Mitch has been a health consumer advocate for over 40 years. He has a passion to see the silos in health care and research dismantled and replaced with a coherent system that supports consumers. While there has been progress, there is still much more to be done for consumers to be true partners in co- design, implementation and review of research, systems and services that are meant to support them.

Mitch is the Consumer Advisor in the Adaptive Health Intelligence team co-located between Telethon Kids Institute and the University of Sydney. He is also Community Involvement Coordinator at the Telethon Kids Institute where he supports and promotes community involvement in research, collaborating with researchers to ensure consumers are involved throughout all aspects of research from bench to bed and into the community.

Mitch believes it is critical to have community involved throughout the research cycle and not just once a project is already underway. For research to have true value it must be useful and used. He is the immediate past President of Cystic Fibrosis Australia and a Trustee of the Australian CF Research Trust. He is a founding member and past Chair of the Heath Consumers’ Council of WA and a past Chair of the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF).

He has previously been a member of the NHMRC Research Committee and chaired a working committee to review the original Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research. Mitch has been involved in Health Technology Assessment and served as a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee for over 11 years and is a current member of the WA Drug Evaluation Panel.