ACEM Regional New Fellows Champions

My name is Aung, and I am a staff specialist at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH).  I started my ACEM training at the North West Regional Hospital, Tasmania and finished fellowship at the RHH in early 2023. 

I feel fortunate to be representative of Tasmania new Fellows as a New Fellows Champion to the college. It is a fantastic role to support each other via networking and making aware of opportunities at the college and the initiatives. 

ACEM has useful resources for new Fellows but I could be helpful for Fellows making smooth transition as consultants/team leaders without feeling overwhelmed during early transition phase by engaging with Tasmania Faculty and the college. 

You can get in touch with me through noticeboard, faculty meetings or email at [email protected]
I am sure our journey will be smooth and exciting by collaboration and peer support. 

Hello!
I am Janet and I am your NT New Fellows Champion. I am currently working at Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospitals having been in the NT for nearly 5 years now on and off throughout my training and Fellow time. I love risky swims and getting out to explore this glorious place we call home.
 
But most importantly I am here, as is the College in supporting this role, to help, listen and advocate for us all as we become New Fellows. And in doing so to bring your thoughts, ideas, and challenges to ACEM as well as linking you to College initiatives and resources as we transition to this new role and our future careers as FACEMs.

Hi, my name is James and I am your ACT New Fellows Champion. As a born and bred Canberran, who did the majority of my training in the ACT, I feel well placed to support new fellows in our region. In my spare time I enjoy trail running and exploring the activities (and playgrounds) Canberra has to offer with my two young children.

I have been involved in college activities as a trainee rep and member of the organising committee for the Canberra ASM in 2023. I am excited to help explore ways for new fellows to be involved with and supported by the college. All the best with this exciting stage of your career and please reach out to me with how I can help!

 I applied to the role of WA New Fellows Champion as I wanted to help other new FACEMs find direction at the beginning of their career and promote the ACEM resources that help the transition from Advanced Trainee to FACEM, as I found them to be a very helpful resource when I made the transition myself. Moving from a training programme where you may have your ED and specialty terms mapped out for years in advance, to suddenly having so many options at your fingertips can feel daunting, and it's easy to fall into analysis paralysis when there are so many options available for your next career move. Working between a metropolitan ED and regional sites around WA has allowed me to strike a good balance between working in a collaborative, supportive environment with senior FACEMs who are willing to share their wisdom from years of experience, and being the solo FACEM on duty navigating a tricky resuscitation in a resource-limited hospital where retrieval to intensive care may be many hours away. As the challenges facing emergency medicine as a specialty continue to mount, I am interested in exploring career longevity and the steps early-career FACEMs can take now to ensure career fulfilment for decades to come.

Hi! My name is Mohammed Shariff, and I am delighted to have this opportunity to work with the College and new Victorian fellows.

I have an excellent work mix between Grampians Health-Ballarat and Epworth Richmond emergency departments, with exposure to both regional-public and metropolitan-private healthcare settings. I call myself a re-branded EM specialist, as I migrated to Australia as a specialist IMG and so this would be the second time I will be transitioning from a trainee to a specialist. 

This transition phase in everyone’s career is exciting, challenging and at times stressful too. The consultant journey is introduced to certain responsibilities beyond just clinical care like leading change, resolving conflict, mentoring, and promoting well-being as some examples. This college initiative is great for new fellows looking for those resources and support, navigating these unfamiliar situations. It also provides a space for engagement with others alike to gain wisdom and confidence moving ahead. 

My name is Thilini Kudagamage. I did all my emergency medicine training in Southwestern Sydney and graduated as a fellow in 2024. I am currently working in regional NSW. Other than my career I am a mom of 2 little boys and the one of the greatest feats of my life has been bringing up children alongside fellowship training. 

I believe the transition from trainee to fellow can be challenging and glad that ACEM college is supporting us through this transition. I am grateful for the opportunity given to me to be the Regional New Fellows Champion. If you have any queries, ideas regarding college related new fellow activities please contact me. Thank you. 

I am delighted to be appointed to the role of regional new fellows champion.  It is unfortunate that I am only stepping into the role six months before I am no longer eligible to hold the post. But it is only from this perspective that I can see the need for a link between the college and the new fellows. How much easier it would be for guidance on how to navigate the transition between reg and consultant: how to navigate jobs,  how do how to log your CPD, where is the consultant car park.

By way of introduction, I am an ex-ambo who found himself in medicine and found a home working in emergency. I completed my training in 2023 and a post graduate trauma fellowship at the RAH in 2024. My ambulance days instilled a love of prehospital medicine, and I was lucky enough to spend 12 months with MedSTAR and it was a genuine privilege to be back working with many familiar faces. Having been a city boy all my life, it was a reintroduction to rural and remote medicine and a reminder of the challenges that exist when you don’t have a CT scanner next door and an MRI just down the hall.

It was this reminder that lead to me to work one week per month in Wallaroo on the Yorke peninsula in addition to my work at CALHN. I cannot recommend rural work highly enough, particularly for early career FACEMs, it allows you to develop leadership and management skills in a far more reactive environment and cements and reinforces your clinical skills without the supports that you learn to rely on in the city.

I am looking forward to reinvigorating the role of new fellows champion though  I am desperately hunting a successor later in the year to provide the guidance and support that I can retrospectively appreciate I needed at the time.

Hi, my name is Keri, and I am a new FACEM working in Townsville, QLD. Outside of work I'm a mum to 2 little ones, and enjoy family adventures, friendships and an active lifestyle.

I have personally found the New Fellows Program resources very helpful in navigating the transition to fellowship. I also feel that there is so much value in connecting with others and engagement with the College, particularly as we practice in a time where our emergency departments and wider health system face increasingly complex issues.

I would love to hear from you with any questions, challenges or suggestions for webinars and workshops as we continue to develop the New Fellows Program. Please feel free to reach out via the contact form below, on the noticeboard or at branch meetings. Thank you, and all the best with your transition to fellowship!

I am a new FACEM and am currently completing PEM training. I am originally Scottish but completed all my emergency medicine training across a range of urban and rural settings in Aotearoa New Zealand. I have enjoyed being part of the college in different capacities over the last few years of my training. The move to FACEM can feel both rewarding and uncertain—after years of focus on the end goal, many then experience a sense of “what next?”. This role is an opportunity to support new Fellows during that shift, helping to foster connection, shared experience, and professional growth. I am passionate about building a supportive network for early-career FACEMs across Aotearoa, and facilitating opportunities for engagement, mentorship, and community in the first years of fellowship.