The ACMD Board has appointed Michelle Goldsmith as Chief Executive Officer. She will commence in early December 2026.
Michelle joins ACMD following a highly competitive national recruitment process and a career spent doing what ACMD was built for: turning research into outcomes for patients.
A qualified lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience in scientific commercialisation, Michelle has built multi-million-dollar partnerships and helped bring innovations in neuroscience, stem cells and digital health to patients and to market. She joins us from Agriculture Victoria Services, where she has served as Chief Executive Officer since 2023, leading the commercialisation of research and intellectual property. Her earlier career includes senior leadership roles at Strategic Project Partners, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Global Kinetics, following executive positions across biotechnology, intellectual property and government.
“For years, ACMD was an idea, then a building site, and now it is full of people solving problems that matter,” said ACMD Chair Brenda Shanahan AO. “Finding the right person to lead them mattered as much as anything we have done. Michelle’s experience spans research institutes, universities, government and industry. There is a great deal to build in the years ahead, and the Board is delighted she has accepted.”
Michelle arrives as ACMD begins its first full year in its new home in the St Vincent’s Fitzroy Health and Innovation Precinct, a building designed around one idea: that the fastest path from a discovery to a patient’s bedside is to put the people who understand the problem in the same building as the people who can solve it.
“I’m particularly excited to join an organisation which aims to accelerate research translation into healthcare which benefits Australian patients,” said Michelle.
“There has never been a greater need for cost-effective transformation within the Australian healthcare system. The ACMD provides a unique opportunity to re-imagine the way that clinicians, engineers, researchers and consumers inform that change.”
Michael Krieg will continue as Interim Chief Executive Officer until Michelle commences, ensuring a seamless transition. The ACMD Board thanks Michael for his leadership, which has seen ACMD strengthen its partnerships and build real momentum following the opening of our new facility in June.
