New leadership immersion program with St Luke’s Medical Center in the Philippines to strengthen patient care

We want patient care to be more than what we do; it should be who we are. To make that a reality, we need to build leaders who can sustain a culture of care.

A delegation from St Luke’s Medical Center in Manila attended an official signing ceremony at the Parkville Campus on September 15th to mark the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions. The agreement establishes a broader partnership, with a new leadership immersion program representing the first of several opportunities for collaboration.

The program will equip key talents from nursing, allied health, medical and admin teams with the leadership capabilities to strengthen high-quality, personalised patient care across the organisation and contribute to the advancement of the broader Philippine healthcare system.

Joined by senior leaders from the University, including Professor Mike McGuckin, Dean Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS), Professor Michael Wesley - DVC Global, Culture and Engagement, Professor Frank Vetere - PVC Global, Dani Tomlin DD Education - MDHS, Sarath Ranganathan - Head of Melbourne Medical School - MDHS, and Owen Shemansky - Director Melbourne Professional Education (MPE). The St Luke’s delegation was led by Simeon Obtinalla Jr., Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of St Luke’s Medical Center and Chief Admin and Operations Officer for the St Luke’s College of Medicine, the prestigious hospital’s education wing.

The agreement follows work initiated by Simeon and his team to secure a new global partnership for St Luke’s Medical Center, with the University of Melbourne identified as a leading provider of professional education to support the continued development of medical expertise in the Philippines.

Following the ceremony, Simeon spoke enthusiastically about how the leadership immersion program will benefit both participants and the wider workforce at St Luke’s.

St Luke’s is a benchmark in the Philippine healthcare system, and sustaining that standard starts with strong, capable leaders. When our first cohort returns, they won’t simply bring back new knowledge, they’ll bring back new ways of leading and creating impact. Our goal is to develop leaders who can multiply what they learn, so the impact reaches far beyond the participants and strengthens the entire organisation.

The program will be delivered through MPE, in collaboration with leading experts from the Faculty of MDHS and the Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE).

It will combine both faculties’ expertise in health and business innovation with MPE’s proven track record in creating and delivering custom training programs for organisations.

Simeon has been impressed by MPE’s ability to quickly translate his organisation’s goals into a custom program that will not only engage participants with content that is engaging and addresses specifics needs but will also deliver meaningful results.

“The team at MPE are incredible,” he said.

Every interaction we have had with MPE stakeholders has been seamless. Every inquiry we’ve had, every question, they’ve always been on-point and able to deliver what we need.

The first intake of the five-day leadership immersion program is expected to run in early 2027, with two cohorts of 25 participants selected from St Luke’s Medical Center.

Meanwhile, a further 300 emerging leaders have been identified across the organisation for potential future intakes, providing scope to scale the program over time.

“We are building a new hospital for St Luke’s and new infrastructure, but we are looking beyond St Luke’s Medical Center because the bigger goal is to improve the Philippine healthcare system,” said Simeon.

“There are already several possibilities we’re looking at for this program as well as leadership transformation. Strengthening financial decision making and continuing to improve our ability to deliver better patient outcomes are key areas we want to consider, going forward.”

Speaking after the ceremony, Debbie Reynolds, Business Development Director at MPE, was also keen to highlight the potential for future collaboration between the University and St Luke’s Medical Center.

Together, this partnership will create new opportunities for professional education, research and student engagements. Strengthening leadership capabilities at St Luke’s while contributing to the advancement of patient care in the Philippines. Alongside the faculties of MDHS and FBE, the team at MPE is excited and proud to be part of this important and meaningful collaboration.