Dr Steve Hambleton

Dr Hambleton is a General Practitioner in Brisbane and a former Queensland State President and Federal President of the Australian Medical Association.

Steve has worked in the same general practice in Brisbane for 33 years, being present on the day it opened in 1988.  With two other partners, Steve managed three large general practices, two of which were 24hr practices, until their merger with Foundation Healthcare in 2000. He then took up the position of State Medical Director and then Queensland State Director as it was transitioned to IPN, which is now part of the Sonic group of companies.

Steve is Chief Clinical Adviser to the Australian Digital Health Agency, supporting the Senior Executive Committee and Chief Executive Officer. He also supports Clinical Reference Leads who also provide clinical input into the work of the Agency. He chairs the Clinical Governance Committee that operates to ensure the Agency delivers programs and projects that are high quality and clinically safe.

He is currently an associate investigator with the Australian Cancer Research Foundation Lung Cancer Screening Centre of Excellence, which works to prevent and cure lung cancer and make it a rare disease.

Dr Hambleton is a member of the boards of Avant Mutual Group Limited, the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre, and Mercy Community Services. He was, until recently, an independent board member of the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council, and President of the AMAQ Foundation, the charitable arm of AMA Qld.

Dr Hambleton is a graduate of the University of Queensland and served a term as an Adjunct Professor until 2021. In 2007, he was awarded Fellowship of the AMA and in 2014 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the RACGP for his services to the medical profession. He has received the President’s medal from AMA Queensland and the Gold Medal from the Federal AMA, the highest honour that it awards.

He was a member of the Review of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR), (the Royle review) that recommended the continuing development and implementation of a consistent and effective electronic personal health record, now known as My Health Record, that supports more than 90 per cent of Australians.

He served on the GP Rural Incentive Working Group and was a Chairman of the Australasian Medical Publishing Company. He co-chaired the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review, was a member of the Atlas of Clinical Variation Advisory Group, the Primary Health Care Advisory Group and more recently, the Primary Health Care Reform Steering Committee. Dr Hambleton is a past member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee and the National Immunisation Committee.

He is passionate about improving the health of all Australians and the need to empower all citizens to more deeply engage in their own and their loved ones’ health care, to shift the dial from a sickness-focussed system to a wellness-focussed system.

He strongly believes that safe, secure data sharing with the patient and with all those who treat the patient, controlled by the patient, will result in a better experience of healthcare for the patient and the clinician - leading to better outcomes for the population at a sustainable price.

When he is not working for better outcomes in the health system, Dr Hambleton is the husband of Deborah and father of four children. They have a keen interest in K’gari (Fraser Island). Dr Hambleton is Chairman of Waddy Lodge Pty Ltd, which is made up of a collection of fishing mates and their families who have regularly been visiting the island for more than 50 years.

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