Our leadership
Professor Paul Flynn
Patron
Meet our Patron:
Professor Paul Flynn is an accomplished Board Director and Chief Executive, renowned for his leadership across the finance and not-for-profit sectors. His career is distinguished by innovation, impact, and a commitment to community advancement.
Paul’s contributions have been recognised with numerous honours, including Senior Fellowship at the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SA/NT), the Equity Trustees Australian Not-for-Profit CEO Award for Innovation, and holds the title of Professorial Fellow at Flinders University within the College of Business, Government and Law.
As Chief Executive Officer of The Hospital Research Foundation Group, Paul oversees a diverse portfolio of health-focused organisations. Paul also serves as a Non‑Executive Director with YMCA of SA Inc, Diabetes Australia Ltd, North Eastern Community Hospital Inc, and BiomeBank Pty Ltd, and holds the position of Director at Military and Emergency Services Health Australia. A member of the Advisory Committee of South Australian Cancer Care Network and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Paul brings exceptional expertise and vision to his role as Patron of the Flinders Ageing Alliance.
We are delighted to welcome Paul as Patron of the Flinders Ageing Alliance, and look forward to the valuable skills, leadership, and expertise he will contribute to strengthening ageing and aged care research, advancing community wellbeing, and shaping policy that supports healthier, more inclusive futures for older Australians.
Mr Ian Yates AM
Chair, Alliance Advisory Council
Emeritus Deputy Chancellor
Meet our Chair:
Ian Yates AM is a respected independent consumer advocate and advisor in aged care and retirement incomes. He recently completed two years as Interim then Acting Inspector General of Aged Care in the Commonwealth Government, following a distinguished career as Chief Executive of COTA Australia, the national peak body for older Australians, from 2002 to 2022.
Ian has played leading roles on numerous national aged care and health advisory bodies, including inaugural Chair of the Aged Care Council of Elders, member of the National Aged Care Advisory Council, and long-term representative on the National Aged Care Alliance. His contributions extend to broader consumer and community wellbeing, serving on boards and advisory councils across health, housing, and social services.
An Honorary Doctor and Emeritus Deputy Chancellor of Flinders University, Ian was awarded Membership in the Order of Australia (AM) in 2005 for his outstanding service to ageing, aged care, and the community.
As Chair of the Flinders Ageing Alliance, Ian brings deep expertise, leadership, and a lifelong commitment to advancing policy, research, and advocacy that improve the lives of older Australians.
In mid 2025 Ian was commissioned by the National Aged Care Alliance (NACA) to prepare a major discussion paper on the state of play in aged care reform. You can find that paper here:
Professor Maria Inacio
Alliance Academic Director
Director, Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA)
Expertise: Epidemiology, population health (aged care), quality and safety measurement, registry science and health services research.
Professor Raymond Chan
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Co-Lead, Cancer Survivorship Program
Expertise: Cancer care, cancer survivorship, cancer policy, models of care, palliative care, complex systems science.
Mr Xing Lee
Alliance Operations Director
Research Partnerships Director (Health)
Expertise: Governance, legal, stakeholder engagement, health services research, capital projects, strategic development.
Our lead researchers
Aged Care Food and Nutrition Research Team, Caring Futures Institute
Expertise: Nutritional rehabilitation and epidemiology, residential aged care meal assessment.
Regional Research Lead, Better Systems Theme, Caring Futures Institute.
Expertise: Implementation science, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, improving care across systems.
Director, Centre for Social Impact
Expertise: Research and evaluation in the fields of social impact, social policy and social services, with a focus on systems reform and service to marginalised people and communities.
Deputy Director, Centre for Social Impact
Expertise: Mixed-methods, co-design, social license, consumers engagement, policy reform.
Director, Generations Research Initiative, Flinders University Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing
Expertise: healthy ageing, long-term and micro-longitudinal data, late life well-being and reducing ageism.
Health and Social Care Economics Theme Leader, Caring Futures Institute
Expertise: Health and quality of life (QOL-ACC), patient and consumer preferences, economic evaluation.
Healthy Ageing, Support and Care Research Team, Caring Futures Institute
Expertise: Primary Care, system integration, restorative care, health services research.
Healthy Ageing, Support and Care Research Team, Caring Futures Institute
Expertise: Dementia care, new models of care, rehabilitation interventions, age-friendly homes and communities.
Research Lead, Rehabilitation, Aged and Extended Care
Expertise: Implementation of evidence-based rehabilitation and reablement models within healthcare and aged-care settings.
Regional Clinical Director Division of Rehabilitation, Aged Care, and Palliative Care, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. Research Lead, Rehabilitation, Aged and Extended Care.
Expertise: Developing, implementing, and evaluating innovative models of care to address the complex needs of vulnerable older people, improving service delivery and clinical practice through translational research.
Director, Microbiome and Host Health Program, SAHMRI/Flinders, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute
Expertise: Molecular microbiology, human-associated microbiota to health and disease.
Director, Research Centre in Palliative Care, Death and Dying
Expertise: Palliative care programs, digital knowledge, capability across health and aged care systems.
Associate Director, Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA), SAHMRI/Flinders, Caring Futures Institute
Expertise: Quality and safety in aged care, medicines safety and utilisation, aged care population data.
Director, Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI)
Expertise: Industry research, medical device innovation, biomedical engineering.
Program and Research Director, ARIIA
Expertise: Research translation, aged care, research methodologies, new technologies.
Matthews Flinders Professor, Research Lead, CALD Ageing and Dementia Research Group
Expertise: Dementia caregiving including people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, health care for older people workforce development in transcultural nursing.
Director, Open Door Initiative
Expertise: Veterans’ health, social, mental and physical health and wellbeing, service, transition and life after service, legislation, policy and service provision.
Deputy Director, Open Door Initiative
Expertise: Physiotherapist, rehabilitation, building and evaluating digital health technologies.
Co-Lead, Cancer Survivorship Program
Expertise: Cancer Nursing & survivorship, Supportive care, Nurse practitioner, real-time symptom monitoring, digital health.
Strategic Professor, Flinders Ageing Alliance, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute
Expertise: Burdens of cancer, symptom control, population prevalence, health services research.
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