Speakers

Angela is a PhD candidate at USQ and has received two scholarships supporting her research. She has been an active member of the HITH Society since 2012. Recently, Angela became an executive board member. Although recently retired Angela remains passionate about a HITH career pathway supported by an education ladder.

Anthony Dombkins until appointed the ACT Health Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer in January 2021 was the Director Nursing and Midwifery, Northern Sydney Local Health District.  Anthony Dombkins graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1987 and holds postgraduate clinical certificates in Renal and Transplantation Nursing and Intensive Care Nursing, as well as a Masters, Health Management (UNE).  Anthony Dombkins has held a variety of senior health management positions within the public and private health sectors across NSW.   In June 2014, Anthony Dombkins was appointed an Adjunct Professor – Nursing with the University of Sydney and the Australian Catholic University.  Anthony Dombkins was a member of the Clinical Excellence Commission Advisory Board and a Board Director for Stewart House.

Dr Arnagretta Hunter BA(Hons) MBBS MPH FRACP is a Physician and Cardiologist with a focus on preventative care, she is a senior lecturer at ANU Medical School and the Human Futures Fellow for the ANU College of Health and Medicine. She is Chair of the Commission for the Human Future and a member of the ANU Institute for Climate, Disaster Science and Energy Change. As a physician she is fascinated by the impact of how and where we live on our health and wellbeing.  She cohosts the public policy podcast Policy Forum Pod at ANU and she writes on health policy, public policy and particularly on the impact of the environment on our health. 

Ben is an Emergency Clinical Nurse Specialist & experienced health system program manager previously leading whole of system improvement projects. Ben is now responsible for multiple HRT Programs and related online analytical tool development including HITH but also Sub Acute, Finance & Costing and Emergency.

Dr David Routledge is a UK Trained Clinical Haematologist, who is currently a Consultant at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and The Royal Melbourne Hospital, as well as the University Hospital Geelong. His specialist interests include myeloma and bone marrow transplantation, especially incorporating home based cancer therapy. David also has an avid interest in drug development, completing a degree in Pharmacology and leading clinical trials, as well as publishing in journals and presenting in his field.

Dr Jacqueline Small (MBBS MPH(hons) GAICD FRACP) qualified as a paediatrician in 1997. For nearly 25 years she has worked in multidisciplinary disability health teams that provides care across the lifespan for people with developmental disabilities. Her role has involved provision of consultant developmental paediatric services for children and adolescents with intellectual disability, young people with severe and complex conditions associated with their disability and transition to adult health services. She is Team Leader Disability Specialist Unit and Clinical Lead Specialised Team for Intellectual Disability Sydney, both in SLHD.

Jacqueline is currently President Elect, RACP, and Chair College Policy and Advocacy Committee and will assume the Presidency in May 2022. She was President, Australian Association Developmental Disability Medicine from 2015 to 2020. Jacqueline has appeared as an expert witness at the Disability Royal Commission and, by invitation, is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Roadmap for Improving the Health of People with Intellectual Disability.

In her current role, Jacqueline is very pleased to partner with Dr Anne Marie Crosier, Head SLHD HITH, to understand the experience of HITH services in relation to patients with intellectual disability.

Dr Joanna Lawrence is a paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.  She works clinically in Hospital in the Home, General Medicine and the Complex Asthma Service. Alongside this she works with the Electronic Medical Record team and as the Virtual Health Medical Lead.  She is passionate about sustainable health care, keeping children in their own homes when possible and reducing waste.

Leanne Ovington is the Director of Nursing and Midwifery for Moruya and Batemans Bay Hospitals, Eurobodalla Health Service on the South Coast of NSW, leading the Eurobodalla nursing and midwifery team to provide high level nursing care.  She has enhanced the role of HITH in the Eurobodalla by expanding the professional role of the nurse, developing a nurse-led PICC insertion model and increased the capacity of the HITH program by converting inpatient beds to virtual beds.  Leanne is committed to developing the role of the nurse, leading nursing staff to be the best they can be.

Melissa Todd is Nurse Unit Manager at Hospital in the Home and Residential In Reach services, The Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Melissa has worked in this role for 10 years and has seen incredible change and growth in the HITH space.
Key areas of growth have been the haematology cohort and the provision of care to aged care.

Professor Michael Kidd AM is Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Principal Medical Advisor with the Australian Government Department of Health, and the foundation Professor of Primary Care Reform at The Australian National University. He is past President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, past President of the World Organization of Family Doctors, and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University. Before returning to Australia at the start of the pandemic, he was Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Primary Care and Family Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.

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 25 years in senior clinical roles, and has written extensively on HAH research and development.

He is a Co-Convenor of the World Hospital At Home Congress.

Rebecca is the clinical lead, CNS 2, in the Eurobodalla HITH service on the far the south Coast of NSW. With a wide variety of experience in adult and paediatric HITH since 2004. Prior to her sea change she worked as CNS in Emergency Care at RNSH, and Sydney Adventist Hospital.  She has a Keen interest in CVAD care and has been inserting PICC lines since 2013. She is currently studying to be a Nurse Practitioner in HITH. 

Professor Russell Gruen is the Dean of the ANU College of Health and Medicine. He was formerly a trauma surgeon at The Alfred in Melbourne, Professor of Surgery and Public Health at Monash University, and Director of the National Trauma Research Institute. From 2015-2018 he was Vice-Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, and Director of the Institute for Health Technologies, at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in partnership with Imperial College London. Russell has a PhD in Indigenous health research, and post-doctorate qualifications in health policy, medical ethics and business management from Harvard, and is recognised globally for his work on medical professionalism and health systems. He has held some of Australia’s top clinician scientist awards, including the NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship, the RACS John Mitchell Crouch Fellowship, and the General Surgeons Australia Medal. He is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, the Academy of Medicine of Singapore, and the International Surgical Society, in which he is President of the Alliance for Surgery and Anaesthesia Presence, its global surgery arm.