In Accreditation Services our team of Associate Directors are responsible for assessment of nursing and midwife programs of study. They also contribute to the development and review of accreditation standards. Accreditation Services is operationally supported by our Administrative Officers, Melanie (Team Leader), Kim and Vanessa.
Kathryn Austin – Associate Director
RN, GradDip VET, GradCert Mgt, MEd, MBA
Kathryn has been driving the strategic and operational delivery of health programs in the vocational education and training sector for over 30 years. She holds a deep understanding of how to promote high-quality learning and teaching scholarship and evaluation. Using informed evidence-based responses to labour market needs and governments priorities, she has guided teams across the NSW training sector in improving educational and accreditation standards. As a registered nurse and clinical educator, Kathryn is a principled advocate for health services and has authored industry publications and presented at conferences on the changing needs of the healthcare sector. As an Associate Director she is committed to improving standards and promoting a culture of performance awareness to enhance the quality of education programs in the higher education and VET sectors.
Sara Couch – Associate Director
RN, RM, BN, GradDipMid, MMidwifery, GradCert HigherEd
Sara has experience and qualifications in clinical care, tertiary education and research. Sara’s work in nursing and midwifery education began as a clinical facilitator and foundation member of the Werna Naloo Consortium that implemented the first Bachelor of Midwifery program in Victoria. Until recently Sara was a Lecturer and Course Coordinator at Deakin University. Sara is committed to contributing to the safety and quality of nursing and midwifery care in Australia through her work as an Associate Director and her research interests. As an Associate Director, Sara is responsible for supporting education providers and leading assessment teams through the processes of accreditation and contributing to the development of evidence based Education Standards for nursing and midwifery programs. Sara’s research program focuses on learning and teaching, safety and quality in midwifery care and perinatal mental health.
Jackie Doolan – Associate Director
RN, RM, BN, MSocScHlth
Jackie joined the ANMAC team in 2012 as the Standards Development and Review Coordinator. In 2016, Jackie moved into an Associate Director role where she works collegially with education providers to optimise the quality of nursing and midwifery programs of study that provide a pathway to NMBA registration. As a result of research and consultation undertaken in ANMAC’s Standard Development and Review Coordinator role, Jackie brings to this position a sound understanding of the educational values held by the Australian nursing and midwifery professions and other key stakeholders. Additionally, positions Jackie held as a Clinical Midwife Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Midwifery have provided her with firsthand experience in preparing students for contemporary practice. Jackie uses her experience to support a quality improvement approach to the assessment of nursing and midwifery programs.
Dr Elijah M Marangu – Associate Director
RN, MPH, GradCert HigherEd, PhD
Elijah is a registered nurse and mental health nurse, he has worked in clinical, health services management and academic roles in Australia, South Africa and Kenya. More recently, Elijah worked as senior lecturer at Deakin University’s National Indigenous Knowledges, Education, Innovation and Research Institute (NIKERI), prior to this, he worked for 12 years at Deakin University School of Nursing and Midwifery as lecturer. Elijah’s research interests are health evaluation, healthcare for vulnerable populations, humanitarian health, and his PhD research examined capacity building strategies for mental health care in low-income settings and focusing on Kenya. Elijah is committed to enabling close collaboration between ANMAC and education providers to develop, and lead to accreditation of nursing and midwifery programs that are responsive to health needs of the Australian population in its entirety.
Dr Gayle McLelland – Associate Director
RN, RM, BEd(st), GradCertHlthInformatics, MEd(I&CT), PhD
Gayle is a registered nurse and registered midwife who has worked in various clinical settings in both the public and private health sectors. With experience as a clinical educator in both nursing and midwifery, Gayle worked in academia more than two decades ago. With extensive experience in the education of nurses and midwives, she is acutely aware that quality curricula based upon the standards is fundamental in this process. Upon the completion of her PhD in 2016, she became invested in using interprofessional collaboration to support students and clinicians in the provision of safe maternity care. Her research interests are nursing and midwifery education; interprofessional collaboration; emergency maternity care and safe workforce. As an Associate Director, Gayle views the process of accreditation as vital when supporting students to become safe clinicians. She aims to work with education providers, consumers, clinicians and academics to implement the Education Standards in the development of quality nursing and midwifery programs.
Dr Wendy Penney – Associate Director
RN, MNSt, PhD
Wendy has spent many years as an academic involved in the development of curriculum and management of nursing programs. Wendy’s accreditation experience also includes a background in quality and risk in health services and her approach is based on appreciative inquiry practice. In this approach accreditation is a positive process to be embraced and enjoyed as there is opportunity to celebrate achievements and continually improve education and health outcomes. Wendy’s research interests include working with consumers and improving quality of life for older people living in residential care. She believes that her role at ANMAC compliments this endeavor as high-quality care requires health professionals who have equitable access to high quality education programs.
Bridget Roache – Associate Director
RN, RM, IBCLC, GradDipChildBirthEducation, MSc(Res)
Bridget has been providing professional health care for over 3 decades in a variety of settings including public and private hospitals, private practice both in Australia and overseas. Bridget’s has been a Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI) Educator and Assessor and is a trainer for the World Health Organization Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding. Bridget has an extensive project management portfolio including implementing BFHI in several maternity facilities in Queensland, implementation of continuity of carer models in Queensland maternity facilities and restructuring Primary Health services in a regional setting. Until recently, Bridget was midwifery lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland where she developed, designed and implemented the Bachelor of Midwifery (Graduate Entry) program. Bridget’s research areas are midwives and national maternity reforms.
Mary-Grace Bingham – Associate Director
PGDM, BPA, MPHC, MQIHC, BN, NCCN, RM
Mary-Grace has spent most of her nursing and midwifery career working as a clinician and manager in the rural and remote areas across Australia. Following a change in her career pathway, Mary-Grace exchanged her love for working in the country, for a role with Aphra as a nursing and midwifery professional officer advising on regulatory and registration matters for both professions. Mary-Grace’s regulatory role also included an NMBA audit of all privately practicing midwives who supported women birthing in their homes. Mary-Grace was then employed by the ANMAC CEO to work within her office on projects which included the accreditation of education providers who offered immunisation courses, which were much in demand during the pandemic. More recently, Mary-Grace has been appointed as an Associate Director in Accreditation Services. This role also supports Mary-Grace’s passion and her current research to support nurses and midwives to qualify and work to their full scope of practice.
