Board of Directors

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Board of directors

Mr John Schaffer

B Com (hons), FCPA, FAICD Chairman of the Board

Notable achievements & placements

  • 1972: Joined Schaffer Corporation.
  • 1974: Appointed Operations Manager of Schaffer Corporation.
  • 1988: Appointed Chairman and Managing Director of Schaffer Corporation.

Across more than 45 years, Mr Schaffer has accrued extensive experience in managing both private and publicly listed companies. His involvement has contributed to their corporate expansion across the globe, in industries ranging from manufacturing and equity investment to property and development.

Mr Schaffer is passionate about the work Ear Science Institute Australia contributes to the West Australian community. His particular interests relate to Ear Science’s Gift of Hearing initiative: an annual appeal and charity dinner which enables the Institute to provide ear-related therapies and treatments to worthy individuals across the state, and to establish and grow new avenues of research.

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Winthrop Professor Marcus Atlas

MBBS, FRACS Director

Garnett Passe Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation Chair of Otolaryngology,
The University of Western Australia
Director, Ear Science Institute Australia

Notable achievements & placements

  • 2000: Inaugural Foundation Chair in Otolaryngology at The University of Western Australia.
  • 2001: Founding Director of Ear Science Institute Australia.
  • 2006: Joined the Court of Examiners, and the Royal Australian College of Surgeons.
  • 2011: Recipient of the Australian Medical Association Award and the Deafness Council’s Dr Harry Blackmore Award.
  • 2013: Recipient of the Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery medal.
  • 2014: Western Australian of the Year finalist in the professional category.
  • 2015: Western Australian finalist, Australian of the year.

Professor Marcus Atlas is a surgeon and scientist specialising in ear and hearing disorders achieved by his commitment to clinical surgery as well as translational scientific research. Professor Atlas was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1990. In 1991 he was awarded the Athelstan & Amy Saw Medical Scholarships to continue his academic and clinical work in Cambridge, United Kingdom, followed by Pittsburgh, USA and then Sydney, Australia. In 2000 he became the Inaugural Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation Chair in Otolaryngology and in 2001 the founding Director of ESIA. ESIA is now an acknowledged leader in clinical and translational research in ear and hearing health.

Ear Science has prospered under Professor Atlas’ directorship, particularly through his work to define three major research groups – clinical research, computer and information science and molecular and cellular otolaryngology. Professor Atlas’ other area of scientific interest has centred on researching and bioengineering the tympanic membrane at both molecular and cellular levels.

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Mr Peter Abery

BSc(Eng), MSc(Eng), MBA, FAICD, MIET, ISMP Harvard Board member

Peter Abery is a business and strategy consultant, and professional director. He is also an education facilitator for the Australian Institute of Company Directors on their various public and in-boardroom courses, including the Company Directors Course, and the Role of the Chairman.

He is past non executive company director and chairman of a number of publicly listed, unlisted and private companies.  He is currently the non executive chairman of the Western Australia Institute of Sport, and a non executive director of the Fathering Project. 

He has held various Managing Director and Chief Executive roles in Australia, the UK and South Africa, and also worked in the USA.

Mr Abery joined the Ear Science Board in 2008 after previously working with Winthrop Professor Marcus Atlas on the Institute’s development. He is committed to Ear Science in its noble aim to make a significant contribution to society, and to continue its legacy as a respected not-for-profit organisation.

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Professor Michael Quinlan

LLD, MB BS, MD, FRACP Board member

Notable achievements

  • 1989: Foundation Trustee and Director, University of Western Australia. 
  • 1998: Awarded the College Medal of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
  • 1999: Foundation Dean of Health, University of Notre Dame, Australia.
  • 2003: Awarded the Federation Medal.
  • 2004: Awarded Doctor of Laws, University of Notre Dame, Australia.
  • 2006: Awarded the Hippocratic Bust by the Australian Medical Association (WA).
  • 2006: Appointed Deputy Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame Australia.
  • 2008: Appointed Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame, Australia.

Professor Quinlan is a reputable identity within Australia’s medical community. He holds many placements at health organisations and tertiary institutions across the country, including Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians; Professor of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame Australia and Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia; Emeritus Consultant Physician at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital; Director of the Medical Teaching Unit at St John of God Hospital, Subiaco; Chairman of the National Governing Board, St John of God Healthcare; Chairman of the Foundation Board,  St John of God Healthcare; Director of the Inaugural Board of the Sisters of Charity National Governing Board; Director of the Feilman Foundation; and WA Director at the Child Health Research Foundation.

Professor Quinlan’s considerable scientific and research experience has made him a valuable addition to the Ear Science Board. He believes in fostering and encouraging collaboration amongst researchers.

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Mr Peter Millington

B.Sc(Hons), M.Env.St, M.Sc, FAICD Board member

Notable achievements & placements

  • 1992-2006: Director for Policy and Operations at WA’s governmental Fisheries Department.
  • 2006-2008: Appointed acting Chief Executive Officer for the Department of Fisheries.
  • Chief Executive Officer at chemical and forensic science services provider, Chemistry Centre WA.

From his work in ChemCentre and the Department of Fisheries, Mr Millington has accumulated extensive experience in the management and translation of scientific research. He has served on a number of West Australian and Commonwealth boards and committees – including as a Director on the Board of the WA Marine Science Institution, and agencies with interests in marine science and its application to policy outcomes.

Mr Millington brings a wealth of experience to Ear Science’s Board of Directors, covering both scientific research and corporate strategy. He looks forward to seeing the positive effects Ear Science’s health aims will bring to the West Australian community.

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Jamie Cullen

B.Com, CA, F.Fin, FGIA, FAICD Board member

Jamie has over 30 years of business experience spanning a range of industries in Australia and the US. Jamie is currently Chief Executive Officer of energy infrastructure developer, Pacific Energy Ltd, and was previously CEO of two other listed companies, both of which were acquired pursuant to takeover offers.

Prior to 1995, Jamie was a financial executive in the motion picture industry in Los Angeles and spent his early years with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Perth and Los Angeles.

The activities and initiatives of Ear Science Institute Australia are particularly close to Jamie’s heart, after he lost most of his hearing in his right ear as a child due to cholesteatoma. He underwent reconstructive surgery in 1992 which partially restored hearing functionality.

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Sandra Bellekom

B.Psych., Dip.Aud., M.Aud.S.A.(CCP) Chief Executive Officer & Board Member

Sandra Bellekom is the Chief Executive Officer of Ear Science Institute Australia.  She has dedicated the past two decades to helping people around the world enjoy better hearing. 

Her career began as an audiologist in Queensland and she gained significant experience via audiological positions throughout Australia, before expanding her work portfolio to include managerial and business development appointments within Australia, Singapore and the United States of America.

This mix of strong business acumen and extensive experience in clinical service and patient centred care, has provided Sandra with a unique ability to view all facets of a hearing organisation, from the overarching organisation view through to the critical frontline of patient care. Sandra has acquired a skill set and passion to enable her to contribute to improving hearing health locally, remotely, nationally and internationally, in both the public and private sectors.

Sandra is committed to the growth of an evidence-based approach for those with hearing loss by utilising advances in technology and automation to drive translational and clinically relevant research. This will serve the growing need in ear and hearing services both locally and beyond. She strives to use these rapidly advancing areas to assist in her primary goal of reducing the period of time that most patients take to seek help for their hearing loss; this is presently a staggering seven years.

Sandra is the former President of the WA Chapter of Audiology Society of Australia; a current Adjunct Research Fellow at the Ear Sciences Centre, School of Medicine UWA; Management Committee Member of WA Health Translation Network; Lions Hearing Foundation Professional Board Member; a Lions Australia Member with South Perth Lions Club, part of Accelerate Australia Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals WA node; and Management Committee Member of Ralph and Patricia Sarich Neuroscience Research Institute.

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