Faculty
Deakin University’s OCPH team are local, academic experts in healthcare communication based at the Waurn Ponds Campus in Geelong. The team has collectively trained many thousand health professionals, volunteers and non-clinical staff in Australia and internationally. Our core team works with a wide variety of affiliates at home and abroad to design, deliver and evaluate effective, evidence-based communication interventions.
Peter Martin, MB BCh BAO, MMed, FAChPM
Professor of Clinical Communication & End-of-Life Care, Deakin University School of Medicine
Director, Centre for Organisational Change in Person-Centred Healthcare (OCPH), Deakin University, Faculty of Health
Palliative Medicine Physician
Adjunct Professor of Communication, University of Southern Denmark
Peter has been involved with communication skills training for over 25 years and has been a clinician for over 30 years. His clinical interest is cancer cachexia. Peter has taught communication skills with Cambridge, Monash, Melbourne and Deakin medical schools. He has taught at numerous postgraduate courses with a variety of health professional disciplines nationally for more than 15 years. Since becoming the Director of OCPH, Peter has developed and run a wide range of 1,2 or 3-day courses on healthcare communication including high-level train-the-trainer courses. Peter is co-creator of OCPH’s major, organisational level interventions to drive person centred healthcare communication, Your Thoughts Matter and Conversations Matter.
Meg Chiswell
Deputy Director, Centre for Organisational Change in Person-Centred Healthcare, Deakin University, Faculty of Health
Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine, Deakin University
Leadership Coach and Mentor
A Radiation Therapist by background, Meg began as an educator at RMIT University before moving into strategic oversight at Cancer Council Victoria. During this time, Meg championed the Victorian Cancer Clinicians Communication Program (also known as Effective Cancer Communication), and convened the inaugural Australian Teaching Communication in Healthcare Conference and Education Program.
Since 2019, Meg has jointly led OCPH at Deakin University with Professor Peter Martin. Meg is recognised internationally for her work building communication skills programs across Australia, and personally training more than 3000 healthcare professionals and staff. Acknowledged as one of Australia’s leading experts in healthcare communication, Meg has spent time as the Australian representative on the teaching subcommittee of the International Association for Communication in Healthcare (EACH). Further to this, she has led the training of many members of the Australian community of healthcare communication educators.
Meg works closely with academics and clinicians at the Centre for Research in Patient Communication at the University of Southern Denmark. A member of the International Coaching Federation, Meg is a skilled professional coach who nurtures groups and individuals in healthcare, and volunteers as a coach for a prominent community organisation. Meg is the co-creator of groundbreaking programs, Your Thoughts Matter and Conversations Matter, which have attracted international attention for their design and co-delivery with consumers.