Board of Directors 2019 - 2020

He has qualifications in disaster medicine, trauma care, pre-hospital care, and has been a surveyor for the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS). Dr Cleary has worked in a range of roles within emergency medicine, medical administration and health policy development. His previous appointment was Deputy Director-General Health and Chief Operations Officer within the Department of Health. Prior to that, he held roles within health services as Executive Director and Director Medical Services at Logan and Beaudesert Hospitals and Executive Director of Medical Services for the Prince Charles Hospital Health Service District. Dr Cleary is currently the President of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators.

“Leadership by the medical profession in the design and operation of the Australian healthcare system is essential. AMA Queensland’s role in supporting the development of medical leadership is essential in ensuring well-constructed and considered advice is provided to the community, government and health service managers."

From 2006-2010, Dr Dhupelia was Senior Medical Advisor for Medicare Australia, Health Advisory Branch. Since 2010, Dr Dhupelia works at Queensland Health as well as working as a part time general practitioner. Dr Dhupelia is the Director of Medical and Clinical services of Queensland Country Practice, Queensland Rural Medical Service within the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service; part-time general practitioner in Toowong, Brisbane; Board Director of General Practice Training Queensland; Member of the Clinical Advisory Group of Brisbane North Primary Health Network. His AMA Queensland roles include Board Director, Councillor; and Member of the AMA Queensland Council of General Practice. His Federal AMA roles include Member of the Federal Council, Executive Member of the AMA Council of General Practice and Member of the AMA Council of Rural Doctors. He is also Vice President of AMA Queensland Foundation.

“Having had extensive medical experience in both the public and private sectors, as well as within the federal and state government sectors, I feel I have a good grasp of health policy drivers, ensuring holistic care within a seamless patient journey and improvement strategies in areas such as integration of primary and secondary services in rural areas. As President, I look forward to working within a wide-ranging team and hopefully add value to the fine work already being performed in representation, leadership and advocacy.”

Chris has been involved with research with olfactory cells and paraplegia, and is currently involved in head and neck cancer research – his CV includes 50 papers, 8 book chapters and 1600 citations. Chris has done a lot of work in remote Aboriginal communities and was one of the founders of the Deadly Ears program.

“There has not been a public/private surgeon within the AMA leadership team for some time in Queensland. As the VMOs are the major providers of public surgical services for Queensland Health, as well as the private sphere where they do more than half of the total surgery in Australia. They are an important cog in the wheel of health delivery.

The interaction between the medical profession and the federal and state health departments, to the Ministers and potentially the Queensland Premier is very important. The AMA is the only lead organisation for all doctors in Australia. We need interaction with jurisdictions, which is respectful and mature. We also need to be able to present ideas and messages to the community in a way that people can understand.”

“I am keen to represent regional doctors, and those who work too hard to represent themselves. I would like to see doctors advocate for their own quality of life and set an example of healthy living. I am interested in the role doctors have to play in advocating for change in nutrition and activity practices across their communities."

He then moved to Oakey and worked as the Medical Superintendent (with right to private practice) at the Oakey Hospital on the Darling Downs, and became the Principal at Downs Rural Medical. In 2012, the practice established a second site, in Kingsthorpe, and in 2015 opened a third site, in the western suburbs of Toowoomba. Dr Hall continues to practice as a GP obstetrician as a visiting medical officer in St George and other rural locations. He was one of the founding members of the Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway team. He served as Rural Doctors Association Queensland President in 2008, and was Vice President of Rural Doctors Association Australia for four years. He has a passion for teaching the next generation of rural doctors and is a senior lecturer in rural medicine for Griffith University and the University of Queensland.

"As a representative of rural and regional Queensland, I hope to help advise the Council on issues affecting the health of rural Queenslanders and their health care teams. I intend to highlight important issues including the strengthening of the rural health workforce; access to essential health services, including quality primary care, emergency care, inpatient and maternity services; and strengthening access to local specialty services."

Bav has been a member of AMA Queensland’s Branch Council since 2010 representing South-East Queensland and recently lead the AMA Queensland’s policy development on Medical Schools and as inaugural chairing the Pharmacy Prescribing Working Group.

He is also a executive member of the Queensland Council of Doctors in Training (CDT) since 2011 and was responsible for designing and implementing the first Resident Hospital Health Check survey in 2016, lead and Co-convened the inaugural AMA Queensland Junior Doctor Conference in 2014 was part of the team responsible for designing and implementing the award winning flagship of AMA Queensland's well being program - the Resilience on the Run program.

At the National level, Bav currently serves as a Director of the AMA Board (since 2015) and the AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship Foundation. He was recently appointed as Board Chair of doctorportal Learning Pty Ltd, an AMA company aimed at providing free CPD activities and tracking to members. He is also a Statutory Appointee to the Medical Board of Australia's Medical Training Survey Steering Committee and a member of MDA National's State Advisory Committee. He is also a Clinical Reference Lead for the Australian Digital Health Agency. His special interests include medical workforce planning, clinical governance and hospital management. 

“As a Registrar and a representative for the Brisbane and Gold Coast regions, which represents a significant proportion of Queensland’s doctors in training, I will focus on representing my colleagues at Council level. We need to work to improve the quality of, and fair access to, training and education in both the prevocational and vocational arenas, including ensuring training is affordable to trainee doctors and working conditions and awards are protected and enforced. As an organisation, we need to prioritise our engagement with our membership and deliver value to them. I look forward to assisting all Directors, Councillors and members of the profession who ask for my counsel.”

Now “retired” to a world of consulting, skilled governance and advisory service to industry, member organisations and researchers. He would like to be counted among those who helped to bring innovation, entrepreneurship and commercial sustenance and good governance to organisations that make significant contributions to the society in which we live.

For his service to science and commerce, Peter was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) - Member of the General Division – 2006 and an Outstanding Alumni Award - First Forty Years 1970-2012 - James Cook University.

He is currently the Chairman of the Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast Pty Ltd, the The Wetlands and Grasslands Foundation, Non-Executive Director, Emergency Medicine Foundation Ltd (Chair of the Research Evaluation Panel), Deputy Chairman of Suncare Community Services Ltd, Chairman of the Advisory Board, Medical Engineering Research Facility, QUT, Member, Advisory Committee, Institute for Future Environments, QUT, and is Adjunct Professor, School of Chemistry, Physics & Mechanical Engineering, QUT. He has served on more than 30 boards over the last three decades.