Scheduled Medicines Expert Committee members

Members of the Scheduled Medicines Expert Committee are appointed for a period of three years in accordance with the terms of reference.

Mr Brett Simmonds, Chair

Brett Simmonds is the Chair of the Pharmacy Board of Australia. He is also Program Director- Regulation in Pharmacy Education and Practice at the School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland.

Brett has extensive experience in the regulation of pharmacists and has had several roles which focus on public protection including as current chair of the Ahpra Scheduled Medicines Expert Committee. Brett is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has served many years on the Mater Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee.

Brett has a Master of Health Policy and is the current Chair of the Regulators Advisory Group of the Federation of International Pharmacists and is also a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy (Education and Leadership/Management).

Ms Vanessa Brotto, core member

Vanessa Brotto is a former nurse academic at Deakin University where she worked for 17 years. During this time Vanessa designed curricula and lectured extensively on medications/pharmacology in both the Bachelor of Nursing and Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) degrees.

Vanessa works clinically as an intensive care nurse at a major metropolitan hospital and has been involved in medication related research with two large Victorian hospitals.

Her research focus has centred on clinical governance, risk and reporting of medication errors in acute care hospitals. She has been a reviewer for a number of Australian and International nursing journals and has contributed to numerous nursing and pharmacology textbooks as both writer and reviewer. Vanessa co-wrote Clinical Dosage Calculations for Australia and New Zealand which is now being updated into its fourth edition.

Professor Isabelle Jalbert, core member

Dr Isabelle Jalbert is Professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science at University of NSW Sydney. Isabelle is an academic and a clinician-researcher (optometrist with therapeutic prescribing endorsement and public health practitioner) who’s research, teaching, clinical care, and leadership activities centre around improving the delivery of eye care in all communities.

Isabelle has held several roles focusing on protection of the public including as a Director on the Board of the Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand and as professional member for the Optometry Council of New South Wales. She engages extensively with clinicians, optometrists in training, other health professions and the public through media appearances and is an advocate for effective research informed eye care delivery.

Isabelle was awarded University and National awards for Teaching Excellence in 2020-21 for leadership that enhances optometry education through development of evidence-based curriculum and teaching resources, and contributions to teacher training, credentialing assessments and competencies for optometrists. She was also guest editor for special issues on Ocular Therapeutics and Public Health Optometry and Indigenous Eye Health for Clinical Experimental Optometry in 2021/23.

Ms Lara Moltoni, core member

Lara Moltoni is a Registered Nurse with varied experience across clinical research, acute care, aged care and consulting. Lara worked clinically in the tertiary sector in NSW, before spending 10 years running clinical trials in the hospital setting, in an academic research institute and for pharmaceutical companies. Since that time she completed an MBA and transitioned to health care consulting where she worked on a range of projects including operational performance, Federal strategy for patient recruitment in clinical research, hospital commissioning, model of care development, safety and quality and risk management. She has work around Australia including in rural and remote settings, and in the Middle East.

More recently she was the Executive Director of a large residential aged care facility and the Executive Director for Safety and Quality, Governance and Consumer Engagement for a major Health Service in WA.

In her current role she is leading the development of the workforce strategy for a public WA health service provider. She brings her background in phase I-IV clinical trials, clinical experience, service reform, risk management, safety, quality and workforce strategy to the committee.

Professor Lisa Nissen, core member

Professor Lisa Nissen is Program Director for Health Workforce Optimisation, Centre for Business and Economics of Health, University of Queensland. She has been a health practitioner, leader, educator, researcher, and implementation scientist in Australia for more than 25 years.

Lisa’s research has led to major health system change, including the introduction of immunisation services by pharmacists throughout Australia and the implementation of prescribing competencies and frameworks for health professionals nationally. Her focus is on health service optimisation including scope of practice and Quality Use of Medicines. She is a Fellow of both the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.