RACP Online Congress

Dr Anil Asthana is a specialist Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist. He completed his undergraduate medical degree at King’s College in London. Anil is both an accredited member of The Royal College of Surgeons of England and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He has expertise in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and special interests including the use of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) in IBD. He is the founding chair of GENIUS (Gastroenterological Network for Intestinal Ultrasonography) and previously organised the inaugural international bowel ultrasound conference in Melbourne, Australia. He is on the education committee for IBUS (International Bowel Ultrasound Group in IBD) and has a keen interest in functional gut disorders, particularly the brain-gut axis.

Rinki Murphy is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Auckland and Diabetologist at Auckland District Health Board and Counties, Manukau Health. She is a Principal Investigator at the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, a national centre of research excellence for metabolic diseases, infectious disease and cancer. Associate Professor Murphy's research in diabetes and obesity spans genetics, physiology and clinical trials. She is an expert member of the international monogenic diabetes variant curation panel and part of the MyNewGut international microbiome consortium member 'Microbiome Influence on Energy balance and Brain Development Function' and Microbiome Otago.

Cardiothoracic anaesthetist at Royal Melbourne Hospital

Epidemiologist and preventative medicine specialist, Alfred Hospital

Medical Clinical Informatics Analyst, Western Health

Dr Nic Woods – Health Industry Lead, Microsoft

Professor Douglass trained in medicine at Monash University, graduating in 1984 (MBBS (Hons) BMedSc(Hons) and went on to undertake physician training at the Alfred Hospital in Respiratory Medicine, gaining her FRACP in 1992. In 1990 she left Melbourne to work in Southampton, UK to undertake doctoral studies studying immune processes in allergic asthma and rhinitis. In 1993 she moved to London to take up a position as Senior Registrar in Chest and Allergy. By 1996 she had returned to Melbourne and was appointed as a full-time hospital physician to the Department of Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology at the Alfred Hospital. She became Head of the Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology Service at the Alfred Hospital in 1999 and, later, an Associate Professor at Monash University. In 2012 she took up her current appointment as Head of the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and as an Honorary Clinical Professor at the University of Melbourne. In 2013 she was awarded a Fellowship of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, an award acknowledging exceptional contribution to Respiratory Health in Australia. She was president of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy from 2010 to 2012.

Dr Harrex is a consultant occupational and environmental physician in private practice in Canberra. Prior to this he served in the RAAF for 26 years and reached the rank of Air Commodore and was the Director General of Clinical Services for the Australian Defence Force before transferring to the RAAF Reserve. Over the past two decades, he has provided consultancy services to a number of governments departments. After assisting the Department of Veterans with several health studies of veterans, he has been the part-time contracted Senior Medical Advisor in health care policy for the past 15 years. He has an interest in strategic health policy and since 2012 has been an active member of several committees of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine within the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 2014 he was appointed as the inaugural Chair of the RACP ‘Stakeholder Executive Group’ responsible for the strategic direction and promotion of the Health Benefits of Good Work campaign. In July 2018 he was appointed the Chair of the Faculty Policy and Advocacy Committee. He is a member of the RACP Accelerated Silicosis Lead Fellows Group, the Faculty’s representative on the RACP COVID-19 Clinical Expert Reference Group and the President-elect of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Mr Doolan has 24 years’ experience in health services in Australia and England including 14 years change and adoption experience in a variety of digital health projects including the recent My Health Record Expansion Program, the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) implementation, the eHealth NSW HealtheNet Program and the NHS electronic record implementations. Prior to digital health, Carey was a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Community Mental Health.

Ms Osman is an Adoption and Clinical Use Lead at the Australian Digital Health Agency. She is an Accredited Pharmacist with over 12 years experience in pharmacy working in community settings as well as Home Medicine Review. She has also worked at the Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network as part of the successful My Health Record Opt-Out trial. Marwa is passionate about utilising digital health strategies to enhance patient outcomes and improve medicine safety.

Professor Keith R. McVilly PhD is a c. His work addresses the translation of research into policy and practice, with a focus on promoting the well-being and community inclusion of people with multiple and complex disabling experiences. His work reflects the centrality of relationships to well-being. Much of Keith’s research is conducted in applied settings, working directly with adults with disability, families and services providers. He has a particular interest in the issues effecting people with cognitive impairment who present with severe challenging behaviours, and those involved in the criminal justice system. He also has a strong interest in the professional development of the direct support workforce, including their formation in ethical practice. Informing his research, Keith has worked as a direct support worker, a clinician and service manager, in public health services and in private practice. He has worked as a researcher at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Disability Studies, RMIT University's Discipline of Disability Studies, in the UK at the University of Wales’ Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities, in the USA at the University of Minnesota’s Research Centre on Community Living, and in the School of Psychology at Deakin University, Melbourne. He was the founding Convenor of the Australian Psychological Society’s Special Interest Group for Psychologists working with People with Intellectual & Developmental Disability, and the academic lead for the University of Melbourne’s university-wide Hall Mark Disability Research Initiative. He is a member of the Steering Committee for the university’s Melbourne Disability Institute (MDI). Keith is Associate Director of The Academy for Education & Research of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD). In his spare time, Keith is a Registered Apiarist, with four beehives in the back yard. He also keeps chickens and enjoys spending time in his greenhouse!

Dr Harry Eeman is a rehabilitation and specialist pain medicine physician working at St Vincent’s and Northern hospitals in Melbourne, Dr Eemans’ practice is heavily influenced by his understanding of the mind body connection. This understanding was first sparked during his undergraduate study of philosophy and has continued to strengthen through years of experience heading up an interdisciplinary team who use this knowledge as central to their practice in achieving transformative outcomes for patients. Dr Eeman is also influenced by his own unique experience as one of the first people in Australia to qualify and practice medicine as a quadriplegic which required overcoming significant attitudinal and physical barriers. He is the recipient of The Aspire Award (Supreme Court Victoria & AMA) for best achievement in Medicine – Specialist.

Dr Fitzgerald was appointed to the role of CEO of Scope (Aust) in 2012. Under Jennifer’s leadership the organisation has seen revenue grow from $82.5M in FY12 to a projected turnover of $350M in FY20. Scope is in the seventh year of NDIS trial and transition and has successfully transformed the business to adapt to a customer driven and commercial environment. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Applied Sciences (Physiotherapy), Graduate Diploma of Physiotherapy (Neurology), a Master’s in Business Administration and a Doctor of Physiotherapy. She holds fellowships for the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Institute of Managers and Leaders. She is a Director of the Ability Roundtable and former Chair of Cerebral Palsy Australia. Jennifer is also currently a member of the Victorian Ministerial NDIS Implementation Taskforce. She has held past Directorships of Ability First Australia, Cerebral Palsy Australia and National Disability Services.

Professor James Ward is the Director of The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and a Professor of Public Health with the School of Public Health. He is a descendent of the Pitjantjatjara and Nurrunga clans of central and southern Australia and prior to joining UQ, was Head of infectious diseases research program - Aboriginal Health, at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). Professor Ward's research work has focussed especially on infectious diseases and primarily on adolescent health outcomes through programs, research, community-led interventions and advocacy in the areas of sexual health, HIV, viral hepatitis and alcohol and other drugs. He has a long history working in Aboriginal communities, beginning as a men’s health educator for 29 remote communities in central Australia in the mid-1990s. Professor Ward has held a variety of roles in Aboriginal health in public health policy, for both government and non-government organisations. In 2007, he began a formal career in research after being appointed as the Inaugural Program Head of the Aboriginal Program at the Kirby Institute- University of New South Wales. In 2012 Professor Ward moved to Alice Springs to become Deputy Director of the Baker Institutes’ Aboriginal Health Program, after which he joined the team at SAHMRI. In 2016 he completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales focused on epidemiology of sexually-transmitted infections in Aboriginal communities. Professor Ward has been awarded more than $30 million in competitive grant funding since 2013 and has authored over 110 publications. He presently holds a prestigious Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship and is chief investigator on an National Health and MNedical Reserach Council (NHMRC) Ideas grant, a Synergy grant, four project grants, three partnership grants and two Centres of Research Excellence. In 2017, Professor Ward was recognised by the NHMRC with the Rising Star Research Excellence Award for the top-ranked application by an Indigenous researcher in the early career Fellowship scheme and by the local Aboriginal community by being awarded the National and Torres Strait Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) SA Scholar of the Year. He provides advice to the Commonwealth Government through representation on two committees – Australian National Council on Alcohol and other drugs and the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia. Throughout his health and research career, Professor Ward has demonstrated a true commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents and a dedication to awareness, education, dissemination advocacy and community engagement.

Dr Ada Cheung is an endocrinologist at Austin Health and an National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) research Fellow at The University of Melbourne. She leads the trans medical research group and works with trans community members to improve health outcomes. Dr Cheung's research findings have contributed to the investment in two new multidisciplinary gender clinics in Victoria and a statewide training program for health professionals in trans health and new national guidelines in the hormonal management of trans and gender diverse individuals. She has won a number of national and international awards for her research including the only Australian to win a US Endocrine Society Early Investigator Award and was recently a finalist for the Premiers award for health and medical research.

Dr Jeff Brown is a provincial paediatrician at Palmerston North Hospital and Clinical Executive of Te Uru Pā Harakeke – Healthy Women Children and Youth – for MidCentral District Health Board.  Trying to make things better at the cotside, in the clinic, in the community, and through the country, has found him thrust into various leadership positions locally and nationally, inside and outside of the hospital, within and without medicine. Dr Brown was President of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) for 10 years, Chair of Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS) NZ for 10 years, and on the National Health Board for its six years. He is the RACP Aotearoa New Zealand President, a Director of paediatric education, an examiner, and has served on various committees including the RACP Board. After 38 years as a doctor and 28 as a specialist, Dr Brown still has the best job ever, keen on clinical excellence, improving training and education, and addressing the challenges to our health system as a whole.

Impact of a smartphone app on prescriber adherence to antibiotic guidelines in adult patients with community acquired pneumonia or urinary tract infections

Predictors of mortality in patients with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1

Dr Andrew Court initially trained as a paediatrician before he changed careers and became a psychiatrist. He is currently working primarily as a Consultation Liaison Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. Dr Court has a longstanding interest in the diagnosis and management of medically unexplained symptoms.

Associate Professor Anne Smith trained as a general paediatrician and specialised in forensic medicine. Since 2006 she has been the Medical Director of the Victorian Forensic Paediatric Medical Service, which is a forensic medical assessment service for vulnerable, injured, abused and neglected under 18 year old Victorian children. A/Prof Smith has researched, published, educated health professionals, police and child protection practitioners, developed curricula and developed units of study within the Masters of Forensic Medicine program, Monash University.

Associate Professor Jill Sewell is a senior consultant paediatrician in the Centre for Community Child Health and the immediate past Clinical Director of the Children’s Bioethics Centre at the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH). She has over 35 years experience at the RCH as a specialist in developmental and behavioural paediatrics. Associate Professor Sewell's interests include clinical bioethics, early childhood development, training in community child health, medical education, safety and quality in health care, medical regulation and accreditation and health service delivery. She is Chair of the Victorian Clinical Council, and previous President of the Australian Medical Council, the RACP, and the Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the RACP.  Associate Professor Sewell was the co-clinical lead of the Victorian Paediatric Clinical Network and has board experience on a number of health organisations. In 2005, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to child health.

Clinical Professor Meredith Makeham is the Chief Medical Adviser for the Australian Digital Health Agency and leads their clinical advisory, safety and quality division. She is the lead clinical spokesperson for the organisation. since joining the Agency in November 2016, Prof Makeham has been closely involved in the delivery of Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy and My Health Record system to all Australians who wish to have one. She also leads the team at the Agency who are responsible for delivering the Australian contribution to the Global Digital Health Partnership. This is a collaboration of governments and government agencies from 25 countries and the World Health Organisation (WHO) that share policy initiatives and information to support the improved delivery of digital health services for citizens around the world. She also chairs the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) evidence and evaluation work stream. One of Prof Makeham's key responsibilities includes overseeing the clinical governance of My Health Record and systems operated within the national digital infrastructure. She has also supported the development of research programs with the academic community to build the evidence base for digital health benefits in Australia. Prof Makeham holds honorary professorial appointments at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University, is a practicing general practitioner in Sydney at MQ Health and has a passion for improving health systems and strengthening the role of primary care to deliver better health outcomes for people.

Dr Chad Bennett is a psychiatrist and the clinical director of the Victorian Dual Disability Service (VDDS). He completed his medical training in London and also gained an honours degree in psychology. Dr Bennett trained in psychiatry at St Georges Hospital, London and was admitted to member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1992- the same year that he migrated to Australia. He became a member of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 1997. Dr Bennett worked in community psychiatry and in the treatment of first episode psychosis before taking up his current position as the Clinical Director to the VDDS in 1999. He is currently the chair of the section of physciatry for people with intellectual disability in the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

Associate Professor Catherine Storey is now retired from clinical practice. She was a neurologist at Royal North Shore Hospital, head of department and head of the area stroke services. was one of the first women to train in neurology under the College’s new rules for FRACP in the 1970s. She spent several years at the National Hospital, Queen Square, before returning to Australia. A/Prof Storey was involved in the early days of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Neurologists (ANZAN) in setting a women in neurology group to support and encourage women into the specialty. She has also been actively involved in teaching at the University of Sydney and in this role, has been a mentor to the many medical students who wish to pursue a career as a physician. A/Prof Storey continues to teach, mainly supervising research projects, particularly projects involving the history of medicine at the University of Sydney.

Professor John Wilson AM graduated in science with BSc(Hons) from The University of Melbourne in 1975 with a major interest in physics and information technology. He then qualified in medicine in 1980 (MBBS). Prof Wilson's physician training was at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, with a special interest in intensive care and respiratory medicine. He studied the role of inflammation in asthma and completed his PhD before moving to England to join a major asthma research group in 1988. After returning to Australia in 1990, Prof Wilson spent two years at Royal Melbourne Hospital, then he was appointed as respiratory physician and head of the cystic fibrosis service at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. In this role, he has received Department of Human Services (DHS) Centre of Excellence, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC) funding, as well as service achievement awards. Prof Wilson is responsible for the treatment of patients with different lung disorders, including cystic fibrosis, asthma and pneumonia. His research interests include the use of video-conferencing in delivering care programs, the application of electronic health records to medical systems and new pharmacological treatments (including gene-potentiating agents) in CF lung disease. Prof Wilson heads Monashalliance (www.monashalliance.com) which aims to implement eHealth initiatives in clinical care. He is Chair, Senior Medical Staff Association at Alfred Health. Prof Wilson was elected to the position of RACP President-Elect in May 2018. He is a consultant to government and industry bodies in Australia and overseas.

Dr Paul Hotton, is a consultant paediatrician who works as a staff specialist across the area of community child health at Sydney Children’s Hospital Network. His clinical work is in all aspects of community child health; child protection, development and behavioural paediatrics, as well as working with priority populations and completing population health work. Dr Hotton's research interest are around improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations with a particular focus on children in out of home care. He has completed a masters in public and international health at the University of New South Wales and is currently halfway through a masters of clinical forensic medicine with Monash University. Dr Hotton has presented both at national and international conferences around child protection with a recent presentation at the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect around gender violence in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Intersex (LGBTQI) community. He is a member of the Advanced Trainee Community Child Health Committee and still finds time to be a volunteer lifesaver at North Bondi Beach.

Dr Chloe Baxter BSc(Hons) MBChB MHPE MSc is an advanced trainee in general paediatrics at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. She has strong interests in acute paediatrics, medical education and medical ethics and law. Dr Baxter is currently interim lead of Physician Medical Education at the Royal Australiasian College of Physicians (RACP). She is in the final year of her advanced training and recently obtained a masters degree in paediatric emergency medicine from the University of Edinburgh. Dr Baxter graduated MB ChB with European Studies from Manchester University in the United Kingdom after also completing an intercalated BSc in medical ethics and law. During her medical studies, she undertook a masters degree in health professions education at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and was invited to meet the Queen as a young leader in medical education. Since then, Dr Baxter has co-authored research articles and online courses, presented internationally at the Ottawa medical education conferences and peer reviewed for the Journal of Medical Education. She is the lead author of the textbook, The Practical Guide to Medical Ethics and Law (PasTest) and author of the paediatric chapter in Ethical Problems in Emergency Medicine, edited by a Harvard-based team. Dr Baxter enjoys learning languages and teaching her four children Scottish country dancing.

Dr Clara Chow is Professor of Faculty of Medicine and Health, Westmead and cardiologist at Westmead. She is Academic Director of the Westmead Applied Research Centre (WARC) and Program Director Community Based Cardiac Services and Cardiologist at Westmead hospital. Dr Chow is appointed as the CPC (Charles Perkins Centre) Westmead Academic Co-Director. Currently she is President-Elect of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand and Co-Chair of the Secondary Prevention Alliance in Australia. Dr Chow has a PhD from the University of Sydney, Australia in cardiovascular epidemiology and international public health and a post doctorate from McMaster University, Canada in clinical trials and cardiac imaging. She is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/ National Heart Foundation Career Development Fellow. The main focus of her research is in simple and scalable approaches to cardiovascular disease prevention.

Professor Julie Leask is a social scientist at the Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery and visiting professorial fellow at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance. Her research focuses vaccination uptake, programs and policy, and health communication and she has 131 publications in the field. Julie is chair of the WHO Working Group on Measuring Behavioural and Social Drivers of Vaccination. She sits on the WHO Immunization and Vaccines related Implementation Research advisory committee and the South East Asia Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group. Julie was overall and global category winner of the Australian Financial Review 100 Woman of Influence in 2019 and won the Public Health Impact Award and the Sax Institute Research Action Award in 2015. Her team won the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Engagement and Innovation for the www.TalkingAboutImmunisation.org.au package.

Dr Lucy Gunn has 20 years of experience in research and teaching in the fields of econometrics and urban research. Her key interest is in understanding which urban environments are supportive of health and wellbeing outcomes. Her research provides an evidence base to policy makers and planners on what constitutes good urban design and provides feedback on the implementation of current and previous urban plans and their impact on the health of residents. Recent projects have spanned topics including health-economic evaluation of brownfield and greenfield sites, transit-oriented development in metropolitan Melbourne, and creating liveable cities using indicators of liveability.

Professor Marsland completed his PhD in Immunology at Otago University and the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand. He then spent 14 years in Switzerland, first at the ETH Zürich and then as a Cloetta Medical Research Fellow at the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV). During that period, he received the ETH Latsis Prize, the Leenaards Prize and the ERS COPD Research Award. Since 2018, Ben is a veski innovation fellow, NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and Professor in the Department of Immunology and Pathology, within the Central Clinical School at Monash University. He also maintains a visiting professorship at the University of Lausanne and CHUV. The focus of Ben’s lab revolves around the microbiome in the gut, lung and skin and how it influences asthma, respiratory viral infections and lung fibrosis.

Dr Kushani Marshall is a public health physician undertaking further training as a field epidemiologist within the Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE) training program at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance and at the Australian National University. She holds a Master of Health and International Development and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators.

Dr Natasha Cook MBBS (Hons) PhD FRACP is a fulltime nephrologist and general physician at Austin Health Melbourne, Nephrology Transition Clinical Lead, mother of three aged 19,15 and 11. Other special interests include chronic kidney disease and living kidney donor assessment.  

Debra is passionate about reducing health disparities and integrated care – especially for vulnerable people living with disabilities, their carers and support workers as well as building collaborative teams with all health professionals to improve the health system. She is a member of the RACP Consumer Advisory Group (CPAC), the current Chair of the WA Primary Health Alliance Community South Committee, the Community Member of the Pharmacy Registration Board of WA, and NPS MedicineWise Choosing Wisely Advisory Group. Debra is the Past Chair of the Consumer Advisory Council at Rockingham General Hospital as well as a previous member of several Clinical Safety & Quality Committees for South Metro Health Service in WA. In April 2018 as part of the Patient Experience Week she received a Finalist Award in the Health Consumer Excellence Award. This award recognises health consumers who demonstrate commitment to improving the health outcomes and/or the patient experience.

Dr Helen Benham MBBS (Hons) FRACP B.App Sci (Pod) PhD GAICD is a senior staff specialist rheumatologist at the Princess Alexandria Hospital, senior lecturer with The University of Queensland and previous NHMRC translating research into practice fellow. She has experience across basic science, clinical and translational research within the field of rheumatology and clinical interests and expertise in biologic therapies for rheumatic disease and tele-rheumatology. Helen is currently on the boards of Metro South Hospital and Health Service and Arthritis Queensland. She is co-chair of Women in Rheumatology Australia (WIRA) a special interest group of the Australian Rheumatology Association.    

Dr Mehr completed his medical degree at the University of Melbourne and trained at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne and Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney. He has been a Consultant Allergist/Immunologist for more than 10 years. His appointments include Consultant Staff Specialist at the Royal Children's Hospital, Sub-editor of the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health and he sits on various committees. Dr Mehr has strong interest in research in Paediatric allergy and immunology, and conducts a combined Rheumatology/Immunology periodic fever clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Dr Michael McDowell is a Paediatrician specialising in child development and behavioural disorders. He was the Foundation President of the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioural Paediatric Society of Australasia, and continues to take an active role both in this society, and he profession more generally. Dr McDowell has an Associate Professor appointment at the University of Queensland. His medical and paediatric training was in Sydney. He undertook further training at the Children's Hospital, Boston, USA, where he also competed an MPH at Harvard. He is a Churchill Fellow and has completed a PhD at the University of Queensland. Until recently, Dr McDowell worked at the Child Development Network, a private multidisciplinary service for children based in Brisbane, Australia. He has since moved to Sydney, and is currently exploring new options for professional practice.

Dr Tey is a consultant at the Department of Allergy and Immunology, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.  He enjoys an active role in teaching medical students, junior training doctors and general practitioners. He has research involvement with the  Probiotic and Peanut Oral Immunotherapy (PPOIT)  study and is an Honorary Fellow with the Gastro & Food Allergy Group (HealthNuts) at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. He is a member of the Centre for Food & Allergy Research (CFAR) and also a member of the Care Working Group for the National Allergy Strategy. Dr Tey is an invited reviewer for the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, International Archives of Allergy & Immunology and Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health.  He was the previous editor of the Paediatric Handbook, 8th edition, a popular text used by medical students and healthcare professionals. When not at work, he enjoys his spending time with friends and his family of three young energetic boys.  He also enjoys time with friends, sports, travel, the outdoors, food, going to the gym and playing basketball.

Professor Capon directs the Monash Sustainable Development Institute and holds a chair in planetary health in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. A public health physician and authority in environmental health and health promotion, his research focuses on urbanisation, sustainable development and human health. He is a former director of the International Institute for Global Health at United Nations University (UNU-IIGH), and has previously held professorial appointments at the University of Sydney and Australian National University.  He is a member of the Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on Planetary Health that published its report Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch in 2015, and the International Advisory Board for The Lancet Planetary Health.

Dr Pasricha is a haematologist, molecular biologist and epidemiologist. He is a Division Head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and a haematologist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. His lab works on the basic biology, clinical diagnosis and treatment, and public health control of anaemia. He is leading a programme of large randomised controlled trials investigating the health benefits and risks of universal iron interventions in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. He also undertakes translational studies using samples from these trials, including microbiomic and genetic analyses. In the lab, his group studies aspects of gene regulation of red blood cell production and function, and of mechanisms of regulation of iron homeostasis. He has consulted extensively on anaemia control policy for the World Health Organization and the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.

Professor Thomas is a clinician scientist and program leader in the Department of Diabetes at Monash University. He is widely recognized as a researcher, opinion leader and medical storyteller with over 300 publications, including original work in JCI, Circulation, Diabetes and Diabetes Care, as well as best selling books, "The Longevity List" and "Fast Living Slow Ageing". His research program is focused on understanding the mechanisms of diabetic complications and developing new opportunities for their prevention and treatment.  Professor Thomas is recipient of the 2019 Eric Susman prize.

Associate Professor Woolfenden is a senior staff specialist in the Department of Community Child Health and the former clinical lead in Integrated Care at Sydney Children’s Hospital Network.  She is a Conjoint Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow with the University of New South Wales School of Women’s and Children’s Health. In her clinical, service development and research roles she aims to address child health and health care inequities in Australia and globally particularly for children at risk of/with neurodevelopmental problems. Sue has over 70 peer reviewed publications, Sue was the co-chair a Royal Australasian College of Physicians working group for the Inequities in Child Health Position statement. She has been awarded an NH&MRC Career Development Fellowship for 2019-2022 to further undertake translational research in her field.

Profesor Gillam is an experienced clinical ethicist, originally trained in philosophy (MA, 1988, Oxon) and bioethics (PhD, Monash, 2000).  Lynn is the Academic Director of the Children’s Bioethics Centre at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH). She is also Professor in Health Ethics at the University of Melbourne, in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Lynn works in clinical ethics case consultation at RCH, and has been involved in over 200 ethics consultation since 2005. At RCH she also provides policy advice and leads research into a range of issues in paediatric clinical ethics - including end of life decision-making, management of differences of sex development, information-giving to children, and parental refusal of treatment. In 2018, Lynn was awarded the RCH Chairman’s Medal, in recognition of this work. At the University, Lynn teaches ethics in the university’s MD course, and supervises research students in ethics and qualitative health research. She is also the Chair of the University’s Central Human Research Ethics Committee. In 2019, Lynn was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to medical education in the field of bioethics.

Professor Hiscock is a consultant paediatrician and National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Fellow. She is Associate Director, Research at the Centre for Community Child Health, Director of the Royal Children's Hospital Health Services Research Unit and Group Leader, Health Services, Murdoch Children's Research Institute. Her research focuses on developing, testing and implementing novel approaches to: (i) keep children out of hospital; (ii) reduce low value (wasteful) care; and (iii) integrate health, social and education services to improve health and wellbeing for children, including those living with family adversity. She has published over 180 peer reviewed papers and been awarded continuous NHMRC funding since 2002 including a current CRE in Childhood Adversity and Mental Health, as CIA. Professor Hiscock has a strong focus on translation beyond traditional methods, including her infant sleep e- learning package for professionals, MCRI Sleep podcast, a sleep app designed to help parents manage common child behaviour problems and rollout of her Infant Sleep program to 1,200 Victorian maternal and child health nurses, for which she was awarded the 2010 Early Years Minister's Award for Partnerships with Families and Communities. Her work informs content of the federal government-funded Raising Children Network Parenting site. ​

Dr Susie Gibb is a Paediatrician and Medical Lead of the Complex Care Hub, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.  Her research and clinical interests include disorders of continence in children, cleft and craniofacial disorders and the care of children with medical complexity. She has appointments as a sessional paediatrician with the Department of Neurodevelopment and Disability and the Department of General Medicine at RCH and is in private general paediatric practice in North Melbourne.

Professor Burgner is a Group Leader and Principal Research Fellow at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and a paediatric infectious diseases physician at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. He trained in the UK, Australia and Africa. He has a career-long and slightly unhealthy fascination with Kawasaki disease and is involved in epidemiological, clinical and laboratory research and clinical guidelines. He is co-founder of the International Kawasaki disease Genetics Consortium and medical advisor to the Kawasaki disease Foundation Australia.

Judy Savige is a Professor at the University of Melbourne and Foundation Professor of Medicine at Northern Health. Professor Savige was the first women appointed Professor of Medicine in Victoria and third in Australia and chair of the RACP Victoria State Committee.

Professor John Christodoulou is the Chair of Genomic Medicine, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, the Co-Leader of the Brain and Mitochondrial Research Group, and Director of the Genetics Research Theme, at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. He graduated from the University of Sydney, and has formal qualifications in paediatrics, medical genetics and genetic pathology. His research interests include Rett syndrome and mitochondrial disorders, and he has a major research interest in the application of next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies in rare genetic disorders.  He is the Co-Lead of the Australian Genomics Health Alliance, focusing on bringing NGS diagnostics into mainstream clinical practice in Australia. John is a former Past President of the Human Genetics Society of Australasia. In 2010 he became a Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) and in 2017 became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health & Medical Sciences.

After identifying the direct correlation between organisational negativity and staff wellbeing and effectiveness Professor Crock founded the Hush Foundation and the Gathering of Kindness events. She is dedicated to building, nurturing and instilling a culture of kindness throughout the healthcare system. Her two plays “Hear Me” and “Do You Know Me” have been performed in hospitals and aged care settings across Australia raising awareness of patient centred care, communication and patient safety issues and encouraging a shift in the culture and behaviour in healthcare. In 2015 she became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to medicine, to community healthcare standards and to the Arts. She is a Professor at Deakin Universities Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development. Her keynote address Balancing science with humanity: how kindness restores the whole in medicine will be a not-to-be-missed highlight of RACP Online Congress Series.

Dr Jeremy Lewin is the Medical Director of ONTrac at Peter Mac Victorian Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Service. A medical oncologist by training, his areas of expertise include Sarcoma and Genitourinary malignancies. Jeremy provides medical leadership for ONTrac at PeterMac aiming to ensure quality care for young people, a statewide professional education program and targeted clinical research aimed at addressing the major health concerns of young people and their families. Jeremy holds leadership and strategic positions both locally and nationally, including on the AYA Clinical Trial Steering Committee for the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Committee for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Scientific Advisory Committee for the Australia and New Zealand Sarcoma Association.

Evelyn leads Transition to Adult Care at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Melbourne, managing an integral hospital-wide service which cares for over 1600 patients annually across all disciplines and partnering with paediatric and adult health services, general practice and the community. Evelyn’s leadership in the field of transition care has resulted in positive outcomes for patients and their families including the implementation of a new model of care for young people with an Intellectual Disability and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder with mental health or behavioural concerns, and her involvement in the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health system for patients with neuro-cognitive or intellectual disabilities with mental illness. Other recent initiatives include a 3-year international interdisciplinary transition study with Finland, the development of Esophageal Atresia transition care guidelines with the International Network on Esophageal Atresia, an NHMRC project to improve the transition of patients with complex Congenital Heart Disease in Australia and New Zealand and the publication of the Australia New Zealand Fontan Consensus Care Statement.  Evelyn is also Chair of the transition special interest group for Children’s Healthcare Australasia.

Professor and Head of Child and Adolescent Health at the University of Sydney as well as Head of Children’s Hospital Westmead Clinical School. She is a senior consultant paediatrician at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network where she is an active member – and former Head - of Weight Management Services. Louise has worked in many clinical, public health and policy aspects of paediatric obesity and nutrition. She has made extensive research contributions to the prevention of obesity, especially in early childhood; the impact of food marketing to children; the antecedents of obesity and the metabolic syndrome in young people; the complications of obesity; the management of obesity and related disorders in a variety of clinical settings; and the measurement of body composition, dietary intake & physical activity in young people. Louise is currently Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in the Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood. Louise is a Founding Fellow and Member of Council of the Australian Academy of Health & Medical Science. In 2010 Louise was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to medicine and to the community.

Professor Gorman (Ngati Kuri and Ngapuhi) is a Professor of Medicine in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland. From 2005 to 2010, he was the Head of the University’s School of Medicine. He has a BSc, MBChB and MD degrees from the University of Auckland, as well as a PhD from the University of Sydney. The two doctorates were awarded for in-vivo brain injury research. Professor Gorman’s non-clinical interests include health system design and funding, and health workforce planning and development. He has more than 300 publications. He is the Chairman of the Orangi Mahi Governance Group (the Ministry of Social Development’s health initiatives) and a member of the Ministry of Health’s Capital Investment Committee. His past roles include being a Director of the New Zealand Accident Compensation and Rehabilitation Corporation (2012-2018), the Executive Chairman of Health Workforce New Zealand (2009-2019), a member of the National Health Board (2009-2014) and of the Government’s welfare reform group (2009-2010). Professor Gorman is currently involved in health reforms in a number of different jurisdictions. During his service in the Royal Australian Navy, he trained as both a submariner and as a diver.

Associate Professor Adam Scheinberg FRACP FAFRM DCH MMed is Statewide Medical Director of the Victorian Paediatric Rehabilitation Service (VPRS), and Head of Department Paediatric Rehabilitation at the Royal Children’s Hospital. An active clinician with over 20 years’ experience in the care of children and adults with disability, he has focused on the delivery of family centred care and integration of research knowledge into the Australian paediatric subacute health care system. A/Prof Scheinberg has been an investigator on CREs in Cerebral Palsy and Acquired Brain Injury with a focus on knowledge translation. He has an interest in technology, working with engineers at Swinburne University to develop a humanoid robot to assist with post-operative care. As a long-standing member, and Chair, of the Faculty Paediatric Training and Assessment Committee of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, he has had the opportunity to collaborate with leaders in Paediatric Rehabilitation involved in the delivery of rehabilitation programs around Australia. This group is influential in their ability to drive clinical change within Statewide programs, lead national clinical advisory groups and benchmarking programs for interventions such as ITB and SDR, encourage recruitment to large scale research programs, and through links to adult rehabilitation colleagues, encourage care across the lifespan. A/Prof Scheinberg is a Board member of Very Special Kids, Victoria’s hospice for children, and is on the advisory committee of Solve. He is a past President of the Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and was on the Board of Directors 2014-2018. He is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, and Department of Paediatrics Monash University, and Honorary Fellow at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.