Congratulations to Dr David Lim on his ANZAHPE Fellowship.

David is the current program conveyer (Director of Academic Program) for postgraduate public health and health science (aged care and health service management, occupational health, digital health) degrees at Western Sydney University. He will be shortly joining the University Technology of Sydney Centre for Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation in July 2023 as an Associate Professor in Implementation Science.

"I have specifically sought to seek fellowship with ANZAPHE for endorsement of my scholarly and scholarship of practice in health professional education because of the alignment of the ANZAPHE Gold Coast Declaration (2014) stance on university health professional education with my personal commitment and underlying theme of my scholarship in transformative change and social justice. As someone who is Culturally and Linguistically Diverse, self-identified as gay and has caregiving responsibility, I have a keen interest in equity and inclusion. Further to my ANZAPHE fellowship, I plan to use this opportunity to increase ANZAPHE’s visibility to non-traditional health professionals and contribute to ANZAPHE Diversity, Equity and Inclusion sub-committee."

Meet FoHPE's newest Associate Editor, Dr Kwang Cham.

Kwang is a teaching-focused academic within the Melbourne School of Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. As the School Director of Education Research, Kwang's role is to support teaching-focused academics in research and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Trained as an optometrist, Kwang delivers substantial coordination and teaching duties across all 4 years of the Doctor of Optometry Program within the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences.

"The ANZAHPE conference was where it all began in 2013. I was inspired by the people that presented and influenced by others that I interacted with. It was always a welcoming atmosphere and I felt that I have found my tribe! Through the support and mentoring at ANZAHPE over the last few years, I have transformed into a health profession educator (though the imposter syndrome still kicks in at times). I have been a member of ANZAHPE since 2019 and became an Associate Fellow that same year.

This year, I am humbled and grateful to be given the opportunity to serve as an Associate Editor in FoHPE, a journal that aligns with my vision. I am glad to support the ecosystem that I thrive in, and looking at the people that I am surrounded with, it is going to be an exciting chapter of my life!"

To celebrate ANZAHPE’s 50th anniversary, a series of articles are being published this year in Focus on Health Professional Education (FoHPE). The articles address ANZAHPE’s core values, looking back over the past 50 years and ahead to the next 50 years of health professional education in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and globally.

The first 50th anniversary article has just been published in FoHPE’s March 2023 issue, 24.1. Titled The Future Role of Healthcare Mentors and Coaches in Navigating Workplace Culture, the article represents Core Value 6, ANZAHPE is a nurturing organisation. The article was a cross-Tasman collaboration between Romany Martin, Jodie Coley, Ruth Dunwoodie, Roma Forbes, Laura Joyce, Allison Mandrusiak, Christie Noble, Anne Pearson, Jan Radford, Tim Wilkinson and Dale Sheehan.

The selection of 50th anniversary articles has been through expression of interest or nomination by the ANZAHPE Committee of Management. Each article is written by key contributors to ANZAHPE and their colleagues, and addresses one of ANZAHPE’s core values, outlined below. Series editor is David Prideaux, in collaboration with Tim Wilkinson, Andy Wearn and Karen Scott.

Core Value 1 ANZAHPE is a multi-professional organisation

Paper: Inter-professional education for the next 50 years

Core Value 2 ANZAHPE has always maintained a flat structure

Paper: Health professional education for inclusive health services in the next 50 years

Core Value 3 ANZAHPE is built upon critical reflection on its past and purposeful debate about its future

Paper: Health Professional education for culturally safe practice in the next 50 years

Core Value 4 ANZAHPE has maintained a commitment to innovation in learning, teaching, assessment and scholarship in health professional education

Paper: Learning, teaching and assessment in health professional education and scholarship in the next 50 years.

Core Value 5 ANZAHPE is a collaborative organisation

Paper: Health professional education for a globally interdependent world in the next 50 years

Core Value 6 ANZAHPE is a nurturing organisation

Paper: Mentoring, support and workplace learning for health professionals, educators and researchers in the next 50 years.

The remaining articles from ANZAHPE’s 50th anniversary collection will be featured in upcoming issues of FoHPE.

Meet our member, Dr Matthew Arnold.

Dr Matthew Arnold is a lecturer within the Adelaide Medical School at the University of Adelaide. Matt has multiple roles within the school, coordinating the first-year courses of the new Bachelor of Medical Studies/Doctor of Medicine program, leading the development of the Scenario-Based Learning (SBL) curriculum, and coordinating a Year 6 elective rotation in Medical Education. Matt is a graduate of Adelaide Medical School, and after working clinically as a doctor upon graduating, he transitioned into a full-time academic role to follow a passion for medical education. 

Matt has completed a graduate certificate in clinical education from Flinders University, and is currently undertaking a masters by coursework there. It was through this study that Matt first became aware of ANZAHPE and attended his first 'in-person' ANZAHPE conference in 2023:

"The ANZAHPE community has been extremely welcoming, and it has been so valuable to meet and learn from other passionate educators from various different backgrounds. The 2023 conference was a genuine highlight of the year, and provided such a fantastic opportunity to meet like minded colleagues and develop new friendships. I sought to join the LCT to seek to contribute positively to the continued success of ANZAHPE, and look forward to welcoming everyone to Adelaide in 2024."

Meet our ANZAHPE member and FoHPE contributor, Romany Martin.

Romany Martin is a physiotherapist who works as a Lecturer at The University of Tasmania. Prior to this, Romany worked in acute hospital settings across Southeast Queensland. In 2022, Romany earnt a PhD in teaching and learning from The University of Queensland, titled ‘Preparing and supporting new-graduate physiotherapists for rural practice’.

"My research focuses on preparing students and new graduates for the reality of practice in physiotherapy and more broadly across allied health. Recently, I have published an article about the use of simulation for the development of rural empathy, and about the mentorship of new graduates across multiple practice settings. 

Being a member of ANZAHPE has been hugely beneficial for the progress of my career as a teaching focused academic. Having a central community to be a part of has provided me with great networking, easy access, and navigation of new innovations in teaching and learning, and also research opportunities. Just this year, a group of ANZAHPE colleagues and I wrote a reflection piece for the 50th anniversary of the ANZAHPE’s journal, titled ‘Focus on Health Professional Education’. We wrote a paper about the future role of healthcare mentors and coaches in navigating workplace culture. It was a great experience.

Many of my colleagues are also members of ANZAHPE and it has been a fantastic way to stay connected to them, since moving Universities after I finished my PhD.

Being a part of ANZAHPE feels as though I am contributing to and benefiting from the community of practice that is health professional education in Australia and New-Zealand."

Congratulations to Dr Shane Pritchard on his ANZAHPE Associate Fellowship.

Dr Shane Pritchard is a physiotherapist, educator, and researcher based in Melbourne, Australia.  He is currently Adjunct Lecturer (Physiotherapy) and faculty member of the Master of Health Professions Education degree at Monash University.  In 2020 he completed his PhD that investigated innovative simulation-based education approaches for physiotherapy students.  He has published several health professions educational research papers, and remains involved in projects related to working with simulated participants, peer simulation (including with culturally and linguistically diverse students, and comparing online and face to face approaches), planetary health, and private practice clinical education.  He was awarded an ANZAHPE grant in 2021.  Separate to his health professional education and research interests, Shane works clinically as an occupational health physiotherapist, primarily working with clients experiencing complex persistent pain and work-related injuries. 

"ANZAHPE has been foundational to my academic and health professions education career.  My first conference was in 2012 as an undergraduate student interested in education.  Since then I've enjoyed many conferences, met many like-minded passionate educators, formed relationships that now extend beyond ANZAHPE, and have learned so much from the various activities and people that comprise ANZAHPE.  I enjoy being a manuscript reviewer for FoHPE and contributing to the important health professions education work that is required and happening locally.  As such, applying for Associate Fellowship with ANZAHPE to continue to contribute to the work of the Association seemed like a great opportunity."

Meet our Member: Kylie Fitzgerald, Associate Fellow ANZAHPE

Kylie has worked as a Health Professions Educator since 2002. She is a registered osteopath who has worked as a full time academic, lecturer, Course Leader and researcher, and in part time private practice, at Victoria University from 2005-2019. She then moved to specialist medical education, leading the Training and Education program  for trainees at the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP) from 2019-2021. Her role included leading education focused innovations and research projects in selection, failure to fail and e-learning approaches that continue to this day. She also worked as a clinical supervisor in RMIT University’s osteopathy program during this time – supporting clinical learning during the extended Melbourne lockdowns was a learning experience in itself!

She currently works as a Senior Lecturer in Medical Education at the University of Melbourne’s Medical School. She leads the Course Advice program and MD1 faculty engagement and development in the Doctor of Medicine program.

“I became aware of ANZAHPE mid-career when a new colleague recommended that I attend the Adelaide 2017 conference. I still remember the wonder of incredible presentations using ground-breaking approaches and meeting likeminded people and thinking “I’m home. This is my tribe”. So many rich conversations, relationships and collaborations have sprung from my association with ANZAHPE including my current dream role at UoM – from the ANZAHPE jobs board! Being accepted as an ANZAHPE Associate Fellow in 2019 opened additional doors to reviewing and leadership. I recommend all HCP interested in teaching to join up and find out if we are their tribe too! Hope to see you at the Gold Coast!”

Congratulations to Dr Kajal Patel on being awarded Associate Fellowship with ANZAHPE.

Kajal is a Melbourne based medical practitioner and is currently employed as a research fellow at the Skin Health Institute, where she is involved in curriculum development and providing education to healthcare professionals in the area of dermatology. She graduated from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom in 2015 and undertook further study in the Masters in Medical Education at the University of Dundee, where she was awarded a distinction. Her dissertation focused on the integration of International Medical Graduates in Australia, and was selected as a finalist for the Best Research Paper Award at the ASME 2022 conference. In her previous role as a clinical medical education registrar in Tasmania she was a strong advocate for junior doctors, particularly International Medical Graduates, presenting her findings at multiple ANZAHPE events.

I applied for the AFANZAHPE to engage with like minded individuals, build stronger connections with ANZAHPE members in the hopes of collaborating on medical education research. I feel privileged to be a part of the ANZAHPE family, excited to grow professionally and give back the medical education community.

We are excited to announce our first Keynote Speaker for the 2023 ANZAHPE Conference, Dr Subha Ramani, MBBS, MPH, MMEd (Dundee), PhD (Maastricht), FAMEE

Subha is the current president of AMEE, An International Association for Health Professions Education.

Subha Ramani is a general internist, who graduated from Stanley Medical College, University of Madras with MBBS in 1986 and completed Internal Medicine residencies at the Postgraduate Institute for Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India as well as James H. Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA. She went on to do a Fellowship in General Internal Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, completing a Masters in Public Health at the Boston University School of Public Health in 1998. In 2005, she graduated with a Masters in Medical Education from the University of Dundee in Scotland and successfully defended her PhD at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

She is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA; Adjunct Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Professions Education; Honorary Professor of Medical Education at the University of Manchester, UK; and External faculty at School of Health Professions Education (SHE), Maastricht University. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), she has the following leadership roles: Director of evaluation for Internal Medicine residency programme; Director for the Scholars in Medical Education residency pathway; Director of the Program for research, innovation and scholarship in medical education (PRISE) for the Department of Medicine; Assistant Director for global perspectives and community for the Brigham Education Institute. Dr. Ramani is a senior core faculty at the Harvard Macy Institute. She served as the Ronald Harden Visiting Professor at International Medical University

Dr. Ramani has been a longstanding member of AMEE, completing two terms of three years each on the Executive board, chaired the Fellowship Committee for 4 years and served on the AMEE Postgraduate Education committee for 3 years.

Meet one of our newest members, Eleanora Leopardi.

Nora is an Italy-trained physician, who moved to Australia in 2015 to pursue a PhD in Medical Education. As a Lecturer at the University of Newcastle, Nora teaches in the Joint Medical Program, working primarily on Darkinjung land in the Central Coast Clinical School.

"I am a researcher in Medical and Health Professions Education, with a keen interest in sociological exploration of physical and digital learning environments. My research interests include new technologies, game-based learning, planetary health, equity/accessibility/inclusion/diversity, and student empowerment.

I joined ANZAHPE to feel more connected to educators and researchers near and far who share my passion for learning and education. I look forward to connecting with other ANZAHPE members, and taking advantage of the professional development opportunities that ANZAHPE offers."