Mark Cormack was appointed Professor at the Australian National University (ANU) College of Health and Medicine in 2020. The appointment acknowledges Mark as a national leader in health system and health workforce policy and strategy and his dedication to his long career in the public service, including serving as CEO of Health Workforce Australia, Chief Executive of ACT Health and Deputy Secretary for the Commonwealth Departments of Health, Veterans’ Affairs and Home Affairs. 

Mark, along with Associate Professor Ian Crettenden, established the National Centre for Health Workforce Studies (NCHWS) at ANU in 2022.

Mark has recently been appointed by the Hon. Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health & Aged Care to lead the independent Unleashing the Power of Health Professionals (Scope of Practice) review addressing how health practitioners can better work to the full extent of their skills and training. The review will focus on supporting higher quality service delivery and greater accessibility to primary care, for the benefit all Australians.

In the field of national health workforce, he led policy, planning, clinical training and workforce reform as the CEO of Health Workforce Australia, a Commonwealth statutory body reporting through the (then) Council of Australian Governments (COAG) structure. In international health, Mark was Australia’s delegate to the OECD Health Committee and WHO Western Pacific Region.

In other roles, as Deputy Secretary Australian Department of Health Mark managed intergovernmental relations at the Commonwealth, State, and Territory levels, working on National Health Reform Agreements and numerous National Partnership Agreements. In the area of national program delivery, his work spanned Medicare, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, National Blood Supply, Primary Health Networks, Public Hospitals, Private Health Insurance, and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

He worked as Deputy Secretary in the area of border security, detention and offshore programs to manage irregular maritime arrivals and visa compliance at the (then) Department of Immigration and Border Protection (now Home Affairs). He was also responsible for Australian Defence Force worker’s compensation, veterans’ policy and program delivery through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mark’s areas of interest include public policy and administration; health system governance; health services programs, financing and delivery; health workforce and interfaces with higher education and regulation; and Commonwealth, State and Territory government relations and agreements. Mark is currently undertaking a PhD at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy which is researching intergovernmental health financing agreements in Australia.