Meet the GPDU admins and other conference helpers

Dr Karen Price

Dr Karen Price was awarded the 2016 RACGP FMCER grant to undertake her PhD with the Department of General Practice. She is using GP data to inform policy and practice identifying the role of peer-connection in general practice. This explores GP’s well-being, goal-directed informal learning, quality and safety.

Karen’s research builds on her lifetime expertise as a GP.  She is the co-developer and facilitator of GPs Down Under, a nearly 5000+ member community of Australian and New Zealand GPs. She has chaired committees and developed mentor programs for both the AMA and the RACGP.

Karen has presented national and internationally; plenary lectures; workshops on women’s medical leadership; social media; resilience, and informal learning. She is published on women’s medical leadership and received a 2011 Monash University award for medical student teaching. Karen continues to develop evidence-based medicine, leadership, advocacy, and peer support, in both research and her ongoing clinical General Practice.

Dr Kat Mclean

Kat was born and raised in rural New Zealand studying Medicine at the University of Otago. She has worked in a diverse range of settings in both Australia and New Zealand and holds fellowships of both the RNZCGP and the RACGP.  Kat is currently a practicing GP on the Gold Coast in Queensland, and teaches at Bond University where she is an assistant professor of Medicine.  Kat has a particular interest in communication and safety in healthcare. She is a Faculty Member of the RACGP QLD Board and holds an executive position within the Gold Coast Medical Association.

Dr Nick Tellis

Nick is practice principal at Adelaide’s Partridge Street General Practice, Chair of Southern Adelaide General Practice Council and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Flinders University College of Medicine and Public Health. He graduated in Medicine from Adelaide University 15 years ago and has since gained broad experience in general practice.

Nick says “the body will go where the mind leads its”, and firmly believes that taking the time to communicate well achieves real and long-term change for his patients. He takes a particular interest in promoting good mental health and is listed as a provider with Beyond Blue. His other special medical interests are caring for those with an intellectual disability, chairing the Southern Adelaide General Practice Council, examining and training GPs for their clinical exams (and teach them at Partridge Street General Practice), and improving the quality of general practice as an AGPAL surveyor.

Dr Alvin Chua

Alvin and his wife Dr Anna Schettini established their first medical practice in Newton Shopping Centre in Adelaide in 2001. “We had no patients and I was the only doctor, so it’s fair to say we started from scratch”, recalls Alvin, who grew up in Malaysia before moving to Australia in 1988 where he completed his secondary studies and graduated in Medicine. Today Alvin and Anna own and run three medical practices employing 42 staff, including 19 doctors who consult at all three locations on a rotational roster, to provide comprehensive healthcare services to residents across Adelaide’s north-eastern suburbs. Each practice also train doctors and allied health professionals.

Dr Nicole Higgins

Nicole is a practice principal at Health on Central in Mackay and a GP at the Southside Medical Centre, Queensland. She is a board member of the GPSA, and of the Queensland faculty of the RACGP. She is  a medical educator with the Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS), a GP supervisor with Tropical Medical Training (TMA). She graduated from Monash University in Medicine in 1996 after growing up in country Victoria. Of settling in Mackay Nicole told the local newspaper,  “I am an accidental tourist who never left. I have been a GP in Mackay since 2003 when I came to do a six week stint as a locum in Andergrove . ”

” My passion is teaching the next generation of GP’s. ..I would like to think of myself as an ol’ fashioned GP who practices traditional ‘cradle to the grave’ medicine. A family doctor.”

Dr Tim Leeuwenberg

Tim has been instrumental in delivering high quality and innovative educational content in the international critical care environment and a passionate advocate of rural general practice.  Interested include Trauma (Course Director for EMST-ATLS and ETMcourse), Airway Management (Faculty smaccAIRWAY workshops, Rural Doctor Masterclass and Critically Ill Airway course) as well as Emergency Medicine.  More importantly he has quietly provided extensive mentoring to young doctors and medical students and is actively involved in the pastoral care of the medical profession.    Tim’s talks and presentation coaching skills are celebrated widely throughout the international medical communities of FOAMed and SMACC.   He believes in ‘ quality care, out there’ and the use of Social Media to deliver educational content and link clinicians, across disciplinary silos and between countries.

Despite this infamy he prefers a quiet life on Kangaroo Island and has been instrumental in the implementation of the Good Samaritan initiative- locating AED’s and responders to crowdsource help using smartphone technology.

For more info, see about.me/timleeuwenburg

Dr Lindsay Moran Jayaram

Heralding from the UK, Lindsay is today a GP and Medical Director at Point Cook Superclinic. She’s a member of the RACGPs Women in General Practice committee and the New Fellow’s Committee. I also have joined the Rajakumar Movement.

In the UK I used to work as a Freelance GP around the West Yorkshire Region. I also used to work as a teacher and tutor at the University of Leeds.

I used to be a member of the RCGP First5 committee and as part of this team I worked to set up local networks of new GPs, and hosted events in my local area, at national conferences, I was part of a team that co-hosted the first RCGP First5 conference and I ran 2 RCGP Ski Trips.

Leading on from my work with the First5 team I lead and co-authored a book – “THE NEW GP’S HANDBOOK, How to make a success of your early years as a GP”, published in 2012.

In addition to my GP work I have worked as a Cosmetic Physician for my own company, Cosmallure Ltd, and for 2 other companies – Osman Smith Beauty and Cosmedoctor.

I have been a member of other committees including the Leeds Local Medical Council and Chair of the Leeds GP Registrar Committee.

Alongside my clinical work my main interests are medical education and leadership. My roles working in various committees have given me skills in networking, collaborating and event hosting and this is something I am continuing in Melbourne. With a team I recently started a networking group – GPs Down Under – and will soon be running events for this group.

Dr James Ware

James is a Rural Generalist working as a senior medical officer at the Warwick hospital with an interest in anaesthetics, emergency medicine and paediatrics.  He completed a Bachelor of Science in Advanced Studies from Griffith University in 2006 majoring in Applied Mathematics.  James then completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 2010 through the University of Queensland and a Master of Medicine (General Practice) through the University of Queensland in 2016.  He has completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Child Health through the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, a rural advanced skill in anaesthetics (JCCA) at Logan Hospital in 2013 and his DRANZCOG obstetric qualifications at Warwick hospital in 2017.  He has fellowships with both the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), and has recently submitted his Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice (FARGP).   He has also enjoyed participating in the Leadership for Clinicians program through the Rural Generalist program Qld, and is awaiting approval of his Associate Fellowship with the Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators (AFRACMA).

He is a strong believer in the importance of medical education and training up the next generation of the rural medical workforce.  He holds the academic title of Senior Lecturer with the University of Queensland and Griffith University and is frequently involved in assisting with Rural Generalist education programs, and in the provision of local training and education at the Warwick Hospital.

He has gained notoriety around the Warwick community for his bull riding antics at the Warwick rodeos, and enjoys going walkabout in the bush from time to time.

James research interests include:

• Assisted developing new carbonic anhydrase inhibitors in the hope of finding one with the potential to be used as a chemotherapeutic agent in cancer patients.
• Antimicrobial Stewardship and infectious diseases.

Dr JayMien-Phang

JayMien graduated in Medicine from the University of Western Australia in 2002 and soon headed to remote northern Western Australia, working as a registrar in Broome, a registrar and senior medical officer (SMO) at the KAMSC Ord Valley Aboriginal Health Service, and a GP and SMO at the Mawarnkarra Health Service. He has worked as an SMO for the WA Country Health Service and today works with the North Metropolitan Health Service as a GP Anaesthetist. We aren’t entirely sure this is him in this picture, but we hope so.