Executive Group

John Haberecht has a background as a registered nurse and has worked in palliative care for over 30 years. He has worked in acute and community palliative care services, and was for many years Director of Learning and Development at Queensland Health’s Centre for Palliative Care Research and Education. He is currently Interim Chief Executive Officer for Palliative Care Queensland.

John has a passion for equity of access to palliative care, especially for First Nations peoples, adequate pain and symptom management, and educating health care professionals about palliative care. He has had the privilege of being a Project Hamrahi mentor in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, and is honoured to take on the role of President of APLI.

Dr Davinia Seah has been the secretary of APLI since 2015 and is a palliative care physician at St Vincent’ Hospital, Sydney. She has been involved in keeping the APLI membership up-to-date, and provides administrative support to the APLI chairperson.

Davinia did most of her medical training in Melbourne, Australia, but pursued a Masters of Public Health at Harvard University, Boston. Her interest in research nurtured at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute where she was a research fellow, and she is now pursuing a PhD at the University of Technology Sydney, examining health care utilisation at the end of life.

Davinia has been passionate about palliative care education and raising awareness of the importance of meeting the needs of patients at the end of their lives in developing countries, with a special interest in India.

Chris Waples has been the Treasurer of APLI since 2015. He is a practicing Chartered Accountant and business adviser. He lives and works in Adelaide.

Chris is Managing Director of Bartons Chartered Accountants & Wealth Advisors. He advises an extensive client base of medical professionals, and in that capacity supports a wide range of his clients’ philanthropic causes. It was in this context he was introduced to APLI.

Chris has been impressed by the passion of the palliative care professionals involved with APLI, and seeks to support the organization’s commercial and financial requirements through his and his firm’s resources.

AProf/Dr Marianne Phillips is a Paediatric & Adolescent Oncologist and Palliative Care Physician and joined the APLI Executive in 2019.  Currently working at Perth Children’s Hospital, she advocates for the inclusion of palliative care for all children. She is a Board member of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) and member of Palliative Care in Humanitarian Aid Situations & Emergencies Network (PalChase) ensuring advocacy, awareness, education and training to help meet the palliative and end of life needs of children affected by life-limiting illness, humanitarian disasters and mass casualty incidents globally.

Marianne is an executive member of Paediatric Palliative Care Australia & New Zealand (PaPCANZ) and a member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians End-of-Life working group. She lectures at both Notre Dame University and The University of Western Australia and conducts international collaborative research in the field of paediatric palliative care symptom management including carer needs. She has previously spent time volunteering and teaching in Africa; Romania and Indonesia and is currently a Paediatric Palliative Care Advisor for Medecins Sans Frontiers.

Rachel Coghlan joined the APLI Executive in 2019. She is a public health professional with over 20 years post-qualification experience gained in clinical practice, and in international public health research, policy and advocacy. Rachel is currently undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy at the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, Deakin University. Her research is exploring the place of palliative care in humanitarian emergencies and crises, with a focus on armed conflict settings. She is passionate about improving access to quality care for seriously ill and dying people experiencing war, displacement, disaster or epidemics.

Rachel has practiced as a physiotherapist in neurological rehabilitation and palliative care in Australia and the United Kingdom. She has also held senior policy roles within international development and humanitarian organisations including World Vision International, Save the Children and The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Rachel currently works as a palliative care physiotherapist at Calvary Health Care Bethlehem in Melbourne. Rachel is a Board Member of Palliative Care Australia and a member of the Palliative Care in Humanitarian Aid Situations and Emergencies (PallCHASE) network.
Rachel was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to spend time at the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in 2023.

Yamin Myat Aye has been an APLI member since 2016. She was born and raised in Myanmar. She graduated in 2000 from Institute of Medicine 2 Yangon. After working for 7 years in Myanmar, she migrated to Perth.

Yamin completed her physician training here in Australia and started working as a Palliative Care Physician in 2017 at Kalamunda Hospital. Due to her background of coming from a developing country, she is keen to work with doctors from developing countries who are interested in Palliative Care.

Joan is a Palliative Care Nurse Consultant at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, Sydney.

She has vast clinical experience across multiple settings and is a longstanding and proud member of Australasian Palliative Care Link International.

Joan’s interest in Palliative Care education in poorly resourced nations originated when she was invited to conduct nursing workshops in the Republic of Nauru, 2002. At that time Nauru was supporting a large refugee population sparking a strong interest around the interface between nursing and the humanitarian context.  As a Psychology/ Anthropology graduate Joan’s interest blossomed globally providing education in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste and more recently as a member of a small Project Hamrahi team visiting Cachar Cancer and Research Hospital, Assam, India.

Joan has presented at the Asian Pacific Conferences, Montreal Palliative Care Congress, and also back home in Australia, raising awareness of APLI  mentorship program and focusing on the power storytelling and human connectedness.

In 2019  Joan was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in recognition for her contribution to Palliative Care Nursing.

I am a palliative care clinical nurse specialist and have been involved in APLI since 2011. To date, I have participated in five Hamrahi visits across three locations Lakshadweep, Patna and Ahmedabad. In 2019, I helped Odette Spruijt coordinate and manage two nurse-led visits to Ahmedabad.

I have been fortunate enough to have worked as a community palliative care nurse across Australia over the last eight years. The highlight of these eight years was my last role based in Wagga Wagga NSW, which involved palliative care outreach to small towns across rural NSW. My husband, two children and I have recently moved to Melbourne and I am now working across two community palliative care services Cabrini and Eastern Palliative Care.

I am passionate about palliative care education and service development, particularly through working closely with community nurses, general practitioners and paramedics. I am also passionate about improving palliative care for patients who live alone or are from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.

I have completed a Masters of Advanced Nursing Practice (Palliative Care).

I believe very strongly in APLI’s approach to supporting palliative care in the developing world. I believe that building gentle, sustained and meaningful relationships with our Indian palliative care colleagues is an excellent contribution to improving palliative care in India. Our Indian colleagues are truly trail-blazers and it is such a privilege to be able to play a small part of their journey.

In recent years APLI has done a wonderful job of modernising its platforms and I would like to be part of the digital growth of APLI. I feel I could contribute by aiding in further modernising the volunteer application and recruitment process and would like to be involved in developing memorandum of understanding with host sites before commencement of visits.

Malvika Agarwal has joined APLI group in Oct 2022. She has 15 years of Data and technology experience across various industries mainly Banking and Finance, Information Technology and Communications. She holds a master’s in business administration from Melbourne Business School. As part of APLI corporate strategy review performed by MBS, Malvika built a bond with APLI and decided to join the organization. She is passionate about helping organizations and people achieve their goals. She will stand as your guide, supporter, mentor, and coach when it is needed while bringing a perspective outside of palliative care to APLI.