Invited Speakers
Kent Olson
Kent R. Olson, MD is the Medical Director of the San Francisco Division of the California Poison Control System. He completed a bachelor's degree in Chemistry at Boston University and his medical degree at UC San Francisco. He practiced emergency medicine for nearly 30 years (board-certified 1985-2015), and continues to practice medical toxicology at San Francisco General Hospital. He is the Editor of Poisoning & Drug Overdose (McGraw-Hill, 2011), now in its 6th edition. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles in the peer-reviewed medical literature. He has mentored more than 50 postgraduate toxicology fellows, 14 from countries outside the U.S. In 2010 he received the Matthew J. Ellenhorn award from the American College of Medical Toxicology. His research interests include the diagnosis and management of acute poisoning, and cost-effectiveness of poison control centres. He is also very committed to preclinical medical education and is on the core faculty of the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program at UC Berkeley, where he serves as the content expert in pharmacology, a master clinician for its clinical skills course, and a small-group tutor for its problem-based medical curriculum.
Stephen Duffull
Stephen Duffull is a pharmacist and professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of Otago. His research interests involve quantitative clinical pharmacology and involve the development of systems pharmacology models, analysis of clinical data arising from pharmacology, toxicology and toxinology studies, and the optimal design of clinical studies. His areas of research interest includes the therapeutic areas of coagulation and malaria, modelling of GPCR systems and development of statistical methodologies. He has more than 20 years research experience in the area of quantitative clinical pharmacology and has authored more than 200 peer reviewed publications. He setup and leads the Otago Pharmacometrics Group at the University of Otago which provides one of a handful of international sites that trains postgraduate students in the area of quantitative clinical pharmacology (pharmacometrics).
Khaldun Ismail
Dr. Khaldun is a Medical lecturer and Consultant Emergency Physician in Department of Emergency Medicine, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre. He is the President of Malaysian Society on Toxinology (MST) and Founding Consultant of Remote Envenomation Consultancy Services (RECS). He has special interest in Clinical Toxinology, Emergency Medicine, Prehospital Care and Special Events Medical Services (SEMS). He holds the authorship of a number of academic publications. He has a passion for teaching and has founded several educational programs for students, healthcare providers and the public. He enjoys travelling, nature, swimming and good times with friends and family.
Teresa Lebel
I admit it. I have a slightly skewed view of the world. On a walk in the bush, park or garden my focus is on a group of organisms that many people walk on, step over, kick, note fleetingly something colourful or try to eradicate. I am fortunate to be a Senior Mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, where I am able to pursue the wonderful but sometimes weird world of fungi. Born in Canada, my family played hopscotch between Quebec and Western Australia for the first 15 or so years of my life. This gave me a great appreciation of the differences in vegetation, wildlife, geology and seasons between the two countries, and led to my interest in ecological processes and interactions between different organisms. I was introduced to the Fungi during undergraduate studies and Honours (Zoology) at the University of Western Australia, but had to head overseas to Oregon State University to gain more specialised knowledge (PhD). While my primary research is on the taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of Australian macrofungi (particularly truffle-like fungi), the interactions between fungi, animals, humans, and plants are also of interest. I have described over 8 new genera and 90 species of macrofungi, developed identification tools and educational resources, and for the last 12 years have been on-call to the Poisons Information Centre of Victoria for fungal identifications. Current projects include analysing truffle-like fungal genomes, the invasive potential of introduced fungi, and investigating field mushroom species diversity and chemical profiling.
Jason McClure
Dr Jason McClure is the Deputy Director, Intensive Care, Head of General ICU and clinical lead for ICU Burns. Jason has a strong interest in analgesia and sedation, respiratory failure, ventilation, HFOV and ECMO. Current projects include development of a telemedicine model for ICU, review and update of sedation practice and burns analgesia. He is the course director for ALS and the HEaRT Course, and also teaches on other courses including ECMO, BASIC, Bronchoscopy, Nutrition & CRM. His other interests include simulation and the use of social media and modern technology in medicine.
Chris Nickson
Chris is an Intensivist at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. He completed his medical degree at the University of Auckland, and continued post-graduate training in New Zealand, as well as the Northern Territory, Perth and Melbourne in Australia. He is also an emergency physician and has completed further training in clinical toxicology, clinical epidemiology and health professional education. He coordinates The Alfred ICU education and simulation programme, convenes the 'Critically Ill Airway' course and teaches on many other Alfred ICU courses. He edits the Alfred ICU’s education website, INTENSIVE, and is co-creator of free open-access medical education (FOAM) projects such as Lifeinthefastlane.com, the RAGE podcast and the SMACC conference. On Twitter, he is @precordialthump.
Morris Odell
Morris Odell is Head of the Division of Clinical Forensic Medicine at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine and an adjunct Associate Professor of Forensic Medicine at Monash University, Melbourne. A/Prof Odell has practiced in the field of Clinical Forensic Medicine since 1991 and has worked full-time at the VIFM since 1996. He has extensive experience in all areas of Clinical Forensic Medicine including injury interpretation, adult physical and sexual assault, child abuse, drugs & alcohol and traffic medicine. He has presented expert forensic evidence in court on innumerable occasions. He has published articles and books on relevant topics in the field of Clinical Forensic Medicine and has presented many papers at conferences.
Dimitri Gerostamoulos
Head of Forensic Science & Chief Toxicologist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
Coronial Services Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos is currently is a Toxicologist and Pharmacologist and holds a Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Medicine) in the field of Forensic Toxicology and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) Degree, both from Monash University. He is an approved analyst under Section 57B of the Road Safety Act of Victoria and has published numerous scientific papers and chapters in books and is an active member of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT). View less.
He is also a member the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT), Society of Hair Testing (SOHT) and the Forensic and Clinical Toxicology Association of Australasia (FACTA Inc). Dr Gerostamoulos is also an approved assessor for the National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia (NATA) in Forensic Science.
Dr Gerostamoulos has given evidence in over 120 cases in Supreme court, County court, Committal proceedings at Magistrates Court and at Coronial Inquests in the field of forensic toxicology and pharmacology and have provided opinions on a number of other cases around Australia in relation to the pharmacology of drugs, effects of drugs in drivers, and analytical and toxicological issues in relation to drugs in hair, blood, urine and other matrices.
Wayne Hodgson
Deputy Dean (Education), Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences Head, Monash Venom Group, Monash University.
In his role of Deputy Dean (Education) Professor Hodgson is responsible for overseeing the Education Portfolio of the Faculty, which includes undergraduate and postgraduate coursework award courses delivered at Monash campuses in Australia, Malaysia and South Africa. Professor Hodgson is a past winner of the Faculty's Jubilee Teaching Prize and continues to teach pharmacology to undergraduate students.
As Head of the Monash Venom Group, Wayne leads a research team which is internationally renowned for pharmacologically characterising a wide range of spider, snake and marine venoms. He have published >140 papers including manuscripts in Nature, PNAS and Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, and is on the Editorial Boards of Toxins, Toxicon, and the Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods.
Angela Chiew
Dr Angela Chiew is an Emergency Physician and Clinical Toxicologist. She works at Prince of Wales Hospital and for the NSW Poisons Information Centre. Dr Chiew is completing her PhD, in paracetamol overdose looking at massive paracetamol overdose, sustained release overdose and new biomarkers. She is an investigator in the Australian Toxicology Monitoring (ATOM) Study that looks at various drugs in overdose from calls to the NSW and QLD PIC.
Rose Cairns
Dr Rose Cairns is a Senior Poisons Specialist at the NSW Poisons Information Centre. She is also a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney in the Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology research group. She has a BPharm and PhD from the University of Sydney. Her research interests include poisoning epidemiology, substance abuse and toxicovigilance.
