Speakers

Professor Hugh C Hemmings Jr, MD, PhD, FRCA is Joseph F Artusio Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology and Professor of Pharmacology and Senior Associate Dean of Research at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Anesthesiologist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Dr Hemmings earned a BS in Biochemistry from Yale College, an MD from Yale Medical School and a PhD in pharmacology from Yale Graduate School working in the laboratory of Paul Greengard, PhD was cited in his 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He completed postdoctoral work at The Rockefeller University, a residency in anaesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a fellowship in cardiac anesthesia at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he has been a faculty member for 29 years.

An internationally recognised neuropharmacologist, Dr Hemmings is an expert in the synaptic effects of general anaesthetics and mechanisms of neuronal signal transduction. His research in these areas is supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health. He is active in several national and international societies for anaesthesiology and neuroscience, and serves as the editor-in-chief for the British Journal of Anaesthesia. He has been elected fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and as a member of the Association of University Anesthesiologists. He has authored more than 100 articles in anaesthesiology and neuroscience, and has edited four books, including Foundations of Anesthesia 2e published in 2006 and Pharmacology & Physiology for Anesthesia: Foundations and Clinical Application 2e published in 2019.

Alicia Dennis is a Professor in the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Deakin University and holds honorary appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Radiology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne. She is a fulltime staff specialist anaesthetist and Director of Anaesthesia Research at The Royal Women’s Hospital, Parkville, Australia

After graduation from the University of Melbourne she trained and practiced in anaesthesia in Melbourne and in 2010 obtained her PhD investigating cardiac function in women with preeclampsia. In 2013 Alicia was the Visiting Professorial Scholar for the University of Cape Town and The Groote Schuur Hospital investigating haemodynamics using echocardiography in women with preeclampsia and women with HIV. In 2017 she completed a Master of International Public Health with a focus on gender inequity and its contribution to maternal mortality. Alicia is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has undertaken postgraduate studies in finance through Harvard Business School. Alicia is currently supervising three PhD students and is the Australasian Representative on the Scientific Affairs Committee of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA).

Associate Professor Meghan Brooks Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP, FCCM

I am a physician-scientist with board certification in anesthesiology and critical care medicine. My research agenda is centered on the rigorous study of strategies to support the safe and high-quality care of hospitalised patients. I employ principles from implementation science and human factors engineering, including qualitative and mixed methods, to promote the uptake and effective use of evidence-based practice in acute care. As a vice chair in anesthesiology, I foster inclusion, diversity, and equity in my department and in academic medicine more broadly through recruitment, retention, education, and professional development efforts, and by working with institutional partners to affect structural changes to ensure equity in the workplace and in clinical care. As a clinical administrator, I facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration to ensure patient-centered, evidence-based, continually improving care. As a research mentor, I work with undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students, fellows, and junior faculty to build their capacity to conduct impactful, paradigm-shifting health services research.

Cor Kalkman is Professor of Anesthesiology at University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. He is also trained as a Clinical Epidemiologist and currently divides his time between clinical research and clinical neuroanesthesia.
Major research interests: Perioperative physiological monitoring, patient safety/Human Factors, Perioperative Outcomes Research, Measuring Quality of Care, cognitive dysfunction following cardiac and non-cardiac surgery.
Dr Kalkman is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Anesthesiology, Journal of Anesthesia (Journal of the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists), and previously of British Journal of Anaesthesia, Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde (Netherlands Journal of Medicine) and the Netherlands Journal of Anesthesiology.
Publications: Dr Kalkman has published more than 300 peer reviewed research papers and several of the randomised controlled trials that he co-designed were published in major general medicine journals (JAMA, Lancet, NEJM).
PhD students: Dr Kalkman has mentored 35 MDs towards a completed doctoral thesis (PhD) and currently supervises six doctoral students, many in a combined anesthesia residency/PhD track that includes a full MSc course in Clinical Epidemiology.

Eva Kosek, MD, PhD is holding a position as full Professor in Clinical Pain Research at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm and at the Department of Surgical Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. She is a senior consultant at the Pain Center at Uppsala University Hospital. Dr Kosek received her medical degree from the Uppsala University in 1986 and her PhD from the Karolinska Institute in 1996. She is a specialist in rehabilitation medicine since 2001 and pain relief since 2004 and has been clinically active for the most part of her professional carrier. Her research focuses on pathophysiological mechanisms in chronic musculoskeletal pain, with special reference to central pain modulation and neuroinflammation in fibromyalgia, chronic low back pain, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The research is hypothesis driven and the research group uses a wide variety of techniques such as genetics, analysis of inflammatory substances in cerebrospinal fluid and blood, quantitative sensory testing and neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography).

She was an elected Councilor of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) 2012-18 and chairs the IASP Terminology Task Force. She is a member of several professional associations such as Scandinavian Association for the Study of Pain (SASP), the Swedish Medical Association and the Swedish Pain Society. She is a reviewer for several scientific journals and has published many articles, book chapters and abstracts. She has lectured at conferences and symposia worldwide.

Dr Matthew Smuck is the Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Stanford University. He is the Medical Director of Rehabilitation Services for Stanford Healthcare where his clinical work concentrates on medical and interventional management of spine disorders. He is a physician leader and current President of the Spine Intervention Society (SIS) and has served on the Executive Editorial Board of The Spine Journal and the Board of Directors of the North American Spine Society (NASS) and the Foundation for PM&R. Professor Smuck is an award-winning researcher and pioneer of the new field of physical performance monitoring using wearable sensors. He founded and directs the Wearable Health Lab at Stanford, focused on developing methods of wearable sensor data analytics to discover digital phenotypes of mobility-limiting orthopaedic and neurologic diseases, and applying these methods to improve disease detection, prevention and treatment. Professor Smuck has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. His work is recognised by numerous research society awards and publication awards, including the ISSLS Medtronic Award in 2012, the American Academy of PM&R’s 2014 President’s Citation Award, the PM&R Journal 2015 Best Original Research Award, the 2016 ISSLS Prize, and The Spine Journal Outstanding Paper Award in 2013, 2016, 2017 & 2018.

Dr Nick Coatsworth is one of Australia’s leading doctors. As Deputy Chief Medical Officer he held a key national role in the Australian response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing upon his skills as an infectious disease physician, a respiratory physician, a practitioner of disaster and humanitarian medicine, and his high level experience in health administration.

Through his leadership and communication he was able to provide a voice for frontline hospital staff and he quickly became one of the most recognised medical spokespeople during the pandemic. He is currently serving as executive director of medical services for Canberra Health Services and continues to provide advice to the Department of Health in the COVID-19 response

Jayashri Kulkarni commenced her appointment as professor of psychiatry at The Alfred and Monash University in 2002. She founded and directs the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc): a large group dedicated to discovering new treatments, new understanding and new services for people with a range of mental illnesses.

She graduated in medicine from Monash University in 1981 and became a fellow of the College of Psychiatrists in 1989. She has conducted ground breaking clinical research since then and is internationally acknowledged as a leader in the field of women’s mental health, in particular for her innovative work on reproductive hormones and mental illness.

She received an Order of Australia (AM) in 2019 for her services to psychiatry.