BENSON RIDDLE MEDICAL

DR BENSON RIDDLE

MBBS(Syd) FRACGP MAICD Grad.Cert.Directing(AFTRS)

general practitioner
preventive health practitioner
virtual chief medical officer

After a pandemic that has transformed our health sector, more organisations are now recognising the need for guidance and leadership around clinical aspects of the business—yet don't require the services of a full-time chief medical officer/chief health officer. This is where I can help.From healthtech startups and scaleups, to established companies expanding into health or simply needing corporate clinical advice, I offer the expert medical knowledge, digital health expertise, and industry connections to help navigate an increasingly complex health sector.

Services

Flexibly engaging my services ensures access to continuous quality results based on your needs as well as your budget. Below is a list of the services I offer—and if there's any other way you think I can help feel free to get in touch.

Chief Medical Officer / Chief Health Officer / Medical Director

Virtual "CMO / CHO / Medical Director" can be a win-win for organisations not requiring a full-time hire yet always having the access to expertise when needed. My flexible retainer arrangements can be as low or as high as required, enabling you to gradually increase engagement levels as your need increases with growth. Both health and non-health related organisations are finding the need to manage increasing and varied demands in the areas of health and well-being, and how to align these with overall company priorities and strategies. A CMO / CHO / Medical Director provides this authoritative and credible clinical voice, both internally and externally.The growing number of CMO / CHO / Medical Directors in healthtech reflects a maturation and acknowledgement by these companies of the need to take seriously the challenge of integrating engineering and healthcare to deliver a product into the healthcare environment. The CMO / CHO / Medical Director can help shape the clinical vision of the company, envision the application of new and existing technologies to solve complex medical problems, provide medical input to new product development, provide operational support such as clinical protocol development, build relationships and lead interactions with thought/key opinion leaders and other clinical stakeholders, and importantly help the patient/consumer understand why your solution matters to them.And though the concept of a CMO / CHO / Medical Director is relatively new for non-health consumer-facing companies, more of these organisations are adding the role to their leadership group to contribute not only to overall strategy, but to also help realise broader social impact goals relating to issues such as health equity, climate change and sustainability, and well-being in general.

Medical Advisor

On-demand medical advisor and subject matter expert, flexibly providing the services of a “medical counselor-in-chief”.Ready access to a network of leading medical and allied health professionals provides you with the most specialised and up-to-date advice available, as well as the ability to help you assemble a medical advisory board with members who will invest their knowledge into the development of the organisation while subscribing to your company’s mission, vision, and values. For healthtech organisations I can also connect you with experienced virtual CIOs, CTOs, health sector business consultants, lawyers, and grants/funding consultants.Clinical reviews of any education, promotion, or reporting materials for both internal and external communication, as well as comprehensive health literacy reviews and editing of patient/consumer content by one of Australia's leading health literacy experts can be provided.I can also provide advice around your executive health needs to ensure these are evidence-based; and with global health security now more important than ever I can provide comprehensive, evidence-based advice around your corporate travel health needs.Strategies to promote an internal culture of health and safety in your organisation, as well as advice around other employee-related health issues, matters relating to workplace drug and alcohol policy, and access to occupational and environmental physicians can also be facilitated.

Clinical analysis and review

Comprehensive clinical analysis required as part of your due diligence for potential mergers and acquisitions, or when required as a review of your own organisation.In order to hold the safety of patients/consumers as paramount as they interact with your organisation’s products and services, I can provide clinical risk assessments as well as clinical governance framework implementation and reviews. I can also advise and help manage clinical aspects of health compliance and the regulatory landscape as it relates to your company, and lead interactions with any health authorities.

About

Benson Riddle studied medicine at the University of Sydney (1994–1999), completing his clinical training at Royal North Shore and Westmead hospitals. He spent the next few years gaining valuable acute care experience in hospital emergency departments before undertaking general practice training. A varied medical career across government and the private sector, his special interests (including non-medical), and being a healthtech startup founder himself, gives Benson the unique skill set to provide Australia's first virtual chief medical officer/chief health officer service.

  • Co-Founder of VC-funded healthtech startups.

  • Clinical lead for virtual healthcare company Hyphen Health.

  • Medical lead for Western Sydney Local Health District’s virtual care service inTouch, established as a COVID community care service when the delta wave hit in 2021 before expanding into supporting residential aged care facilities in need of virtual medical care in 2022.

  • Australasian medical director for US-based global telehealth company Teladoc.

  • Medical Officer of the Commonwealth for the Department of Home Affairs where he was involved in policy-making of national significance with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recipient of an Australian Border Force operation medal.

  • Established the GP clinic for employees at Google HQ in Sydney.

  • In-house GP at the Optus campus in Sydney.

  • Civilian medical officer for the Royal Australian Navy, for which he received a formal commendation from the commanding officer at HMAS Penguin.

  • Consulted to Telstra Health in the set-up of their own former telehealth platform ReadyCare.

  • Founding clinical lead for the Australian Government’s pioneering after-hours GP helpline.

  • Medical director of former national corporate health company Peak Health.

  • Background in executive health medicine where he applies his special interest in evidence-based preventive medicine, and was Australia’s first SHAPE (Society for Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication) certified practitioner.

  • AMROA-certified Medical Review Officer for workplace drug and alcohol testing.

  • Experience in specialised women's health and travel medicine practices.

  • Advocate for public health measures, most notably successfully lobbying the federal government to make the recommended and potentially life-saving vaccinations for patients without a functioning spleen available for free under the National Immunisation Program Schedule.

  • Filmmaker, having studied directing at the internationally-acclaimed Australian Film, Television and Radio School, and writer/director of the award-winning short Noir Drive.

AHPRA Medical Registration: MED0001187286
Medically indemnified by Avant
Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
AMROA Medical Review Officer Certification

partners

Contact

We look forward to receiving your enquiries at any time.

+61 2 9844 5820
[email protected]