Sharon McGowan

Sharon is the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and Chair of the Australian Living Evidence Consortium. Having spent her career in the health and NFP sector, Sharon has a wealth of leadership and governance experience gained over the past 30 years.

She is an experienced communicator, with a background in health service management, community engagement, advocacy, culture transformation and philanthropy. Originally trained as a registered nurse, Sharon has worked in Australia and the UK with a range of health, public sector and not-for-profit organisations.

She is an experienced Board Director and currently Chair of the Australian Living Evidence Consortium, a group whose vision is to accelerate the application of medical research to actionable guidance for front line clinicians using a “living” approach to evidence synthesis. Prior to joining the College, Sharon was CEO of the National Stroke Foundation for 7 years, growing the Foundations’ revenue and impact. Sharon is the immediate past Chair of the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance and the National COVID19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce Steering Committee.

Sharon holds a Masters of Business Administration from Cranfield University in the UK, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has attended two short courses at Harvard Business School.