“Taking every opportunity there is to further endow and support mental health services and making sure that they are accessible to all - I think that’s one of the most necessary things we can do for the health care system.”
Dr Michael Bonning is a medical doctor with extensive experience in health policy, non-profit and advising corporations.
Dr Bonning served 12 years as a Medical Officer in the Royal Australian Navy. During this time, Dr Bonning worked on border protection operations, international exercises and search tasks and was deployed to the Middle East to undertake counter-piracy and counter-narcotics operations on behalf of NATO and Combined Maritime Forces.
While working for the Australian Defence Force, Dr Bonning built a policy advisory consulting firm and served on a number of Australia’s most prominent health orientated boards including the Federal Australian Medical Association (AMA) and AMA NSW, GP Synergy and the Postgraduate Medical Council of Queensland.
In 2013-14, Dr Bonning worked in Aboriginal health at the Tharawal Aboriginal Medical Service in Sydney, an organisation which combines traditional values with a commitment to enhance health and wellbeing for Aboriginal communities of the Sydney South Western region.
Combining his love of the great outdoors and best practice remote and wilderness medicine, Dr Bonning also works as chief medical officer with international trekking group, Inspired Adventures.
Dr Bonning has a passion for quality patient care and has worked with many non-profit organisations including Beyond Blue, where he served on the Board of Directors. He has worked overseas and was formerly the Medical Director and senior director of medical affairs at DermaSensor Inc, a US based technology company where he led the clinical development, testing and regulatory approval of new medical devices.
