Our Board

Dr Dennis Campbell (Chair)

PhD, MBA, FCHSM, FAIM, GAICD

As well as being Chair of the Board, Dr Dennis Campbell also holds the following positions:

• Chair Board Executive Committee
• Deputy Chairman, Board of Heritage Bank
• Trustee, Queensland Museum Foundation
• Chairperson, Management Advisory Committee of the Cobb & Co Museum Toowoomba.

Dennis was awarded an Australia Day Achievement Medallion for services to the Australian College of Health Service Executives in 2007.

In 2008 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Leadership and Achievement in Health Services Management.

This was to recognise his contribution and professional achievements in shaping healthcare policy at the institutional, state and national levels.

In 2021 Dennis was awarded a Queensland Museum Medal in recognition of work caried out for the benefit of Queensland Museum Network.

Dennis has also held the following positions:

• CEO, St Vincent’s Hospital, Toowoomba
• Assistant and Acting Regional Director, Queensland Department of Health
• Corporate Director, Legal Aid, Queensland.

Dr Ross Hetherington

MBBS, DRANZOG, FACCRM, PGDipPallMed, FAICD

As well as being Deputy Chair of the Board, Dr Ross Hetherington is Chair of the Board Finance Committee and a member of our Board Executive and Board Safety and Quality Committees and holds the following positions:

• Board Chair, RHealth
• Chair, Rural Health Workforce Australia,
• Foundation member, Regional Health Board, Longreach
• Board member, Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited
• Member, Aviation Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand.

He was also a foundation member of the Menopause Society of Australasia.

Ross co-founded the Central Queensland Rural Division of General Practitioners.

He holds a number of aviation and medical memberships, and is a Designated Aviation Medical Examiner (DAME).

Ross has held previous directorships with Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) and the Australian Rural and Remote Workforce Agency Group.

Trish Leddington-Hill

BSc, LLB, GAICD

As well as sitting on our Board, Ms Trish Leddington-Hill also holds the following positions with Darling Downs Health:

• Chair, Board Safety and Quality Committee
• Member, Board Audit and Risk Committee.

Trish was appointed to the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service Board in November 2012.

She also works as a part time Executive Manager for RHealth, and in a part time senior advisor  role supporting the Western Qld Primary Health Network (WQPHN), where she supports quality, compliance, safety, performance and contract management.

Trish was raised and schooled on the Darling Downs before attending university in Brisbane.

She currently resides in the Western Downs with her family and brings her passion for rural communities and healthy living to bear in her roles with Darling Downs Health, RHealth and WQPHN.

Marie Pietsch

MAICD

As well as sitting on our Board, Ms Marie Pietsch also holds the following positions with Darling Downs Health:

• Member, Board Executive Committee
• Member, Board Health Equity Committee

Marie has been a leader across the Darling Downs and throughout Queensland's rural areas in advocating and obtaining better health outcomes for people of these regions.

These include Chair of the Minister’s Rural Health Advisory Council and Chair of the Southern Downs Health Community Council.

Marie also holds the following positions:

• Member, Inglewood Multipurpose Health Service Management Committee
• Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

Marie's leadership and networking skills were acknowledged in 2003 with a Centenary Medal for distinguished service to the community.

Marie also received an Australia Day Achievement Medallion for outstanding service to Queensland Health.

In 2014 Marie was awarded Citizen of the Year by the Goondiwindi Regional Council for services to the community, especially in health.

Professor Julie Cotter

PhD, BCom(Hons), FCPA, CA, GAICD

Professor (Emeritus) Julie Cotter is also Chair of the Board Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Board Finance and Board Executive Committees.

Julie is a chartered accountant and a Fellow of CPA Australia and holds the following positions:

• Chair, Australian Institute of Company Director’s (AICD) Toowoomba Regional Committee
• Member of Exercise and Sports Science Australia’s (ESSA) National Board, and Chair Audit, Finance and Risk Committee
• Chair, Farming Technology Group, Stahmann Webster Pty Ltd.

She’s held senior management positions at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), including Head of School and Research Centre Director roles.

Julie has also held the following positions:

• Member, West Moreton Hospital and Health Board, and Chair Audit and Risk Committee
• Member, Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE)
• Independent Member, Department of Education Audit and Risk Management Committee
• Director, Australian Centre for Sustainable Business and Development.

During Julie’s time at UniSQ she was a member of many university wide management boards and committees contributing to strategic and operational management of the University.

Professor Maree Toombs

PhD, GCEF, BPED

Professor Maree Toombs is also a member of the Board Safety and Quality Committee and Chair of the Board Health Equity Committee.

Maree is an Aboriginal woman with cultural linage to the Kooma people of Western Queensland and Euahlayi People of North Western New South Wales.

She was the first Aboriginal person to be awarded a PhD from the University of Southern Queensland.

Maree is a Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney. Her focus is on implementing their Reconciliation Action Plan as well as ensuring the continued support of Indigenous students at the University.

Maree is recognised nationally and internationally for her research work around mental health outcomes for Aboriginal people with multiple comorbidities.

She also holds the following positions:

• Member, Expert Advisory Committee for Indigenous Health to the Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand

Maree is a Churchill Fellowship recipient with over 20 years’ experience teaching and developing curriculum relating to Indigenous education and health.

Maree has published several journal articles related to improving the way people culturally work with Indigenous Australians in regional and remote areas.

She is also the co-author of ‘Indigenous Australians and Health’ published by Oxford Press.

Dr Stephen Harrop

RIPRN BSc PhD

Dr Stephen Harrop was appointed to our Board in 2022 and sits on the Board Safety and Quality and Board Health Equity Committees. He holds the following positions:

• Independent Chair Headspace Consortium Warwick
• Chair Community Advisory Group, Warwick Hospital & Health Service
• Rural Community Consultative Committee and Leadership Group member

Stephen has a varied professional career, with extensive emergency nursing experience in Queensland.

As an educator, he was a Senior Lecturer and Program Convenor for the Bachelor of Nursing Degree at Griffith University and coordinated Aboriginal Health Worker training for the Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education for all NT.

His doctoral research focussed on molecular parasitology at QIMR and Tropical Health at UQ, he then undertook post-doctoral studies at QUT and was appointed a scientist at the PAH.

Terrence Kehoe

RPEQ 00936 (RET), BE

Mr Terry Kehoe was appointed to our Board in 2022 and is a member of the Board Finance and Board Audit and Risk Committees.

Terry was a Consulting Engineer and is a founder of the Toowoomba based Engineering Company now known as Kehoe Myers Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd (1978). Mr Kehoe has practised in the fields of civil, structural, and hydraulic engineering design and construction for various private and institutional clients. With experience working in various roles including:

• Honorary Engineer for The Royal Agricultural Society Queensland (Toowoomba Showgrounds) – 10 years
• Toowoomba Preparatory School Foundation President

• Board Member of TPS School Board
• Engineers Australia Toowoomba Branch President
• Urban Development Institute of Australia
• Founding and Senior Director Kehoe Myers Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd

Mr Kehoe has Engineered and managed the design and construction delivery of infrastructure projects being a Consulting Engineer across many varying organisations including Toowoomba Base Hospital, St. Vincent’s Private Hospital Toowoomba, and St. Andrews Private Hospital Toowoomba.

Merrilyn Strohfeldt

Merrilyn was appointed to the Board in 2024 and is a member of Board Finance and Board Audit and Risk Committees.

Merrilyn Strohfeldt works in health consulting and board director roles following her retirement as the CEO of Darling Downs West Moreton PHN in early 2022. She has had direct and indirect involvement with primary health throughout her career with extensive experience in the delivery of disability services, health and rehabilitation services across Australian and State Government jurisdictions, the not-for-profit sector and private industry. She holds an Executive Masters in Public Administration from Griffith University and the Australian New Zealand School of Government, and a Bachelor of Speech Pathology from the University of Queensland.

Before taking up the PHN CEO role, Merrilyn was the Deputy Director General for the Queensland Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services. After joining the Department, Merrilyn worked in service delivery leadership roles and had direct responsibility for service delivery within her department for universal, prevention and early intervention services for youth mental health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing, and commissioning domestic violence support services, as well as the safety and wellbeing of children impacted by domestic violence. Merrilyn also led significant reforms in domestic violence prevention and oversaw the operations of the Office for Women.