Hayley Hoolihan

Hayley is from North Queensland with connections to Mitakoodi from her mother and Gugu-Badhun/Ngadjonji from her father.

She has worked in the health sector for a number of years with different programs and projects which are with community engagement. She has been a continued member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Leadership Group since it started in July 2019. She has a passion to ensure our mob are not left behind, and that we have a presence at the table from the start of our health decisions that impact on our lives. She is also looking forward to continuing to be involved with making changes in health.

Jo Donovan

Jo Donovan is a strong Dunghutti/Yuin woman who lives in Southern NSW. She has previously lived in Canberra for 45 years and continues to have family ties to the Territory.

Jo works for NSW Health as Manager for Cultural Inclusion with Virtual enhanced Community Care (VeCC). This work promotes the needs of people with chronic, complex virtual care needs.

Jo previously served on the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body as the Health portfolio representative and joined the Consumer Reference Group in 2024.

Natalie Brown

Natalie Brown is a strategic leader and Tullong /Gamilaroi woman dedicated to transforming public institutions through relationality and decolonial analysis. As a member of the Canberra Health Services Leadership Group, Natalie brings a distinct perspective that bridges rigorous systemic inquiry with a deep commitment to community voice. Her leadership style is rooted in building authentic, trust-based relationships across government, community, and families, ensuring that the health system remains responsive to those it serves.

With an executive background in Aboriginal Higher Education, Cultural Rights, and Justice Reinvestment, Natalie has a proven track record of moving systems from reactive, crisis-driven models toward proactive, prevention-focused care. A resident of Canberra and a proud mother and grandmother, she is deeply invested in the local community through her work with Our Booris Our Way and the Aunty Time collective. Natalie holds academic credentials from the University of Sydney and remains a fierce advocate for self-determination and culturally secure health services.

Jess Whaler

Jess Whaler is a Gamilaroi woman who has lived on Ngunnawal Country since childhood and is proud to call this place home. A communications and engagement professional, journalist, and meningococcal B septicaemia survivor, Jess brings to the Canberra Health Services Aboriginal Leadership Group a perspective shaped by lived experience of critical illness requiring intensive care treatment and a twenty year career spanning the Australian Public Service, higher education, and media. She currently leads communications and engagement at the Mental Health Community Coalition ACT, the peak body for community-managed mental health services in the Territory.

At nineteen, Jess survived fulminant meningococcal disease (Meningococcal B and septicaemia with septic shock). She now contributes that lived experience to national and international research shaping the future of sepsis and brain-infection care. Jess is a member of the newly formed Sepsis Lived Experience and Research Engagement (SHARE) group under the National Critical Care Research Collaboration (NCCR), which is embedded within the Monash School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Melbourne. As a member, she contributes to the Shaping Sepsis Care Project to help shape the national research agenda through lived experience. Internationally, she has contributed to the World Health Organization-led Core Outcome Set for Research in Meningitis, Encephalitis and Meningoencephalitis Sequelae (COSMEMs) consensus study.

Her journalism for the National Indigenous Times has included law and justice reform, deaths in custody, coronial inquests, and public health concerns. Dedicated to reshaping post-ICU survivorship and proving that care cannot end at discharge, Jess is a fierce advocate for self-determination and culturally safe care. As a photographer and writer with an interest in psychology, she is currently exploring trauma narrative therapy using these creative tools.

Jess is a student of the University of Canberra, initially studying psychology before transferring to a Bachelor of Communication and Media during the COVID19 pandemic when the need for health communication became vital.