Susi Tegen is the Chief Executive of the National Rural Health Alliance, which has a remit to ensure the 30 per cent of people who live in rural Australia has access to services which improve their health outcomes, support medical and health practitioners as well as health researchers and train the future rural medical and health practitioner workforce.
Susi has spent most of her working life living and working in rural, remote, and regional Australia, advocating for these areas. She has lived in South Australia, Northern Territory, New South Wales, and Victoria. Until recently, she was a partner in a sheep meat and wool, cattle trading, and grain property along the Limestone Coast of South East and South Australia. During her 30 years on the property, she also raised several well-balanced and grounded children.
Susi is passionate about improving access to health and education, primary industries, and economic development in rural and remote areas. She has also focused on access to telehealth and asynchronous healthcare, farm safety, mental health, multidisciplinary planning, and remote monitoring to support medical and health service access in these areas.
In her career, Susi has held several Chief Executive roles for medical and health organizations, including MedTech and other peak organizations, and has led RANZCO specialist training programs for medical professionals, policy, and research. She has been on several government and health portfolio advisory or reform committees, Medicare review panels, providing insights from a service delivery, strategic policy, and consumer access lens to further the cause of rural and remote health. She is an independent member of the ACRRM Federal Council and AOA Federal Training Committee, RACS SIMG, and Rural Committees. She has served as Deputy Chair of Farmsafe, Deputy Chair of FarmBis, and Member SA Farmer’s Federation Policy Committee.
She has been a non-executive director of several health, medical, education and primary industry entities, as well as been on various medical and primary industry ministerial committees, reviews, monitoring boards and committees.