Confirmed Speakers
We are happy to have the following speakers confirmed for our conference.
Mr Giles Peek - Edwards Lifesciences International Visitor
Mr Giles Peek is Consultant in Cardiothoracic Surgery & ECMO and Head of Service for Congenital and Paediatric Heart Disease at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, UK. His surgical practice is mostly Congenital Heart Disease in children and adults.
He is a past British Heart Foundation Junior Research Fellowship recipient and has undertaken a Doctoral Thesis on ECLS. The majority of his research has been on the use of ECLS, he is Lead Clinical Investigator on the CESAR Trial (Conventional ventilation or ECMO for Severe Adult Respiratory failure) which is a national multi-centre study involving over 100 UK hospitals. He has also published on other areas including Trial Design, high altitude physiology and Patient Safety. He is a member of the steering committee of the Extra-Corporeal Life Support Organization.
Andrew Hilton FANZCA FJFICM
Deputy Director ICU and Head of Cardiothoracic ICU, The Alfred Hospital , Melbourne.
17 years experience in perioperative and critical care echocardiography. Includes echocardiography Fellowship and then Faculty member Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care at Duke University for 7 years.
JFICM member of Joint (JFICM and ANZICS) Intensive Care Ultrasound Committee.
Particular interests include acute heart failure, heart and lung transplantation, extra-corporeal mechanical circulatory support, and echocardiography training in the ICU. Current research includes effects of severe (non-lethal) head injury on myocardial function.
Jayne Fawcett
Qualified as a nurse in 1988 and went on the work in various intensive care environments for the next 15 years, obtaining an advanced qualification in critical care nursing, an Honors Degree and an MSc in Health Professional Education. In 2000 she joined York University as a Lecturer in Critical Care, Physiology and Pathophysiology. In 2003 she went to work in ICU at St Georges hospital, London, also becoming a member off the research team. In 2007 she joined the Global Team of Edwards Lifesciences as Director of Critical Care Clinical studies, co-ordinating clinical studies around the world in the field of critical care and the operating room.
Dr John Beca
Dr John Beca is Clinical Director of the PICU at Starship Children's Hospital, Auckland and an intensivist in the Cardiovascular ICU at Auckland City Hospital. He is also Director of the ECMO programme at Starship and Auckland City Hospitals. His research interest is in acute brain injury, especially injury related to cardiac surgery, trauma and hypoxic ischaemic injury. He is the principal investigator for the Hypothermia in TBI in Children (HiTBIC) study and on the steering committee for the Hypothermia for Cardiac Arrest in Paediatrics (HypCAP) international study. Other research projects are investigating the contribution of MRI, continuous EEG and NIRS in children with acute brain injury.
Nicola Gini
Nicola completed her nursing diploma at Auckland Institute of Technology, then went on to complete her Graduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing Practice (Critical Care) and BHSc (Nursing) in 1995. From 1993 – 2003 she worked in the ICU at Green Lane Hospital as a staff nurse and then a Clinical Charge Nurse. She completed her MN in 2005. Nicola currently works as the Nurse Manager of the PICU at Starship Children's Hospital, Auckland. Nicola has co-ordinated the Green Lane ECMO programme since 1998
Associate Professor John Kolbe
Associate-Professor John Kolbe is a graduate of the University of Queensland and underwent post-graduate training in Auckland and at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Md. His current appointments are as a respiratory physician in Greenlane Respiratory Services at the Greenlane Clinical Centre and Auckland City Hospital, and Head of the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland. Dr Kolbe's current research interests include asthma specifically life-threatening asthma, oxygen therapy for COPD, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. He is currently President-elect of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
Dr Nigel Lever
Dr Nigel Lever is an electrophysiologist and cardiologist at Auckland City Hospital primarily dealing with rhythm issues. He is involved with catheter ablation for tachycardia problems and pacemaker/defibrillator device work. He is also a Senior Lecturer at Auckland University and as part of the Bioengineering Institute, is actively involved in ventricular fibrillation research.
Dr Peter Ruygrok
Dr Peter Ruygrok graduated Bachelor of Science in mathematics in 1979, Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery in 1986 and more recently Doctor of Medicine, from the University of Auckland. He trained in cardiology at Green Lane Hospital, gaining his fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and then completed an interventional fellowship at the Thoraxcenter in Rotterdam.
He works as a consultant cardiologist and is the Clinical Director of the Green Lane Cardiovascular Service (Adult Cardiology) at Auckland City Hospital. His special interests include interventional cardiology, cardiac transplantation and research, with over 90 publications. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of the University of Auckland and works part-time at the Auckland Heart Group.
Dr Margaret Wilsher
Dr Margaret Wilsher is a graduate from the University of Otago and Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, specialising in thoracic medicine. She undertook postgraduate doctoral study as a Wellcome Fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute and Royal Brompton Hospital before returning to work as a Respiratory Physician at Green Lane Hospital, now part of Auckland City Hospital. She has clinical and research interests in interstitial lung disease, interventional bronchology and pulmonary embolism, and is a member of the British Thoracic Society/TSANZ guidelines group in ILD. In her spare time she acts as Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Auckland District Health Board.
Ron Paterson
Ron Paterson was appointed New Zealand Health and Disability Commissioner in 2000. He played a key role in the development of the New Zealand Code of Patients' Rights in 1996. Ron has lectured and published on a wide range of topics in health law, ethics and policy, and has been a leading voice in New Zealand debates on these issues over the past decade. He is co-editor of the textbook Medical Law in New Zealand (2006).
Nikky Parley
Nikky is a Nurse Educator in the PICU at Starship Children's Health. Since graduating in 1990 she has worked in the Paediatric Intensive Care setting both in the United States and locally. Nikky graduated with a Diploma in Nursing from Auckland Technical Institute in 1990, obtaining a Graduate Certificate in Paediatric Intensive Care Nursing in 1998 and her Bachelor of Health Sciences (Nursing) in 2001. In 2007 she completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Clinical Teaching. Her passion still remains the care and wellbeing of the acutely unwell child.
Helen Gibbs
Transplant Recipient Co-ordinator, Greenlane Cardiothoracic Unit, Auckland City Hospital
Helen qualified as a nurse in 1978, then went on to complete the Cardio Thoracic Surgical post graduate course in 1980 and worked in the CTSU at Greenlane in the ICU and ward for the next 15 years. From 1994 – 1996 she worked in research on respiratory trials. In 1997 Helen joined the Transplant service and acquired certification as a Clinical Transplant Co-ordinator (North American Board of transplant Certification) in 2004. She has been involved in the LVAD trial and the LVAD programme.
Ubbo Wiersema
Ubbo obtained his primary qualification and began his medical career in Britain. He then moved to Auckland where he completed training in Intensive Care through the RACP and JFICM. After a fellowship in Australia he returned to Auckland to take up a Specialist post. He now divides his time between the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Intensive Care at Auckland Hospital and the Department of Intensive Care at Middlemore Hospital. One of his current interests is persuading his colleagues to use ultrasound more widely in the Intensive Care.
Tanya McWilliams
Respiratory Physician
Graduate of Auckland Medical School and Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in Respiratory Medicine. Fellow in Lung Transplant and PAH at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne from 2000-2002 and returned as a Respiratory Physician to Auckland in 2003. Subsequently completed a PhD on Airway Remodelling Lung Transplant Recipients. Clinical and Research interests in Lung Transplant and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
Mr Peter Alison
Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Greenlane Cardiothoracic Unit, Auckland City Hospital. Director of Thoracic Transplantation.
Dr David Buckley
Consultant Intensivist & Anaesthetist Starship children's Hospital and Greenlane Cardiothoracic & Vascular ICU, Auckland City Hospital