Lateral Health
Innovative healthcare solutions
About Us
Lateral Health was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic swept through the country, our team worked on the frontline, managing tertiary hospital COVID-19 wards and fever clinics.
Acknowledging the wider impact on the community, Lateral Health formed partnerships with key stakeholders in the Victorian construction industry to deliver a customised program that would ultimately keep the industry open and safe.
Together, we delivered Australia’s largest workplace COVID-19 surveillance and rapid-response clinic program.
Following this, we designed and implemented a mobile vaccination program to ensure all workers in the Victorian construction industry were fully vaccinated upon return to work
Additionally, our team has consulted both for government and the private sector, overseeing and delivering pilot studies for new testing equipment, feasibility studies for customised workplace programs, education and digital solutions.
Through our partners at Rule & APC, we are a preferred supplier of mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinics for workplaces across any industry.
Experience
Frontline doctors on COVID-19 wards and fever clinics
Australia’s largest mobile workplace testing program (Incolink, APC/Rule)
Multiple workplace pilot and feasibility studies (Lendlease, DHHS)
CovidSafe industry guidelines
Digital education and content (DHHS)
25,000+ COVID-19 tests on 300+ construction site
Logistics for Department of Health & Doherty Institute COVID-19 rapid test pilots
Our Team
Lateral Health Directors
DIRECTOR
Dr Daniel Costello, MS, MBBS, GD Surg Anat, BPC, BPD
Dr Costello is a surgeon in training with a background in project management. He directed the team of doctors and nurses who delivered 25,000 COVID-19 tests and 50 mobile vaccine clinics during the pandemic. He is a Surgical Registrar at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and a University of Melbourne Master of Surgery Candidate with an interest in using health technology for training. He is head of curriculum at the Australian Medical Robotic Academy. He was dux of his medical school at the University of Notre Dame.
Prior to medicine, Dr Costello completed a Bachelor of Property and Construction and Planning and Design at the University of Melbourne. This has given him unique insights into the medical and construction industries which he has used to successfully roll out Australia’s largest COVID-19 testing program for construction workers.
Dr Thomas Whish-Wilson
B.BiomedSc, MD, MSurg (candidate), DRANZCOG
Dr Whish-Wilson is a surgical registrar who has worked at a number of health services through NSW and Victoria. He is a medical logistics expert drawing on his experience in crisis response as a former infantry soldier in the Australian Regular Army. He was deployed in 2007 with the infantry as a combat first aid medic to Dhi Qar province Iraq as part of Operation Catalyst.
He graduated dux of the Bachelors of Biomedical Science program at the Queensland University of Technology before completing a Doctor of Medicine at Melbourne University. He has completed a diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology and has submitted his thesis for Master of Surgery at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Whish-Wilson is a founding director of Lateral Health and has been instrumental in industrial surveillance and vaccination programs.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
DIRECTOR
Dr George Tambakis, MBBS (Hons), BPhty
Dr Tambakis is an advanced trainee in Gastroenterology, having completed physician training at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Dr. Tambakis worked on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19, operating one of Australia’s first tertiary hospital fever clinics and managing COVID-19 and suspected COVID-19 patients.
His experience in the hospital system including access to Melbourne’s best Infectious Disease experts and up-to-date testing guidelines have helped inform our testing regime for the APC Incolink worksite testing initiative. He has conducted extensive research into COVID-19 protocols and emerging diagnostic tests. Dr Tambakis completed his medical degree at the University of Notre Dame Sydney with Honours after undergraduate studies in Physiotherapy at the University of Queensland.
DIRECTOR
Dr Matthew Smale, MBBS (Hons), BSc
Dr Smale is an advanced trainee in Gastroenterology. He completed his physician training at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, with experience managing patients with COVID-19 as both a medical registrar and infectious disease registrar. Dr Smale completed his postgraduate medical degree at Monash University with Honours after undergraduate studies in Science at the University of Queensland, majoring in Psychology.
In addition to his medical background, Dr Smale brings eight years of knowledge and experience as an occupational health and safety system specialist. Most notably, he has designed, implemented and maintained occupational health and safety management systems accredited to Australian (AS4801) and international (ISO45001) standards for the construction industry.