Vic 1st year interns

Leah Agustin 

Leah is a 1st year Heath Service Management Intern and is currently undertaking her first placement at Barwon Health's Strategy and Planning team. 

She holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Chemical and Materials engineering from the University of Auckland. Over the last four years, prior to joining the program in 2023, Leah has undertaken a variety of roles in consulting, project management, process engineering and asset planning. Her experience to date has predominantly focused on the public health space, where she has contributed towards key water and wastewater projects across Aotearoa (New Zealand). 

Through this program, Leah hopes to gain invaluable industry knowledge from passionate healthcare leaders, and successfully transition into a career in healthcare. She hopes to gain the necessary skills required to drive equitable and sustainable systemic changes for patients, healthcare workers and the wider community. 

Kosta Katsaros

Kosta commenced the Health Management Intern Program (HMIP) in January 2023, and is currently completing his first placement at West Gippsland Healthcare Group in regional Victoria. He has a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) from La Trobe University and a Graduate Certificate of Pharmacy Practice from Monash University. Prior to joining the program, Kosta has worked as a hospital pharmacist, completing his internship at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and then working as a clinical pharmacist at Monash Health.
At Monash Health, Kosta completed the Society of Hospital Pharmacists Australia’s (SHPA) Foundation Residency Program, undertaking rotations in surgical & upper gastrointestinal, general medicine, dispensary, and coronary care. In completing the program, he published a research article in the Pharmacy GRIT journal titled ‘Analysis of an afterhours pharmacist on-call service. Do we need an extended hours service?”. After completing the program, Kosta was working as a hospital outreach medication review pharmacist, hospital in the home coordinator pharmacist, and in clinical trials. 

Throughout the HMIP, Kosta hopes to broaden his knowledge of the health care system, and improve his skills in business literacy and change leadership. He has a passion for quality and safety and continuous improvement, where he hopes to gain further exposure to exciting health management projects to improve health outcomes for the population. 

Jessica Lawless

Jess started in the ACHSM intern program in January 2023 and is currently undertaking her first placement in the Department of Health’s Surgery Recovery and Reform Branch. She has a Bachelor in Health Science and Masters in Physiotherapy Practice through La Trobe University. She has also recently completed a Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Management through Deakin University and is excited to take on the opportunity to further her study in completing a Master of Health Services Management at Griffith University. 

Prior to joining the program, Jess worked as a physiotherapist for over 8 years in acute care across major public metropolitan hospitals in Victoria and in the NHS in London. She is excited to have the opportunity to gain practical healthcare management experience with the support of healthcare leaders over a range of placements in the industry.  Through this program Jess hopes to broaden her healthcare experience and develop a range of skills relating to management, strategic planning, and leadership. 

Ling Tan

With a passion for health (and food), Ling studied a Bachelor (Honours) degree in Nutrition and Dietetics at Deakin University. After graduating, Ling worked in various roles within the health sector including clinical research, private consulting and health coaching. Ling spent the majority of her career practising as a dietitian at a community health service, where she provided a range of dietetics services to people who require nutrition assessment and interventions. 

Never ceasing to learn, Ling joined the HMIP with the goal to further increase her knowledge of the Australian health system and to diversify her skillset, particularly in strategy planning, project management and operation. Ling aspires to be a leader in the health sector, one with compassion, integrity and unwavering commitment to improve health and wellbeing of the Australian people.