SPEAKERS

Dr Amandeep Hansra

Dr Amandeep Hansra is a practising GP and an expert in digital health and innovation. Alongside her clinical work, she currently works as a Principal at Main Sequence Ventures (CSIRO’s Innovation Fund) bringing her nearly two decades of clinical experience to her approach in picking great impactful companies for investment in the health sector. Amandeep is also the NSW clinical lead for the Australian Clinical Entrepreneur Program (AUSCEP). Amandeep is the Chair of Coviu Global, a board director and council member of AMA NSW, board director of ACHSI, board director of Molemap AU/NZ and is a Digital Health Adviser for the Australian Digital Health Agency.

She was the founder of Creative Careers in Medicine, an organisation with 18,000 members, that supports doctors in navigating careers off the beaten path. Her goal is to ensure we have doctors with the right skill sets for the jobs of the future. She is also a co-founder of Australian Medical Angels, one of the world’s largest syndicates of angels in the medical space. She has a Bachelor of Medicine (honours) from the University of Newcastle, a Masters in Public Health and Tropical Medicine from James Cook University and a Global Executive MBA from the University of Sydney. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of GPs and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Digital Health at the University of Sydney.

Amandeep was awarded a 2021 Brilliant Women in Digital Health Award by Telstra Health and the 2022 National Leadership Award by the University of Newcastle. Amandeep is passionate about innovation in the health sector, clinician wellbeing and job satisfaction, and supporting entrepreneurship in healthcare.

Dr Amith Shetty  

Dr Amith Shetty is an Emergency physician, Clinical Director in the Patient Experience and System Performance division at NSW Ministry of Health and currently Clinical Lead for the NSW COVID-19 Care in Community program. He is also the Medical chair of NSW Emergency Care institute Research Committee, Senior lecturer at University of Sydney, Adjunct fellow at Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, Macquarie University, and honorary research fellow at the Westmead Institute for Medical research.

Dr Shetty was instrumental in the development and delivery of a live COVID-19 patient tracking platform for care of patients across NSW, including a risk score allowing for improved resource allocation of patients across care models. He is intricately involved in the NSW COVID predictive analytics and state-wide COVID intelligence and planning committees and is currently working closely with the Commonwealth, Primary Health networks, General practitioners, and GP-representative organisations to design the future of COVID care in the community. Shetty’s doctoral studies on screening for sepsis in ED led to the characterization, development, and piloting of digital EMR screening tool which after validation is now being implemented across NSW ED through the CEC Sepsis Kills program. He has further collaborated with interstate and national bodies sharing the Sepsis algorithm work leading to similar implementations in Queensland.

He continues to keep engaged in clinical activities through stints at rural Australian EDs and international charity missions.

Dr Bec Davis 

Dr Bec Davis works as a staff specialist for Royal Prince Alfred Emergency Department and the RPA Virtual Hospital. She has an interest in innovation, system development and change, education and virtual health care. She joins the panel as a member of RPAH ED’s redevelopment committee and a previous member of the Bankstown ED redevelopment committee.

Conjoint Associate Professor Carolyn Hullick 

Conjoint Associate Professor Carolyn Hullick was appointed Acting Chief Medical Officer in March 2023 and has been a Clinical Director at the Commission since March 2021.

A/Professor Hullick is associated with projects focused on aged care, transitions of care and the appropriate use of antipsychotics. She is also closely involved with sepsis identification and management.

A/Professor Hullick is an Emergency Physician in Newcastle, New South Wales. She is a Harkness Fellow having spent 12 months at Weill Cornell Medical School in New York, investigating care for older people in emergency departments. With this expertise in geriatric emergency medicine, she has developed a program to support acutely unwell residents in residential aged care facilities and has geriatric emergency medicine leadership roles with the Australasian College and the International Federation for Emergency Medicine.

A/Professor Hullick recognises that vulnerable and complex older people need a health system which collaborates, communicates and places people and their families at the centre of care. 

Dr Clare Skinner 

Clare is Senior Staff Specialist in EM (and former Director) at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales. Clare is a proud graduate of the local public school system and completed degrees in arts and science at the Australian National University before embarking on a medical degree at the University of Sydney.

Clare was a Junior Medical Officer at the Canberra Hospital before moving back to Sydney to undertake training in EM at Royal North Shore Hospital. Clare also completed a Masters of Public Health degree. Since attaining Fellowship in 2011, she has worked clinically across Northern Sydney and as Curriculum Advisor for the Sydney Medical School.

Clare is interested in improving workplace culture in EDs and hopes to achieve this by advocating for increased senior medical staffing, building positive relationships in and beyond the ED, providing excellent clinically-orientated education, and mentorship of trainees and Junior Medical Officers.

Dr Coen Butters  
Dr Coen Butters is an Infectious Diseases Physician and General Paediatrician at John Hunter Children’s Hospital. He was clinical lead of the Hunter New England (HNE) COVID Kids @ Home program and more recently, HNE Virtual Kids. He is interested in how models of virtual care can be used to safely and effectively manage common paediatric conditions in the community. Coen grew up in Newcastle and completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Newcastle and then paediatric training in Melbourne. He combines clinical work with a PhD and chasing after his two sons.

Dr Emma Hookman 

Dr Emma Croker is an Endocrinologist who works in Newcastle, NSW. She is a staff specialist at John Hunter Hospital and is part of the Diabetes Alliance Program Plus (DAP+) which is an initiative to deliver specialist diabetes care in the general practice setting in the local health district and beyond. She is looking forward to presenting on clinical updates in diabetes for the Emergency Medicine Physician and team.

Dr. Ezra Suria is an Advanced Trainee in Emergency Medicine. Born in Indonesia, he completed his MBBS at the University of Sydney in 2016. Since then, he has worked at Nepean hospital, where he developed a keen interest in Emergency Medicine.

Dr Ferdi Miteff

Dr Miteff trained as clinical neurologist in Auckland and pursued a career in management of neurovascular conditions, completing fellowships in stroke neurology (Newcastle) and interventional neuroradiolgy (Sydney).  He established the neurointerventional service at John Hunter Hospital in 2012 and been involved in several research aspects of this sub-specialty.

Kathryn Hume  

Kath Hume leads workforce projects for the NSW Ministry of Health to ensure the workforce is fit for purpose, now and into the future. She facilitates communities of practice to build capability in workforce planning, workforce analytics, grievance management, rostering and workforce wellbeing. She was part of the Workforce Planning and Talent Development branch who established the first statewide Workforce Wellbeing Collaborative that consists of over 100 participants supporting implementation of local and statewide wellbeing initiatives.

Krupa is a Sydney based ED trainee who believes that the only way to make change is to get involved. She is an active member of AWE and NoWEM

Dr Katie Maclean   

Dr Katie Maclean is a senior Emergency Physician, who has worked in multiple Emergency Departments across Sydney and who is currently working at Campbelltown Hospital in South West Sydney. She is proud to have been a FACEM for 20 years this year. She has a long interest in EOLC and over the last few years has been involved in a variety of projects including currently being a member of the CEC EOL Decisions expert advisory group and working with staff from the facility and district on a variety of projects, helping advocate for patients as they face they reach their final hours and days. She also has added interests in Paediatric Emergency Medicine, well-being and is interested in teaching all staff to feel more equipped and empowered as they practice emergency medicine. She is incredibly proud to present the Campbelltown ED experience with Nanga Mai, our purpose built EOLC room.

Dr Liz Thompson

Dr Liz Thompson is a Staff Specialist Rehabilitation Physician with the HNEkidsRehab team.

Prior to moving to Newcastle in 2019, her FAFRM RACP training occurred in Sydney.  As a consultant, she worked in the subspecialist areas of intellectual disability, geriatric rehab, transition (child-> adult), spinal cord injury, post orthopaedic intervention and amputee rehabilitation.  Her co-chair role with ACI’s Intellectual Disability Network is an ongoing career highlight.

Her work now focuses on paediatric rehabilitation working alongside an outstanding multidisciplinary team offering clinics for Cerebral Palsy and Movement Disorders, Paediatric Brain Injury and a weekly intramuscular botulinum toxin clinic.

Dr Louis
Christie

Dr Louis Christie moved into rural practice in 1994 as a junior registrar in Orange. After working as a CMO in critical care, Dr Louis trained in emergency medicine (including three years in Canberra) before returning to Orange as an emergency physician and retrievalist in late 2000. In 2007, he was appointed to the role of Director of Medical Services for the region and helped to develop and commission a new hospital in 2011. By mid-2011, his clinical focus had shifted to palliative medicine; and (after obtaining his FACRRM in 2015), Dr  Louis became the full-time palliative care doctor for the Western NSW LHD. He has had a long interest in well-being, and in the training and education of medical students and doctors.

Dr Matt Rettig

Mark Rettig is a highly accomplished and influential IT practitioner, renowned for his exceptional leadership skills and expertise in driving innovative software development and strategic initiatives. With a career spanning over three decades, Rettig has made significant contributions to the technology industry. Rettig joined Microsoft in 2012. He has held several key positions within the company, focussed on enabling technology to solve real world problems. Throughout his career, Rettig has been instrumental in leading and managing large-scale software projects. His visionary approach and ability to navigate complex challenges have earned him a reputation for delivering cutting-edge solutions. In addition to his technical prowess, Rettig is known for his exceptional leadership and strategic thinking. He has a keen ability to identify emerging trends and leverage them to drive innovation within various industry sectors. Beyond his professional achievements, he actively engages in various initiatives aimed at nurturing the next generation of technology leaders, sharing his knowledge and experiences to inspire others.”

Melanie Harrison

Melanie Harrison is a Senior Pharmacist in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care at the Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital NSW, and Conjoint Lecturer at the University of Newcastle for the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy. Melanie has a research background after completing a Bachelors Degree in Biomedical Sciences and subsequent year-long Honours research project in Oncology/Virology, followed by working in breast cancer clinical trials with the ‘Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group’ for 7 years under Surgical Oncologist Emeritus Prof John Forbes AM. Melanie then went on to complete a Masters in Pharmacy through University of Newcastle and has been working as a Clinical Pharmacist in the Emergency Department of the Calvary Mater Newcastle hospital for over 10 years. She has a strong collaborative relationship with the multidisciplinary team within the Emergency Department and a passion for innovation and quality use of medicines in the Emergency Medicine setting.

Dr Peter Saul 

Dr Peter Saul MA, MB, BChir, MRCP, FRCA, FCICM is an Intensivist who has worked in four countries (UK, US, Spain, Australia). His research interests are in ethics, law and end of life care and decision making. He founded the Clinical Unit in Ethics and Health Law at the University of Newcastle and was Head of Discipline for Clinical Ethics for many years. He co-wrote all the guidelines for end-of-life decision making for NSW Health, and was a member of the Clinical Ethics Advisory Panel.

He was a founder of the International Society for Advance Care Planning, and Chief Investigator for a national program called Respecting Patient Choices. He is currently working with the Australian Medical Council on triage guidelines, chairs the advisory committee of the national End of Life Law for Clinicians program and is on the Roadmap to Realistic Care for Older People working group. He has recently returned from Copenhagen where he gave the Hustveldt Oration on Humanism in Medicine. His TED talk “Let’s Talk About Dying “has been viewed over a million times.

Rachel Nightingale

Rachael is an ACEM Advanced Trainee at the Gold Coast University Hospital. In 2022 she completed a Research Special Skills placement, during which time she focused on cellulitis. Her work looked at the demographics of cellulitis in the emergency department, the medium term progression of cellulitis symptoms and cellulitis misdiagnosis.

Rhys-Ross Brown 

Rhys is an Emergency Physician and Deputy Director of Emergency Medicine at Campbelltown Hospital in South West Sydney. He represents NSW on ACEM’s Council of Advocacy, Practice and Partnership, and further indulges his policy proclivities on the Standards and Endorsement Committee. A proud transgender man, and an enthusiastic advocate for equity and social justice, he heads up his ED’s Diversity and Inclusion Group and was a founding Director of the Network of Women in Emergency Medicine.  When he’s not at work, you’ll probably find him somewhere outdoors with his wife and three kids.

Dr Sam Vidler 

I have been working in various fields of medicine since 1995, including regional and remote general practice for 15 years, 4 years in central China, Emergency Medicine for 10 years and Retrieval Medicine for 8 years.

I most recently took on the Clinical Director role at Hunter Retrieval Service, and remain an AUSMAT Team member.

My medical passions include navigating systems improvement to ensure responsible and durable optimisation of the patient journey.

Dr Shirleen Balbir Singh

Dr Shirleen Balbir Singh is a Paediatric Palliative Care Staff Specialist at John Hunter Children’s Hospital, NSW. She also practices as a General Paediatrician in Newcastle. Shirleen regards effective communication and a holistic approach as being essential when caring for patients and their families with life limiting illness. Her research includes working collaboratively with schools to better support patients with life limiting illness.

Dr Simon Judkins 

Dr Simon Judkins is a former ACEM president and one of the newest members of the AWE Executive. He is very excited about this new role and has just returned from the ICEM in Amsterdam, where he participated in the ICEM Marketplace…his first official role representing AWE. He is also the Director of Echuca ED, a rural department where he is hoping to walk the walk with respect to equity and fairness. He is also hopeful that his recent election to the VP role at AMA Victoria will allow him to raise the ongoing issue of gender inequality to a wider audience.

Dr Susan Hertzberg  

Dr Susan Hertzberg is an Emergency Physician with over 30 years clinical experience and has been a member of various ACEM committees over those years. She is also a Senior Consultant Medical Advisor at Avant which is Australia’s largest medical defence organisation. In this role she assists doctors with complaints, SAERs, Coronial inquests, employment disputes and civil matters.

Dr Hertzberg holds a Masters of Health Law and a Masters of Bioethics from University of Sydney. She is a member of the  Clinical Ethics Committee of the SESLHD.

Dr Stephen Gourley 

Dr Stephen Gourley is the DEM of Alice Springs Hospital and the President Elect of ACEM. He is dedicated to continuing to improve the provision of emergency medicine, no matter where you live in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand. He has a strong interest in rural emergency medicine and Indigenous health, especially to the communities of central Australia where he lived and worked for 16 years. He believes that enact long lasting change, you need to get involved and contribute to the broader health care system at a Sate/ Territory and National level. To that end, he has been the immediate past Chair of the NT Clinical Senate, Deputy Chair of the Federal AMA Board, Deputy Chair of the National Rural Health Alliance and numerous ACEM committees including the Rural Regional and Remote Committee, Indigenous Health Committee and Chair of the Health Service Reform (which he likes to call “Revolution”) Committee. Through this work, he has been a strong advocate for equitable rural healthcare and rural emergency medicine training.

Dr Vinodkumar Raveendran

Dr.Vinod Raveendran works as a Senior Staff Specialist with the Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Service at The John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle. He is also the Director of Prevocational Education and training(DPET) for Mental Health ,Hunter New England Psychiatry Training Network. Vinod is also involved in training and supervision of psychiatry registrars who are doing training in Liaison Psychiatry. He spent time as a Senior Registrar trainee with Hunter Health before moving to UK to do Master’s in Neuroscience at The Institute Of Psychiatry, King’s College, London. As a part of his dissertation, he was involved in brain imaging research investigating certain symptoms of schizophrenia. He finished his Fellowship with Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 2007 and has been working as a consultant since 2008.He has also got a Certificate of Completion of Training(CCT) in General Adult Psychiatry with the Post Graduate Medical Education and Training Board,UK. He has done training in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and is currently involved further training through the International Psychoanalytic Institute,USA.

Vinod is interested in junior doctor wellbeing and is involved in running reflective groups for PGY1 and 2 doctors who work within the psychiatric services across the district. The groups are based on the principles of Balint Groups and they are run weekly in a supportive environment . We are in the process of evaluating the effectiveness of these groups.

Yolanda Coleman  

Yolanda Coleman is a Paediatric Intensivist and Adult/Paediatric Retrievalist at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle . Her background includes emergency medicine, adult ICU and retrieval medicine. She is a passionate advocate of critically ill children and their families. She is especially enthusiastic about education, simulation and trauma. She thinks she has the best two jobs in the world. When not at work, she can be found surfing or doing aerial hoop with her kids.