Our Team

Specialists and Fellows

Lewis Macken

Lewis has extensive experience as an Emergency physician, when he rose through the ranks to become the Director of Royal North Shore Hospital Emergency Department, Director of Emergency Medicine Training, and Director of Trauma at St George Hospital.

He was also an examiner for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine for many years. He then saw the light and re-trained in Intensive Care Medicine.

He became the Director of the Intensive Care Unit in 2018.

Special interests include infection control and burns management.

He is a core member of the Medical Experts Committee of Avant Insurance, Australia’s largest medical defence organisation.

Lewis enjoys spending time with the kids, but continues to struggle with his golf swing.

Ray Raper

Ray graduated from the University of Sydney and completed his residency and Intensive Care training at Royal North Shore Hospital.

He completed a fellowship in Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario, before returning to RNSH as a Staff Specialist in Intensive Care Medicine in 1986.

He was the Head of Department from 2003 till 2018, and is now the President of the College of Intensive Care Medicine.

His other achievements include a BA degree majoring in Philosophy from Macquarie University and an MD from the University of Sydney.

Ray has won several prestigious awards including the Matt Spence medal from ANZICS, the John Sands medal from the RACP, and the College medal from the College of Intensive Care in 2012, the same year he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Ray’s other interests include organ and tissue donation, medical ethics and motorbikes.

Sarah Wesley

Sarah is a Senior Staff Specialist in Intensive Care, the Deputy Director of the ICU and Supervisor of Training.

She is responsible for recruitment and co-ordination of junior medical staff at RNSH ICU.

She is also the Director of the Intensive Care Unit at North Shore Private Hospital.

She has a Fellowship in ICU Echocardiography, and enjoys teaching, especially in the field of cardiothoracic intensive care.

She is a CICM Second Part Examiner and member of the FRACP written examinations committee.

She enjoys doing anything the kids want to do!!

Simon Finfer

Simon is a world renowned researcher and a key member of the ANZICS Clinical Trials Group. He has authored or co-authored over 100 publications many of which have changed practice worldwide e.g. PROWESS-SHOCK, The SAFE Study, The NICE-SUGAR study, The RENAL study and many more.

He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney and a Professorial Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, which was recently ranked number one in the world for research impact.

Simon is a reviewer for many journals including NEJM, JAMA, The Lancet, the BMJ, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, AJRCCM, Critical Care Medicine, Intensive Care Medicine, Critical Care, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and the Medical Journal of Australia.

Simon is an editor of the second edition of the Oxford Textbook of Critical Care, Critical Care section Editor for The Oxford Textbook of Critical Care (6^th Ed) and is a g uest e ditor for New England Journal of Medicine. His clinical interests include sepsis, fluid resuscitation, metabolism of critical illness, trauma and neuro-intensive care.

Any spare time Simon has is devoted to playing golf with his three sons (trying to maintain his handicap of four) and supporting West Ham United FC from afar.

Richard Lee

Richard has had a long and distinguished career in Intensive Care Medicine.

His famous Physiology and CICM Primary Preparation Tutorials (2 hours every Tuesday night) have helped many hundreds of trainees overcome the Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Primary examinations over many years.

He is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and has held many high level positions over the years including the Director of Professional Affairs for the College of Intensive Care Medicine and the Dean, Censor and Chairman of Examinations of the previous Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine.

His interests include medical education and assessment, major burns resuscitation and neurocritical care.

Richard is father of five and a regular gofer.

Anthony Delaney

Anthony is a Senior Staff Specialist at RNSH ICU, with a special interest in Neurosurgical Intensive Care.

He is the Deputy Supervisor of Training and Deputy Director of Research.

He combines these skills in his role as the supervisor of Trainee research projects.

He is a member of the CICM Fellowship Examination Committee, and is actively involved in the Fellowship teaching program.

Anthony has a growing research portfolio, is finishing off a PhD and was a lead investigator on the ARISE trial.

Jonathan Gatward

Jon dual trained in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine in the UK before coming to Australia. He worked as a Senior Registrar and Fellow at RNS and Royal Prince Alfred Hospitals, before gaining his FCICM in 2011.

He has a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education and is a trained simulation instructor. He is a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sydney, and regularly teaches medical students.

Jon co-coordinates RNSH ICU education and runs the in-situ simulation program. His special interests include airway management, and he runs the Critical Care Airway Management course.

Jon is also interested in quality and safety in healthcare, has served as a Council member at the Clinical Excellence Commission and is part of the Clinical Best Practice Working Group at Intensive Care NSW, part of the Agency for Clinical Innovation.

He is one of the Organ Donation Specialists at RNSH and trains colleagues from around the State in conducting the organ donation conversation.

Jon’s other interests include cycling, swimming, kayaking and making movies.

Roger Harris

Roger was a Specialist in Emergency Medicine before moving into Intensive Care Medicine.

He is a co-convenor of the highly successful Social Media and Critical Care (SMACC) and Bedside Critical Care (BCC) conferences.

He is co-founder of C4 (Centre for Critical Care Collaboration): a charitable not-for-profit trust, and also on the board of directors for the Northcare Foundation: a registered charity supporting Intensive Care research and education on the North Shore of Sydney.

He is responsible for the Disaster and Emergency Management portfolio at RNSH and is a keen educator, helping to prepare ICU primary candidates in anatomy and his various other areas of expertise including ICU nutrition.

His other interests include keeping up with his wife and 5 kids and cattle farming.

Oliver Flower

Oli has sub-speciality interests in neuro-intensive care and spinal medicine.

He has been a trailblazer in web-based education in Intensive Care, co-creating resources such as Intensive Care Network, Neuro-ICU, and ICU Podcasts and contributing to Life in the Fast Lane.

He is co-convenor of the Social Media and Critical Care (SMACC) conference and helps to organise the Bedside Critical Care (BCC) conference.

Oli is developing a research and publication portfolio and has significant involvement with the CICM Fellowship teaching program at RNSH and in Sydney.

He loves being a Dad, doing martial arts, painting and travelling (not all at once).

Celia Bradford

Celia has a sub-speciality interest in neuro-intensive care, particularly subarachnoid haemorrhage and traumatic brain injury. Her other clinical interests include renal replacement therapy and echocardiography.

Her research portfolio includes a prospective RCT on magnesium in subarachnoid haemorrhage and a prospective RCT on regional anticoagulation in Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy

She is a Clinical Lecturer for the University of Sydney

Celia loves introducing her 2 young children to the exotic corners of Sydney and the world. She is a Nipponophile; believing that the ski slopes of Hokkaido followed by a plate of fresh sashimi is an ideal way to spend a day.

Pierre Janin

Pierre is a French born Intensivist who initially trained in Anaesthetics at the University of Liege in Belgium. He subsequently obtained the Belgian Diploma in Intensive Care. He has worked at RNSH since early 2008, with a brief spell at St Vincent’s Hospital, and became a fellow of the CICM in 2013.

Pierre’s special interests include echocardiography, especially in critical care. He teaches echo to the trainees at RNSH and is a member of the faculty of several echo courses.

He also has a special interest in infectious diseases, having completed a one year fellowship in the speciality.

Pierre’s other interests include music and fine wine.

Wade Stedman

Wade got his MBBS at the University of Queensland. He has special interests in trauma and neurocritical care, having completed a trauma critical care fellowship at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto (the busiest trauma centre in Canada).

He loves teaching, has completed the NHET-Sim Instructor program and teaches on simulation based airway workshops (at Sunnybrook Hospital and now at RNSH). He is heavily involved in ALS training through the ARC (Australian Resuscitation Council) – he is a current course director and has taught on many provider and instructor courses. He also instructs on BASIC and Beyond BASIC courses.

Wade completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Echocardiography from the University of Melbourne during his CICM fellowship.

His other interests include travel, eating out and Australian Rules Football.

Naomi Pallas

As a medical student of Dr Raper and Dr Lee, Naomi was ICUcentric from the outset. Having completed a large bulk of her ICU training in the western suburbs of Sydney at Nepean Hospital, she moved to RNSH as an Advanced Trainee in 2014. Attaining her fellowship during a subsequent Fellow Year she began 2016 as a new Staff Specialist.

Naomi has an interest in post-graduate and intra-professional education and training and is currently undertaking a Masters of Clinical Education. She has completed the NHET-Sim Program and is developing these skills within the RNSH in-situ simulation program. Naomi is involved in a number of multi-disciplinary education programs within RNSH and other hospitals including ICU Trainee education, BASIC, CAP for Nurses and the JMO Education Program. Naomi also co-coordinates the ICU Trainee Roster.

She considers her biggest achievement to be completing ICU training whilst producing a household of Y chromosomes, though she credits an incredibly supportive family who do most of the work for that success! She enjoys increasingly Trashy TV, quantum physics podcasts, political non fiction, swimming in any accessible body of water and is a proud foundation member of the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Josh Pillemer

Josh’s undergraduate degrees with majors in mathematics and philosophy instilled in him a solid drive to do something more practical. He graduated from the University of Sydney’s medical program in 2006.

Josh managed to leave the Lower North Shore of Sydney after 26 years to commence his internship at the Canberra Hospital. Seven years and three children later, he returned to Sydney to complete his ICU training at RNSH and RPAH.

He is a keen educator, having been an instructor on ALS and CALS courses, and a faculty member on many courses including BASIC, SAFE and SSCICM.

Josh’s interests outside of medicine mostly fall under the categories “geeky” and “nerdy”. He has successfully passed his Star Wars fandom onto his offspring – though has had less success with his long-suffering spousal equivalent.

Alun Ellis

Originally from Wales, Alun graduated in 2007 and after completing his residency in London and Brighton, immigrated to Australia and completed his training in Intensive Care Medicine in Sydney and Canberra.

In 2018 he completed the Nepean Fellowship in Echocardiography. His clinical interests are in cardiac imaging, cardiothoracic and extracorporeal medicine, respiratory failure and renal replacement therapy.

He has been involved in trainee welfare and CICM activity; he was the trainee representative for NSW between 2014 and 2017. He is also an instructor on a number of courses including BASIC and RACE.

Outside of the ICU, he enjoys travel (especially if by train), off-piste skiing, cooking (well…eating mostly), home renovation (also a Bunnings fan), and oenology. He also harbours the desire to learn to sail, but does not have the means.

Josh Smith

Josh gained his medical degree at the University of Sydney before completing his training in Intensive Care at Royal North Shore and Royal Prince Alfred Hospitals followed by a clinical Fellowship St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.

He has a particular interest in medical student, JMO and inter-disciplinary education. He is an instructor on BASIC and a faculty member of the Basic Sciences Clinic preparatory course for the CICM primary examination. He is also interest ICU outreach and inter-disciplinary education around the care of the deteriorating patient.

If Josh wasn’t an Intensivist, you’d probably find him running around for his beloved Sydney Swans, if only his athletic ability matched his ambition. Outside of work, Josh loves spending time with his family and bringing up his two kids. He can often be spotted haunting the aisles of the local Bunnings dreaming up his next DIY project.

Lachlan Donaldson

Lachlan graduated from UNSW in 2009. After falling in love with the ICU flow-sheets at Lismore Base hospital, he abandoned his plans to become a paediatric surgeon and completed his training in intensive care medicine.

Lachlan recently returned from a clinical fellowship at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, Canada. He has a budding interest in clinical research, and completed a Masters of Philosophy with a program of research focused on the risk of bias in meta-analysis. When not getting excited about meta-analytic techniques, Lachlan has sub-speciality interests in neuro-ICU (particularly subarachnoid haemorrhage) and long-term ICU follow-up and outcomes.

Lachlan is completing the Clinical Teaching Fellowship program this year through USyd. He is a member of the NSW Regional Committee of CICM.

Outside work he has interests in photography, crashing his drone in scenic locales across the globe and chasing cattle around around in the dust at his family’s farm.

Chris Andersen

Chris studied international relations and science as an undergraduate during which he lived in the Swedish arctic, backpacked through South America then spent several years in South East Asia as a travel guide. He enrolled in a medical degree at Sydney University and subsequently graduated with honours in 2007.

As a junior medical officer, Chris spent several years as a permanent member of the Royal Australian Navy undertaking deployments to the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and across the Pacific Ocean. After completing his specialist intensive care training, he undertook a clinical fellowship at RNSH then moved to the United Kingdom for a two-year stint in the National Health Service. Chris completed a clinical research fellowship with the Oxford University Hospitals Trust in 2018 before being appointed as an NHS consultant in 2019. He returned to Australian early 2020 after two amazing (pre-Covid19) years in Europe to take up a consultant post at RNSH.

Chris’ subspecialty area of interest is research. He has a Master of Clinical Trials Research and is enrolled in a PhD through The George Institute on outcome standardisation in critical care. He is principal investigator on several competitively funded studies looking at immune responses to respiratory infection. Interests outside of work include getting in the ocean as often as possible, cooking, and traveling with his partner and their young family.

Maddi Anupindi

Maddi has a keen interest in education, mentorship and improving educational equity in the medical sphere. She has taught at multiple courses through both the ICU and the Simulation Centre, and is involved in the weekly fellowship teaching sessions at RNSH.

Maddi is also the co-creator of the ICU Primary and the ICU Fellowship Prepcast, podcasts aimed at helping ICU trainees study for their exams and hopefully lessening the horror of the preparation process.

Marija is passionate about medical education and participates regularly in critical care course delivery and multidisciplinary health care teaching. Marija has supported CICM Fellowship education since completing the exam in 2020 via local trainee teaching, the Sydney Long Course and the online CICM Fellowship VIVA Program. She is looking forward to taking on the role of the CICM Advisory Co-Chair of the General/Fellowship Online Education Program Steering Committee in 2023.

Tessa Garside

David Gale

Kevin Pathmanathan

Senior Nursing and Allied Health Staff

Rebecca Riordan

Rebecca has been working in ICU for over 20 years, with the last ten of those at Royal North Shore as the Nurse Manager. Prior to this she lived and worked in various units in the UK and in Queensland. Rebecca cites the team at RNSH as being the most dynamic that she has ever worked with. The department is contantly striving for new and innovative ways to educate, facilitate professional growth and support staff within the ICU team. The collaborative approach at RNSH is testament to the enthusiastic staff who genuinely enjoy working in this environment.

Rebecca’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Nursing (Pre-Registration), a Graduate Certificate in Critical Care and a Masters of Public Health that was completed at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2004. Prior to her career in health, Rebecca was going to be a professional musician and commenced study at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

Some of the highlights of her career so far have been doing remote area work in Uganda and Belize (with a UK charity) and then in Timor (with the RNSH ICU team). The most rewarding part of her current job is facilitating other nurses achieve their professional goals and then supporting them through this process.

Matt Tinker

Matt Tinker is the Clinical Nurse Consultant for Intensive Care services at Royal North Shore Hospital. Matt’s qualifications include Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Certificate in Intensive Care Nursing and Masters in Nursing, majoring in Adult Education, which was financially supported by the Northcare Foundation.

Matt’s CNC portfolio includes clinical governance, quality and risk management, clinical education, policy and guideline development, long term patient case management and mentorship of staff.

Matt is passionate about lifelong learning with a particular interest in teaching mechanical ventilation, intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) and extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Matt is also a part time lecturer for Post Graduate Critical Care Nursing Studies at University of Technology Sydney and Sydney University.

Matt is an avid lover of photography, fishing and bonsai.

Sarah Webb

Sarah is a very experienced ICU nurse and is one of the Nurse Practitioners at RNSH ICU. She works as a clinical ICU Nurse Practitioner and also as part of the RNSH Vascular Access Service.

Sarah helps out with the education, training and credentialing of trainees registered with the College of Intensive Care Medicine and maintains the trainee database.

Jessica Butler

Jess is a very experienced ICU nurse and is one of the Nurse Practitioners at RNSH ICU. She works as a clinical ICU Nurse Practitioner and also as part of the RNSH Vascular Access Service.

Jess helps out with the education, training and credentialing of trainees registered with the College of Intensive Care Medicine and maintains the trainee database.

Jess has worked in various roles in the ICU such as the Quality Coordinator, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Clinical Nurse Educator and a member of the Rapid Response Team.

Prior to completing a pre-registration Master of Nursing, Jess completed a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology and Physiology. With the support of the Northcare Foundation, went on to complete a Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing, a Master of Advance Nursing (Education) and a Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner).

Jess enjoys working within a dynamic, flexible and multidisciplinary team to provide educational and clinical practice support to all ICU staff.

Elliot Williams

Elliot is currently a Clinical Nurse Specialist Grade 2 in the ICU, and part of the RNSH Vascular Access Service. Elliot also works two days a week as a Transitional Nurse Practitioner in ICU.

Prior to this he has worked as a Clinical Nurse Educator, Health Manager for the eRIC project, Clinical Nurse Specialist and Registered Nurse in the ICU. Elliot is an ALS instructor and educates nurses across many different parts of the ICU education program. He has a keen interest in ECMO, having co-developed the RNSH ICU ECMO course and is involved with the LearnECMO group.

Elliot is also an Associate of the Faculty of Health at University of Technology, Sydney where he teaches on the post-graduate critical care program. In addition to this, he holds the appointment of Clinical Lead with St John Ambulance (NSW) where he has volunteered for over 20 years. Elliot is also Faculty Lead for the Intense Assist group in NSW, delivering ICU education to nurses.

He has a Graduate Certificate in Critical Care and is currently undertaking a Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) at the University of Sydney.

Kelly Harbour

Katie Kelleway

Emma Cardwell

Helen Walker

Helen has worked in Intensive Care for over 20 years, and is currently one of the Nursing Unit Managers in General Intensive Care. She completed Midwifery Training at Royal North Shore Hospital shortly after graduating as a nurse through the hospital training system. She has post graduate qualifications in Psychiatry and Critical Care from the American River College in Sacramento California where she lived for several years, and more recently Health Services Management from the University of Technology in Sydney.

Outside of work Helen enjoys live theatre, maintaining her native plant garden and cooking.

Jill Hamilton

Jill is a Senior Nursing Unit Manager in Cardiothoracic Intensive Care with over 20 years experience in Public Health Networks most of which has been at RNSH. She previously worked at RPAH prior to returning to RNSH in 2009 upon her appointment as NUM.

Jill is very passionate about the care our patients and families receive in our department and ensuring the patient journey is as smooth as possible.

Jill has completed her Graduate Certificate in Critical Care, a Masters in Health Management at University of Technology, Clinical Leadership Programs through the Clinical Excellence Commission and various other Leadership Programs through the Qualitis Leadership Group.

Jill loves running and netball, in fact, any sport. She adores her gorgeous husband and her beautiful children who keep her on her toes with all their sporting commitments.

Mary Linfield

Ashleigh Tracey

Ashleigh has worked within the Intensive Care Unit at RNSH for the past 13 years, with 3 of these as the Nursing Unit Manager of Neuroscience ICU.

Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Certificate in Neuroscience and a Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice with a major in Health Services Management in 2015 (UTS). She has previously acted in positions such as Clinical Nurse Educator, Organ Donor Co-ordinator and as a Casual Academic for the University of Technology, Sydney.

Ashleigh’s achievements include co-authoring and developing the textbook and course ‘BASIC for Nurses’ in collaboration with the Chinese University of Hong Kong Hospital and facilitating an education program for the nursing and medical staff of Dilli National Hospital, Timor Leste.

Neuroscience has remained a strong passion of Ashleigh’s with a particular interests in cerebrovascular neurosurgery for the treatment of complex aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and cerebral bypass surgery.

Ashleigh’s drive and focus in the ICU is supporting a healthy and sustainable workforce through professional development opportunities, education, culture and seeing these transform into providing positive and meaningful patient experiences and outcomes. She attributes her development as a clinician and manager to the incredible staff within the Intensive Care Unit and their consistent dedication to the patients and their families.

Her interests include fishing, playing soccer and chasing storms.

Karina Reay

Bronwyn Williams

Sarah Woodbridge

Sarah is the acting Between the Flags Clinical Nurse Consultant. She has previously worked as the ICU Quality Coordinator, a member of the Rapid Response Team and has worked in General Intensive Care at RNSH since 2010.

Sarah completed her undergraduate studies at University of Wollongong and has also completed a Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing at the University of Technology Sydney. She is currently working towards her Master of Nursing.

When she’s not at work, Sarah enjoys travelling, reading, cooking and eating.

Kerryn Taylor

Kerryn is permanent member of the Clinical Nurse Education team at RNSH. She is currently working part time in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care unit whilst raising a young daughter. Kerryn has previously worked as a Rapid Response Team Clinical Nurse Specialist, as the Transition to Practice Clinical Nurse Educator for the Intensive Care Stream of the New Graduate Program and as a Clinical Nurse Educator in both General Intensive Care Units.

Kerryn’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Nursing and Graduate Certificate in Critical Care, the latter of which was financially supported by the Northcare Foundation. Kerryn has continued a professional relationship with the University of Technology, working as an academic for the Bachelor of Nursing Degree.

Kerryn is passionate about supporting the transition of Students and Registered Nurses into speciality practice so that an appropriately skilled workforce is able to deliver quality Intensive Care health services.

Imran Hossain

Imran is currently working as Clinical Nurse Educator at RNSH ICU. He started his career in healthcare as a trainee paramedic and later converted to Nursing. Prior to nursing, he worked in finance. He has worked in critical care for over 7 years in various capacities. During this period he has developed keen interest in education, particularly around high fidelity simulation, hands-on skill acquisition, and practice development.

Imran is an advanced life support instructor; clinical accreditation program assessor and simulation faculty. He is also a casual faculty at University of Technology Sydney for undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students.

His educational qualifications include Bachelor of Health Science, Bachelor of Business Administration, Graduate certificate in Critical Care, Master of Accounting, Master of Advance Nursing with Education Major and Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment.

Imran’s other interests include Free Open Access Medical Education and social media, motorcycle touring and travelling with his family.

Selina Hole

Selina is a long-standing member of the Clinical Nurse Educator team at RNSH ICU and throughout her career has worked closely with the University of Technology Sydney, tutoring and assessing both undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students. She has also spent time working as a Nurse Educator for the Centre for Excellence and Talent Development at RNSH.

Selina’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Nursing, a Bachelor or Arts (International Studies), a Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing and a Masters in Nursing majoring in Education. She has also spent a year studying at university in Barcelona, Spain.

Selina is currently working part time while raising a young family.