About us

About us

Dr Cliff Smith MBBS, FRACGP, DRANZCOG, Dip Obst RCOG

is a general practitioner with 13 years experience in PNG where he was involved in supervising in community health, medical administration and all manner of clinical work for a population of 40,000 rural people in the Western Highlands. During that time he worked as the Church/ Govt. Health Liaison Officer, as part of the Dept of Health Executive staff. He was commissioned by the PNG Department of Health to write a health care manual for Community Health Workers (1st edition1986, 2^nd edition in 1996) which has been the standard textbook in community heath in PNG.

Since returning to Australia he has been working in general practice and worked part time as a staff worker in CMDFA from 1997 to 2008. When CMDFA established HealthServe Australia in 2004 he took up the role of its part time Executive Officer.

Dr Alan Gijsbers MBBS FRACP FAChAM DTM&H PGDipEPi
is a specialist physician in Addiction Medicine, Medical Director, Drug and Alcohol Liaison Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Medical Director, Substance Withdrawal Unit, The Melbourne Clinic.
He was former Deputy Director, Department of Distance Education, CMC Vellore, South India, seconded by Interserve (Australia), Past Chairman of CMDFA., and currently State Chairman, ISCAST (Victoria), a forum for Christians in Science and Technology.
He has a special interest in evidence based medicine which started in CMC hospital Vellore where the dominant sources of knowledge were authoritative medical textbooks and clinicians.

Mr John Craik CFP (Ret), DipFP, DipLI, ANZIIF (Ret)

John has had a long career in insurance and financial planning and has been been prominent in numerous public and Christian community leadership roles. John is an Associate of the Australian Insurance Institute (Retired), a Certified Financial Planner (Retired), a member of the Financial Planning Association of Australia (Retired). He has a Diploma in Life Insurance and a Diploma in Financial Planning from Deakin University. John is a past National President of the Association of Financial Advisers 1995-1996, as well as being a life member; also a past Chairman Asia Pacific Life Insurance Council1997-1999. He has participated in many industry forums, particularly the formulation and introduction of the Code of Practice in the mid 90�s. John was also a member of the FPA Risk Committee (Ret) in 2007.

Dr. Michael Burke MBBS, BSc, MA, MSc (Clin Epi), MPH&TM, DRANZCOG, DCH, Dip Biblical Studies, FRACGP, FACTM, PhD, works in several fields of medicine and lives in Sydney, with his wife Jean and three teenage sons. He continues to engage with the issues of the dignity of all made in the image of God and their right to health. He speaks two languages and likes twentieth century music. He completed his PhD at the UNSW in gender and HIV issues based on his commitment to Tanzania and Tanzanians. He worked in Tanzania for twelve years and continues to visit there regularly. Michael has recently completed work as the executive officer of the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia. He lecturers at both Sydney University and the University of Western Sydney.

Dr Owen Lewis MBBS (Hons), DCH, DRCOG, DA, FRACGP, GDPHC

is a general practitioner with experience in rural South Australia and Nepal where he spent 13 years as a CMS missionary, including a role as foundation professor of family medicine in the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan in eastern Nepal. After a time in the Nossal Instute for Global Health in Melbourne, Owen is currently a general practitioner / senior lecturer based in Roxby Downs in outback South Australia. He coordinates PRIME Australia, a project of HSA that promotes whole person medicine and sends teams to developing countries as short term medical education teachers. He has an interest in disability and continues to advise and support a disabled persons project in Nepal.

Dr Douglas Shaw MBBS (Hons), BA, MA, MTH, FRACGP, FAFPHM

completed his General Practice training in rural Queensland in 1987. After completing the Master in Tropical Health programme, Doug moved to Cambodia to work with World Vision for 3 years, where he met his wife Sally, a British nurse-midwife. Doug then completed a MA in Missiology in the UK and Public Health Medicine back in Australia. In 2001 the family moved back to Cambodia where Doug provided mother and child health and HIV and AIDS technical support to World Vision and other non-government organisations. Doug currently works as a Public Health Physician with the Communicable Disease Control Branch of SA Health and is the co-odinator of the Intermed program, a 4 week intensive summer school in international health and development designed specifically for Christian health professionals.

Dr John Hagidimitriou MBBS, FRACGP, MBA
is a speaker, author and consultant. He is a business and internet marketing consultant who founded BusinessMarketingConsultant.com.au He has been working as an assistant surgeon in various private hospitals in Brisbane for numerous years. As well as having worked as a general practitioner for various GP practices in Brisbane.

Ms Barbara Lucas BAppSc (Phty), MEd, MPH, MAPA

Ms Barbara Lucas BAppSc (Phty), MEd, MPH, FACP

is a physiotherapist and is Deputy Manager /Senior Physiotherapist -Paediatrics and Neonatology, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. Barbara trained at Sydney University (Cumberland College of Health Sciences - 1988), and has worked since in public hospitals ie RPAH, Brompton Hospital, London and RNSH. She has visited Fiji with a heart team (1997) and orthopaedic team (1998). She spent 8 months at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Tanzania (2006), a major training institution for physiotherapists and other health workers in Africa. In 2011, she spent 6 months working in remote indigenous community in Western Australia on a “diagnosis and prevalence” study related to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), with research linkages to the George Institute for Global Health and Sydney University.