Executive

Amanda Stevens

Interim Chief Executive Officer

A corporate governance lawyer with over 18 years’ experience, Amanda has held a number of executive leadership roles in federal, state and local government, including three consecutive years as the Mayor of the City of Port Phillip. She is a highly experienced board member serving on numerous boards including chairing the South Melbourne Market for four years, member Audit and Risk Committee City of Port Phillip, member Gasworks Arts Park Board, member We Ride, a national not for profit.

Amanda is a passionate St Kilda supporter, she loves spending time with her family, husband Chris, daughters Elizabeth and Georgia and dog Stella. She enjoys traveling, camping, hiking, cooking, reading, movies and enjoying good food and wine with friends and family.

ceo@mrv.org.au

Mei Ling Yeh

Telehealth Nurse

Clinical Nurse Specialist in Paediatric Oncology

Mei Ling has been working as a paediatric oncology nurse for almost 20 years.  Her focus has been on integrating the delivery of best evidenced based nursing practice and patient-family centred care as part of her nursing care duties.  Mei Ling is passionate in working in paediatric oncology and palliative care; especially in the treatment and nursing management of haemopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).  She believes that patient-family centred care can be enhanced by giving due consideration to variation in cultural dynamics that differentiate in sensitivity and understanding.  Sympathising with individuals to improve care should be made a vital part of our healthcare system.

Mei Ling promotes awareness of cultural diversity given her experience in working with patients and families from diverse multicultural backgrounds from around the globe and her own background as a Taiwanese-Australian.

Beside the time with Maddie Riewoldt's Vision, Mei Ling is currently working at the Children Cancer Centre in Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne.

telenurse@mrv.org.au

Ph 0477 884 955

Lou Johns

Projects Administrator - Centre of Research Excellence in Bone Marrow Biology 

After 30+ years working in the marketing and advertising sector, Lou brings a wide variety of skills to Maddie’s Vision.  Her project management expertise has helped produce multi-faceted advertising, PR and sales campaigns for some of the country’s best known household brands. 

About a decade ago, after a close relative was diagnosed with a blood cancer, Lou was introduced to the CEO of the Snowdome Foundation and subsequently got involved to assist the organisation with their administration, communications, relationship management and fundraising events. It was in this capacity that Lou was involved in helping the Riewoldt family launch Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision at a Snowdome fundraising event (in 2015).

Lou remained in close contact with Maddie’s Vision and in April 2019 joined the executive team to help organise the inaugural National Symposium on Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes and provide ongoing administrative support to the Centre of Research Excellence in Bone Marrow Biology.

Lou continues to support the Snowdome Foundation as a volunteer as well as being a member of the MRV/Snowdome ‘Bloody Good Dinner’ organising committee.  She also volunteers her time at Kingston Heath Golf Club and is the incoming Women's Captain. During her spare time, Lou loves to be with her family, remain fit, play golf and other sports, travel (anywhere) and follow the AFL (she is so thrilled that her beloved Demons finally won a premiership in her lifetime!).

lou.johns@mrv.org.au

Jaya Soma

Project Manager - Centre of Research Excellence in Bone Marrow Biology 

A clinically trained senior pharmacist (BPharm (Hons)) with more than 13 years’ experience, Jaya has forged a unique career spanning multiple settings, dedicated towards improving patient health. Her professional background includes community and hospital pharmacy, research and industry experience at Austin Health, Epworth hospital, Monash University and Servier, as well as international health experience for the Ministry of Health in Suva, Fiji, where she led a diabetes drug use evaluation study.

Prior to Maddie’s Vision, Jaya spent eight years at Servier, a global French pharmaceutical company, where she held a senior management role in pharmacovigilance (drug safety monitoring), within the International Centre for Therapeutic Research, Australia & New Zealand. It is during this time she managed multiple global compliance and risk management projects as part of the company’s patient safety strategy. Jaya is thrilled to bring her project management capabilities and broad experiences in the health sector to the Centre of Research Excellence in Bone Marrow Biology, Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision. She is particularly inspired to build on the incredible achievements of this dedicated and talented research network, to help find better treatments and cures for patients with bone marrow failure syndromes.

On a personal note, she is the proud mother of two young children and enjoys spending time with her family, travelling (she speaks Spanish and French), hiking, and she is also an accomplished Indian classical dancer.

jaya.soma@mrv.org.au