Tinto Cherian

Tinto joined the Health Management Internship Program in 2022. His current placement is at the Victorian Department of Health within the System Reform Unit, System Reform and Planning Branch.

Tinto has previously completed placement with Barwon Health in the Strategy & Planning Division, working on policy governance and supporting the Directorate performance Meetings. Following this, he completed a placement at Western Health in Outpatients Adult Specialist Clinics Department Operations, working on Waitlist management strategies and Outpatients Data Scorecard.

He holds a Masters in Health Management from UNSW, Postgraduate Certificate in Critical Care and Bachelor of Nursing. Prior to joining the program, he worked in regional and metro hospitals across NSW, ACT and Victoria  for ten years. He was also involved in translational research to improve the workflow and reduce inpatient length of stay post elective procedure.

With the program Tinto aims to be a proficient health service leader by thinking strategically, inspiring others, leading change process, using policy to advantage and contributing to improved health outcomes. He is equally passionate about the economic and management aspects for a cost effective and innovative health care. Building upon the diverse experience he intends to use an evidence informed approach, supported by a collaborative and multidisciplinary effort to solve health sector problems and manage resources efficiently for better health care delivery.

Sally Guo

Sally commenced the Health Management Internship Program in 2022. She is currently completing her third placement at the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority. Prior to this, Sally has completed her placement in the North East Metro Performance team of the Department of Health (Vic) and Barwon Health in Strategy and Planning.

 Sally holds a Master of Public Health degree from Melbourne University and a Bachelor of Midwifery from Monash University. She is currently studying a Master of Health Service Management at Griffith University. Prior to joining the program, Sally spent a decade working as a clinical midwife before working as a Public Health Officer and a Infection Prevention Nurse. 

Sally joined the program to gain the skills and experience required to make a wider and positive influence on the health care system. She is hoping to develop her leadership skills to become a leader her team and community would trust and is hoping to gain experience in Strategic Planning, Project Management and Operations through this internship. Sally is passionate about making health services more accessible and efficient for patients and their families.

Saskia Hartog

Saskia began the Health Management Intern Program in January 2022, and is currently completing her penultimate placement at Mercy Health Services, working closely with the executive team. 

Prior to this, Saskia has completed two placements, the first of which was at Dhelkaya Health in rural Victoria, where she was engaged in Community Health and Services. Projects included reforming the existing public intoxication policy to a health-focused model based on recommendations from the Royal Commission, with the intent of reducing contact with the justice system, as well as a COVID-19 targeted case vaccination program, aiming to reach vulnerable populations including children, homeless and vaccine-hesitant populations. In the second half of the year, Saskia completed a placement at the Department of Health, where she worked across the South East Metro and Gippsland region performance teams. Saskia was involved in processes related to oversight and performance for health services within the region, managing general operational matters or concerns and media issues, as well as functioning as the point of contact for health services in the Department. During her time there, Saskia was involved in several projects, including the evaluation of Gippsland region annual reports, submissions to the Rural Health Infrastructure Fund and quarterly performance meetings, as well as conducting risk assessment evaluations of health services, determining the necessary level of support and monitoring required based upon performance against key performance indicators. 

Prior to the intern program, originally hailing from Sydney, Saskia has completed a Bachelor of Medical Science (Neuroscience) and a Master of Public Health (Health Promotion and Advocacy) at the University of Sydney. This provided her with the opportunity to participate in research work with the Faculty of Health and Medicine, where she was involved in the systematic review of a model for child engagement and development delivered in afterschool settings. Saskia also worked as a member of the Client Relations Management team for the Western Sydney COVID-19 Vaccination program, which entailed building and maintaining positive relationships with key stakeholders, to enable the vaccine rollout to progress efficiently and reach target population groups. 

Throughout the program, Saskia hopes to develop her leadership and management skills in order to become a positive and inspirational healthcare leader. She has a keen interest in strategy and planning, enjoys solving a good problem and has a strong understanding of health policy and project delivery. Saskia hopes to utilise her skillset to improve healthcare systems and thereby influence patient outcomes across the country. 

Sarah Monaghan

Sarah joined the Health Management Internship Program in 2022. She is currently at Barwon Health completing a placement in Strategy and Planning. Previously, Sarah has completed placements at Mercy Health in Operations and Project Management, and at Northern Health in Operations and the Transformation Unit. 

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours) from Monash University. She is currently completing a Master of Health Services Management at Griffith University. Prior to joining the program Sarah worked as a Physiotherapist across multiple public and private tertiary hospitals in Victoria providing care in acute, subacute and community settings.

Over the course of the program Sarah has developed an interest in healthcare operations, project management and innovation. She looks forward to continuing to develop her leadership skills and management skills in a practical environment with the support of healthcare leaders. Sarah hopes to use the skills and experiences she gains from the program to facilitate efficiencies and improvements within healthcare systems and provide high quality and timely care to all members of the community. 

Soumya Shah

Soumya is a second-year intern, having commenced the Health Management Internship Program (HMIP) in 2022. Her current placement is at Alfred Health, within the Planning & Partnerships branch of the Strategy & Planning team.  

Most recently, Soumya completed a placement at Monash Health with the Business Services department. She contributed to the development, consolidation and documentation of financial processes across several programs; and co-authored the Eating Disorders service plan with the Strategy & Planning team. During her first placement at the West Gippsland Healthcare Group (Warragul), Soumya gained exposure to high-level, strategic decisions made at Executive and Board of Director levels. This was accompanied by a robust understanding of operational requirements of a rural hospital via participating in projects across a range of departments. 

Soumya holds a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Laboratory Medicine) from RMIT and has previously worked as a medical scientist in public and private hospital pathologies across Melbourne since 2013. She is currently pursuing a Master of Health Service Management from Griffith University as part of the HMIP. 

Soumya is motivated by the opportunity to work alongside industry leaders to gain a deeper understanding of our healthcare system and develop her leadership and management skills. She wants to implement her knowledge and experience to drive continual improvement and promote better outcomes for healthcare workers and their patients.