Speakers

Michael is the Medical Director of Hospital in the Home at Epworth Health, a large not-for-profit private hospital group in Melbourne. He has been involved in Hospital in the Home for 30 years in senior clinical roles, and has written extensively on HAH research, policy and development. He has consulted internationally to HIH groups and governments.

He is a Co-Convenor of the World Hospital At Home Congress and a Director of Mobile Radiology Australia. Michael is Home Hospital International Fellow at Ariadne Labs, a joint centre for health systems innovation of the T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

A/Prof Penelope Bryant is a paediatric infectious disease physician and general paediatrician who is Medical Lead of the Hospital-in-the-Home program at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, and the paediatric lead of the HITH Society. After completing her PhD at the University of Melbourne, she became group leader of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Clinical Infections group. She has overseen the clinical expansion of the RCH HITH service and directs its research. A previous recipient of the HITH Society’s Dr Nicholas Collins Fellowship, she has recently convened the Paediatric HITH Improvement and Research Network which includes 17 paediatric HITHs around Australia and New Zealand.

Sandra Lowe is a Consultant Obstetric Physician at the Royal Hospital for Women and Prince of Wales Private Hospital and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of NSW.
A/Prof Lowe speaks regularly at National and International conferences of Obstetric Medicine and she has a long-standing interest in teaching obstetric medicine. She is the lead author of three SOMANZ National Guidelines on the Management of Hypertension in Pregnancy (2014), Management of Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy and Hyperemesis Gravidarum (2019) and has been a content expert for the NSW NVP/HG Project. A/Prof Lowe is the Emeritus Chief Editor of the international journal “Obstetric Medicine” and the Immediate Past-President of the International Society of Obstetric Medicine. She was also the inaugural Section Editor for Medical Disorders of Pregnancy for the Global Library of Women’s Medicine online textbook (2018-2021).

In 2017 A/Prof Lowe was awarded an AM as a Member of the Order of Australia for her contributions to obstetric medicine and in 2018, she was privileged to be appointed an Honorary Fellow of RANZCOG.

Aaron completed his Bachelor of Nursing in 2008 with Charles Sturt University. Since then he has worked primarily within the Community Nursing, Ambulatory Care and Hospital in the Home spaces since 2009. He has a keen interest in Education and completed a Certificate IV in training and assessment in 2018. He has also undertaken additional training for vascular access.

Currently Aaron works as the Hospital in the Home Clinical Nurse specialist at the Orange Health Service and holds a strong interest in the ongoing expansion and development of out of Hospital based care.

Amie is the SCHN virtualKIDS NUM, her focused journey in paediatric nursing has been caring and partnering with children and their families to provide care at home, closer to home and empowering families through education. Amie’s career spans UK – Australia, the Emergency Department, Ambulatory Services|HITH and virtual care, she feels very passionate about the patient journey and improving health equity.

Dr Annie Balcomb is currently a GP VMO at Orange Hospital. She has worked for over 30 years as a General Practitioner in rural and regional locations in Victoria and NSW. Special interest areas over this time have included Women’s health, Sexual health and Hepatitis B and C.

Over the last 11 years Annie has worked at Orange Hospital assisting in establishing a HITH unit. She is the current Medical HOD. Annie is passionate about enhancing the HITH model of care in rural and regional western NSW. She has watched the Orange unit develop in many ways including increasing the scope and management practice for many conditions.

Dr. Dev is the medical lead of virtualKIDS and has been instrumental in setting up a statewide service providing virtual care to children with acute illnesses. He is a paediatric pulmonologist and sleep medicine physician at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead by training. He is part of two current NHMRC trials exploring the use of virtual care in children with respiratory diseases. He has received multiple competitive grants as the primary investigator. He has also received numerous awards for teaching and has been a finalist for the prestigious Ann Woolcock Research Award. As a member of the Clinical Academic Group for virtual care, Dr Dev is a keen advocate in the implementation and growth of virtual care particularly in paediatrics, virtual ward/hospital, single front door and remote patient monitoring.

Dr Karyn Cuthbert B Med FACEM is the Canberra Hospital HITH Service Director and has a passion for “all things HITH” in which she has worked for 15 years. She has been involved in 2 HITH improvement and expansion projects, chaired the HITH Society ASM in 2021 and is an executive member of the HITH Society.

I am a dual-trained geriatrician and general physician, and am the medical head of unit for the RMH@Home Acute (Hospital In The Home) program at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria. The service is a 70-bed service that delivers acute inpatient bed substitution care for adult patients in their own homes, and care delivery is supported by a team of nursing staff, nurse coordinators, doctors, occupational therapist, social worker, physiotherapists and pharmacists.

I am passionate about optimising healthcare delivery to patients, and enjoy working with multi-disciplinary teams to engage patients and their carers to deliver person-centred care that meets their needs in a holistic manner. As a PhD Candidate with the University of Melbourne, I am investigating the current and future role of Hospital In The Home as a novel model of healthcare delivery.

Jason Wallis is a Research Fellow with the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. Jason is an expert academic and clinical physiotherapist at Cabrini Hospital. Jason’s research is focused on improving health outcomes by implementing high value care and improving uptake of effective and efficient models of healthcare service delivery.

Rachelle Foxton is the Allied Health Manager for HITH with a focus on driving innovation, fostering collaboration and embracing change in the Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD). Experience in both the United Kingdom and Australia, public and private domains has enabled a strong focus in orthopaedics (trauma and elective) as an Occupational Therapist and allied health leader. As the HITH Allied Health Manager, I have led the collaboration between HITH and Royal North Shore Hospital with the Same Day Joint Arthroplasty program. This was presented to the NSW HITH Forum in August 2023, co-presenter on behalf of ACI for ‘Selecting the right patient’ in June 2023 and published in Agency for Clinical Innovations (ACI) Joint Pathways Framework and LHD case studies.

Rebecca has worked in both in the Acute Care, Public Health and Community setting, as a clinician, leadership, and significant health project roles.  Rebecca manages multiple Health Roundtable Programs including HITH, Emergency, Nursing, Maternity and Paediatrics.

Rebecca Evans is a HITH (Hospital in the Home) Nurse Practitioner at Lachlan Health Service, where she plays a key role in delivering innovative, patient-centred care. After completing her Master’s degree in 2019 and successful Endorsement as a Nurse Practitioner in March 2020, Rebecca has focused on improving community health by advocating for hospital avoidance strategies with the RACFs and Community Disability Services. She is dedicated to empowering patients with options that allow them to receive care in their preferred setting, enhancing both comfort and outcomes. Rebecca’s expertise in advanced practice nursing and her commitment to personalised healthcare solutions make her a highly respected leader in her field.

Sophie is a Dietitian (MDiet, ADP) at Monash Health, currently employed in the Hospital In the Home service and Nutrition & Dietetics Department. She is a strong advocate for allied health in HITH services, currently assisting with developing Models of Care. Awarded a research scholarship with Monash University in 2019, lead Sophie to publication, experience in research design and a passion to further her involvement in quality improvement and research. Sophie’s clinical work is focused on improving nutritional outcomes of HITH patients across multiple specialties including post-surgical, general medical, gastroenterology, oncology and endocrinology.