Katherine Woodthorpe

Dr. Woodthorpe AO is an experienced Chair and Non-Executive Director serving for over 20 years on the boards of a variety of organizations including listed entities, government boards, and for-purpose organizations. She has a strong track record in a broad range of innovation-dependent industries including healthcare, renewable energy, and environmental and climate science. She has been cited in various media as one of Australia’s most influential people in innovation. She has sat on the boards of a number of healthcare companies including Ventracor and Sirtex Ltd. For seven years she was the Chief Executive of AVCAL, the Australian Private Equity, and Venture Capital Association. Prior to AVCAL, she held a broad range of management and board positions, in Australia and overseas. Katherine commenced her career as a chemist and then moved to sales of specialized laboratory equipment in the medical and oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors covering the geographies of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East before locating permanently to Australia in 1988.

Katherine holds a Bachelor of Science (Manchester Uni.) and a Ph.D. (Chemistry, Leicester Uni, UK). Katherine is the Chair of the “Vision 2040” committee of the Commonwealth government, developing the strategy for medical research investment over the next couple of decades.