Neuroanaesthesia simulation course

Dr Thanan Elalingam

MBBS (UNSW), FANZCA, G Cert Clinical Ultrasound (Melb)

Dr Thanan Elalingam is a specialist Anaesthetist with appointments at Macquarie University Hospital and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He is the Chair for the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetist's (ANZCA) Neuroanaesthesia Special Interest Group and was previously the NSW representative.

He is a clinical senior lecturer at Macquarie University and Director of the One Brain Neuroanaesthesia Simulation course. He has presented at several anaesthesia conferences on neuroanaesthesia with a focus on the treatment of cerebral aneurysms and endovascular clot retrieval.

His neurosurgical practice is a combination of elective and emergency endovascular procedures, open aneurysm surgery, cerebral tumours and complex spine surgery. He also has an interest in the management of acute and chronic pain for neurosurgery and is currently the lead for a number of trials in this field.

Dr Nazih Assaad

MBBS (Hons), FRACS

Dr Nazih Assaad completed his medical degrees and graduated from the University of Sydney with honours in 1993. His early postgraduate training was at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital followed by training and research in Neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital at Westmead. His advanced Neurosurgery training included posts at Westmead, John Hunter and Royal North Shore Hospitals. During this time he underwent subspecialty training in Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery under the mentorship of Professor Michael Morgan. Dr Assaad is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and a Member of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, AANS/CNS Cerebrovascular Section and the American Heart and Stroke Associations. Dr Assaad's subspecialty interests include the treatment of complex aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, dural fistulas, cavernomas as well as stroke prevention surgery including brain bypass surgery and carotid surgery. He also has interests in brain tumours, spinal surgery and trigeminal neuralgia surgery.

Current Appointments:

Clinical Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University.

Consultant Neurosurgeon, Macquarie University Hospital.

Consultant Neurosurgeon, Sydney Adventist Hospital. Neurosurgery Head of Department, Royal North Shore Hospital.

Dr Nathan Harper

MBBS, FANZCA

Nathan trained at the Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospital before completing his anaesthesia fellowship at the Royal North Shore Hospital in 2011. Nathan has gained valuable experience in neuroanaesthesia and the delivery of simulation through the Sydney Simulation Centre. He is a neuroanaesthetist currently working closely with the Macquarie University Hospital Neurosurgery team.

Dr Izreen Iqbal

MB, ChB, FRCA, FANZCA

Izreen is UK trained specialist with specialist training in neuroanaesthesia, trauma and obstetrics anaesthesia. She has extensive experience in postgraduate medical education, medical simulation and team training. Currently course director for the only multi professional obstetric emergency course in NSW based at St George Hospital. Izreen has taught alongside the Bristol faculty members of One Brain Neuroanaesthesia Simulation Course, as part of the Bristol Simulation Centre in the UK.

Current Appointment:

Consultant Anaesthetist, St George Public Hospital, Kogarah, NSW

Dr Rakesh Rai

MBBS, FANZCA, FCICM, G Cert Clinical Ultrasound (Melb)

Current Appointments:

Specialist Anaesthetist, Macquarie University Hospital, and Concord Hospital

Clinical lecturer, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Macquarie University.

Professor Ian Seppelt

MB BS, BSc (Med), FANZCA, FCICM

Professor Ian Seppelt is a senior specialist in Intensive Care Medicine at Nepean Hospital, Sydney and the University of Sydney Medical School, Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Adjunct Professor (Research) at Monash University and Conjoint Associate Professor at the University of NSW.

He is an active clinical researcher and teacher in intensive care medicine and is Honorary Professorial Fellow at the George Institute for Global Health, Sydney.

His research interests include critical care infection (including gut microbiology in critical illness), fluid resuscitation, complex airway management, and sedation and delirium in intensive care. He is the Australian lead for the multinational SuDDICU program (developing the 'definitive' trial of Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract in Intensive Care). Other interests include neuroanaesthesia and neurocritical care, and the ethics of clinical research in critical illness.

Dr Bethan Sutton

MBBS, FANZCA

Bethan completed her anaesthetic training at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and in the United Kingdom, doing her fellowship at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital specialising in neuroanaesthesia. She has over 10 years’ experience in neurovascular anaesthesia and has a special interest in clinical neurophysiology and medical education.

Current Appointments:

Consultant Neuroanaesthetist at the Macquarie University Hospital and Mater Hospital in North Sydney, NSW..

Dr Matthew Tait

MA, MB BS, DM, FRCS(SN), FRACS

Directory of Neurosurgery, Nepean Hospital

Matthew is a specialist in the neurosurgical treatment of disorders of the spine and also in treatment of diseases of the blood vessels of the brain (cerebrovascular surgery). He has completed additional post-fellowship training in both areas: Complex spine surgery at Kings College London and cerebrovascular surgery at Royal North Shore Hospital and the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

Matthew trained as a doctor at both Oxford University and University College London Medical Schools before undertaking neurosurgery training in Sydney (Royal North Shore Hospital) and London (Kings College Hospital and Atkinson Morely Wing, St George's Hospital). As a result he is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Australasian Surgeons (FRACS) and the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS). On completing Neurosurgery training he graduated top of his year winning the Norman Dott medal for most outstanding performance.

Matthew is very committed to medical research. He is a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University. His current research interests are in refining and developing techniques in spinal surgery to make operations safer and less unpleasant for patients. He is also working to develop better ways to identify which patients will benefit from surgery so that patients do not undergo ineffective procedures. During neurosurgery training he completed an Oxford University research doctorate (DM) on the treatment of brain swelling after subarachnoid haemorrhage. He has published over 50 book chapters, journal articles, academic posters and abstracts. His original journal articles have received almost 500 citations.

Current appointments: Consultant Neurosurgeon, Macquarie University Hospital Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University Visiting Medical Officer, Nepean Hospital

Dr Deepak Bonagiri

ICU specialist

Dr Neha Aggarwal

Anaesthetsist

Ms Wanda McDermott

Clinical Skills and Simulation Lead – Macquarie Medical School

Wanda is a Registered Nurse with numerous years experience in the Intensive Care area as an on the floor nurse and a Clinical Nurse Educator. She has spent many years teaching medical students and facilitating advanced simulation courses .

She has post graduate qualifications in Critical Care , Education and Simulation Education after completing the Harvard Simulation Course and is a recognised HNET Sim faculty member.