Felicity commenced as Chief Executive of Peninsula Health in February 2018, following a career in healthcare that commenced more than 35 years ago.
She describes her professional achievements as exceeding all expectations. Felicity was among the first nursing graduates to gain a Diploma in Applied Science in Nursing from Lincoln Institute, rather than undertaking her nursing training through the more traditional hospital-based program.
After completing her critical care nursing qualification at Royal Melbourne Hospital in the early 1990s, Felicity travelled to Saudi Arabia, just after the Gulf War, to work as a manager in an intensive care unit at one of the large hospitals on the east coast. While there, she undertook a degree course in nursing via correspondence. Such courses were new at the time, and being pre-email and internet, course materials and assignments were posted, and contact with lecturers was through long-distance landline calls. It was made all the more challenging if course materials were censored through the Saudi postal system.
Returning to Australia in the late ’90s, Felicity started work as a clinical nurse consultant in the ICU at Royal Melbourne Hospital, completed a Graduate Diploma in Health Counselling at Victoria University, then a Master of Public Health at Monash University, graduating in 2002. It was during this time that she moved into executive health management. Her previous roles have included Operations Director at Royal Melbourne Hospital, Executive Director Medical Services at Barwon Health in Geelong, and Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
In her current role as Chief Executive of Peninsula Health, she oversees 7,500 staff and leads the development and execution of Peninsula Health’s long-term strategy and organisational goals. She is also a non-executive director for HealthShare Victoria.
