Inclusion Committee Members

Clare is President of ACEM. She is a specialist emergency physician with interests in leadership, advocacy, workplace culture, quality and safety, clinical redesign and health system reform. Clare has been a member of the Council of Advocacy, Practice and Partnerships (CAPP), and a range of other College committees and entities in recent years. She was the Deputy Chair of CAPP in 2019 and serves as a member of the Health System Reform Committee. Clare was a Junior Medical Officer at Canberra Hospital before moving back to Sydney to undertake training in emergency medicine at Royal North Shore Hospital. She also completed a Master of Public Health. Since attaining Fellowship in 2011, she has worked clinically across Northern Sydney and as Curriculum Advisor for Sydney Medical School. Her current areas of focus include transformation of the emergency department workforce, improving care of people with mental health symptoms, building positive culture in hospitals, and fostering diversity and inclusion in health services.

John is the Immediate-Past President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM). He’s been a specialist emergency medicine physician for over 15 years and was Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Waikato Hospital in Aotearoa New Zealand until 2017, and Chair of the Aotearoa New Zealand Faculty of ACEM until 2018. He was elected as the first New Zealand President-Elect of ACEM. He’s also Chair of the New Zealand Council of Medical Colleges. Having worked extensively in emergency departments throughout New Zealand, Australia and the UK, he has a firsthand knowledge of different models of care in a variety of settings, from the smallest rural to the largest tertiary hospital. His passions in emergency medicine include equity and sustainability, both organisational and personal. John has various other roles as an Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS) and Advanced and Complex Medical Emergencies (ACME) Instructor, a Police Medical Officer, and an expert advisor to the Police, Coroner, Courts and the Health and Disability Commissioner.

Kia Ora tātou Nō Aerana me Ingerangi ōku tūpuna. I whānau mai au i Liverpool. Ko tauiwi ahau. Kei Whakatāne ahau e noho ana. Ko Kathryn tōku ingoa. Kia Ora! I’m Kathryn, born in the UK but very grateful to have called Aotearoa home for the last 12 years. I’m a cis queer white woman FACEM living in Whakatāne, working in both Whakatāne and Tauranga EDs. I’m passionate about equity and have been working on implementing Te Rautaki Manaaki Mana over the last couple of years. I’m looking forward to working with the Diversity and Inclusion Committee to explore how we can improve representation of culture and diversity at all levels.
 

Bhushan Joshi MBBS, BSc, MRCP (UK), FACEM Trainee Sydney Australia. Pronouns: he/him.

I was born in Gujarat, North India, to working class parents. We migrated to the UK when I was two and I grew up in a predominantly Caucasian school with a culturally Indian background at home. Being migrants, my brother and I were always pushed to excel, which contributed to my progression into medical school. During my time as a university student, I also came out as gay. Juggling my cultural background, my profession, my sexuality, and personal growth was challenging to the say the least. Fourteen years later, I can safely say I’m proud of who I am and who I’ve become. Having had insights into both Eastern and Western culture, as well the queer community, I’ve found myself better able to relate to the diverse range of patients and staff who I work with every day. Outside of medicine, I chair an organisation called GLADD (the Association of LGBTQIA+ Doctors and Dentists Australia), an organisation I founded in 2013 following my first Sydney Mardi Gras. From being bullied at school, GLADD has become one of my greatest achievements; helping other medical professionals shine in who they are. I’m proud to serve and represent diversity and inclusion in our College and am excited about the future that each of our unique backgrounds can bring to the table.
 

I am a French-born Rwandan-British late-phase FACEM Training Program trainee working on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. I spent the first three years of my life in Montpellier, France, before moving with my family to Butare, Rwanda. It was there we witnessed some of the worst atrocities of the latter part of the last century. We were briefly refugees and escaped to Zaire, and then were evacuated to Bangui, Central African Republic, where we stayed in refugee camps and homes awaiting further evacuation. Eventually, we were air-lifted out of Bangui, with the assistance of family friends in France and the French military. We stayed in Montpellier for another two years before moving to the UK when I was eight. I grew up in Cambridge, where I studied at St George’s, University of London, and moved back to Cambridge and King’s Lynn for my foundation medical studies, then moved to Australia in 2013. I joined ACEM shortly after arriving and have trained in Newcastle, Port Macquarie and the Sunshine Coast. I’ve travelled across Australia working in all states and territories except the Australian Capital Territory. I think it’s an incredible country. I feel quite fortunate to be part of this group. I look forward to learning from all the members’ diverse experiences and advice. I want to contribute to the Diversity and Inclusion Committee in any way I can, and, specifically, to share insights that working and training as a young black male doctor can bring.

Kiri Manning Cert HSC, MBChB University of Auckland FACEM Trainee. Pronouns: her/she.

I’m Ngāpuhi and Ngāi Te Rangi descent. I grew up in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, and was lucky enough to be part of the inaugural Certificate of Health Science through the Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme (MAPAS) at the University of Auckland. MAPAS, an equity strategy to gain more Maori and Pasifika medical students as part of the Vision 20:20 initiative, aimed to increase the number of Māori and Pasifika healthcare workers to 10 per cent in Aotearoa New Zealand by 2020. I’m currently working as a Fellow at Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland, serving the Māori and Pacific Island population of Auckland. I’m involved in the Manaaki Mana group within the hospital and am looking forward to the October Hui (meeting) in Gisborne. I trained mostly in Melbourne, Australia, recently moved back to Aotearoa New Zealand in April 2021. I’m passionate about Indigenous health and equity, trainee advocacy, and equity for parents, women, LGBTQIA+ and others in the workplace, and in society as a whole. I’m looking forward to working with the Inclusion Committee and incorporating my experience from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Libby is a lawyer and a Principal of Russell Kennedy Lawyers. She’s also a member of the firm’s Board and Practice Group Leader of Russell Kennedy’s Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety team. She has worked at Russell Kennedy Lawyers for almost 25 years.  Libby is an experienced legal practitioner in the area of employment law, industrial relations, and workplace health and safety which includes equal opportunity. She has significant experience in advising employers in all aspects of the workplace in a number of different industries including health, allied health and education. Libby regularly presents as an expert on employment law and industrial relations. She has been recognised by Best Lawyers in the areas of employment benefits and safety from 2014 to 2022.  Libby has also previously been a board member of a large not-for-profit aged care provider and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
 

I’m a FACEM working at Logan Hospital in Brisbane, Queensland. Since medical school, I’ve had an interest in gender equity in medicine and finding the path to achieve it. In particular, I have a keen interest in addressing intersectional and structural bias in medicine. I organised and moderated the Network of Women in Emergency Medicine (NoWEM) webinar ‘Antiracism in Emergency Medicine’ and organised a workshop on Equity in the Emergency Department for the ACEM 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting. I’m also a CAPP Member, Deputy Chair of the Queensland Faculty and an Executive Member of ACEM’s Advancing Women in Emergency Section.