Speakers

Professor Rinaldo Bellomo AO
MBBS (Hons), MD, PhD, FRACP, FCICM, FAAHMS
Professor of Intensive Care, The University of Melbourne
Professor of Medicine, Monash University
Honorary Professor of Critical Care Medicine, University of New South Wales
Honorary Fellow, Howard Florey Institute of Physiology
NHMRC Practitioner Fellow and Co-director ANZ Intensive Care Research Centre
Editor-in-Chief, Critical Care & Resuscitation
Director of Intensive Care Research, Austin Hospital
Director of Data Analytics Research and Evaluation (DARE) Centre
Co-director of Centre for Integrated Critical Care, Melbourne University
Senior Research Advisor, Royal Melbourne Hospital
Staff Specialist in Intensive Care Austin Hospital & Royal Melbourne Hospital
& Warringal Private Hospital

Prof Rinaldo Bellomo is Professor of Intensive Care Medicine with the University of Melbourne, Honorary Professor of Medicine with Monash University, Principal Research Fellow, Howard Florey Institute, University of Melbourne, Director of Intensive Care Research and Staff Specialist in Intensive Care at the Austin Hospital, Melbourne. He is the Co-chair of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre. He is Editor in Chief of Critical Care and Resuscitation. He has authored > 1100 PubMed cited papers. For the last 3 years he has been in the list of most cited investigators in clinical medicine in the world (Thomson-Reuters). In 2014, he was selected as one of the most outstanding scientific minds in the world for the previous decade (Thomson-Reuters).

Dr Brendan McGrath

MBChB, FRCP, FRCA, DICM, EDIC, PGCertMedEd, AHEA, FFICM, PhD
Consultant in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Manchester University Hospital
National Clinical Advisor for Tracheostomy, NHS England
Chair, UK National Tracheostomy Safety Project

Brendan spent 18 months living and working in Melbourne in the late 1990ís, but now lives and works in Manchester, UK. Brendan has attached significant grant funding to explore problems around airway and tracheostomy care and to develop, test and implement education and resources to improve care. He set up and leads the National Tracheostomy Safety Project and his research into improving airway and tracheostomy care has led to appointments as National Clinical Advisor for NHS England and as European Lead for the Global Tracheostomy Collaborative. Outside of medicine, Brendan is entertained by a young(ish) family and tries to ride his road bike when it isnít raining (too hard!)

A/Prof Sue Berney
PhD, B.Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy Manager, Austin Health

Associate Professor Sue Berney is a Clinical and Research Physiotherapist who has been involved with the care of critically ill patients for over 30 years.  She has worked both nationally and internationally and currently is the Manager of Physiotherapy at Austin Health in Melbourne and an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne.   Her research interests include the physiological effects of physiotherapy interventions in ICU, airway management in trauma, clinical decision making and rehabilitation and the longer term outcomes of survivors of critical illness. She has been an invited speaker both nationally and internationally regarding the role of physiotherapy and rehabilitation in intensive care.  Sue has been awarded two Research Fellowships and three nationally and one international competitive grants all as chief investigator.

Her current research interests include the role of exercise and rehabilitation in the critical care setting and the functional, cognitive and psychological outcomes of survivors of ICU and decision support to translate evidence into practice.

Lucy Bonakdar
B.Sp Path, MC-APP
Senior Speech Pathologist, Austin Health

Lucy is a Senior Speech Pathologist at Austin Health. With a special interest in tracheotomy management, she is a member of the TRAMS team and works in the Ventilator Weaning, Respiratory and ICU units. She has completed her Masters in Applied Positive Psychology at University of Melbourne. She is particularly interested in how people thrive when living with a tracheostomy, and how health care systems can support this.

Michael J. Brenner
MD, FACS
Otolaryngologist, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Treasurer, Global Tracheostomy Collaborative
Associate Professor of Otolaryngology
Division of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery
University of Michigan School of Medicine

Dr. Brenner is on faculty as University of Michigan, where his academic efforts focus on both patient safety, quality, and scientific research on injury prevention. He is board certified in Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, and Sleep Medicine. He has an interest in healthcare policy leadership and QI, serving as the 2012 Health Policy Scholar for the ACS/AAO-HNSF and as a delegate to the AMA for the young physicians section. He has participated in the Telluride Roundtable on Patient safety and Transparency and is active in national Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Committees through the American Academy of Otolaryngology and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He has participated in the TeamSTEPPS Collaborative at American Institutes for Research by DOD, AAMC, AIR, and AHRQ. His active and pending research support is through the National Institutes of Health, Triological Society, and an Excellence in Academic Medicine award.

Tanis Cameron
MA-SLP(C) CCC-SLP
Manager, TRAMS, Senior Clinician, Austin Health

Tanis is the Manager of the internationally recognised Tracheostomy Review and Management Service (TRAMS) and Senior Speech-Language Pathologist, Stream Leader at Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia.   She obtained her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Colorado and has worked in numerous centres in the US, Canada and Australia.  Tanis has extensive experience in the management of ventilated and tracheostomised patients, health care management and quality improvement initiatives.  She is a founding member of TRAMS service (2002) and the Global Tracheostomy Collaborative (GTC, 2012). She is Vice Chair of the Board of the GTC.  The TRAMS outcomes have been published and numerous other tracheostomy teams exist because of this work. TRAMS have been the recipient of several Quality Health Care awards including the Victorian Travelling Fellowship, The Victorian Public Healthcare Award for Innovations in Models of Care and a Victorian Disability Sector Award for Excellence in Improving Health Award.  Tanis was the Chair of the inaugural and 2nd International Tracheostomy Symposiums (ITS 2011, 2014) held in Melbourne, Australia and is pleased to be Convenor of the 5th ITS which will be back in Melbourne in Oct 2019.   Tanis is extremely pleased that the exciting, growing and important work of the Global Tracheostomy Collaborative is being shared by so many patients, families and medical centres around the world.

Mr Matthew Campbell
FRACS

Matthew is an ENT Head and Neck Surgeon who is currently the Director of the ENT Head and Neck Surgery Unit at Austin Health since 2000 and founded the ENT unit at the Northern Hospital in 2004.

After studying Medicine at the University of Melbourne and the Austin Hospital Clinical School, he graduated in 1984. As a recipient of the Hugh Noel Puckle Prize Matthew had post Fellowship positions in Würzburg, Germany studying middle ear surgery, Lyon, France studying phoniatric surgery and Dublin, Ireland in head and neck cancer surgery.

He is interested in many different aspects of otolaryngology including head and neck and airway surgery. He has been involved in several international research studies involving implantable hypoglossal nerve stimulating devices. He has been involved in a Multidisciplinary Voice Analysis Clinic at Austin Health since 2000 and is a strong supporter of the Tracheostomy Review and Management Service at Austin Health.

Caroline Chao
B- Physiotherapy, M-Physiotherapy
Senior Respiratory Physiotherapist, Austin Health

Caroline Chao is a senior respiratory physiotherapist at Austin Health working for the Victorian Respiratory Support Service (VRSS) and the Tracheostomy Review and Management Service (TRAMS). Caroline completed a Bachelor of Physiotherapy in 2000 followed by a Master of Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne in 2007. Caroline has an interest in the implementation of ventilation in patients requiring long-term ventilation, rehabilitation and weaning of long term ventilated patients and management of patients with tracheostomy and chronic respiratory illness. Caroline has experience as an intervention therapist and outcome assessor in several clinical trials.

Christine Knee Chong
BSc (Nursing), Post-graduate Cert in Critical Care Nursing, MPH
TRAMS Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC), Austin Health

Christine has worked as one of the TRAMS Clinical Nurse Consultants since April 2018.

Christine came into this role having achieved 10 years of experience in critical care nursing in South Africa and Australia. She has a post graduate certificate in Critical Care Nursing as well as a Masters in Public Health.  Christine is a member of the GTC Patient and Family Committee.

Her passion is to provide optimal tracheostomy patient care and improvement of patient outcomes on an international level through multi-disciplinary involvement, a focus on the patient and family experience and a dedication to implementing evidence based practice.

Professor Lynn Gillam
BA Hons, MA, PhD
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
Children’s Bioethics Centre, Royal Children’s Hospital

Lynn Gillam is an experienced clinical ethicist, originally trained in philosophy (MA, 1988, Oxon) and bioethics (PhD, Monash, 2000).  Lynn is the Academic Director of the Children’s Bioethics Centre at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. She is also Professor in Health Ethics at the University of Melbourne, in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.

Lynn works in clinical ethics case consultation at RCH, and has been involved in over 200 ethics consultation since 2005. At RCH she also provides policy advice and leads research into a range of issues in paediatric clinical ethics – including end of life decision-making, management of differences of sex development, information-giving to children, and parental refusal of treatment.

At the University, she teaches ethics in the university’s MD course, and supervises research students. She is the Chair of the University’s Human Research Ethics Committee. Lynn is a member of a number of state and federal advisory bodies, including the Victorian Independent Medical Advisory Committee on Medicinal Cannabis and the NHMRC Clinical Ethics Working Group.

Dr Dionne Graham
PhD
Center for Applied Pediatric Quality Analytics, Boston Children’s Hospital
Director of Evaluation & Analytics, Program for Patient Safety and Quality, Boston Children’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Graham leads the GTC Database Data Coordinating Center, which is based in the Center for Applied Pediatric Quality Analytics (CAPQA) at Boston Children’s Hospital. CAPQA provides data management, reporting, and analytical support to the GTC sites participating in the database. Dionne is a collaborative biostatistician and health services researcher whose work focuses on the development of risk adjusted measures of healthcare quality; examining the relationship between variations in care, utilization, and outcomes; comparative effectiveness research; and the evaluation of quality improvement initiatives. She and members of the CAPQA team have provided analytic support to several other multi-center, quality improvement collaboratives, including the International Quality Improvement Collaborative, the National Eating Disorder Collaborative, the I-PASS Mentored National Implementation Study, and the Massachusetts Neonatal Quality Improvement Collaborative. With over 100 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Graham has extensive expertise in working with large, multi-institutional administrative and clinical databases.

Dr Cilla Haywood
MBBS(Hons) FRACP PhD
Geriatric Consultant, Austin Health

Cilla Haywood is a geriatrician, general physician and obesity physician working at Austin and Northern Health. After becoming a fellow of the college of physicians in 2010, she embarked upon a PhD looking at the management of obesity in older persons, under the supervision of Prof Joe Proietto. Her clinical and research interests are in frailty and treating obesity in people who have complex medical issues. She lives in Melbourne with her fiancée, baby son and rescue dog.

A/Prof Mark Howard
MBBS FRACP GDEB PhD
Director Victorian Respiratory Support Service, Austin Health

Associate Professor Mark Howard has been the director of the Victorian Respiratory Support Service and the Victorian Weaning Unit at the Austin Hospital for over ten years, which provides state-wide services for domiciliary ventilation in Victoria. He completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne and is currently a board member for the Institute for Breathing and Sleep. He has overseen development of an ambulatory model for implementing ventilation, community housing for ventilator dependent patients and a diaphragm pacing service in conjunction with the Victorian Spinal Cord Service. His current research interests include trials of different modes of ventilation, assessing the utility of nocturnal monitoring for implementing ventilation and evaluation of assisted cough techniques.

Associate Professor Mark Howard is director of the Victorian Respiratory Support Service and board member of the Institute for Breathing and Sleep at Austin Health. This state-wide services for home ventilation has developed ambulatory models for implementing ventilation, community housing, diaphragm pacing and telehealth services for people requiring ventilation in Victoria.

Sue-Ellan Jones
BEd, PICU Cert., Midwifery Cert., Bachelor MCHN
Respiratory Nurse Consultant, Department Respiratory Medicine, Royal Children’s Hospital

Sue-Ellan Jones is part of a vibrant and dedicated team at the Royal Children’s Hospital who supports and cares for Children with a tracheostomy together with their families/carer givers. Sue-Ellan is a Respiratory Clinical Nurse Consultant and she has worked in this role providing clinical excellence, care and support for children and young adults with a tracheostomy for more than 20 years.

Sue-Ellan came into this role having achieved post graduate education and experience in Midwifery and Paediatric Intensive care. She has a Bachelor of Education and Degree in Child, Family and Community Health.

Currently the Royal Children’s Hospital KATs team supports around 50 children with a tracheostomy  tube and Sue-Ellan has a strong desire and commitment in improving clinical outcomes for this complex group of children.

Dr Danielle Ko
Clinical Ethics Lead, Clinician Engagement Lead- Quality and Patient Safety, Austin Health, Palliative Care Physician

Dr Danielle Ko trained as a lawyer and GP in Australia before completing fellowships in both medical ethics and palliative medicine at Harvard Medical School. Danielle is now a palliative care consultant at Austin Health and the Clinical Ethics Lead for the institution. Danielle’s area of expertise is in the intersection of medicine, law and clinical ethics as it relates to everyday clinical practice as well as at the end of life. Her current research interests are in informed consent and voluntary assisted dying.

James Lynch
ACCP, BSc Hons, MSc, Wythenshawe Hospital, UK

James has over ten year’s experience as a critical care nurse in Manchester. He has worked with the National Tracheostomy Safety Project on two major national Quality Improvement projects as project manager. He recently qualified as an Advanced Critical Care Practitioner.

Belinda MacLeod-Smith
Consumer Lead, Safer Care Victoria

Belinda MacLeod-Smith joined Safer Care Victoria’s ‘Consumers as Partners’ Branch as their on-staff Consumer representative in 2017.  With more than 25 years’ experience in strategic communication, marketing and community engagement, Belinda’s other recent roles include managing Consumer Engagement at Victoria’s Health Issue Centre and providing operational advice as Western Health’s inaugural on-staff consumer advisor. Belinda is also an active committee member for organisations including the Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI) Advisory Group, the Australian College of Emergency Medicine FACEM and President of  Victoria’s Heart and Lung Transplant Trust. Originally from Adelaide, Belinda has lived experience caring for her husband who was diagnosed at age 40 with idiopathic cardiomyopathy in 2010, survived severe sepsis in 2012 and spent three years on a LVAD (artificial heart) waiting until 2015 for his successful heart transplant.

Dr Christina Miller
MD
Associate Professor of Anaesthesiology & Crit Care Med,
John Hopkins University School of Medicine

Christina Miller is an academic anesthesiologist with a focus in anesthesia for neurosurgery and complex airway management. She has been a member of the Johns Hopkins multi-disciplinary Percutaneous Tracheostomy team for 10 years, providing support for clinical activities as well as educational workshops. Her research interests and publications include collaborative efforts with the Percutaneous Tracheostomy team, as well as the Johns Hopkins Difficult Airway Response Team (DART), a multidisciplinary team that supports emergency airway management outside of the operating room. She was also recently appointed as director of the Johns Hopkins Multi-Disciplinary Difficult Airway Course and directs a variety of airway workshops and high-fidelity simulation experiences for Johns Hopkins medical students, residents and fellows.

A/Prof Linda Morris
PhD, APN, CCNS, FCCM
Director, Nursing Research
Advanced Practice Nurse, Pulmonary Services, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
Associate Professor, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Anesthesiology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Dr. Linda Morris is a tracheostomy specialist who is the Director of Nursing Research and Advanced Practice Nurse for Pulmonary Services at the #1-rated rehabilitation hospital in the US. She is also Associate Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Anesthesiology for the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois. She is co-editor and author of Tracheostomies: The Complete Guide, (Morris & Afifi, 2010, NY: Springer), a comprehensive reference book developed for all health professionals who care for patients with tracheostomies. Her clinical background includes critical care and education. Current research interests include the decannulation process, quality of life, social support, and body image perception with tracheostomy patients. She is currently working on the second edition of the book, with expected publication in fall of 2019.

Mr Antony Narula
MA MB BChir FRCS FRCS Ed
Formerly Professor at Middlesex University

Mr Narula has been a consultant and head of department at St Mary’s Hospital Paddington, Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital and Leicester Royal Infirmary. Mr Narula was also an Honorary Consultant at Chelsea & Westminster and Royal Brompton Hospitals. Until 2017, Mr Narula was also honorary professor at Middlesex University.

In 2000, at Leicester Royal Infirmary Mr Narula was appointed Medical Director for the hospital and, in 2001, Assistant Medical Director for the newly formed unified Trust; University Hospitals of Leicester. From 2002 to 2004, Mr Narula was appointed Medical Director of Action On ENT under the NHS Modernisation Agency.

Mr Narula took early retirement in 2014 to concentrate on his medical charity work and his private practice. In 2015, Mr Narula co-founded The Global Tracheostomy Collaborative, a global multidisciplinary collaborative of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, patients and families committed to improving care for all children and adults with tracheostomies. They provide educational materials, change strategies and an international outcomes database.

Additionally, Mr Narula was a Past President of ENT UK and a Past President of British Society for Otology, The Association of Otolaryngologists and Young Consultant Otolaryngologists. Mr Narula served as an elected member of Royal College of Surgeons Council from 2004 to 2014, including 5 years as the honorary treasurer (2008-2014) and RCS Revalidation lead (2009-12).

Mr Narula was Editor-in-Chief of CME Bulletin Otolaryngology between 1996 and 2006. From 1999-2002, Mr Narula was an appointed Independent (i.e. non party political) member of the Leicester Police Authority and chairman of the Best Value Committee.

Until his retirement, Mr Narula was heavily involved in teaching including; the Post Graduate ENT Diploma for GPs, membership of ENT training committees and exam boards at various levels.

Currently Mr Narula is completing his own “Grand Designs” project and he also enjoys playing golf, good wine and spending time with his grandchildren.

Dr Vinciya Pandian
PhD, MBA, MSN, RN, ACNP-BC, FAAN, FAANP
Assistant Professor
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

Vinciya Pandian is an internationally known tracheostomy nurse practitioner. Dr. Pandian received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Christian Medical College at Vellore, India, and her master’s and doctorate in philosophy degrees from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has served as a director of practice, education, and research for the Johns Hopkins Airway Program that includes the Tracheostomy and the Difficult Airway Response Programs. Dr. Pandian is passionate about caring for patients with airway issues and teaching care providers the best multidisciplinary approaches to improving patient outcomes. Her research is aimed at improving quality of life of critically ill mechanically ventilated patients, specifically those who are mechanically ventilated via a tracheostomy.  Pandian is currently working on a large NIH-funded study evaluating the signs and symptoms of laryngeal injury post extubation.  Pandian is president of JHSON’s Nu Beta chapter-at-large of Sigma Theta Tau International (Sigma) and a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society, Sigma Iota Epsilon Management Honor Society, and Sigma Nu Tau Entrepreneurship Honor Society.  She is also the Vice-President of Society of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Nurses.

Damien Phillips
Head and Neck Surgeon, Austin Health

Mr Damien Phillips is a consultant ENT Head and Neck Surgeon from Austin Hospital and Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

He was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) in Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery in 2010. Following this he undertook subspecialty clinical fellowships in Head & Neck Surgery and in Paediatric Otolaryngology in London.

He has interests in Adult Head &Neck Oncology Surgery and Paediatric Airway Surgery so has a unique surgeon’s perspective of tracheostomy issues. He is a regular collaborator with the Tracheostomy Review and Management Service (TRAMS) of Austin Hospital on complex problem solving issues surrounding management of patients with tracheostomy.

Dr Sam Radford
BMedSci Hons, MBBS, Hons, PGCHPE, FRACP, FCICM
Staff Specialist Physician Intensivist
Austin Hospital and Warringal Private Hospital

Dr Sam Radford is a Staff Specialist Physician Intensivist at Austin Hospital, Melbourne and Warringal Private Hospital.

Sam completed his training at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne in 2007. He has had the pleasure to work as a Consultant in many Intensive Care teams around Melbourne including, Royal Melbourne, The Northern and Box Hill Hospitals.

Sam’s particular area of interest is multi-disciplinary clinical education, especially regarding the care of deteriorating and critically unwell patients and the use of Simulation. He has undertaken further study in these areas at Monash University and Harvard University respectively.

Sam has had an active involvement in Organ Donation since 2009 with roles as Medical Donation Specialist and site 2015, as Deputy State Medical Director, DonateLife Victoria.

Sam is a CICM Supervisor of training and former Chair of the ANZICS Education Committee.

Dr David W Roberson
MD, MBA, FACS, FRCS

Dr. Roberson is a pediatric Otolaryngologist at Bayhealth Medical Center in Milford, DE.  He has served in numerous leadership roles during his 22-year tenure at Boston Childrens Hospital/ Harvard Medical School, including co-chairing the American Academy of Otolaryngology QI committee for six years, serving as Direct of Implementation and Education in the Patient Safety Program at Boston Children’s Hospital for six years, and helping to lead an international QI collaborative on improving outcomes in pediatric cardiac surgery in developing nations.  He founded the GTC in 2012 and has served as its President since that date.

Jack Ross
B App S (Physiotherapy)
Senior Clinician Physiotherapist Austin Health

Jack is a senior physiotherapist working with both TRAMS and the Victorian Spinal Cord Service. Jack has worked with the TRAMS since its inception at Austin Health and has been actively involved in its evolution. Her research interests include tracheostomy, sleep apnoea in spinal cord injury and respiratory management of people with spinal cord injury both acutely and in the community setting.

Jack has published in the area of tracheostomy and spinal cord respiratory management, both in journal articles and one book chapter with a new book chapter on ventilator associated high spinal cord injury about to go to press. Her most recent journal publication explores the use of silicon stoma stents by TRAMS to facilitate decannulation in complex patients.

Dr Adam Schiavi
PhD, MD
Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine
The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Adam Schiavi is an academic anesthesiologist and neuro-intensive care specialist. He has been a member of the Johns Hopkins Multidisciplinary Percutaneous Tracheostomy Team and the Difficult Airway Response Team (DART) for 10 years, active as a clinician, researcher, and educator. He served on the Johns Hopkins Ethics and Consultation Service for 8 years and now is a Clinical Ethicist for the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland, the organ procurement organization in the State of Maryland, USA

Sue Shilbury
Chief Executive Officer, Austin Health

Sue Shilbury joined Austin Health as CEO in early 2017, following a three-decade career in the New South Wales (NSW) public health sector. Sue was General Manager of North Shore Ryde Health Service where she oversaw the delivery of NSW Health’s largest capital works program, the $1.3 billion redevelopment of Royal North Shore Hospital. Sue has also held roles as General Manager of the Central Hospital Network (South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Health District), Director of the Division of Critical Care and Surgery at St George Hospital, and Director of Clinical Services at the Royal Hospital for Women.

Dr Jeanette Tamplin
PhD, M.Mus, B.Mus (Hons), RMT
Music Therapist, Austin Health
Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Dr Jeanette Tamplin PhD, M.Mus, B.Mus (Hons), RMT, holds an NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellowship at the University of Melbourne and works as a music therapist at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre – Austin Health. Jeanette has worked as a music therapist in neurorehabilitation over the past 20 years and her research in this area focuses on the therapeutic effects of singing, speech and language rehabilitation, therapeutic songwriting, and coping and adjustment following neurological injury or illness. She coordinates and collaborates with several different research teams, and thus far has generated AUD$2.5 million in grant funding. Jeanette is regularly invited to present at national and international fora. She publishes regularly in international and interdisciplinary refereed journals, has contributed chapters to several edited books on music therapy and co-authored a book with Prof Felicity Baker: ‘Music Therapy Methods in Neurorehabilitation: A Clinician’s Manual’ (Jessica Kingsley Publishers).

Erin Ward
MS.Ed., CAS, Parent, GTC BOD and Patient & Family Committee Chair

Erin is the mother of a young adult with a tracheostomy, serves as on the GTC Board of Directors and is the GTC Patient and Family Committee Chair.  She is also the Family Liaison for Boston Children’s Hospital’s Multidisciplinary Tracheostomy Team .  Erin is a founding member of TrachCare, Inc., a Massachusetts-based, non-profit organization for parents, caregivers, and healthcare providers of children who have a tracheostomy. Erin serves as President of MTM-CNM Family Connection, a non-profit dedicated for her son’s rare disease community.   Erin’s interests include promoting parent-professional partnerships, improving the transition of care process from the hospital to home, and supporting inclusion of individuals with tracheostomies in schools and communities

Daisy Xu
Architect

Daisy Xu is an architect. In 2017, at 27 years of age she decided to go and explore the world. However, her trip was cut short when she sustained an SCI in Vietnam. She is now experiencing the world from a different perspective and has recently celebrated her 30th birthday. Daisy will be sharing her experiences of learning to speak and sing again among other things, and is here with her dad Geoffrey.

KEY DATES

Call for abstracts opens
15 February 2019

Registration opens
15 February 2019

Call for abstracts closes
31 May 2019

Oral and Poster acceptance emails sent
2 August 2019

Earlybird registration closes
15 August 2019