Carissa McAllister

Sector: First Nations health care and social assistance
Email: cmcallister@checkup.org.au

Carissa McAllister is a proud Wiradjuri woman based in Far North Queensland with experience across health, legal, and business sectors. She is passionate about health promotion, health literacy, advancing health equity and strengthening the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforces.

Carissa combines evidence-based practice with community engagement, aligning her work with national and state priorities, including Closing the Gap and culturally responsive care. She holds a Bachelor of Health Science, Graduate Certificate in Health Promotion, Diploma of Business, and training in Regional Workforce Planning, and has a personal and in-depth knowledge of the ACCHO Model of Care.

As an Industry Workforce Advisor for First Nations Health and Social Assistance, Carissa takes a collaborative, strengths-based approach to workforce planning and challenges, building partnerships across government, service providers, and community to deliver sustainable and culturally responsive solutions and outcomes.

Alina Khalid

Sector: Health
Email: Akhalid@checkup.org.au

Alina Khalid joins CheckUP as the Industry Workforce Advisor for the Health sector, bringing a diverse background in clinical care and health management consulting. With a Bachelor of Dental Surgery and a Master of Health Management specialising in Quality and Patient Safety, she combines frontline healthcare experience with a strong understanding of health systems improvement.

Alina is passionate about supporting small-to-medium health businesses to develop practical, scalable workforce solutions that enhance care quality, access, and sustainability across Queensland communities.

Prior to joining CheckUP, Alina worked as a management consultant delivering projects for public and private health clients. Her work spanned health reform, enterprise risk, compliance, digital health, and service improvement. This experience gave her a strong understanding of both systemic and day-to-day challenges faced by health providers, and highlighted the value of tailored, locally driven solutions that support service delivery and long-term sustainability.

Alina sees workforce planning as a key enabler of value-based care—supporting not just staffing needs, but also driving better health outcomes, continuity, and equity.

Stuart Coward

Sector: Community services
Email: Scoward@checkup.org.au

Stuart Coward brings a rare depth of experience to the role. With more than 20 years in community services, a background in state government, and four decades building and growing his own businesses across training, employment and hospitality, he understands the challenges facing small and medium organisations from multiple perspectives.

Stuart has also worked with a national not-for-profit focused on disability, education and community services, giving him a strong grounding in the sector’s unique workforce pressures and opportunities.

As Industry Workforce Advisor for Community Services, Stuart works directly with Queensland businesses to identify workforce challenges, develop practical plans, and connect employers with the grants, incentives and programs available to support them. His focus is on real, actionable support that helps organisations find, grow and keep the people they need.

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