Stewardship

The Institute for Systems Integrity exists to examine how systems behave where policy, governance, and real-world practice intersect — particularly in environments where decisions carry human, institutional, and societal consequences.

Leadership within the Institute is understood as stewardship, not prominence.
Its purpose is to safeguard standards, maintain intellectual independence, and ensure coherence between evidence, ethics, and application.

The Institute is intentionally designed so that its principles, methods, and responsibilities remain larger than any individual.

Founder & Executive Steward

Dr Alwin Tan MBBS, FRACS, EMBA (University of Melbourne), Ai in Healthcare (Harvard Medical School)

The Institute for Systems Integrity was founded in response to a recurring pattern observed across institutions:
a widening gap between how systems are designed and how they are experienced in practice.

The role of the Founder is not to prescribe outcomes, but to establish and protect the conditions for integrity — clarity of purpose, accountability of decision-making, and independence from undue influence.

As Executive Steward, the Founder is responsible for:

• Upholding the Institute’s mission and values
• Ensuring intellectual and ethical independence
• Maintaining alignment between research, governance, and real-world application
• Safeguarding standards as the Institute grows

The Institute’s work is deliberately structured so that authority resides in principles and processes, not personalities.

Stewardship context

Dr Alwin Tan is a specialist clinician and governance practitioner with experience spanning healthcare delivery, clinical governance, and institutional leadership.

Alongside sustained frontline clinical practice in complex environments, his professional formation reflects a deliberate transition from individual expertise to systems-level responsibility. This has included senior involvement in roles concerned with standards, safety, governance, and ethical judgement — where decisions extend beyond technical competence to organisational and public consequence.

His development as a steward of systems has been supported by formal education in business, governance, sustainability, and systems leadership. This includes completion of an Executive MBA through Melbourne Business School, advanced executive education in artificial intelligence and healthcare through Harvard Medical School, and participation in structured leadership and innovation programs, including AUSCEP and Bastas Academy.

His governance formation includes formal director education with the Australian Institute of Company Directors, alongside advanced study in sustainability and systems-level decision-making through the University of Oxford.

This combination of clinical responsibility, governance education, and systems-focused training informs the Institute’s emphasis on:

• How systems function under real-world conditions
• Where incentives, policy, and practice diverge
• The responsibilities of leadership beyond expertise or intent

Credentials are presented not as a distinction, but as context for stewardship — grounding the Institute’s work in experience where decisions carry enduring consequences.

Faculty & Advisory Stewardship

The Institute for Systems Integrity is in the process of forming a Faculty and Advisory Council drawn from governance, healthcare, law, ethics, policy, and systems science.

Advisors contribute not as representatives or advocates, but as guardians of standards. Their role is to provide principled challenge, disciplinary depth, and independent perspective in support of the Institute’s work.

This advisory function is designed to:

• Strengthen intellectual rigour
• Ensure a cross-disciplinary perspective
• Guard against capture, bias, or oversimplification
• Support long-term institutional integrity

Appointments will be made selectively and transparently as the Institute’s work develops.

A note on independence

The Institute for Systems Integrity does not operate as a consultancy, advocacy platform, or personal brand.

Its credibility rests on:

• Independence from commercial or political alignment
• Respect for complexity and uncertainty
• Willingness to examine systems, including those in which its members have participated

Stewardship exists to protect that independence — and to ensure the Institute remains accountable to the public interest it serves.

Closing

The Institute’s work will evolve.
Its standards will not.

The Institute is intentionally designed so that its principles, methods, and responsibilities remain larger than any individual.