Mutual Board

Dr Gannon was appointed to the Board in June 2018 to fill a casual vacancy and was subsequently elected in November 2018. Dr Gannon was appointed President in November 2020. 

Dr Gannon is an Obstetrician & Gynaecologist in private and public practice in Perth. He is Head of Department, Obstetrics & Gynaecology at St John of God Subiaco Hospital.

Dr Gannon also works in the Perinatal Loss Service at King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) and is the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) representative on the WA Perinatal and Infant Mortality Committee. He is interested in medical problems in pregnancy, high risk pregnancy and stillbirth prevention.

Dr Gannon is a member of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Board of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) in WA and was appointed to the Board of Amana Living in December 2021. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD).

Dr Gannon graduated from the University of Western Australia, before training at Royal Perth Hospital, KEMH, the Rotunda Hospital Dublin and St Mary’s Hospital London.

Dr Gannon was Federal President of the AMA from 2016 to 2018, during which time he made direct representations on the Medical Indemnity First Principles Review. Dr Gannon was also President of AMA WA between 2014 and 2016 and at the same time the Chair of the Federal AMA Ethics & Medicolegal Committee.

Dr Gannon has a long association with MDA National, joining as a medical student, serving as a member of the President’s Medical Liaison Committee, and as a member of MDA National Insurance's Cases Committee (Western/Central) since 2011.

Dr Gannon is also a member of the MDAN Group's Capital Committee, Nominations & Remuneration Committee and an ex-officio member of the Clinical Underwriting Committee. Dr Gannon was appointed to the Board of MDA National Insurance Pty Ltd in November 2020.

Dr Benson was elected to the Mutual Board in November 2018, served as Chair of Finance from November 2020 until February 2022 and was elected as Vice President in February 2022. Dr Benson is a principal specialist GP in a busy non-corporate clinic in Melbourne’s west. Originally trained in the UK, he worked for a number of years in most hospital specialities before specialising. Dr Benson is an AGPT Trainer and University of Melbourne GP Supervisor. 

Outside of clinical practice, Dr Benson has been actively involved with RACGP, serving on the education expert committee from 2016-2018. He is currently involved in the well-known RACGP awareness campaign designed to lift the community profile of Primary Care, as one of the faces of “Your Specialist In Life”. 

Dr Benson has served on several management committees here and the UK and holds representative roles, including as an MDA National ambassador.

Dr Gilpin is an Orthopaedic Surgeon in Queensland with a sole focus of practice in upper limb surgery. He was appointed to the Mutual Board in early 2010 to fill a casual vacancy and was subsequently elected in November 2010. Dr Gilpin was appointed to the MDA National Insurance Board in November 2021.

Dr Gilpin’s appointments with MDA National include Chair of MDA National Insurance’s Clinical Underwriting Committee, past Chair of the Queensland State Advisory Panel (previously the President’s Medical Liaison Council) and he was previously a member of MDAN Group's Audit and Risk Committees (2016-2017) and of the Queensland Advisory Committee (2003-2009).

Dr Gilpin has been in practice for over 30 years, during which time he has been involved in the active promotion of upper limb surgery, having served as both President of the Shoulder and Elbow Society of Australia and more recently on the Board of Hand Surgery. Dr Gilpin is a member of the Australian Orthopaedic Association, the Queensland Shoulder Surgery Society, the Queensland Hand Surgery Society and the Royal College of Surgeons.

Dr Gilpin is also involved in teaching, research and assisting in the ongoing education of both the medical profession and paramedical groups. 

A/Prof Hollands was appointed to the Mutual Board in August 2017 to fill a casual vacancy and was subsequently elected in November 2017. He also serves on MDA National Insurance's Cases (Eastern) Committee.  A/Prof Hollands has previously served on the Mutual Board between November 2013 and November 2016. 

A/Prof Hollands is a General Surgeon at Westmead Hospital (NSW) and is Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery of the Western Clinical School of Sydney University. He has postgraduate training in gastro-oesophageal and hepatopancreatobiliary surgery.

A/Prof Hollands trained at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, and later at The Royal Postgraduate Medical School and Guys Hospital in London. He then worked in Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Boston) and Queen Mary’s Hospital (Hong Kong) before joining the staff at Westmead in 1986.

A/Prof Hollands has Fellowships in surgery from The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the American College of Surgeons. He was formerly Chair of the Early Management of Severe Trauma Committee and the NSW Regional Committee of RACS when he played a significant role in tort law reform in NSW.

He was elected to the Council of RACS in 2006, served as Treasurer from 2010 to 2011, and was elected President in 2012. He was the Chairman for the Committee of Presidents of Medical Colleges from 2012 to 2014.

Michael was previously the Chairman of the Health Care Quality and Safety Committee for Western Sydney Health District, having retired from the position in early 2021. He was recently a member of the Expert Advisory Group established by AHPRA to review revalidation in Australian medical practice. He also is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Naidoo was elected to the Mutual Board in November 2018 and served as Vice President from November 2020 until February 2022. Dr Naidoo is a specialist medical administrator with experience in clinical and executive roles in both the public and private health sectors. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a Masters in Health Management and dual fellowships with the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators and Australasian College of Health Service Management.

Dr Naidoo is also the Chair of MDA National’s Queensland State Advisory Committee and is a member of the MDAN Group's Nominations & Remuneration Committee.

Dr Pascott was elected to the Mutual Board in November 2016 and is also a member of the MDAN Group's Audit Committee and Risk Committee and was previously a member of the Audit Committee.

She is an experienced general practitioner and previous medical director at the University of Western Australia.

Dr Pascott is a board member of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mr Scudamore was appointed to the Mutual Board in November 2013.  He joined the MDA National Insurance Board in July 2012 and was later appointed Chairman of the Insurance Board on 11 October 2014.  He is a member of MDAN Group's Audit Committee, Risk Committee and Capital Committee and is Chair of the Nominations & Remuneration Committee.

Mr Scudamore has more than 40 years work experience, 28 of which have been as a partner of KPMG providing advisory services and, earlier in his career, audit services to companies in a variety of industries including energy and natural resources, financial services and government clients.

Mr Scudamore is a Director of Pilbara Minerals, Regis Resources and Australis Oil and Gas. He is also Vice Chair and a Trustee of the Western Australia Museum. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia. In February 2021, Curtin University conferred upon him an Honorary Doctorate of the University. 

Consultant General Physician and Geriatrician, FRACP and Stroke Physician.

Dr Wesseldine was elected to the Mutual Board in November 2019 and in February 2022 was elected as Chair of Finance. Dr Wesseldine is a dual trained specialist in Geriatric and General Medicine and is committed to the training and teaching of medical students, junior doctors and general practitioners. Amongst other roles, Dr Wesseldine has worked as Director of Physician Training and Postgraduate Medical Education at St John of God Hospital in Subiaco and has been involved in developing the WA General Medicine Advanced Training scheme. Dr Wesseldine was previously Director of Clinical Innovation and Reform at Joondalup Health Campus.

Dr Wesseldine is also a member of the MDAN Group's Audit Committee, the WA State Advisory Committee and was previously a member of the Clinical Underwriting Committee.

Dr Genevieve Yates was elected to the Mutual Board in November 2021. For the past twenty years, Dr Yates has worked as a GP in regional Queensland, NSW and Victoria and is currently practising in Ballarat, Victoria.  She has combined clinical work with various medical educator, regulatory, medical writing, management and leadership roles.  She worked full time as RACGP's General Manager of Education from January 2020 to March 2021.

Dr Yates’ previous positions include Principal Medical Education Advisor for the RACGP, the RACGP Queensland Censor, Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee Pre-Fellowship Education, a performance assessor for AHPRA and Associate Director of Training at North Coast GP Training.  As a member of the MDA National facilitator team since 2013, Dr Yates presented over 100 medicolegal educational sessions for MDA National and sat on the Educational Services Advisory Group (ESAG) from 2013-19.