National Executive
National Executive:
President – Helen Jowett
Vice – President – Dinesh Varma
Secretary – Ben Gardiner
Treasurer – Sarah Adams
Past – President – Micheal Reade
Committee:
Publications Committee
Ian Civil
Research Committee
Helen Jowett and Dinesh Varma
Education Committee
Corporate Governance Committee
Tony Joseph
Communications Committee
Helen Jowett
Helen has over 20 years of paediatric experience at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne which is the Paediatric Major Trauma Service for Victoria where she holds the position of, Trauma Manager. She is the current President Elect for the Australasian Trauma Society where she plays an integral role in the organisation of the national trauma conference and the upcoming World Trauma Congress. Helen is the Society of Trauma Nurses International Council representative for Oceania and the current chair of the Centre for Global Trauma Quality Improvement taskforce which is dedicated to ensuring equitable access to resources, processes and systems whilst advancing trauma nursing care throughout the world whilst focusing on LMICs. She is a member of the Victorian State Trauma Committee, Trauma Case Review Group which oversees the trauma patient journey, with a key objective to ensure the best patient outcome and adherence to the state trauma system guidelines Helen is a Trauma Verification site reviewer with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons where she has conducted multiple site visits and she maintains an active role on the national Trauma Verification Committee. She developed and implemented a state-wide paediatric trauma education program within Victoria, delivering much needed trauma team training and education to rural doctors, nurses and paramedics involved in trauma resuscitation and management. Helen is a state-wide Emergency Management of Severe Trauma Coordinator with the Royal College of Surgeons where she plays an integral role in ongoing trauma education both regionally and nationally. Helen is passionate about paediatric patients and their families. She is committed to psychosocial care, trauma system development, training, education and injury prevention in ‘little people’. She has three beautiful but highly active children who unfortunately compete in very high-risk sports.
Dinesh Varma
I underwent my specialist training in Radiology at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, and became a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologist in 2000. My specialist training included an accredited Fellowship in MRI at The Alfred Hospital. My particular area of interest is Trauma and Emergency Radiology and MRI, and the role of radiologist in the integrated multidisciplinary approach to imaging and management of multitrauma patients. The Alfred Hospital is the largest Level 1 Trauma Centre in Australasia. My main area of research is in traumatic brain and cervical spine injuries. I am currently the Deputy Director of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Head of Trauma and Emergency Radiology at The Alfred Hospital, Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Monash University. I am currently President Asia Oceanian Society of Radiology (AOSR), Chief of Professional Practice, Clinical Radiology,Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) and Past President and Chief Censor, Clinical Radiology, RANZCR. In 2016 I was established the Australian and New Zealand Emergency Radiology Group, a Special Interest Group (SIG) under the auspices of RANZCR and was elected the founding Chair of the SIG. I am an active member of numerous national and international Radiology Societies some of which include American Society of Emergency Radiology, American Roentgen Ray Society, European Society of Radiology, Society of Emergency Radiology, India.
Prof. Michael Read
Professor Michael Charles Reade AM MBBS(Hons) BSc(Med)(Hons) DMedSc Sydney, MPH Pittsburgh, DPhil Oxford, DMCC, DIMCRCSEd, PGCertAME, AFRACMA, FHEA, FCCP, FCCM, FANZCA, FCICM Brigadier, Australian ArmyProfessor Reade is the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Chair of Military Medicine and Surgery, affiliated with the Jamieson Trauma Institute at the University of Queensland. A specialist intensive care physician, anaesthetist and clinician-scientist, he leads a programme of research relevant to military trauma medicine and surgery, and guides the implementation of modern trauma care into ADF practice. In parallel with his academic and clinical work, Michael served in the Australian Army Reserve until his appointment to the full-time ADF Chair in 2011. He was commissioned as a General Service Officer in the Australian Army in 1990, and prior to his current appointment deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo (on attachment to the British Airborne Brigade), Timor, the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan. In 2013 he commanded the Australian Specialist Health Group at the NATO ISAF Role 3 Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and in 2015 he was the first Director of Clinical Services of the ADF hospital deployed on Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. He deployed again to Iraq in 2016 and 2017. From 2015-2018 he was the Director of Clinical Services of the Australian Regular Army’s only deployable field hospital. In 2017 he led this unit to become the first ever ADF hospital accredited by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Trauma Verification Program. He was recognised for this service by appointment as a Member in the Military Division of the Order of Australia in 2019. In December 2018 on promotion to Brigadier he was appointed Assistant Surgeon General - Army, responsible for technical regulation of specialist medical, nursing and allied health support to the Australian Army. His military academic work is performed on secondment to Joint Health Command. Professor Reade's clinical research focusses on treatments for exsanguinating haemorrhage, trauma systems, and acute cognitive impairment (such as that which results from traumatic brain injury). He is the Chief Investigator in an NHMRC-funded clinical trial of cyropreserved (frozen) platelets, a technology which holds equal promise to military and civilian trauma patients. He is also a Chief Investigator in NHMRC-funded multicentre clinical trials of tranexamic acid (a drug thought to reduce mortality from traumatic bleeding), erythropoietin as an inflammatory modulator after trauma, and a novel anti-delirium strategy for use in critically ill patients. Professor Reade currently supervises 12 postgraduate students and one postdoctoral research fellow. He has held faculty appointments at the Universities of Oxford and Pittsburgh, and still holds adjunct appointments at the Universities of Melbourne, London and Monash University. His clinical practice is based at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. He holds or has held research grants totalling >A$28.1M, has published >160 peer-reviewed papers and delivered >310 lectures at national and international conferences. In November 2019 he was elected President of the Australasian Trauma Society.”
Sarah Adams
Ben Gardiner
Ben Gardiner has extensive knowledge background in perioperative nursing and management in Victoria, NSW and Queensland. A former ACHS surveyor with additional backgrounds in clinical and corporate governance, medical administration, education and executive positions. He has been active in many state and national committees and organisations. Commenced in Trauma in 2014 at Gold Coast University Hospital and is currently holding positions as Adjunct Senior Lecturer Griffith University, Qld State wide Trauma Clinical Network (STCN) Committee, Qld Trauma Registry and Research Committee, Co-chair Qld Trauma Digital Working Group, Australia and New Zealand Trauma Registry Data Working Group as the STCN representative, Forum coordinator for the Australasian Trauma Network and in 2019 appointed Secretary of the Australasian Trauma Society. In addition to his expertise in registry development, implementation and management, he has interests in the quality of patient care and trauma research, including presentations at many national and international conferences. Currently undertaking a Higher Degree Research at Griffith University in Trauma. Special interests include development of trauma registries, geospatial analysis of trauma, impact of trauma services and trauma mortality.
Melissa Webb
Melissa has over 20 years of clinical practice in Trauma Physiotherapy at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where she currently works as the Allied Health Team Leader in Trauma and Orthopaedics. She has been integral in the development of a specialised trauma physiotherapy service at the Alfred and has provided consultation to other services who wish to develop a similar model of care. Within her current role she has assisted in the development and co-ordination of a specialised allied health workforce providing an intensive therapy model of care for acute trauma and orthopaedic patients. Melissa has completed a Masters in Health Science, Graduate Certificate in Burn and Trauma Rehabilitation and a number of dedicated trauma professional development courses. She has also completed a clinical fellowship analysing the practice of physiotherapists in major trauma centres in the US, Germany and Switzerland. Her special interests include chest trauma management, trauma models of care and the role of physiotherapy and allied health within the acute trauma multidisciplinary team. Melissa has been integral in the development of trauma specific courses and education opportunities, delivering much needed trauma training and education to physiotherapists and other allied health clinicians involved in trauma care. She is also involved in medical student undergraduate education through Monash University as a teaching associate for students in their second year completing the Evidence Based Clinical Practice module. Melissa is passionate about promoting and advocating for the important role that Allied Health play in trauma management and patient recovery and is a Board Member of the Australasian Trauma Society and Committee Member of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons Trauma Verification sub committee. Melissa is keen to develop a strong allied health profile in trauma and support others to contribute to their local trauma teams and the broader trauma community.
Belinda Gabbe
I am the Head of the Prehospital, Emergency and Trauma Research Unit in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University and hold a Honorary Professorial appointment in the Health Data Research UK Institute at Swansea University (UK). My research focuses on evaluating trauma care, trauma systems research, and improving understanding of how well people recover from their injuries, and how we measure the burden of injury. I have published extensively in trauma research, injury prevention, and road safety, with more than 340 published peer-review papers, which have been cited >29,000 times. I have an exceptional track record in research leading to change in practice and policy.
Alaina Campbell
Alaina Campbell is the Trauma Programme Manager/Nurse Consultant of the Midland Trauma System in New Zealand with over 20 years surgical nursing experience. She is an Oceania representative on the International council of the Society of Trauma Nursesand the Global Trauma Quality improvement Taskforce, member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Verification committee, and an active operational member of the New Zealand Major Trauma Network. Alaina has been integral to the development of the Midland Trauma System (MTS)and the Midland Trauma Registry since its inception in 2010. In 2015 the MTS supported the development of the New Zealand Major Trauma Network(MTNCN) by developing the Major Trauma Registry which Alaina continues to manage and coordinate the delivery of nationally. Alaina has a special interest in trauma quality improvement creating highly effective teams and patient experience.
Zsolt Balogh
I am a Trauma Surgeon and scientist with broad based clinical skills after my training in top trauma centres of the world and I practiced trauma care in Europe, United States of America and Australia. I have over 16 years of experience as the Director of Trauma at John Hunter Hospital, which is the highest volume trauma centre in NSW. My academic appointment is at the University of Newcastle as Professor of Surgery and Traumatology. I am a leading trauma researcher (Google scholar H-index: 60, citations: 19,500) and based on The Australian’s “Report of Science” I am the top scientist in “Emergency Medicine” category in 2020. Fifteen years ago I established the trauma curriculum at University of Newcastle and during the last 6 years I have been running the Master of Traumatology postgraduate program for trauma interested clinicians from paramedics, nurses, defence force personnel, allied health professions, critical care physicians, and surgeons through to rehabilitation experts with 120 enrolments per year. I am the editor or associate editor of the three leading trauma journals (JTACS, INJURY, EJTES) and the deputy editor in chief of the ANZ J Surgery with community service for the Australasian Trauma Verification Program, which is a robust collaboration of all the multidisciplinary aspects for care of the injured. During my leadership all the resource documents for trauma verification were updated based on latest evidence by dozens of committed Australasian clinicians and the concepts of trauma systems wide verification became the desirable norm. While I am absolutely focused on being and improving as a Traumatologist from the age of 16 I have never lost interest in nature, biological processes beyond the human body and dedication to conservation biology and restoration ecology.
Michael Handy
Michael Handy is an Endorsed Nurse Practitioner currently working as the Assistant Nursing Director within the Trauma Service at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. He obtained his undergraduate degree in nursing at Queensland University of Technology and has subsequently completed his Graduate Certificate in Critical Care and a Masters of Nursing Science (Nurse Practitioner). Michael comes from a back ground of Emergency and Trauma Nursing from the United Kingdom, Brunei and Australia.
Kate Dale
Kate is a Trauma Nurse Practitioner with experience in remote area, emergency and trauma nursing. She has been the lead nurse for the Trauma Service at the Gold Coast University Hospital since December 2013. She has a special interest in resuscitative and acute trauma care, EFAST and nurse case management in both hospital and community settings. She has recently established a Trauma Connect Clinic which aims to continue the case management model of nursing post discharge, which has been recognised as a unique aspect of Trauma Care delivery at GCUH. She also holds a position as a Specialist Emergency Nursing Officer in the Royal Australian Airforce Reserves.
Savitha Bhagvan
Nicole Kelly
Nicole Kelly is the Trauma Coordinator (Advanced Nurse Consultant) for the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network and the Nurse Lead of the South Australian Trauma System & Co-Chair for the South Australian State Trauma Committee. Nicole has over 17years Emergency Nursing and Trauma experience and is a member of the College of Emergency Nurses Australasia (CENA) and has been an Emergency SA (EMSA) Conference Committee member for the past 6 conferences and is the Convenor of the EMSA 2020 Conference. Nicole is an EMST Coordinator and a member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons SA Trauma Committee. Nicole was successfully nominated as an Executive Member of the Australasian Trauma Society this year. Nicole’s portfolio includes management of major trauma patients both within the emergency care setting as well as in-patient trauma case management within a Level 3 Trauma Centre (which treats both adult and paediatric trauma); ED and organisational major incident preparedness and injury prevention strategies including P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth) Program. She is an EMST (ATLS) Coordinator, Hospital Major Incident and Medical Response (HMIMMS) Instructor. In 2011 Nicole was awarded the Nursing & Midwifery Excellence Award for Leadership and was named the Inaugural SA Health Young Professional of the Year in 2016. Nicole has a passion for quality patient focused coordinated trauma care and multi-disciplinary education both at the bedside, and educational forums, courses and conferences.