RANZCO CEO Dr David Andrews has informed the college board he is standing down from the role he has served in since 2013. He is leaving to become CEO of the Australian Veterinary Association.
RANZCO president Professor Nitin Verma announced his departure in a memo, advising that Andrews would be leaving the role in early 2022 and hoped he would be present for a farewell at the upcoming scientific congress in February in Brisbane.
Prior to his college appointment, Andrews previously served as chief operating officer of the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and held senior roles within the biotech sector.
In an interview with Insight, Andrews reflected on the successes, mistakes and key learnings during his nine-year tenure.
Noting that much of the achievements required a team effort, he was proud of governance changes at RANZCO under his tutelage, including updating the constitution, obtaining full health charity status, and improving the process for identifying new committee members allowing for greater fellow involvement.
“While we had a rough few years with the Australian Medical Council and Medical Council of New Zealand accreditation, we are now in a position to have met nearly all our conditions and recommendations, and on track to complete them next year,” he said.
“The congresses have certainly lifted in quality during my tenure, helped largely by our PCO and the dedicated staff, but also a greatly improved direct relationship with industry. I am also proud of the improvement in quality of our own magazine Eye2Eye and the success of CEO Journal, for which I can take little credit other than supporting the managing editors and fellows involved.”
Andrews was also pleased to with efforts to attract Indigenous trainees in Australia and New Zealand. He also believes the college’s relationships across the sector have improved, not just with optometry but patient advocacy groups such as Macular Disease Foundation Australia and their equivalent in New Zealand, Glaucoma Australia, Vision 2020 Australia and other smaller groups.
“I also have an excellent working relationship with the management of the Australian Society for Ophthalmology and Kerry Gallagher has provided much sage advice over many years,” he said.
“I was particularly pleased when we were awarded hosting rights to the World Ophthalmology Congress, which would have been in a few months in Melbourne but of course COVID killed that. From a more operational perspective I leave RANZCO on a very solid financial footing with a strong balance sheet, the staff we have are excellent and in many cases are highly specialised in their fields. This has taken years to build and part of the reason for moving on now is that I feel I am leaving the college in excellent hands and overall great health.”
Mistakes, trust, patience and perseverance
In terms of what he has learned about himself professionally, Andrews highlighted patience and perseverance. It’s not an easy role leading a medical college and, although he wasn’t expecting that, he noted the pace of change in some areas has been slow.
“I have learnt to look at things in different ways and look for the other story before making important decisions,” he said.
“I’m sure I didn’t always do that, and sometimes the easy option is not always the best, so I have made mistakes along the way. But that’s part of any job. I have also learnt to trust my team more. Some of the staff have been here through my whole tenure and had multiple roles. I can trust them to do a great job without having to check every detail.”
As CEO of the Australian Veterinary Association, Andrews expects similar governance structures and issues to RANZCO, as well as advocacy aims and challenges.
“[It’s] just at a different life-cycle which provides some good opportunities for me. I think it’s a good fit.”
Speaking of his CEO, Verma said Andrews had led the college into a very strong position across the college’s core areas of ophthalmic education, advocacy and membership services.
“David has nurtured an environment of professionalism and specialisation within the College office, bringing us experts with the specific skills and attributes we need for the future. He will be leaving us a much stronger and resilient organisation than when he started.”
RANZCO has subsequently began seeking a recruitment firm to appoint a replacement. Andrews will remain in his role as the college initiates this process.
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