2025 Australian Pain Society 45th Annual Scientific Meeting in the IASP Global Year about Pain Management, Research and Education in
Low- and Middle-income Settings13 - 16 April 2025 | Pullman Melbourne Albert Park, VIC

Austin Health

VIC Australia

Parnaz is a Senior Project Officer with the Medicines Optimisation Service at Austin Health, with expertise in developing and establishing stewardship program models. She leads the Opioid Stewardship Program at Austin Health, and utilises improvement science methodology to drive forward health care innovations that tackle complex aspects of consumer care across various therapeutic domains and care transitions. Currently undertaking a Masters in Public Health, Parnaz has a keen interest in public policy and the design and implementation of effective strategies to improve community health.

University of Sydney

NSW Australia

Claire Ashton-James is an Associate Professor Pain Management at the University of Sydney, where she conducts research into social aspects of acute and chronic pain, including interventions to support people with pain to connect with and find strength through their relationships with others. A/Prof Ashton-James has a special interest in developing strategies to increase access to multidisciplinary, psychosocial pain management strategies and reduce healthcare inequities. Her research is funded by MRFF, philanthropy, Sydney Health Partners, Ramsey Health, HCF Foundation, and insurance bodies.

Alfred Health

VIC Australia

Thuy is the Lead Pharmacist for Analgesic Stewardship and Perioperative Services at Alfred Health in Melbourne, Australia. She is also a Pharmacy Board examiner, Teaching Associate and part-time PhD candidate through Monash University.

Clinical & Health Psychology Group

VIC Australia

Dr Siân Cole is a clinical and health psychologist with over 15 years of experience. Her main interests include helping adults with medical conditions engage in health behaviours that assist with their health performance despite the distress that can occur with illness. Her experience includes working in acute medical hospitals, both inpatient and outpatient work. Siân currently works in private practice, focusing on helping individuals with trauma symptoms, persistent pain, functional neurological disorder, adjustment to illness or disability, anxiety and depression, plus also providing therapy to health professionals to assist with anxiety, burnout and moral injury. She has also recently started working as a supervisor in the postgraduate psychology programs at La Trobe Univerisity.

Eastern Health

VIC Australia

I hold a post graduate certificate in peri anaesthetic nursing, and am currently working towards my Master of Science in medicine - Pain management with the University of Sydney.
I was involved in the Analgesic Stewardship pilot program for Eastern Health from 2022-2024, and have previously worked as a Perioperative nurse educator.

St Vincent's Hospital Sydney

NSW Australia

Bernadette is the Acute Pain Clinical Nurse Consultant at St Vincent’s Hospital NSW, where together with Associate Professor Jenny Stevens she has worked to implement an
Opioid Analgesic Stewardship program and was the project lead for the FPM ROSI website. Bernadette holds a director role within Pain Nurses. She was a finalist in the 2023 NSW Health Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards in the category of Nursing & Midwifery Leadership Award.

Northern Health

VIC Australia

Nicole Gauthier is a Nurse Practitioner with the Pain Service at Northern Health in Melbourne and has over 20 years of nursing experience in Cardiology, Intensive Care, and Pain Medicine. She qualified as an RN in 2000, obtaining her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and then completed a postgraduate diploma in Critical Care.
After working for a number of years in Cardiac Intensive Care and Cardiothoracic Transplantation, Nicole returned to University and obtained a Masters of Science in Pain Medicine and a Masters of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) in Australia. Nicole has a particular interest in analgesia in the perioperative setting and has been an instructor for the Essential Pain Management course in Myanmar and Fiji.

Austin Health

VIC Australia

Shaun is a clinical toxicologist and emergency physician based at Austin Health. He is medical director of the Victorian Poisons Information Centre and lead investigator of the Emerging Drugs Network of Australia VIC.

Hamilton Centre

VIC Australia

Lisa is an experienced Registered Nurse passionate about self-determination in healthcare, particularly for people experiencing complex and long-term health impacts. Lisa approaches her work with a forward thinking, improvement-based mindset, utilising data to drive program improvement. With a background in statewide program management, chronic pain, aged care, and culture change, Lisa came to the AOD sector following ten years at the Barbara Walker Centre for Pain Management at St Vincent's Health after completing a Master of Addictive Behaviours in which she completed a thesis in chronic pain, sleep, and substance use.

Royal Darwin Hospital

NT Australia

Originally from Melbourne. Perioperative background. Raised a family in Darwin for the last 23 years. I have been the acute pain nurse at RDH the last 10 years. Enjoy the outdoors and wonderful top end sunsets.

Northern Health

VIC Australia

Dr Jamie Mackay is a specialist anaesthetist and perioperative medicine clinician at Northern Health. He was previously an honorary fellow of the Centre for the Digital Transformation of Health, University of Melbourne and has a particular interest in using digital health technologies to provide value-based perioperative care.

University of Sydney

NSW Australia

Dr Jonathan Penm (BPharm (Hons), GradCertEdStud (Higher Ed), PhD) currently holds an NHRMC Investigator grant (emerging leadership EL2) and is an international leader in hospital pharmacy research (top 0.072%, Expertscape). Dr Penm is currently CIA on 2 MRFF grants (MRFMMIP000023, MRF2022763) and has extensive experience in improving prescribing and opioid use. Dr Penm has strong grounding in research methodology, published over 140 high-quality international papers, and translated their research into practice in the healthcare setting and through development of best-practice guidelines. This has led him to serve as Chair (2019-current) of the Research Leadership Committee for the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (> 5,000 members, peak Australian hospital pharmacy association)

Austin Health

VIC Australia

Margaret (MN, MSc Epidemiology, Prof Cert Pain Science) is a Clinical Nurse Consultant in the Integrated Pain Service at Austin Health in Victoria.  Her primary research focus is the transitional care of sub-acute pain: supporting complex patients to recover functionally and wean analgesia after acute pain episodes.  Through this, she advocates for development of Transitional Pain Services to improve patients' pain trajectories, function, and quality of life.

Austin Health

VIC Australia

I am a Clinical Nurse Consultant in Pain Management at Austin Health's Integrated Pain Service. I work across the pain continuum - Acute, Transition and Chronic.

The Royal Children's Hospital

VIC Australia

Jo Robson is a Clinical Nurse Consultant with the Children’s Pain Management Service at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, where she has been an integral member of the Acute Pain Service since 2005. She earned her Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Clinical Nursing (Child Health) from the University of Melbourne in 2003 and a Postgraduate Certificate in Pain Management from the University of Sydney in 2012. With over 26 years of paediatric nursing experience, Jo is dedicated to evidence-based acute pain management, with a focus on enhancing children's hospital experiences, improving their well-being, and promoting family-centered care.

St Vincent's Hospital Sydney

NSW Australia

Associate Professor Jennifer Stevens is an anaesthetist and pain specialist at the St Vincent's Hospital Campus in Sydney. She was awarded NSW Health Collaborative Leader of the Year in 2018 for work on multiple translational research projects. One of these was the ongoing successful opioid stewardship project at St Vincent's Public and Private Hospitals.

Austin Health

VIC Australia

Elizabeth is a Senior Project Officer with the Medicines Optimisation Service at Austin Health, with expertise in medicines stewardship. She has led organisational opioid and psychotropic stewardship initiatives and was the Project Manager for VicTAG’s anticoagulation stewardship project. She has co-authored literature reports for Victoria’s SafeScript program.