Experts

Healthed work with a team of general practitioners and medical professionals to ensure the highest quality education​

Professor Natasha Nassar is a perinatal and paediatric epidemiologist, Financial Markets Foundation for Children Chair in Translational Childhood Medicine and NHMRC Leadership Fellow at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics and Children’s Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, University of Sydney. She is also the Charles Perkins Centre Populations Domain Leader with a key role in facilitating population-based research investigating cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and other related conditions across a wide range of disciplines.
I am a research fellow at the University of Sydney, where I am undertaking clinical and population based research about pregnancy and childhood outcomes. I am also a Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) Specialist and Obstetrician at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney. My areas of expertise and interest include medical complications in pregnancy, infections in pregnancy, prenatal diagnosis and perinatal loss. I am a PhD student at the University of Sydney.
Dr Waters is a consultant Gastroenterologist who works publicly at Fiona Stanley Hospital and privately at St John of God Murdoch. He has an interest in inflammatory bowel disease and general luminal gastroenterology. His real interest is problem solving, which has led to some interesting areas of work including designing and setting up virtual clinics, setting up a faecal (poo) transplantation service in WA in partnership with Australian Red Cross Life Blood, and also founding a health data start-up, Kabisa Medical, and designing, building and testing a provider agnostic cloud-based pathology data platform – myPathology.
I am an academic clinical psychologist with an interest in technology-enabled therapies and mental health policy. My research experience ranges from laboratory neuroscience, to clinical trials, to population health methods. I am also a practicing clinician, spending most of my time working with clients experiencing OCD, hoarding, PTSD and complex trauma.
Professor Marion Saville AM is a New Zealand medical graduate who trained in Anatomic Pathology at Northwestern University in Chicago. She went on to complete a fellowship in Cytopathology at East Carolina University and a research fellowship at Georgetown University, focussing on HPV. She has held the position of Executive Director of the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer since 2000. Prof Saville has served on cervical screening advisory committees in Australia, New Zealand and Ontario. She currently chairs the working group to review Australia’s Guidelines for the management of screen-detected abnormalities in the National Cervical Screening Program. Marion is interested in how culturally safe screening can meet the needs of disadvantaged groups who have poorer cancer outcomes, in Australia and New Zealand. Prof Saville has also focused on research and implementation projects demonstrating that it is possible to deliver high quality, acceptable cervical screening in a range of resource poor settings, collaborating with investigators in Malaysia, leading to the establishment of the ROSE Foundation. On behalf of the C4 Centre for Research Excellence, Prof Saville is jointly leading a major new initiative on cervical cancer elimination in the Western Pacific supported by a landmark $8.1 million investment from the Minderoo Foundation. This investment will join forces with the Asia Development Bank, industry biotechnology partner Cepheid, and the Frazer Family Foundation, with in-kind contributions from the governments of PNG and Vanuatu, to provide almost $30 million for the program in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Prof Saville was appointed as a member (AM) of the Order of Australia on Australia Day 2020 for her significant service to women’s health through cervical screening initiatives.
Professor Helenda Teede is the Director of Monash Centre for Health Research Implementation, Monash University. and an Endocrinologist at Monash Health, who holds an Order of Australia for services to Women’s Health. Professor Teede has had an active 30 year clinical academic career supported by NHMRC fellowship funding. Dr Anju Joham is a Senior Research Fellow at Monash at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University. She is an endocrinologist at Monash Health, Melbourne. Dr Joham was awarded her PhD focusing on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, obesity and insulin resistance in 2015. Rhonda’s work is in public health and focused on the implementation of research outcomes. She has a strong focus on influencing systems-based change and the orientation of care to meet the needs of end-users. Her PhD was in the field of health literacy, and she co-delivers a unit in the Monash master’s program on implementation science.
Dr Kathy McNamee is the Medical Director of Sexual Health Victoria. She co-authored Contraception: an Australian clinical practice handbook and is an adjunct lecturer in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Monash University. Dr Whitburn works at Sexual Health Victoria and Belmore Road Medical Centre. She holds a fellowship of the RACGP, a diploma from RANZCOG and a diploma in Sexual and Reproductive Health care. She is interested in Women’s health across all ages but in her clinical work focuses on menopause, midlife health and vulval medicine.
Dr Jane Elliott AM has been a general practitioner in Adelaide for many years, with a special career interest in women’s health, including menopause and premature menopause. She is a clinical senior lecturer in the Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Adelaide and teaches medical students and GPs. She has been an investigator in clinical research trials in all areas of women’s health including menopause, contraception, osteoporosis and low libido. She currently consults at AWARE Women’s Health. Jane is a Past President of the Australasian Menopause Society. Dr Sonia Davison graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1994 and undertook her basic training at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She completed her Endocrinology training in 2002 and her PhD in 2006 at Monash University exploring the relationship between androgens and age, menopause, wellbeing and sexual function in women. Dr Davison has an adjunct appointment at the Women’s Health Research Program at Monash University, and has a keen interest in women’s health. Her role as a Clinical Fellow at Jean Hailes for Women’s Health involves education about women’s health through a variety of media, to medical professionals and the community. Dr Davison’s current clinical interests include the management of women’s health issues including perimenopause and menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome, osteoporosis, in addition to some general endocrinology. Dr Davison is the Past-President of the Australasian Menopause Society (AMS). Dr Terri Foran is a Sexual Health Physician and has a special interest in contraception, menopause issues and the management of sexually transmitted infections. She was previously the Medical Director of Family Planning NSW and is now in clinical practice in Darlinghurst. She is also engaged in both clinical and research work at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney. Dr Foran holds the position of Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in the School of Women’s and Children’s Health. She coordinates Phase 2 of their undergraduate Women’s Health program as well as supervising a number of modules in the Masters of Reproductive Medicine and Masters of Women’s Health Medicine Programs offered by UNSW.
Hugh is Deputy Director at Griffith University’s Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law. His research spans the philosophical subdisciplines of political philosophy, normative ethics, moral psychology, governance studies and applied philosophy. His works explore the ethical challenges arising in such diverse fields as peacekeeping, institutional governance, climate change, sustainable tourism, safety industries, private property, medicine, and international law, published in journals including The Philosophical Quarterly, The Modern Law Review and Political Studies. He has taught philosophy and ethics at the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and Bond University. Since 2013, Hugh has served as President of the Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics.
Melissa trained in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Mercy Hospital for Women, obtaining her Fellowship in 2006. This included fellowships in paediatric and adolescent gynaecology at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and in advanced laparoscopic gynaecological surgery at the Mercy Hospital for Women. She’s also completed Master degrees in both Reproductive Medicine and Public Health, specialising in women’s health and fertility issues. With a focus on fertility issues affecting women with endometriosis, fibroids and uterine abnormalities, Melissa helps couples with some of the most challenging fertility problems. Melissa also has a special interest in helping same sex couples, people who are transgender and gender diverse, and single women create a family through the Melbourne IVF donor programme. Through research in these areas, Melissa shares her expertise with other specialists, presenting at local and international conferences, workshops and lectures. Melissa also holds public appointments at The Women’s Hospital.
Dr David Speakman is a surgeon specialising in breast Disease and Melanoma. He has over 20 year’s sub-specialist experience in these areas. Dr David Speakman is currently the Chief Medical Officer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac), having held this position since 2013. He has previously held positions as the Executive Director Clinical Services and Director of the Melanoma and Skin Service both at Peter Mac. David was intimately involved in the conception, design and build of Peter Mac’s new facilities in Parkville, Victoria which delivered a purpose designed future proofed and patient centered facility for patients with cancer. David is also a practicing clinician working in both the Breast and Melanoma and Skin Units both at Peter Mac and in private. He has over 20 year’s sub-specialist experience in both these areas. David is the Chair of Breast Screen Victoria’s Quality and Accreditation Committee. David is a member of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) Council representing both melanoma and surgical oncology groups. David remains actively involved in teaching programs for medical, nursing and allied health students of all levels from under to post graduate trainees. In addition, David is a long standing facilitator in the “Breaking Bad News” training program run through the Cancer Council of Victoria. David has sat on numerous government advisory, NHMRC guideline, and optimal cancer care pathway committees. He is currently the Deputy Chair of the NHMRC.
Dr Nomvuyo Mothobi is a Clinical Microbiologist and Infectious Diseases Physician with diverse expertise who joined ACPCC in 2023. She graduated from the University of Sydney and dual trained in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at St Vincent’s and Royal Prince Alfred Hospitals in Sydney. She worked as a Staff Specialist in Sydney, and having moved to Victoria in 2021, she currently holds clinical, pathology and public health appointments in the Victorian public hospital, private pathology and not-for-profit sectors. She has also worked overseas in Zimbabwe where she gained extensive experience in HIV, TB and other opportunistic infections as well as clinical and operational research. Dr Mothobi’s areas of special interest include HIV, infections in immunocompromised hosts, molecular diagnostic methods and global health.