Dr John S Fountain

Dr John Fountain graduated from the University of Otago Medical School in 1989 and, while working as a House Surgeon, was also a part-time Infantry Officer with the New Zealand Territorial Force Army. Following military request 1991 – due to the imminent First Gulf War – he transferred into the Regular Force as a Medical Officer. He subsequently served as the Senior Medical Officer at Waiouru Camp Hospital and undertook two tours of duty with the United Nations in Iraq, providing medical support to UNSCOM nuclear, biological and chemical weapons inspectors. During this period John developed an interest in toxicology. Since 1997 he has worked as a Medical Toxicologist at the New Zealand National Poisons Centre where he has contributed to the development of the TOXINZ poisons information database.

Dr Naren Gunja

Dr. Naren Gunja is a Clinical Toxicologist at Westmead & Blacktown Hospitals in Sydney, Australia. Following on from his fellowship in Emergency Medicine, he trained in medical toxicology at Westmead. He is the Acting Medical Director of the NSW Poisons Centre in Sydney and also Paediatric Toxicologist at the Children's Hospital Westmead. Dr. Gunja's interests include snake bite, forensic toxicology and heavy metal poisoning. He is a graduate of the University of Sydney and currently a Senior Lecturer at the Sydney Medical School teaching in Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Dr Paul Gee, FACEM PG Cert Clin Tox

Is an Emergency Physician at Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand.

He has a strong interest is medical toxicology. He has written papers in the fields of toxicology and trauma. He has won awards for his work in HAZMAT preparation and introducing new health technology.

Dr Bruno Megarbane

Bruno Mégarbane, MD, PhD is professor of critical care medicine at Paris-Diderot University and senior physician in the critical care medicine department at Lariboisière Hospital, in Paris, France.

He is the head of the scientific committee of the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists (EAPCCT).  He developed clinical and experimental studies in clinical toxicology, mainly regarding oipiod toxicity and cardiotoxicant poisonings.

Professor Andis Graudins

Professor of Emergency Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Research at Monash University and Southern Health, Clinical Toxicologist and Emergency Physician.

Andis Graudins has been a clinical toxicologist for over 15 years with a specific interests in cardiovascular drug poisoning and assessment of novel antidotes in severe CVS poisoning as well as various aspects of paracetamol poisoning. He has recently moved to Melbourne to pursue a research career in toxicology.

Andis is a clinical toxicologist at Southern Health, sharing on-call duties in the clinical toxicology service covering three acute care hospitals and also a visiting consultant toxicologist for both the NSW and Victorian Poisons Information Centres. He has a keen interest in developing clinical toxicology as a medical and academic specialty in Australasia.

Current research projects include utilising an in-vivo animal model of calcium channel blocker and beta-receptor antagonist poisoning in the assessment of inotropic agents such as levosimendan and fructose-1,6-diphosphate in CVS drug poisoning as well as in-vitro research into the proposed mechanisms of action of lipid emulsion for various drugs where clinical reports have claimed responses for this therapy.

Associate Professor Reith is a Clinical Pharmacologist and Toxicologist, and also a Paediatrician through the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Associate Professor Reith has a Masters in pharmacoepidemiology and a PhD in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics. He has published over 70 papers and book chapters in the fields of clinical toxicology, drug safety and pharmacokinetics. He is a member of the New Zealand Medicines Adverse Reaction Committee, the Specialist Training committee for Clinical Pharmacology of the RACP, and the Clinical Therapeutics Advisory Committee of the Best Practice Advisory Centre.

Associate Professor Reith has current research interests in pharmacokinetics, medicines safety and the epidemiology of poisoning. He also has an ongoing research interest in the management of poisoning in children. His clinical practice is in paediatrics and clinical pharmacology. He teaches clinical pharmacology to medical students and trainees in paediatrics at the University of Otago.

Assoc Professor Reith's experience has spanned drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, clinical trials, and the epidemiology of poisoning.

His current projects include pharmacokinetics in disease states epidemiology of poisoning and the parmacoepidemiology of medicines in childhood.

Teaching interests are in case-based teaching of Clinical Pharmacology.  As Chair of the Medicines Review Group of Otago District Health Board he is actively involved in medicines management.

Dr Martyn Harvey, FACEM

Emergency Physician, Clinical Senior Lecturer (hon) University of Auckland School of Medicine

Martyn Harvey is a staff specialist Emergency Physician and director of Emergency Medicine research at Waikato Hospital. His principal research interest is intravenous lipid emulsions as antidotal therapy. He has co-authored the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Irelands' lipid infusion guideline, and continues to be involved in pre-clinical study of lipid therapy. Additional research interests include minimally invasive hemodynamic monitoring, and procedural sedation within the Emergency Department.

Diagnostics Day – Monday 11 July

Dr Martin Than

Martin is an Emergency Medicine Specialist and Director of Emergency Medicine research at Christchurch in New Zealand. He has done additional postgraduate training in Evidence Based Healthcare and has a strong interest in Evidence Based Diagnosis and is a tutor in this at The Centre for EBM in Oxford. Martin is the PI of the ASPECT study, a 3,500 patient study investigating the use of risk stratification tools and biomarkers in the assessment of acute chest pain involving 14 centres and 9 countries in the Asia-Pacific region (just published in The Lancet).

He has recently been asked to join an global task force on "Education in Cardiovascular Biomarkers." which aims to produce educational materials for their use by clinicians and laboratorians in the clinical practice.

Dr Louise Cullen

Senior Staff Specialist, Department of Emergency Medicine, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital; Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland.

Louise currently works as a Senior Staff Specialist in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Her research interests lie in the management of patients presenting with possible Acute Coronary Syndromes. Her current research focus is the early risk stratification and diagnosis of ACS in the Emergency department population.

Louise is a Senior Lecturer for the University of Queensland. She has over 10 years experience in facilitation, teaching and learning. Other key areas of her work involve patient safety and risk management. She is an educator in the Human Error and Patient Safety (HEAPS) course for Queensland Health and facilitates in Open Disclosure training.

Associate Professor Chris Florkowski

Chris is a Consultant in Chemical Pathology at Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand and also a Specialist Physician in Diabetes.

He is a former Vice-President and former NZ Branch Chair of the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists (AACB) and a recently elected Founding Fellow of the Faculty of Science of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA).

Chris is also a member of the Committee of Evidence Based Laboratory Medicine (cEBLM) of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC), an interest which has cultivated a critical awareness of the value and operational impact of laboratory tests, with a major focus on outcomes. This is reflected in his diverse research portfolio, also embracing several areas of collaboration with the Emergency Department, including the optimal use of cardiac markers. At this forum, Chris will also profile work on CSF xanthochromia in diagnosis of subarachnoid haemorrhage and also cover the topic of sepsis markers.

Dr Zoltan Endre

Zoltán Endre is now a Consultant Nephrologist at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney and Professor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales. He is also Professor of Medicine at the University of Otago - Christchurch, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and the University of Canterbury. He is on the editorial boards of Kidney International, Nephrology, the Internal Medicine Journal and a member of the ISN Commission on Acute Kidney Injury. His research and clinical interests are the detection and treatment of acute kidney injury (acute renal failure), including the development and application of biomarkers of kidney injury. Other research interests include mechanisms of progression in chronic kidney disease, renal imaging modeling renal physiology, and the link between of kidney and cardiac disease.

Professor Anne-Maree Kelly

Professor Anne-Maree Kelly is academic head of Emergency Medicine at Western Health in Melbourne, Director of The Joseph Epstien Centre for Emergency Medicine Research, Professorial Fellow at The University of Melbourne and Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology. She is also senior clinical advisor for the Emergency Care Clinical Network of the Victorian Department of Health. With over 150 published papers, her areas of special reserach interest are venous blood gas analysis, emergency cardiac care, pneumothorax and pain.

Trauma and Critical Care Day - Tuesday 12 July

Dr Allan Giles

Alan Giles graduated in 1986 from UNSW and worked for the first 10 years at St George Hospital, Sydney. He completed his fellowship in 1995 and was awarded the Buchanan prize (fellowship prize). Over the next 14 years Dr Giles has been an Emergency Physician based at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney developing a strong interest in trauma, paediatrics, ultrasound and medical education. He is an APLS instructor having being involved in the formation of APLS in Cambodia and has regularly worked there for the last 6 years. Presently Dr Giles works clinically at Campbelltown and the SAN and is the director of hospital skills programme for SWSAHS. He is married with 2 teenage girls, a dog, 2 cats and 2 blue tongued lizards and a snake.

Dr Richard Aickin

Dr Richard Aickin, BMedSc, MBChB, DCH, FRACP FACEM Paediatric Emergency Physician Director Child Health, Auckland District Health Board Chairman, New Zealand Resuscitation Council Deputy Convener, Neonatal and Paediatric Committee, Australian Resuscitation Council ANZCOR Delegate & Paediatric Working Group Member, International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Board Member and Course Director, Advanced Paediatric Life Support NZ Interests include resuscitation science and education, clinical decision making, error and safety issues in health.

Dr David Knight

Intensive Care Specialist, Department of Intensive Care, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand

David Knight is a UK and New Zealand trained full time Intensivist currently working in Christchurch Hospital. His interests include multidisciplinary education, sepsis, nutrition and ICU delirium. A major focus of his current role is to promote collaboration between allied specialities and the department of critical care, a task which provides much entertainment.

Dr J. Scott Bomann FACEP, FACEM

Dr. Bomann is an American trained emergency physician who recently took over the position of Director of Emergency Ultrasound Education at Wellington Hospital. He completed an Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine where he remained as faculty in the Division of Emergency Ultrasound until relocating to New Zealand this year. He is one of very few emergency physicians to hold the certifications of both RDMS (Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer) and RDCS (Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer). He has multiple publications in the area of emergency ultrasound including novel applications and a chapter in The Handbook of Critical Care and Emergency and Ultrasound. He is currently working on a large, grant-funded project that seeks to reduce the amount of ionizing radiation given to emergency department patients. Dr Bomann has been a lecturer and instructor in multiple local and regional ultrasound courses.

Dr Mike Ardagh

Mike Ardagh is a Fellow of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and has a PhD in Bioethics. He is Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, and Specialist in Emergency Medicine at Christchurch Hospital. He is National Clinical Director of Emergency Department Services (a position also known as ‘Target Champion’), to assist with implementation of the ‘Shorter Stays in the Emergency Department’ health target.

Dr Jan Bone

Jan Bone is a Consultant Emergency Physician at Christchurch Hospital. She has strong interests in Paediatrics, procedural sedation, trauma, ultrasound, dealing with families in crisis and medical photography. She believes in teamwork and strives to make the transfer of theoretical knowledge into practical application fun. She is currently of no fixed abode.