David Rowlands knows where all the skeletons are buried when it comes to digital health development in Australia.
Health and informatics veteran David Rowlands has been appointed as the new chair of the board of digital health standards and product developer HL7 Australia.
Mr Rowlands led the development of the Australian Digital Health Agency’s Health Interoperability Standards Development, Maintenance and Management Model for Australia in 2020 and of the Australian FHIR Management Framework in 2023.
“I look forward to supporting Australia’s vibrant and growing HL7 community during the modernisation of Australia’s health sector,” he said.
“Patient-centred care that addresses the complex care Australians require simply cannot be delivered without the safe, reliable and rapid movement of clinical and other information, and HL7 standards, particularly FHIR, developed openly and transparently, are central to that.”
Mr Rowlands is also on the board of WentWest, the primary health network in Western Sydney, and has served on the boards of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health, and aged care and child health service providers.
He replaces Dr Isobel Frean as chair. Dr Frean remains on the board as a non-executive director.
“I have been honoured to serve as chair for the past three years and in that time to have earned the trust and support of the HL7 Australia community,” she said.
“I am proud of every volunteer member of the board. Together we have positioned HL7 as up to the job of supporting the pace and development of interoperability standards required to help grow and transform Australia’s healthcare system.
“As a continuing member of the board, I look forward to furthering the effectiveness of the standards development community.”
Also joining the board is Dr Andy Bond, a digital health architect with experience across government and industry through standards contributions through HL7 Australia, Standards Australia IT-014, as well as HL7 International.
Dr Bond is an interoperability architect at Magentus with a focus on their growing interoperability investment in FHIR-based partnerships.
He and Mr Rowlands replace David Pare and Clinton Hart as board members.
