Board and Management Structure

The Foundation is managed by a volunteer board which meets several times a year.

The Board directors have backgrounds in medicine, science, accounting, financial management, law, marketing and fundraising.

The Board is supported by two advisory committees, on research and on fundraising, which meet several times a year with Chairman Grant Holley.

The Foundation Board’s links to various research institutes and hospitals ensures the Foundation’s mission progresses innovative research in sensory impairment; and assistance for deaf children from financially and socially disadvantaged families to receive hearing implants.

To contact the Foundation Board Chair, email Chairman Grant Holley: grant at (@) hnlaw dot com dot au

Graeme ClarkGraeme Clark AC
Founder and Scientific Advisor

Professor Graeme Clark AC, Lasker Laureate, initiated and led research at the University of Melbourne, with support from the Bionic Ear Institute, resulting in the multi-channel cochlear implant (bionic ear) for people with severe to profound hearing loss. The device has been developed industrially by Cochlear Limited. It is the first clinically successful method of restoring a human sense, and the first advance in helping deaf children to communicate in the last 250 years. It was the first cochlear implant of any type to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective for use on children.

Stephen O’Leary
Director

Professor Stephen O’Leary holds the William Gibson Chair of Otolaryngology at The University of Melbourne. Stephen obtained his PhD at The University of Melbourne in 1994, and completed surgical training in
Ear Nose and Throat - Head and Neck Surgery in 1998. Stephen has undertaken post-doctoral research at Oxford University, UK and the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. Since then he has worked as both a surgeon and a medical researcher at The University of Melbourne and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.  Stephen is known internationally for his clinical and research activities in ear disease, hearing and balance, and particularly for contributions to cochlear implantation. He also has strong research interests in the use of simulation in surgical education, and in ear disease amongst Indigenous Australians.

Grant Holley
Chairman

Grant Holley serves in the role of chairman of the Graeme Clark Foundation.

After 10 years at the Victorian Bar, Grant co-founded the law firm Holley Nethercote Lawyers and served as managing partner of that firm for 28 years. During this time Grant was adviser to a number of large corporations, particularly in the financial services sector. He writes on Corporations Law and has contributed to a number of legal publications.

Richard Dowell

Professor Richard Dowell is a former director of the Audiological Services at Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and was the inaugural holder of the Graeme Clark Chair in Audiology and Speech Science at the University of Melbourne. Richard is a former chair of the Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program Audiological committee and a former Chair of the Taralye Early Intervention center for hearing impaired children in Melbourne. He has been a board member of the Graeme Clark Foundation since its inception.

Chris Waterworth

Dr Chris Waterworth is a Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at the Melbourne School of Health Sciences and a Technical Advisor at the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Dr Waterworth has an interest in improving access to healthcare and rehabilitation in low and middle income countries through training, education, research and advocacy. He also serves as senior research advisor and Executive Board member of the Global OHNS Initiative, and also serves on the World Health Organisation, World Hearing Forum.

Barbara Simpkins

Barbara is the Redress Coordinator at ACS Financial and has been instrumental in the implementation and management of ACS Mutual National Redress Scheme Program.

Barbara has a Bachelor of Economics with a major in accounting and has previously worked for many years as a Financial Reporting Analyst and Statutory Reporting Accountant for well known multinational companies.

Barbara is also the Graeme Clark Foundation’s treasurer.