CEO
Shyla Mills is the CEO at Palliative Care South Australia (PCSA), a leading charity and peak body for palliative care in South Australia and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Flinders University and La Trobe University. She is a Registered Nurse, holds a Master of Public Health and Palliative Care. Shyla has a special interest in palliative care strategy and policy, public health palliative care as well as compassion, death and grief literacy.
Shyla has worked in palliative care for over 20 years across different settings including paediatrics, community and aged care throughout Australia, as well as volunteered internationally in India, Nepal, Mongolia and the UK. Prior to her role at Palliative Care South Australia, She was the CEO at Palliative Care Queensland, and before that a National Program Manager at Palliative Care Australia. Shyla is currently a committee member for Australasian Palliative Link International (APLI) was formally the vice-president of Palliative Care Nurses Australia (PCNA) and was a board member for the international UK based organisation Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom for over 10 years.
Inspired by international models of palliative care, Shyla has successfully led the introduction of several new public health palliative care programs, including public education programs: the Australian implementation of Last Aid, TLC Connectors as well as the development and international implementation of PalliLEARN. In both Queensland and SA she established the program Ambulance Wish (which has became one of the most successful health promoting palliative care campaigns worldwide- reached over 155 million people online).
Shyla says her ambulance wish would be to watch one last sunset at the beach, with a glass of red wine surrounded by her sons, husband, dog and friends.