Renae Ahern
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Q: What is your role in the Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct (RHIP) team?
A: I am the Precinct Project Officer. My role is responsible for providing high-level project and administrative support to the RHIP team, exploring ways in which we can improve our frameworks and processes to ensure optimal functionality of the Precinct Program.

I work closely with Brooke Griffin, RHIP’s Executive Director, as an essential point of contact, ensuring she is accessible for engagement opportunities with partners and stakeholders of the Precinct.

I also support the governance structures of the Precinct as Secretariat support for the Precinct Collaboration Committee, Executive Precinct Council and Precinct Council as well as the Industry & Innovation Working Group.

Q: What attracted you to this type of work?
A: I wanted to break out of my norm and feel like I was making an impact towards something bigger. After studying a Bachelor of Public Health, I spent five years working in hospital-based health administrative roles which was a great opportunity for me.

I felt I needed a push to leave my familiar hospital setting and with the guidance of the right people at the time, it was highlighted to me that RHIP offers amazing opportunities to be exposed to the intersection of different sectors.

I feel I can widen my knowledge of health and innovation, gaining experience on project work and crossing paths with so many talented colleagues across partner organisations who care deeply about the direction of health from a multifocal perspective.

Q: What excites you most about the Precinct?
A: The opportunities at the Precinct are endless. There is a wide range of expertise informing the direction of the Precinct, so working with partners across organisations where everyone shares a collective vision of health and innovation is an amazing concept. The direction that the Precinct is heading, feels like there are no limits to what can be achieved.

Q: What do the next six months look like?
A: As comfortable as it is to work remotely, I really look forward to our RHIP team coming together as a collective, working face-to-face on the Precinct.
Many of the other amazing Precinct colleagues I have conversed with via email, I am yet to meet in person, and so the potential to share a coffee face-to-face excites me. I think being able to see the progress of the Precinct’s combined efforts in real life as the redevelopment progresses is exciting, as it illustrates the hard work of the diverse talent that exists in the Precinct. 

Q: A fun fact about you?
A: I’m recently engaged and beginning to plan the big day! I’ll also be performing with 18 other team mates at the World Gymnaestrada Festival in Amsterdam 2023.

Learn more about Randwick Health and Innovation Precinct’s partners, purpose and impact at rhip.org.au, and follow RHIP on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube to keep up to date with what’s happening across the Precinct.