Our leadership and governance

The Strategy and Operations Division takes a whole-of-agency approach, encompassing policy coordination, agency strategy, data governance, stewardship, and enabling functions.

Paul’s Commonwealth public service career has spanned 25 years across policy, program, service delivery, corporate and leadership roles in a range of social policy areas including immigration, citizenship, health and aged care. 

Paul led the Financial Management Division in what was then the Department of Health and Aged Care from April 2019 where he was responsible for administering the department’s Financial Strategy and for oversight of its system of financial controls and assurance. 

From August 2023, Paul was the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the National Mental Health Commission where he led a series of cultural and organisational reforms in response to findings of an Independent Investigation into the Commission. 

Paul joined the interim CDC in late September 2025 as Deputy Director-General designate for Strategy and Operations, where he helped lead the ramp up of organisational readiness work to support the establishment of the Australian CDC on 1 January 2026.

The Communicable Diseases Branch coordinates public health efforts to prevent, monitor, and control specific communicable diseases, with special attention to priority populations and disease control goals. This includes end-to-end consideration of communicable diseases and health threats, including surveillance, policy and strategy. 

Prior to this role, Stephanie served as Australia’s Ambassador for Regional Health Security from March 2020 until October 2023. As Ambassador, Dr Williams supported the advancement of Australia’s interests in the Indo-Pacific by fostering linkages between Australia’s world-class public health and medical research experts and partners. 

She guided the implementation of 2 major health initiatives: Partnerships for a Healthy Region ($620 million, 2022–23 to 2026–27) and the $523 million regional Vaccine Access Initiative. She also was Australia’s Alternate Member on the Board of the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.

Dr Williams is a Public Health Physician and Epidemiologist. She was the Principal Specialist Health at the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2017 to 2023, and previously served as:

• Medical Adviser to the Chief Medical Officer
• Public Health Registrar for Victoria’s Chief Health Officer
• Epidemiologist in Global Health Security for the World Health Organization (WHO)
• medical doctor for Medicines Sans Frontières and the WHO. 

Dr Williams holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Monash University, a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from James Cook University, and a Master of Applied Epidemiology from Australian National University (ANU). She is a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine.

The One Health, Climate and Environment Branch delivers coordinated public health efforts to prevent, monitor, and control health threats associated with the environment, animals, occupational exposures and antimicrobial resistance. This includes consideration of One Health and climate change issues, covering surveillance, policy and strategy.

Rajan Martin has worked in the public sector in senior policy and program implementation roles for nearly 30 years including in areas of aged care, public health, First Nations health and hearing and disability care. 

He has undergraduate Arts and Science degrees from the Australian National University and a Master of Medical Sciences (Clinical Epidemiology) from the University of Newcastle.

The Preparedness Branch strengthens national public health security through laboratory networks, biosecurity measures, infectious disease intelligence, and emergency preparedness.

Emma Denehy is an experienced public health expert, who previously held the role of Assistant Secretary, Public Health and Surveillance, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. 

Emma has more than 25 years’ experience in state, national and international public health systems for infectious diseases. She brings expertise in disease surveillance, outbreak response and laboratory diagnostics. 

Emma is an Epidemiologist and Certified Health Informatics Practitioner, leading strategic public health initiatives, including national surveillance programs and policy. 

Emma brings a forward-thinking mindset, championing innovation and equitable public health strategies to deliver impactful, data-informed solutions that strengthen Australia’s public health systems to protect communities from emerging and ongoing health threats.  

The Data, Evidence and Analytics Branch governs a modern, ethical, and intelligent public health data and surveillance ecosystem to deliver insights for action. 

Jacob Madden is the Assistant Secretary of the Data, Evidence and Analysis Branch and the Chief Data and Analytics Officer for the Australian Centre for Disease Control.

Before joining the Australian CDC, Jacob led the Strategy Branch to deliver the policy development and legislation work to establish the Australian CDC. This included extensive stakeholder engagement and complex policy work with state and territory governments to design a data sharing regime to support public health activities.

Previous roles in the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing include leading the response to COVID-19 and other emergencies in aged care settings and supporting aged care prudential reforms. This included building and redesigning reporting of COVID-19 cases and other supports to aged care homes, harnessing data to support delivery of government supports. 

He is familiar with working with complex data and establishing processes to ensure strong data governance and the quality of reporting outputs. 

Throughout roles across the Australian Public Service, Jacob has delivered complex strategic policy projects and advice, anchored in data and evidence. A consistent theme has been in using data to tell a compelling policy narrative in support of a national policy agenda – across health, aged care, social security, and international development portfolios. 

Jacob holds a Master of Public Health from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons)/Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame Australia. 

The Operations and Integrity Branch enables effective public health leadership through integrated corporate services, governance, and strategic workforce and infrastructure support. 

Bernard Philbrick is the Chief Operating Officer at the Australian CDC, and led the establishment of corporate and governance functions for the agency. 

Previously, he led the Department of Health’s Financial Business Support, Strategic Procurement and Budget branches, supporting financial management capability uplift, COVID‑19 procurement and major construction programs. Bernard has extensive Commonwealth Budget experience at the Department of Finance, where he led policy and program analysis on significant aspects of the Education, Industry, Health and Attorney-General portfolios.

Bernard’s leadership style is collaborative, collegiate, and empowering – he builds high-performing teams by fostering trust, encouraging open communication, and supporting innovation. He is known for his approachable and good-humoured manner, prioritising staff welfare and continuous improvement. 

He holds law and arts degrees from the ANU and has received Australia Day and Secretary’s Awards, particularly for work on Superannuation and Family Violence response reforms.