News Archive

SPH and TKI are proud to congratulate Anne McKenzie on her Appointment as a Member of The Order of Australia.

A Perth consumer advocate, dedicated to ensuring the voices of health consumers are heard, has been recognised with the award of Member in the Order of Australia (AM). Anne McKenzie, who is a consumer advocate at the Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia’s School of Population Health, received the honour today in the Australia Day Honours list.

Anne was appointed to Membership (AM) in the General Division for her “Significant service to community health through consumer advocacy roles and strategic policy research and development”. This is a richly deserved Honour in recognition of many years of dedication and commitment to ensuring consumer and community  participation in health related research.

Telethon Kids Institute Director, Professor Jonathan Carapetis, said Anne had made an enormous contribution to consumer and community participation in health research.

“Anne has built the consumer and community participation program at the Institute and UWA to the point where it is clearly the best in Australia and one of the best in the world,” Professor Carapetis said. “The program connects researchers with community members and networks, making sure that consumers have a say in what research is done, how it is done, and making sure that our research make a real difference.  Anne’s dedication and passion ensures that the community is front and centre in our research projects.”

Professor Colleen Fisher, Head of the UWA School of Population Health, said the award was richly deserved.

“Anne’s commitment as a consumer advocate is unquestioned and her drive and energy in advocating for and advancing consumer and community participation in health research has led to a cultural shift among academic staff within the School – it has been amazing to witness,” said Professor Fisher.

“Involving consumers and the community in research is now regarded as common practice. Anne is considered an international expert and ‘go to person’ for information and advice on involving consumers and community in research and health consumers in Western Australia and beyond have benefited greatly from Anne’s commitment over at least the last 20 years.”

Anne established the role of Parent Advocate at Princess Margaret Hospital more than 20 years ago, bringing to the role her experiences as a parent of a child with a disability.  In this role, Anne received feedback from parents about their hospital experience to help improve future services.  She also established the complaints policy for both Princess Margaret and King Edward Memorial Hospitals, which became the basis for the state-wide implementation of the Health Department’s complaints policy.

Anne is an active member of the Health Consumers Council and has been involved with them since 1995 and served as a Board Member and Chairperson through times of organisational transition.  In 2012 Anne was made a Life Member of the Health Consumers Council in recognition of her service to the Council.  Anne continues to serve of a range of key national and state health committees for Consumers Health Forum of Australia and the Health Consumers Council.

In her current role, Anne leads a team that provides advice and support to researchers to allow them to incorporate consumer and community participation into their research projects.  Anne is committed to training researchers, health professionals and consumers and delivers training across Australia on how to involve consumers and the community in health research.  Anne’s expertise in consumer advocacy is recognised internationally and she has been invited this year to London and Washington to talk about the consumer and community participation training and program.

Congratulations Anne – you have joined a very illustrious list of those who have been bestowed this Honour.

Media references

David Stacey (UWA Media Manager)  (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 32 637 716

Tammy Gibbs (Telethon Kids Institute)  (+61 8) 9489 7963 / (+61 4) 08 949 698