DonateLife ACT
In January, DonateLife ACT welcomed Lisa Doble to the team as our new Communication and Engagement Officer. Lisa brings vast experience to this role from the public, private and most recently, not-for-profit sectors. Lisa is passionate about the work carried out by the organ and tissue donation teams and looks forward to raising awareness throughout the Canberra community and surrounds.
DonateLife NSW
DonateLife NSW General Manager of 10 years, Danielle Fisher, is stepping aside to take up a new role as Chief Executive Officer of BIENCO. This is a new consortium established to develop the world’s first bioengineered corneas.
Danielle has overseen enormous changes at the NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service, including:
- leading us to exceed national reform targets in 2018 for the first time
- diversifying the NSW Tissue Bank to provide amnion and skin tissue for transplant, in addition to musculoskeletal and ocular tissue grafts
- most recently, driving awareness of HIV positive organ donation and transplantation.
Danielle has been a key driver in the NSW Government’s plan to increase organ and tissue registration and donation. A huge congratulations to Danielle and the fondest of farewells.
We’re also thrilled to welcome Joanna Stathopoulos as the new project officer for DonateLife NSW. Joanna will be working with our volunteers and on community events.
After watching the skilful and caring way nurses looked after her mother during breast cancer treatment, Joanna enrolled in nursing at Sydney University. Her first job, in Intensive Care during the pandemic at St George Hospital, opened her eyes to the extraordinary benefits of organ and tissue donation, and steered her towards a master's in health policy. Welcome aboard Jo!
Over the past year we have also warmly welcomed the following new volunteers: Andrew and Donna Beer, Brenda Pratt, Jeffrey Chan, Kara Shiels, Kylie Ford, Leanne Holloway, Peter Ramshaw, Ron Spriggs and Marcus Sims.
DonateLife QLD
Donation Specialist Nurse Coordinator Ian Rogers celebrates 20 years of service and dedication at Hervey Bay Hospital. A huge congratulations to Ian!
Shontelle Thomas, Donation Specialist Nurse at the Queensland Children's Hospital, has recently been awarded the Jen Hoult Learning and Teaching Award.
Shontelle contributes greatly towards supporting staff and families during times of distress and grief. She does this by developing thoughtful end-of-life resources and processes within the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Image caption: Shontelle is pictured with Jen Hoult's husband and son.
Emma Graham, Donation Specialist Nurse at The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH), has fulfilled one of her life goals by transitioning into a new role as a Donation Specialist Coordinator based at the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH). Congratulations, Emma!

Image caption: Emma representing DonateLife at Pine Rivers State High School during a Health Expo in 2023.
We welcomed Emily Pritchard to the role of Donation Specialist Nurse at TPCH, following Emma’s transition to PAH. When she’s not looking after her two fur babies (a Cavoodle and a Border Collie cross), Emily trains in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, is a Pilates teacher and is also a national-level field hockey umpire.

Image caption: Outside her day job, Emily (on left in photo) is also a hockey umpire.
Lisa Mewburn, Donation Specialist Nurse at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, is currently on maternity leave. We’re lucky to temporarily have plant-loving Jess Matthies joining our team to cover for Lisa. Jess grew up in Papua New Guinea and is American by birth, but happily calls Australia home. She enjoys challenging herself intellectually through reading, weight-training and Muay Thai.
We’re also looking forward to welcoming Shona McDonald back to her Donation Specialist Nurse role at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital at Easter.
Our Business Support Officer, Shine Zhang, went on maternity leave late in 2023 and has welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Harper. Harper was born with a full head of hair and is enjoying regular visits to the hairdresser!

Image caption: Shine Zhang's daughter Harper.
The business finance team also has a new face, with Dani Franici stepping into the role of Business Manager. Dani is a dedicated parent to two adult children and a retired greyhound. Besides tabulating excel sheets and tracking expenses, she enjoys singing and doing aqua sports. Dani joins us while Jenny Rees is on long-service leave, catching up with friends, attending music festivals and travelling the world.
DonateLife SA
In February, we said goodbye to 2 amazing members of DonateLife SA team.
Dale Birrell, Communications and Community Engagement Officer, started working with us in March 2022. She helped deliver multiple events such as DonateLife Week and our Rose Planting Ceremony.
Amber Stanton, Donation Specialist Nursing Coordinator since August 2022, moved to the SAAS MedSTAR – the emergency medical retrieval service for the state of South Australia.
They will both be dearly missed!

Image caption: Dale Birrell, Communications and Community Engagement Officer.

Image caption: Amber Stanton, Donation Specialist Nursing Coordinator.
DonateLife TAS
DonateLife Tasmania welcomes Ash Jones. She started work as a Donation Specialist Nursing Coordinator at Launceston General Hospital (LGH) in mid-December 2023.
Ash brings a wealth of experience to the Launceston team as an Intensive Care nurse at LGH. She joins her colleagues Grace Southwell, Jenna Hughes and Zoe Butler to form the largest team we’ve had to date at this hospital.
In her spare time Ash enjoys travelling, and spending time with her partner and dogs.

Image caption: Ash Jones LGH DSNC.
In September 2023, Grace Southwell returned to the Launceston General Hospital team after giving birth to her beautiful son, Archie. Grace enjoys being back in the DonateLife team and is looking forward to 2024 with her new Northern colleagues.

Image caption: Grace Southwell LGH DSNC.
DonateLife Victoria
We're very happy to welcome Monique Drury, Anna McNamara and Kris Willmot back to the DonateLife VIC team.
Monique has returned to the Senior Education Coordinator role, and Anna and Kris have returned to the Alfred Donation Specialist Nurse Coordinator team.
We are also pleased to announce the appointment of Jane Howell as our new Nurse Donation Specialist in Albury. Jane has extensive ICU experience and is currently the Clinical Nurse Consultant for Blood Management in the Safety and Quality Unit in Albury. She begins this role at the start of March and will join casework training in April.
DonateLife WA
We’ve had a few staff movements and updates in the DonateLife WA team over the past few months:
- We farewelled Donation Specialist Coordinator (DSC) Paul Garrity in January and wished him all the best in his new role at WA Country Health Service.
- Lisa Dewar joined DonateLife WA and North Metro Health Service as our new Aboriginal Health Liaison Officer.
- Syra Bux re-joined DonateLife WA as a DSC in February, coming from Fiona Stanley Hospital.
- Tanya Badenhorst arrived from Fiona Stanley Hospital in February to commence her training as a DSC.
- We welcomed new Agency manager Laura Sweeney in January.
- Natala Taylor joined us in January from Royal Perth Hospital and has commenced her training as a DSC.

Image caption: New DonateLife Agency manager Laura Sweeney, pictured with friendly mascot Aldo.

Image caption: Donation Specialist Coordinator Natala Taylor.
DonateLife WA had the pleasure of hosting a young volunteer from Thailand through December and January – bone marrow transplant recipient Kittiwit Chailee. Kittiwit has been studying English in Perth and competed in the 24th World Transplant Games in April 2023. He won 2 gold medals in the men’s singles and doubles badminton categories, and a bronze medal in the mixed doubles category.
Kittiwit is one of the many inspiring athletes who have overcome health challenges and celebrated the gift of life through organ donation and transplantation. He was so honoured to give back to the Western Australian community and it was a pleasure working with him and practicing English together.

Image caption: Hannah Wilkinson, Diane Kearney, Kittiwit Chailee and Laura Sweeney.