Meet one of our newer members, Sarah Zekaria.

"I am a pharmacist with a background of working within public hospitals in various clinical areas. I am a teaching associate with a university, and a subject matter expert for Australia’s Pharmacy Council in supporting exam development.

With a passion for education (and more specifically, mentorship’s and interprofessional collaboration and education), ANZAHPE has been a wonderful organisation to have been introduced to while I complete postgrad studies in Health Professional Education.

It has been great to network with other like-minded health professionals, take advantage of professional development opportunities that arise and join action groups like the mentoring HTAG! ANZAHPE for me, is a safe space to learn from others who are invested in health education, and I am excited for what is to come in 2023."

As the festive season draws near, we would like to let you know that the ANZAHPE office will be on leave between Friday 23rd of December and Monday 9th January. All emails to ANZAHPEoffice@flinders.edu.au will be responded to from the week commencing the 9th. Have a wonderful break and we will see in 2023.

Congratulations to Professor Phillippa Poole on her revalidation as an ANZAHPE Fellow. Here more from Professor Poole below:

"It is an honour to have been a member of ANZAHPE for nearly 20 years and be recognised as a Fellow. The inclusive ANZAHPE network allows us to share ‘best’ practices and encourage each other on our education, research and leadership journeys, as well as providing credibility to our work. This is more important than ever as we together face the challenges of incorporating new ways to prepare the health workforce within resource-stretched universities and health systems.

On a personal note, I have greatly appreciated the learning and mentoring from the experts in ANZAPHE, and try to play this forward in a small way in my institution and with more junior members of the society.  All the best for 2023, and hopes we may see each other at the ANZHAPE meeting in June."  

Meet one of our newer members, Lynda Menzies.

"I completed my Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition & Dietetics) in 2011. I currently work across two roles: as a clinical Dietitian and as the acting Nutrition & Dietetics Clinical Educator in the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service. In my education role, I help coordinate student placements within our health service, develop training initiatives for students and staff, and deliver interdisciplinary education alongside my educator colleagues. I love the diversity that this role brings, and the privilege of training our future generation of dietitians.

I have recently completed my Master of Health Professions Education with Monash University, through which I discovered ANZAHPE. I chose to become a member after attending the 2021 festival - I found the community to be extremely supportive towards newer members and encourages their participation within the field. The festivals and online events have not only helped to further develop my knowledge and skills as an educator, but they have also allowed me to network with like-minded educators from across Australia and New Zealand. I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to the ANZAHPE community as my career progresses."

Welcome Lynda!

Meet one of our newer members, Dr Ellen Davies.

"At the beginning of 2022, I started working in a new role as a Senior Research Fellow with Adelaide Health Simulation at the University of Adelaide. In this role, I have the great privilege of working with clinicians, health education specialists, simulation technicians, admin staff and actors to design, deliver, evaluate and research simulation experiences for undergraduate and postgraduate health professions students.

I joined ANZAHPE when I started in this role, as I wanted to connect with health professions education experts and develop my own skills and expertise in a network of supportive peers. I have been so pleasantly surprised by the welcome I have received from this community. I am grateful for the support I continue to receive from people in this group via in-person gatherings, online interactions, and conversations with members of ANZAHPE.

I have recently joined the Local Conference Organising Team and was keen to join the LCT to contribute to the experience of delegates of the 2024 ANZAHPE conference, which will be hosted in Adelaide. The conference provides a great opportunity to hear about the challenges, solutions and innovations in health professions education and an equally excellent opportunity to meet with interstate, and international colleagues.

I look forward to continuing my engagement with people here, and to working towards better outcomes for our health professions students."

Welcome Ellie!

Congratulations to Professor Anna Chur-Hansen on her revalidation as an ANZAHPE Fellow. Here more from Professor Chur-Hansen below:

"I owe an enormous debt to ANZAME/ANZAHPE. I have been supported over many years by some senior members of the association, including (but not only): Professor David Prideaux, Professor Raja Bandaranayake, Professor Rufus Clarke, and Professor Kitchu Nair. They have all helped me since I was a young woman, supporting me in gaining promotion to full Professor in 2009. I know that I can call on ANZAHPE members, new and established, and they will help me – I am extremely grateful for this. I have made many firm friends through my membership with ANZAHPE; I cannot name them all here – but Jill Romeo is one person I would like to specifically thank, as she has provided me with invaluable advice and practical guidance.

I intend to be an active member and to help the existing generation of health professional educators, and the generation that is coming next, in any ways that I possibly can - to pay back what I have received myself, in some small way. And so that is why I renewed my Fellowship with ANZAHPE."

Anna joined the Local Organising Committee for the Adelaide ANZAHPE Conference in 2024 because she really enjoys working with students across all of the health disciplines.  Thus, she is the student volunteer co-ordinator, and you will be sure to see representatives across a range of health professions, wearing their volunteer t-shirt and helping with delegates and presenters, as well as learning themselves about all that ANZAHPE has to offer.

Congratulations to Professor Linda Sweet on her revalidation as an ANZAHPE Fellow. Here more from Professor Sweet below:

"As one of the inaugural applicants for the ANZAPHE fellowship, I decided to re-validate my fellowship as I value the contribution ANZAHPE makes to the health professions and the recognition and support I get as a fellow of ANZAHPE.

I enjoy contributing to the association as a fellow through mentoring and reviewing fellowship applications. The association is a vibrant multidisciplinary group of educators passionate about improving our future healthcare workforce in the best ways possible. It is a collegial and sharing group of healthcare professionals.

I love that both clinical and academic educators come together from a range of professions, sharing wisdom, passion, and innovations. I am very proud to say I am a member and fellow of ANZAHPE!" - Professor Linda Sweet

Congratulations to Dr Adrian Schoo on his revalidation as an ANZAHPE Fellow.

"Due to my interest and work in undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing health education, in teaching as well as research, I joined ANZAHPE to become part of a multidisciplinary educational network. In becoming part of ANZAHPE I experienced a very positive and supportive culture that did not discriminate but encouraged members to further develop and grow by learning from and providing support to colleague members regardless of their discipline. The conferences always provide an excellent opportunity to present your work and also to learn from others.

It was a great privilege to become a Fellow of ANZAHPE in 2016 and to have my fellowship revalidated this year. With ANZAHPE being the peak body for Health Professional Educators in Australia and New Zealand, the awarded fellowship validates work undertaken so far. As a fellow it gives me great pleasure to engage in collaborative research, being a mentor to those who aspire fellowship and to support the association in various other ways." - Dr Adrian Schoo

President's Report: September 2022 - Jo Bishop, ANZAHPE President

This year’s ANZAHPE Festival was held online with the overarching theme of “Partnerships”.

Following the inaugural 100% virtual event of ANZAHPE 2021, the 2022 Festival committee were committed to building on its success and delivering an improved festival over a series of days in July.

Furthermore, 2022 marked the 50th Anniversary for ANZAHPE, a milestone and reason to provide additional elements into the program to help celebrate.

I would like to thank again the festival (scientific) committee in all their work to ensure a successful event, from abstract review to program allocation.

Whilst COVID 19 had reached its peak in 2021, the impact of the pandemic was still present in 2022. The new year bought an introduction of different strains of the virus further impacting on the health and education system, already under pressure. Delivering another virtual event in 2022 seemed to be the right path to ensure safety of the delegates and confidence in moving forward in the planning process.

The festival aimed to improve on the 2021 delivery with additional themes, additional streams and improving the flow and user experience by increasing the number of presentations grouped together. We also incorporated six Networking Hubs in the Festival program, as an opportunity for colleagues to network with their local peers. This element of the program centred around the opening plenary session allowing delegates and guests to interact and see each other face to face, participating in the official program and formalities whilst celebrating the 50th anniversary of ANZAHPE.

The festival sessions recognised the ongoing partnerships between members and key stakeholders as well as the new partnerships that have been formed. This is a reflection of ANZAHPE’s activities over the last twelve months, as the association continues to grow and support the needs of our most important constituents, you, the members.

The “success” of the festival must be measured against a range of factors, such as positive outcomes for participants, the successful delivery of presentations at the live event and the number of delegates who attended.

We had 372 delegates attend, with the majority of delegates responding to the online survey were satisfied with the Conference. 93.62% considered the relevance of Conference presentations and topics to be ‘good to very good’ and 91.30% rating the quality of streamed events as ‘good to very good’. The festival program included three invited plenary presenters, a Panel session and up to 5 concurrent sessions covering the themes of IPL, Ed Tech, Professionalism Culture and Welfare, Assessment, Curriculum, Faculty Development, Symposia, PeArLS and Workshops. A 6th Stream was introduced to include Poster Discussion Groups. ANZAHPE PeArLS remain popular with attendee comments such as “really valued the PeArLs this year - great topics which allowed robust discussion”.

Again, many delegates requested we return to face to face, and it is my pleasure to confirm that the 2023 ANZAHPE conference will take place on the Gold Coast between June 26^th – June 29^th. We have had a strong interest from members to join the local organising committee. You can visit our conference page here. More information will be released soon.

We would like to thank Professor Trevor Gibbs for all of his support to ANZAHPE whilst in his role, including participation in the ANZAHPE-AMEE symposium during the festival.

Dr Subha Ramani (AMEE), Dr Bonny Dickinson (IAMSE) and Jo Bishop (ANZAHPE)

Congratulations to Associate Professor Christina Johnson of The University of Melbourne, one of the ANZAHPE early career prize winners (Supported by Richard Hays), for her Project titled: Guiding educators in learner-centred feedback: designing, testing and refining; the feedback quality instrument

"I was fortunate to be awarded a 2022 ANZAHPE prize for my PhD research on developing the Feedback Quality Instrument (FQI), conducted at the University of Melbourne. The FQI describes practical ways for educators to support learners to improve through clinical feedback conversations. The prize brings multiple benefits including recognition of quality research, opportunity to present at the conference with complimentary registration, plus $500. I am very grateful to the Society for such a generous award. I highly recommend others apply!

Hence, I presented at the ANZAHPE conference, which enabled me to showcase our research and discuss it with others. There is rich health professions education community across Australia and New Zealand, and the conference provides wonderful opportunities to hear about so many interesting research projects. I hope winning the prize will open up future opportunities for collaborations, and maybe even increase our chances of future research funding!"