Mark O'Brien

Mark has had experience in healthcare since the mid-1980s starting as a rural family physician in Australia. He forged strong links in post-graduate medical education before co-founding the Cognitive Institute, an Australasian healthcare risk management organisation where he served as Medical Director. He also held the position of International Programme Director of Medical Education and most recently Hospital Lead in the Risk Prevention division for the Medical Protection Society until March 2021. 

He is now an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Queensland and serves as a Non-Executive Director of St John of God Healthcare - a large private hospital group in Australia. He is also the Board Consultant for the Australasian Institute of Clinical Governance. 

Mark has had a lifelong passion for improving the culture and quality of healthcare. He has provided advocacy, training, consultancy and implementation expertise in healthcare systems and groups in over 20 countries. An estimated 300,000 clinicians across the world have undertaken face to face training in courses developed by him in risk management, leadership, communication skills and performance improvement. 

Mark graduated in Medicine from the University of Queensland, obtained a Diploma in Obstetrics from the Royal Australasian College of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists before attaining Fellowships in the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. He is an Associate Fellow and Certified Healthcare Manager with the Australasian College of Health Service Management and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Here at Oxford he is a graduate of the Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme.