. We find the best treatments and practices to make sure life with asthma is the best it can be.
In 2018, we formed the Asthma Australia Consumer Advisory Council as part of our Consumer Engagement Strategy with an aim to better engage with consumers and carers. We are strongest when we share information, and those closest to people with asthma share information with us.
Our Consumer Advisory Council has been fundamental in our strategic direction, and we thank them for the critical role they play in advising, informing, and guiding Asthma Australia, its Board, and management.
You can find our Consumer Advisory Council’s purpose and objectives, roles and responsibilities, guiding principles and membership composition, as well as the terms of reference here.
Members of Asthma Australia’s Consumer Advisory Council
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Judith Wettenhall Chairperson Judy has dedicated many years of service helping to improve the lives of people living with asthma and improving the access of her rural community to vital health services. She has lived with severe and eosinophilic asthma all her life. She is a passionate advocate for person-centred approaches to improving the health outcomes of people with asthma. Judy previously served as the Chairperson of the Holbrook Local Health Advisory Council in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (2009-2022). She has Graduate Certificate in Asthma Education and has trained many teachers in managing asthma in school age children. Judy is a registered consumer with the Consumer Health Forum (CHF) of Australia and as such, is a member of several Committees. Find her on LinkedIn. |
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Jessica Leung
Jessica is a passionate Dentist and Pharmacist based in the ACT, and as a person who has lived with asthma since she was a child, she can appreciate some of the unique challenges of achieving and maintaining good asthma control. Her experience in community pharmacy and in public health service has demonstrated the successful outcomes that can be achieved through grass-roots engagement and proactive communication. In particular the challenges to receiving comprehensive and timely healthcare faced by members from a non-English speaking background. She believes her background and experience will provide unique insights to the Consumer Advisory Councils outputs which will promote deeper engagement and ultimately better health outcomes. Find her on LinkedIn. |
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Kym Holden
Kym Holden is an advocate for asthma education, for people with asthma and those who care for them. She has a long association with the Health Consumers Forum and ACT Asthma. Ms. Holden was involved in the territory-based organisation merging with Asthma Australia. Ms. Holden has a strong family link to asthma. She says the importance of asthma education was highlighted following a personal experience with asthma that required her to be hospitalisation in the intensive care unit. Find her on LinkedIn. |
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Helen Murray
Helen Murray is a retired nurse who has worked as a service provider in both public and private sectors, in paediatric practice and in aged care. She has served as a committee member, a researcher, and an advocate, notably for people living in regional and remote areas. She has undertaken a number of volunteer roles in community organisations, sporting and arts groups. Ms. Murray developed asthma as an adult and commends the services of the former Asthma Foundation in South Australia. |
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Dr Sundram Sivamalai (PhD)
Sundram was born in Malaysia he maintains his conversational language interest in Tamil (mother tongue) and Malay (national language of Malaysia). He was the Foundation Chair of the Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council, and served two terms as the Victorian Multicultural Commissioner. He has also been on the Ministerial Advisory Council for Responsible Gambling in Victoria, and maintains his interest and passion to advocate for CALD communities. Sundram has held senior academic positions including Adjunct Professor with University of Manipal, India and Associate Professor at James Cook University in the School of Medicine and Dentistry. He has been a local and international consultant on community engagements and has conducted Intercultural Education for health professionals and organisations. He has conducted health education training and workshops for health professionals in Australia, Japan, Indonesia, China and Malaysia. He still presents at international, national and regional conferences upon invitation. Sundram has completed several projects on multicultural aspects, and publishes widely in journals, magazines and in books. Currently he is about to launch his autobiography, ”One Dream, Four Countries”. Sundram was awarded the Centenary Medal from the Commonwealth Government for his work with migrants. Find him on LinkedIn. |
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Mary O’Leary
Mary is a qualified company director, company secretary and scientist, she started her working life at the ACCC where she began her passion for consumer protection. She continues that focus as the Chair of the Competition and Consumer Committee for the Law Institute of Victoria. Her past roles include Group General Counsel for EBOS Limited, where she was proud to contribute to healthcare service delivery through community pharmacies. In addition to consumer protection and healthcare service delivery, Mary is passionate about collaboration. She was part of a team that won an Australian Institute of Project Management – Victorian ICT Team of the Year Award in 2016 and was internationally recognised by the Association of Corporate Counsel as Global Counsel of the Year in that same year. As part of the Consumer Advisory Council, she hopes to continue to raise awareness and knowledge of asthma, supporting the organisation in achieving better outcomes for all. Find her on LinkedIn. |
Board Representatives
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James Wright Board Chair Finance and Risk Committee memberJames is a founding partner at Sayers, an advisory and investment firm launched in 2020. He has over 30 years’ experience in economics and investment markets working in senior roles in both the public and private sector. James has previously been the Chief Investment Officer of JBWere Ltd and ING Investment Management, where he led teams that managed considerable amounts of capital for clients. His previous roles include Treasury Corporation of Victoria and the Commonwealth Treasury in Canberra. He has been active in Asthma Foundation New South Wales and Asthma Australia roles since 2014. James is a member of the Finance Audit and Risk Management Committee and the Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) at Asthma Australia. He has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from Monash University. Find him on LinkedIn |
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Simone Carton
Simone is an experienced CEO, lawyer and governance professional. She has worked across a variety of sectors including legal, health, advertising, banking and the arts. She is currently CEO of the ACT Law Society, the peak body for solicitors working in the ACT. Previously, Simone was CEO of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine and worked as in-house counsel and company secretary for the Advertising Standards Bureau. Simone previously served on the boards of the former Asthma Foundation ACT and the Australian Multiple Birth Association. As a parent to children with asthma, Simone also has personal experience with the challenges facing people with asthma. Find her on LinkedIn |