Conference theme
The theme is the important topic of “Creating a Healthy Workplace”. This will be relevant to doctors at all stages of their career, from medical students, to doctors in training, to doctors established in their chosen career. A particular focus will be looking at the impact of the work environment on a doctor’s health, be they a solo private practitioner or working in a large tertiary hospital. Issues will include the effect of medical culture on work life balance, bullying and harassment, and physical and mental health problems.
Program
The conference program will feature engaging keynote addresses, abstract presentations and case study learning sessions relevant to all doctors and medical students who share a passion to improve the health and wellbeing of doctors and their working environment.
Keynote speakers
Dr Jane Lemaire is a Clinical Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, and Vice Chair, Physician Wellness and Vitality, Department of Medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. She and her research colleagues have passionately advocated for recognition of physician wellness as a quality indicator of healthcare systems, and a shared responsibility for physician wellness that lies with individual physicians, the medical profession, and healthcare systems. Dr Lemaire received the 2016 Canadian Medical Association Misericordia Award for her contributions to physician wellness.
Dr Lemaire is also the Director of Wellness at the Office of Professionalism, Equity, and Diversity, as well as the Wellness Lead at the W21C Research and Innovation Center, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. The W21C Wellness team has studied determinants of physician wellbeing, explored workplace nutrition on physician wellness, and studied the influence of coping strategies and personalities on physician wellness. Recent research explores how contextual factors within the complex healthcare work environment are linked to physician wellness, and patients’ views on physician wellness and how it links to patient care. Since 2018, with support from provincial stakeholders in healthcare, Dr Lemaire and the wellness team have created the Well Doc Alberta Initiative, a pan-provincial approach to physician wellness.
Geoff graduated at UWA in 1974 and trained in Psychiatry in Perth and London before spending ten years in rural General Practice. In 1991 he was invited to join the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Western Australia as a member of the School of Psychiatry, and in 2004 he was appointed Head of the School of Psychiatry.
In 2008 Geoff was appointed Head of The Rural Clinical School of Western Australia and Professor of Rural and Remote Medicine. He was and was also Head of the School of Primary, Aboriginal and Rural Health Care.
He was a member of The Medical Board of Western Australia for a decade from 1996 to 2006.
In 1988, with three colleagues, he established and then coordinated the ‘Colleague of First Contact’ service in WA. This has been superseded by the Doctors’ Health Advisory Service of WA of which he is the Patron. He is known in WA particularly for caring for medical professionals and their families.
He was appointed a Member of The Order of Australia (AM) in 2010.
Nikki holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with Honours from the University of Western Australia and holds a Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, specialising in cardiothoracic surgery.
Nikki works as a cardiac surgeon and has a special interest in heart disease in women and transplantation. Nikki has a strong desire to change the way we think about health and she is committed to raising awareness of women’s heart disease, currently the number one killer of Australian women.
As a stong advocate for heart health, Nikki hosted Heartbeat: The Miracle Inside you on ABC’s flagship science show Catalyst, and is author of book - Can You Die of a Broken Heart? - exploring our most amazing organ, the heart.
Nikki was the expert commentator on Channel 7's Operation: Live and also appears regularly on national shows such as The Today Show, Studio 10 and ABC’s Matter of Fact.
Nikki is a passionate advocate for women achieving in domains that are traditionally dominated by men and is a strong advocate for the importance of self-care and work-life balance, and has written for publications including The Huffington Post, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald and Mammamia.
Nikki is a sought after speaker, mentor and prominent participant in the ‘I Look Like a Surgeon’ and ‘This is What We Look Like’ campaigns, which aim to provide women with strong, positive role models. She was nominated for Cosmopolitan’s Woman of the Year - Game Changer and one of Harper Bazaar’s Women of the Year for 2017 as well as one of Time Out Sydney’s 40 Under 40 and Mamamia’s Inspirational Women You Can Look Up To.
Dr Anne Tonkin is Chair of the Medical Board of Australia which is responsible for registration and regulation of all doctors in Australia. She has been involved in medical regulation for more than 10 years and was first appointed to the Medical Board of South Australia in 2009, prior to the National Scheme. She held the position of Chair of the South Australian Board from 2012 until she was appointed as Chair of the National Board in 2018.
Dr Anne Tonkin trained as a general physician with a sub-specialty in clinical pharmacology, and practised at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for more than 25 years. She was a clinical academic in the Adelaide Medical School for 22 years, becoming Professor in Medical Education with responsibilities for curriculum planning and implementation.
Dr Tonkin has also served the Australian Medical Council as a council member and had long-standing involvement with its accreditation processes for medical school and specialist colleges up until her appointment to the Medical Board of Australia.
Dr. Geoff Toogood is a Cardiologist & specialist consulting Aviation Cardiologist who has practiced for 20 years on the Mornington Peninsula. He has held The Director of Cardiology position at Frankston Hospital and is a Fellow of the College of Physicians, Cardiac Society and the prestigious Heart Rhythm Society.
He is trained and skilled in all aspects of device therapy and follow up. Geoff established the pacing services on the Mornington Peninsula, inserting the first pacemakers (this also applies to ICD and CRT devices), and has run the pacemaker clinic since 1993. He is the campaign founder Crazy Socks f4 Docs and an ambassador for Beyond Blue, speaking regularly in the area of mental health, and a passionate advocate for doctors’ mental health.
Fiona Wood has been a burns surgeon and researcher for over 20 years and is Director of the Burns Service of Western Australia (BSWA). She is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Fiona Stanley Hospital (previously at Royal Perth Hospital) and Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, co-founder of the first skin cell laboratory in WA, Winthrop Professor in the School of Surgery at The University of Western Australia, and co-founder of the Fiona Wood Foundation (formerly The McComb Foundation).
Professor Wood’s greatest contribution and enduring legacy is her work with co-inventor Marie Stoner, pioneering the innovative ‘spray-on skin’ technique (Recell), where today the technique is used worldwide.
In October 2002, Fiona was propelled into the media spotlight when the largest proportion of survivors from the 2002 Bali bombings arrived in Perth where Fiona led the medical team at Royal Perth Hospital to save many lives.
Fiona was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2003. In 2004 she was awarded the Western Australia Citizen of the Year award for her contribution to Medicine in the field of burns research. Fiona was then named Australian of the Year for 2005. She is an Australian Living Treasure. Fiona is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science.
Fiona is married to fellow surgeon Tony Kierath and is mother to four boys and two girls.
Dinner speaker
Dr Ahmed Kazmi is a British GP and comedian who splits his time between the United Kingdom and Australia.
He has performed at several prestigious international Fringe and Comedy Festivals and regularly speaks to doctors about self-care and mental health wellbeing.
Dr Ahmed performed at this year’s Fringe Festival in Perth. After titillating and amusing us with his sell-out comedy show at the 2017 Festival, he came back with a more visceral, more musical offering in 2018 and 2019.
Dr Ahmed is very excited to speak at the conference dinner.