The who’s who in the health field in Townsville

We will take a look at some of the most influential people in the health industry in Townsville who are changing the face of health care in the whole region.

Tony Mooney

Townsville Hospital and Health Board chair

Tony Mooney has held this position since May 2016. Tony is a member of the Board Executive Committee and is also a member of the Board Audit and Risk Committee, Board Finance Committee, Board Safety and Quality Committee and Board Stakeholder Engagement Committee.

He was the chair of the Queensland Government’s Resources Community Infrastructure

Fund Advisory Committee until 2022 and holds director positions at the Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre, Brighter Lives, North Queensland Bulk Ports and NQ Spark.

Previously, Tony was a councillor and deputy mayor of the Townsville City Council and was elected mayor in 1989. He held the position of Mayor of Townsville until 2008. In 2008, Tony was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2011, he was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to local government and the community. Tony is a life member of Townsville Enterprise.

Tony previously served on the boards of numerous government and community entities, including Ergon Energy, LG Super, and the Townsville Entertainment Centre Board of Management (Chair). In 2011, Tony was appointed by the Federal Government to the Board of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park authority, where he served until 2016.

Kieran Keyes

Townsville Hospital and Health Service Chief Executive

Kieran is a proud alumnus of James Cook University, holding a Bachelor of Nursing Science and a Masters of Business Administration.

Kieran joined the Townsville Hospital and Health Service in 2012 as the Chief Operating Officer before taking up the substantive position of Health Service Chief Executive in June 2018. Kieran has held the positions of the interim Chief Executive at both the Townsville Hospital and Health Service and at the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service; with the latter he managed its transition to Board governance. Kieran has held senior executive roles with Townsville, Wide Bay and Metro North Hospital and Health Services and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

In addition, he has held leadership roles in the corporate areas of Queensland Health.

Kieran began his professional career as a registered nurse, working in coronary care at the Townsville General Hospital. Kieran is an Adjunct Professor of the Division of Tropical Health and Medicine at James Cook University and he is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. When not working, Kieran is happiest when with family, fishing and coaching or refereeing rugby.

Gerry Wyvill
Former Chief Operating Officer, Mater Central and North Queensland

Gerry has worked as a CFO, General Manager and CEO over the past two decades within the healthcare industry, spanning public, private, not-for-profit and for-profit sectors.

Gerry joined Mater as Townsville CEO in 2013 before becoming Chief Operating Officer for Central and North Queensland (covering the Mater Private Hospitals in Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Bundaberg) as part of Mater’s state-wide merge in 2020.

He developed Mater Private Hospital Townsville’s master plan and introduced new clinical services such as allied health, rehabilitation. Gerry’s master plan has begun coming to fruition, with the opening of the $52 million Mercy Centre hospital entrance in 2020 and the proposed relocation of maternity and renal services from Mater’s Hyde Park location to its Pimlico campus by 2025, pending funding.

After an illustrious career, Gerry retired last month, and will be greatly missed by the Central and North Queensland healthcare industry.

Stephanie Barwick

General Manager, Mater Private Hospital Townsville

Stephanie’s first foray into healthcare was during year 11 work experience at Mater Private Hospital Townsville, before completing a Bachelor of Nursing Science at JCU and returning to Mater as a graduate nurse in 2005.

Since then, Stephanie has worked in many areas of healthcare including as a midwife, ICU nurse, simulation educator and Mater’s state-wide Director of Clinical Education.

Last year, Stephanie was appointed Interim Executive Officer of Mater Private Hospital Townsville – a role she fulfilled while still finding time to cover night shifts as a midwife at Mater Mothers’ Private Hospital. Stephanie’s passion for Townsville and her commitment and dedication to Mater, along with the strong relationships formed with clinical and non-clinical staff and doctors, has led to her appointment as General Manager of Mater Private Hospital Townsville last week.

Dr Niall Small

Townsville Hospital and Health Service Chief Medical Officer

Niall is from Edinburgh and after medical school and training in General Practice, moved to Queensland. He is a specialist Emergency Physician and has worked in Townsville since 1997 as the Director of Emergency Medicine and as the Medical Director of the Medical Service Group.

He is currently the Chief Medical Officer at Townsville Hospital and Health Service, previously Co-Chair of the Queensland Emergency Department Strategic Advisory Panel, and has roles working with the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

He is a strong advocate of the ongoing development of clinical services and clinical training across North Queensland and has a particular interest in improving patient experience and flow through our complex health system.

Judy Morton

Townsville Hospital and Health Service Executive Director Nursing and Midwifery

Judy is a highly experienced health service executive responsible for the delivery of nursing and midwifery services across the Townsville Hospital and Health Service.

Judy has 25 years’ experience encompassing rural, regional and tertiary heath service delivery. Her roles have been diverse including executive clinical and operational roles in Australia, Europe, and the UK.

Judy is a passionate advocate for the delivery of person-centred care and empowering nurses and midwives to embrace innovation and advanced practice models. She is an advocate for northern Queensland and has led many projects focusing on equitable health services and growing a contemporary North Queensland nursing and midwifery workforce for the future.

Dr Sally Aubrey

Obstetrician and gynaecologist

Dr Aubrey grew up in Townsville, originally studying Journalism before studying and training in Medicine across the state – however, she always knew she wanted to return to her home. Dr Aubrey completed six years of specialist training with the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which allowed her to specialise in the management of complex and high-risk pregnancies, cervical abnormalities and laparoscopic surgery.

Sabe Sabesan

Senior medical oncologist at Townsville University Hospital’s Townsville Cancer Centre and Icon Cancer Centre

Professor Sabe Sabesan is a senior medical oncologist at Townsville University Hospital’s Townsville Cancer Centre and Icon Cancer Centre, clinical dean of the Townsville Medical Training Network and the clinical director of the Australian Teletrial Program.

He has designed, implemented and evaluated various teleoncology models for consultations, chemotherapy administration, training and clinical trials across Queensland and Australia.

Research work of his team and his national partners was the catalyst for the $100 million federally funded Australian Teletrial Program to provide equitable health access to our rural and remote and First Nations communities. Currently he is the president-elect of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia.

Dr Rahul Dua

Kidney and general medicine specialist

As a locally trained nephrologist, Dr Dua is also a Senior Lecturer at James Cook University’s School of Medicine. Dr Dua has special interests in hypertension, dialysis and general medicine, and has been part of Mater Private Hospital Townsville’s renal dialysis unit since it opened as the only hospital-based private unit north of the Sunshine Coast in 2015. Dr Dua is championing Mater’s renal unit relocation, which is proposed to double the amount of dialysis chairs in the facility pending funding.

Dr Jonathon de Hoog

Orthopaedic surgeon

While he completed his studies through the University of Tasmania, Dr de Hoog moved to Queensland with his family to complete his orthopaedic training which included a rotation in Townsville. They enjoyed their year in the city so much that they settled here, with Dr de Hoog establishing Aspire Orthopaedics.

Dr de Hoog specialises in hip, knee and shoulder joint replacements, with a special interest in the treatment of arthritic hand and wrist conditions. Dr de Hoog has strong links to the Queensland Children’s Hospital and is skilled in providing paediatric orthopaedic care to children across North Queensland. Dr de Hoog also travels to Mt Isa monthly to consult with both public and private patients as required.

Dr Michael Clements

Dr Clements gained his specialist qualifications in General Practice after training in various locations in Australia and across the world. Under the Royal Australian Air Force Graduate Medical Scheme, Dr Clements served in Australia, the Middle East and on exchange in the United Kingdom before settling in Townsville.

During this time Dr Clements qualified as a Specialist Aviation Medical Officer with the RAAF and he continues in the RAAF Specialist Reserve.

After some time spent as the Director of Medical Services at Ingham Hospital, Dr Clements moved to Townsville Hospital as the Medical Director for Health and Wellbeing Service Group.

During this time Dr Clements finalised his management training and returned to general practice and founded Clements Medical Group with a vision to provide quality, evidence-based team care using modern technology in a family medicine environment.

Dr Clements has a keen interest in veteran’s and men’s health, chronic disease, and palliative care, supports veterans through their DVA Claims and impairment assessments and continues to conduct aviation medicals.

He also conducts and leads the rural outreach clinics to North West QLD, sometimes as the pilot, sometimes as the doctor.

Dr Clements continues to supervise general practitioners in training and works part-time as a Director of Rural Generalist Training for the Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway.

He is a Board Member of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), Chair of the RACGP Rural Faculty, Rural Generalist Training Advisor: Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway.

He is also a Fellow of the Australasian College of Aerospace Medicine and the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators.

Dr Geoffrey Dobson

Dr Geoffrey Dobson holds a Professorial Chair at James Cook University in the Heart and Trauma Research Laboratory in the College of Medicine and Dentistry.

Dr Dobson’s research philosophy is to tap into hundreds of millions of years of animal adaptations and develop new therapeutics for cardiac surgery, catastrophic haemorrhagic shock, traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest and sepsis.

He is currently working with the US military to develop a far-forward, ultra-small volume, fluid for hypotensive resuscitation after haemorrhagic shock with or without traumatic brain injury, and a new 72-hour stabilisation and to reduce inflammation and coagulopathy and other secondary hit complications.

Together with JCU’s Dr Hayley Letson, Prof Dobson is working with Dr Clinton Gibbs from Retrieval Services Queensland, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and LifeFlight Retrieval Medicine (LRM) to conduct a study aiming to bridge the gaps in trauma care in rural and remote northern Queensland.

More recently, Dr Dobson’s laboratory was awarded a 3-year contract from the US Department of Defense to develop rapid delivery of their new drug therapy to treat traumatic brain injury at the point of injury, which has major implications for kids and adults in professional sports, including the NRL. The award was one of eleven awarded in the USA.

Dr Dobson is also an elected fellow of the American Heart Association.

Dr Hayley Letson

Dr Hayley Letson is a Senior Research Fellow in the Heart and Trauma Research Laboratory at James Cook University’s College of Medicine and Dentistry.

Fuelled by a fascination with the workings of the human body and a desire to help others, Dr Letson was set on becoming a doctor. A serious car accident early in her studies changed those plans and now she’s blazing a trail in the medical research field developing a treatment that could save the lives of people who suffer traumatic injuries.

Dr Letson joined the Heart and Trauma Research Laboratory in 2008, where she undertook a PhD under the mentorship of Dr Geoffrey Dobson to develop a small-volume solution called ALM, named after its three components: adenosine, lidocaine and magnesium. The solution is for resuscitation of patients suffering traumatic injury and major blood loss, and acts like a ‘pharmacological tourniquet’ to reduce bleeding, while also protecting the brain and other organs and ensuring sufficient oxygen supply.

This achievement garnered Dr Letson and Dr Dobson worldwide recognition and earned Dr Letson the Young Investigator Award for three consecutive years at the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Science Symposium. Dr Letson was also recognised in 2021 with

the Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award.

Dr Letson continues to work with the US Military to translate ALM resuscitation fluid into the field, with current work evaluating the treatment for traumatic brain injury and burns.

Dr Letson is also passionate about the applications for ALM therapy in prehospital civilian environments, especially in rural and remote areas of North Queensland. She and Professor Dobson are working with Dr Clinton Gibbs from Retrieval Services Queensland towards a trial of ALM therapy for patients injured in remote areas of Queensland.

Professor Andrew Mallett

Professor Andrew Mallett leads the first and largest renal genetics clinical service and program in Australia, which celebrates 10 years of operation in August 2023.

Having been a Churchill Fellow, an RACP Foundation Jacquot Research Establishment Fellow and now a Queensland Health Advancing Clinical Research Fellow, he has a strongly emerging profile in the clinical care and research of inherited kidney disease and nephrogenetics nationally, regionally and internationally.

The clinical and translational research Prof Mallett undertakes includes the epidemiology of inherited kidney diseases, subspecialist models of clinical care for these diseases and new and novel genetic sequencing for nephrogenetic diagnosis and discovery including approaches to functional validation.

Prof Mallett serves as a Professor of Medicine at James Cook University’s College of Medicine and Dentistry and as the Director of Clinical Research and a Nephrologist at Townsville University Hospital. Additionally, he is a Clinical Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, Co-Lead of the Queensland Renal Genetics Program, National Director of the KidGen Collaborative and a Rare Disease Flagship Lead of Australian Genomics.

Prof Mallett is also the Global Lead for the IMPEDE-PKD Clinical Trial, which will study if a drug called metformin can slow down the rate at which kidney disease progresses in people with Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease.

With multiple research funding successes from the Medical Research Future Fund, Prof Mallett is a Chief Investigator on two Genomic Health Futures Mission projects seeking to improve diagnosis rates for genetic kidney disease and the recently announced mitoHOPE program investigating mitochondrial donation in Australia.

He is committed to improving the understanding of inherited kidney disease as well as the clinical care and outcomes of Australians affected by it.

In the classroom, Prof Mallett is an active supervisor and mentor for emerging clinician-researchers at both undergraduate and postgraduate career stages across a broad range of topics and contemporary health research fields.

Professor Emma McBryde

Professor Emma McBryde is an infectious diseases physician who did her PhD in mathematical and statistical modelling of disease transmission in hospitals.

Since then, she has moved into modelling infectious diseases of global significance, including influenza, SARS, tuberculosis and COVID-19.

Prof McBryde has led consultancies for AusAID, DFAT, the Commonwealth Department of Health and participated in Gates-funded work on modelling to guide policy in tuberculosis.

She is developing work on control policy for maximum impact for tuberculosis program development in partnership with the Global Fund. Prof McBryde has published over 100 peer reviewed publications on epidemiology and modelling; has supervised four PhD students and is currently supervising three additional PhD students.

She has received numerous grants from both the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), including a current NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) grant that is modelling infectious diseases to inform public

health policy.

Prof McBryde is actively collaborating across JCU with research areas of health systems, basic science (microbiology and immunology), health economics, genomics and across Australia in epidemiology and modelling and specifically in tuberculosis research.

She is an elected official of the Australasian Tuberculosis Forum and an investigator of the CRE in TB research – approaches on both sides of the border.

In 2021, Prof McBryde and mathematician Dr Michael Meehan developed a model incorporating age-specific mixing, infectiousness, susceptibility and severity to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic under different public health intervention scenarios. This was applied to the problem of vaccine allocation in Australia -deciding who should be vaccinated first – and also used by countries in the South East Asian region.

Professor Andreas Lopata

Professor Andreas Lopata leads the Molecular Allergy Research Laboratory at James Cook University’s College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Science and the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM).

Prof Lopata has more than 30 years’ experience in the molecular immunological analysis of food allergens for better diagnostics and development of therapeutics specific to the Australian-Asian region.

Prof Lopata’s research team uses cutting-edge approaches in characterising the interactions of immunogenic proteins from different food sources with our human immune system, leading to allergic and inflammatory reactions.

His discoveries are now translated globally into mainstream diagnostics and therapeutics for seafood allergy with leading international industry partners.

Considered a world leader on seafood allergy, Prof Lopata has contributed to the development of national and international guidelines and sits on national and international expert committees of lead professional societies in the field.

He is also an Associate Editor for ‘Clinical Experimental Allergy’ and Regional Associate Editor (Asia Pacific) for the World Allergy Association Journal, and has published over 200 journal articles and presented at over 250 national and international conferences.

More recently, he is working on the food safety aspect of Alternative Future Foods, including cell-cultured meat and edible insects.

Prof Lopata consults to various organisations including the National Measurement Institute, the Tropical Futures Institute (Singapore) and the International Union of Immunological Societies subcommittee on allergen nomenclature.

Adjunct Professor Yvonne Cadet-James

With an extensive background in health spanning some 40 years, Adjunct Professor Yvonne Cadet-James is a Gugu Badhun woman from North Queensland.

While she started as a nurse at just 16, Prof Cadet-James’ research began much later when she was asked to participate in a research project.

While working in numerous research fields including maternal, child and adolescent health; empowerment; alcohol and tobacco, Prof Cadet-James also works closely with communities to improve overall Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes.

She believes in the importance of building and strengthening research and researcher capacity and delivers research workshops aimed at empowering communities to understand and take charge of their own research agendas. During Prof Cadet-James’ academic career, she has seen vast improvements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and medical research. More Indigenous people are involved in academia and there are more schemes to encourage Indigenous people to pursue a research career.

There is also an increased focus on the translation of research into policy and practice to improve Indigenous health outcomes.

Prof Cadet-James is currently a member of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Chairperson of the NHMRC Principal Committee Indigenous Caucus Having been involved with NHMRC since 2001 as a member of various other committees and review panels, Prof Cadet-James is also involved in the development of national guidelines focusing on improving Indigenous health outcomes, including the Values and Ethics guidelines, Keeping Research on Track, Road Map and Road Map II.

As an Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Indigenous Education and Research at James Cook University, Prof Cadet-James provides leadership and mentorship to those working in the field of Indigenous education and research. She is passionate about supporting young Indigenous people to set goals and take advantage of opportunities to pursue their aspirations in life.

Associate Professor Ajay Rane

Urogynaecologist

As consultant urogynaecolosist at Mater Private Hospital Townsville, Director of Urogynaecology at Townsville University Hospital, and Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at James Cook University, A/Prof Rane is well-respected by his peers and patients alike across both private and public sectors.

A/Prof Rane has spent two decades not only treating patients in Townsville, but treating and operating on women with catastrophic childbirth injuries in some of the world’s poorest countries. In 2016, he received the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Award for Humanitarian Work in Women’s Health.

Ajay is the current Chair of the Fistula Committee for the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and is leading the charge for fistula education and prevention in the developing world. In May 2020, Ajay received an honorary fellowship from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for his work in advancing women’s health.

Associate Professor John Avramovic

General surgeon

A/Prof Avramovic has been in Townsville since 1994, pursuing his interest in hepatobiliary pancreatic and oesophago-gastric surgery in both the private and public hospitals.

John founded North Queensland Minimally Invasive Surgery (NQMIS) with Dr Sam Baker and this practice has been a pillar in the Townsville community of private general surgical access for patients. Dr Avramovic is an Associate Professor at JCU within the school of Medicine.

Dr Craig Costello

Neurologist

Dr Costello is an Australian trained Neurologist, with a specialist neurophysiology fellowship, where he acquired additional specialist skills in EEG; nerve conduction studies; electromyography and injectable therapy for neurological disorders. Dr Costello trained with specialists in South Australia to be able to change the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease in Townsville as the only North Queensland specialist trained in Deep Brain Stimulation, with six patients already undergoing the procedure now experiencing significant reductions in Parkinson’s symptoms.

Dr Scott Whiting

Bariatric surgeon

Townsville born and bred, Dr Whiting is an ex-Cowboys player who discovered a new passion for medicine, travelling to the United Kingdom where he trained in robotic- assisted surgery before returning to Townsville working across both private and public hospitals as one of North Queensland’s most reputable bariatric surgeons.

Dr Eric Guazzo

Neuro surgeon

Dr Guazzo is an expert in performing comprehensive adult and paediatric neurosurgical and spinal surgery across North Queensland. Dr Guazzo also specialises in pituitary and brain tumours as well as spinal surgeries. He ensures that each person receives the information required to make fully informed decisions regarding their care and promotes the best possible outcome from pre-procedure through to discharge and recovery.

Dr Soniah ‘Bigie’ Moloi

Cardiologist

Dr Moloi is a consultant cardiologist at Mater Private Hospital Townsville, Director of Cardiology at Townsville University Hospital, and Senior Lecturer at James Cook University. Dr Moloi worked as a junior medical officer at hospitals across New South Wales including Gosford, Wollongong and St Vincent, before moving to Townsville in 2017.

Dr Moloi is a Fellow of the Australasian College of Physicians and Fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, with specialties in multimodality imaging and complex echocardiography. Dr Moloi manages a wide range of cardiac diseases including valvular heart disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathies, simple and complex coronary artery disease, difficult to treat hypertension and all forms of arrhythmias. His research interest includes valvular disease, cardiomyopathies and cardio-oncology.

Dr William Frischman

Paediatric specialist

Dr Frischman specialises in paediatric surgery and has been operating in Townsville since the 1980s. Dr Frischman looks at not only the physical health of his patients but behavioural and mental health also. Dr Frischman is loved by his young patients thanks to his calm and kind demeanour and wardrobe of colourful shirts. Dr Frischman will retire later this year and will be greatly missed by his staff and patients alike.

Dr Janani Krishnan

Paediatric surgeon

Dr Janani Krishnan is a specialist Paediatric Surgeon and Paediatric Urologist consulting from Townsville Paediatrics and operating at Mater Private Hospital.

Dr Krishnan is an Australian qualified Paediatric Surgeon. She has completed extensive training in paediatric surgery and paediatric urology internationally and at high volume centres.

Her areas of interest and expertise are paediatric neonatal and general surgery apart from specialty focused training in paediatric urology. Her practice philosophy is centered around delivering a high quality of care to her patients and their families with dedication and compassion.

Dr Krishnan completed her specialist paediatric surgical training from a high volume children’s hospital in Mumbai, India. On completion of training, she was awarded the Gold Medal in Paediatric Surgery by the Vice President of India. Dr Krishnan and her family moved to Australia and spent five years in children’s hospitals across Sydney and Melbourne prior to obtaining the Fellowship of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.