ASEM Council
President
Dr Peter Roberts
MB BS FACEM
Area Director, Emergency Medicine
Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service
I am currently working at Ryde Hospital Emergency Department in Sydney as director of the ED. I am also network director for Emergency Medicine for Northern Sydney, Central Coast Area Health Service.
In the past I have been a CMO, and my first job after obtaining my FACEM qualification was setting up a private ED at the Hills Private hospital. During my time there, we got together with the Sydney Adventist Hospital and with the help of ASCMO and ASEM set up the organisation that runs the Spring Seminar.
I think ASEM has an opportunity to provide a service to emergency medicine practitioners in Australia and New Zealand, and those workers mean a lot and are worth supporting.
Immediate Past President
Dr Gayle McInerney
NSW Council Member
Council Member for Victoria
Dr Marcel Berkhout
Private Practice Subcommittee, 'Society News' Editor.
Marcel commenced his early medical career in WA in 1982 before becoming a trainee in rural general practice on Tasmania's East Coast in 1985. When his wife got a job in Melbourne, Marcel changed career directions and embarked on terms in Emergency Medicine; initially at PANCH under Mick Westmore; then at the Alfred Hospital under Linus Dzuikas; before turning his hand to sessions at Epworth Hospital ED under Jeff Wassertheil's Directorship.
Private EDs those days were still conceptually new in Australia and provided another career option for entrepreneurial EM doctors. In 1994, Marcel was invited to join such a team which launched and ran WA's first private ED at St John of God, Murdoch under Paul Mark's Directorship. Walking into a brand new purpose built hospital provided Marcel a Fantastic opportunity to help develop the unique structure of this ED from it's beginnings....
In 1998, Marcel returned to Victoria and has been working full time in the ED at Epworth, Richmond ever since. Marcel has elected to remain a CMO, and enjoys working in an ED that values the need for dual streams of ED practitioners.
As a hobby Marcel has, since 2000, worked as a tour doctor for a high end tour group that takes him all over the world. This year he will cruise the Baltics and Norwegian Fjiords in July.
Marcel would enjoy hearing from ASEM members wishing to raise matters or, hopefully, contribute an article or letter for inclusion in 'Society News'.
Contact Marcel at mfberkhout@gmail.com
Council Member for Victoria
Dr Rick Lowen
Director of Bed Brokers and Emergency Staffing Australia.
Dr Rick Lowen is a former rural procedural General Practitioner who has worked in Emergency Medicine for the past 24 years. Mostly at Emergency Department (ED) Director level at provincial, metropolitan teaching and private hospitals in Victoria.
He is Victorian Councilor and Past President of the Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine (ASEM). He was an active driver in reforming Health Law in the early 1990s in regard to blood alcohol collections by doctors in Victoria and, in the late 1990s extending provider number access for ED trainees working in private hospital EDs.
In the 1990s, as a member of the Victorian Ministerial Consultive Council of Critical and Emergency Care Services, he, participated in reviews of State Emergency Department and Critical Care Services and has since participated in other health care reviews including the review of Retrieval Services in Victoria.
He works half time in EDs as a clinician and the remainder as a visiting Medical Director of 3 small rural hospitals in Victoria. He is co-founder, co-owner and a Director of Bed Brokers as well as a Director of Emergency Staffing Australia.
Honorary Treasurer
Dr Adam Janson
Victorian Council Member
Council Member for Northern Territory
Dr Paul Helliwell
Council Member for Queensland
Dr Ian Brandon
Council Member for Queensland
Dr David Spain
Council Member for New Zealand
Dr Robyn Carey
I am 47 years old and started Medical School at 29, after completing a Masters in Philosophy at Princeton University, NJ, USA. I am married with four children, and now work as a Medical Officer at Timaru Hospital, located in the south island of New Zealand, halfway between Christchurch and Dunedin. The hospital has approximately 150 beds and we see about 16,000 patients a year. When I started in 2001 there was only one Casualty Officer who worked 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday. Now we have three full-time Medical Officers and one permanent Medical Officer who works 6/10 Emergency and 4/10 ENT. We cover the Emergency Department form 8am to 11pm every day.
While working at Timaru Hospital I completed a Fellowship of the Accident and Medical Practitioners Association (F.AMPA). In June 2006 AMPA gained full accreditation from the New Zealand Medical Council. AMPA, in conjunction with the University of Auckland, offers a distance learning programme in accident and medical care suitable for doctors working in 24 hour clinics and hospital Medical Officers. AMPA also develops and audits Standards for Accident and Medical Clinics and through the New Zealand Accident Compensation Corporation publishes material related to medical care.
It is my hope that through being on the executive committee of both AMPA and ASEM I can contribute to closer ties between the two organisations!
Council Member for New Zealand
Dr Sandra Rattenbury
MBChB (Otago 1979) Dip Obst, DCH, FRNZCGP, FACEM
Sandra was a Gp with a passion for Obstetrics for 20 years and retrained as an Emergency Medicine specialist after the politics of childbirth changed in NZ in the 90s. Gaining the FACEM qualification in 2007 opened many doors including aeromedical retrieval work in the Soloman Islands. Until very recently, Sandra worked as an SMO for Hutt Valley Ed and is now about to start employment as an EM specialist at Bundaberg Hospital in Queensland.
Council Member for Tasmania
Dr Peter Arvier
Sub Editor for EMA
I have been the Tasmanian Councillor since 1997 and have worked in Emergency Medicine in Tasmania for the past 15 years. Most of my working life has been spent in rural and regional hospitals. I have just returned from a year working in rural Canada which was a fantastic experience both professionally and personally. I am currently just completing a Masters Degree by Research on Training and Education of Non-Specialist Emergency Medicine Doctors working in rural and regional Hospitals. It was this research that took me to Canada as the dual pathways of Emergency Medicine Training in that country may be relevant to the Australian setting.
I have a passionate belief in improving all issues of recruiting, retaining and training health professionals in rural areas.
I believe ASEM can play an increasingly important role in being an advocate for doctors working in smaller emergency departments. Like other states, the Tasmanian hospital system has major difficulties in attracting and keeping medical staff and I believe much more can be done to improve the current situation.
Organisations like ASEM have a vital role in being a voice for doctors not represented by other traditional organisations!
Council Member for South Australia
Dr Joy Treasure
My background is twelve years working as a procedural rural GP in South Australia, including overlap of rural practice with Emergency Department employment since 1998. My current employment is as staff specialist in the Emergency Department at Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide, which is and urban district Hospital seeing about 50,000 patients per year (mixed adult and paed). Some cases need to be transferred on to other Hospitals for subspecialty care, but the case mix is comprehensive and satisfying.
I am also involved with a teaching project known "Rural Emergency Skills Program" in which a group of ten persons are working together to take Emergency Medicine training weekends to rural South Australia. I am part way through a Masters in Clinical Education via UNSW (distance education).
My hope for ASEM in South Australia is to attract more members by targeting CMO type staff of both public and private hospitals.
I am excited by the possibilities of Australia assisting in Emergency Medicine education in developing countries.
I have a strong belief in empowerment (especially of rurally based doctors) by education and training.
Council Member for Australian Capital Territory
Dr Sashi Kumar
Dr.Sashi Kumar trained in Chennai, New Zealand and Australia. He is a Senior Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine and Honorary Lecturer in Emergency Medicine at the Canberra Clinical School which is affiliated to the University of Sydney and at the Australian National University in Canberra.
He is the Site Medical Commander for Disasters in the Australian Capital Territory. He is a member of the National EMST/ATLS Committee and directs the EMST courses in Canberra for over 12 years. He has directed and instructed EMST/ATLS courses in New Zealand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea New York and recently in Fiji. He was awarded the National EMST Scholarship in 2000. He is a practising Emergency Physician in a major trauma hospital.
His special interests are Trauma, ENT, Disaster Medicine and Orthopaedic Trauma.
Council Member for Western Australia
Dr Guy Buters
Council Member for New South Wales
Dr Aniello Iannuzzi
Director Mount Eyre Vineyards
www.mounteyre.com
Aniello has been a rural doctor in Coonabaraban since 1997, where he runs a practice with his wife Eve, also a rural doctor. In addition to the surgery, Aniello is a VMO at the local hospital. Aniello has an interest in Emergency Medicine and is an instructor for EMST and CCrisP courses. He is also a senior lecturer with the University of Sydney and the University of Notre Dame. Other teaching duties include the supervision and examination of medical students and GP registrars. Aniello is also actively involved in AMA and ACRRM, having held a number of senior positions in both organisations. Aniello enjoys reading, philosophising, winemaking, tennis and soccer. Anniello was co-opted onto ASEM Council at this years Strategic Planning Day in Sydney.
