Our People
We have an experienced and professional team working collaboratively across projects. Expertise is drawn from the wider University community as required.
NB: The 
icon opens in a new window
Alphabetical Listing of OPME Staff
| OPME Staff | |
|---|---|
|
Masters Co-ordinator/Post-Doc |
|
|
Education Project Manager (currently on maternity leave) |
|
|
Project Manager |
|
| Janssen, Anna |
Online Postgraduate coordinator |
|
Educational Officer (currently on maternity leave) |
|
|
Associate Lecturer |
|
| Horvarth, John | Professor of Medicine |
|
Administration Assistant |
|
| Munro, Ana | Project Officer |
| Nicholson, James | Acting Education Project Manager |
|
Associate Professor, Educational Research |
|
|
Head of Department |
|
|
Acting Director, Continuing Professional Development |
|
|
Associate Professor, Workforce |
|
|
Associate Lecturer |
|
| Johanna von Dincklage, Jutta |
Research Support Officer |
| Wells, Jacqueline |
Postgraduate programs Officer |
|
Associate Professor, Patienty Safety/Ethical Practice |
|
|
Willcock, Simon |
Coppleson Director of Clinical Education |
| Associated Staff | |
|---|---|
| Foster, Kirsty | Senior Lecturer in Medical Education and PhD Student |
| Jones, Alison | Adjunct Associate Professor in Medical Education |
| Rothnie, Imogene | Lecturer (Assessment) |
Portfolio directors
Associate Professor Chris Roberts
MBChB MRCGP MMedSci PhD
Associate Professor, Director and Associate Dean of Education
Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Associate Professor Chris Roberts PhD is a medical educator of international reputation. His current role is Director of the Office of Postgraduate Medical Education (OPME) at the University of Sydney, one of the most significant collections of medical and health educational expertise in Australia. His particular research interests are the assessment of clinical performance, professionalism and clinical competence. He has undertaken consultancy on assessment in Australia, UK, Ireland, Canada, and the Middle East. He has published several articles on assessment in peer reviewed international journals. In the UK he was responsible for quality assurance of all high stakes summative assessments at the University of Sheffield. Whilst there he worked collaboratively with the team which has gone on to produce a major contribution to the international literature on work-based assessment. At the University of Sydney he has a major role in revising the Faculty of Medicine’s assessment strategy. This includes the establishing on the Mini-Cex as a summative assessment of clinical competence.
Associate Professor Tim Shaw
BSc (Hons) PhD
Associate Professor, Deputy Director, and Director Workforce Development
Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone +61 2 9351 5181
Fax +61 2 9351 6646
Tim Shaw is an Associate Professor of Health Workforce Education and Director of program development in the Office of Postgraduate Medical Education (OPME) at The University of Sydney. He specialises in the development, management and evaluation of large innovative health-based educational projects. He holds a PhD in biomedical sciences.
Recent projects that have been managed by OPME include the review of Cancer Care CPD for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, development of the National Patient Safety Education Framework for the Australian Council for Quality in Health Care, the development of Basic and Advanced Surgical Training online for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Pharmacotherapy Accreditation training for NSW Health, Online Medication Management Review Training for the Pharmacy Guild and Junior Medical Officers online modules in appropriate use of blood products for the Northern Centre for Health Improvement.
Associate Professor Merrilyn Walton
BA BSW MSW PhD
Associate Professor and Director, Patient Safety
Room 209, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 3678
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Associate Professor Walton teaches medical students and clinicians about ethical practice, quality and safety.
Her particular interests include:
- Educating health care workers about ethical practice and patient safety,
- Enhancing the training environment for medical students and doctors,
- Advocating for patients to be fully engaged in health care at every level.
Merrilyn was the founding Commissioner for the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (1993-2000) and has convened many Government Inquiries. She has been published widely in Australian and international health, medical and law journals on issues relating to regulation, ethical practice, standards of care, and patient safety. She was the Director and author of the National Patient Safety Education Framework.
She is the author of 3 books, the latest being Safety and ethics in Health Care with co authors Professors Bill Runciman and Alan Merry, published by Ashgate Publishers (2007). She has contributed chapters to 14 books.
She is a member/director on many committees and boards including the NSW Institute for Medical Education and Training as member of the NSW Ministerial Advisory Committee and Management committee, Chair of the Prevocational Council (IMET), Clinical Ethics Committee at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, The Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the NSW Health Quest Appeals Committee and Faculty Member of the NSW Clinical Practice Improvement Program. She is also a member of the review committee for the University Review of Social Sciences, and Chairs the judging panel for the NSW Baxter health Awards.
Associate Professor Charlotte Rees
BSc (Hons) MEd PhD CPsychol
Director, Medical Education
Room 211, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 2814
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Charlotte is a psychologist and educationalist by background. She received her degrees from the Universities of Liverpool, Exeter and Sheffield in the UK. She has recently joined OPME (February 2007), before which she was Senior Lecturer in Medical Education at the Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, UK. She joined Peninsula in March 2002 as the Foundation Lead for three longitudinal themes of the new undergraduate medical curriculum: Human Sciences, Communication Skills and Personal and Professional Development. Her major responsibilities within this leadership role included curriculum development, implementation and evaluation, faculty development and management, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and medical education research. In preparation for the UK Research Assessment Exercise 2008, Charlotte’s job description at Peninsula Medical School changed radically in March 2005, whereby her primarily role was medical education research and evaluation. Her major research interests focus on the development of professionalism and professional behaviours in medical students and are underpinned largely by social cognition theory. She has expertise as a qualitative and quantitative researcher and has published widely on topics such as patient education in oncology, communication skills learning, professionalism assessment and service user involvement in medical education, with over 40 peer-reviewed journal publications.
Professor John S. Horvath A.O
MBBS, ECFMG, MRACP, FRACP
Professor of Medicine
Professor Horvath joined OPME in 2009. He served as the Chief Medical Officer of the Commonwealth of Australia from 2003 to 2009. He is a graduate of the University of Sydney Medical program and a professor of Medicine at the University. He is active on numerous committees, chairing the NHRMC's new Health Care Committee, and is dedicated to the health sciences both in Australia and internationally.
Staff profiles
Rola Ajjawi
BAppSci (Physiotherapy) Hons PhD
Lecturer
rajjawi@med.usyd.edu.au
Room 216C, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9036 7208
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Rola Ajjawi is a Lecturer at the Office of Postgraduate Medical Education. She trained and worked as a physiotherapist before moving into clinical education. She completed her PhD looking at how experienced clinicians learn to make decisions and learn to communicate these decisions with patients and students. She is about to complete post-doctoral research analysing the learning needs of GP registrars for quality prescribing, followed by design, delivery and evaluation of tailored educational packages for quality prescribing.
Her research interests include:
* Developing clinical reasoning capability
* Clinical education and workplace learning
* Learning and teaching across the continuum of health professional education
In her current role, Rola is also involved in curriculum design and delivery in the Master of Medical Education Program and is leading the curriculum review process. She has published several journal articles and is co-editor of a book ‘Communicating in the Health Sciences’. Rola is currently associate supervisor for two PhD students.
Katrina Chemello
BAppSc GradDip IT (e-Commerce)
Project Manager
katrinag@med.usyd.edu.au
Room 212, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 4650
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Katrina Chemello is a Project Manager within OPME, specialising in managing education projects. She has worked in both the private and pubic sector with roles ranging from project management, marketing, website management and other website related roles. Recently in OPME Katrina has successfully completed a range of projects including, JMO Blood Transfusion Products, VQC Safety and Quality Education Program and WRAD - Catching The Dragon.
With her industry experience and education qualifications Katrina is skilled to project manage the development of education and eLearning projects whilst providing both business and technical advice.
Gemma Connolly
BA MA (International Relations)
Project Officer
gemmac@med.usyd.edu.au
Room 220, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 3888
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Gemma Connolly is a Project Officer with OPME, working largely on a Commonwealth project reviewing CPD for cancer care professionals. Prior to joining OPME, Gemma worked in Sri Lanka as a Program Manager in the area of disabilities and disaster relief. She has a background in the not-for-profit sector and has experience in program development, project management, proposal writing and general administration.
Gemma’s key job functions within OPME involve administrative and project support to the cancer project, coordinating the development of reports, maintaining project research activities and recruiting casual project related staff.
Kirsty Foster
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education and PhD Student
Room 221, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9036 7211
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Kirsty is based at the Northern Clinical School, Royal North Shore Hospital and works in the OPME office on a part time basis.
Anna Janssen
BA (Media and Cultural Studies), MA (Publishing)
Online Postgraduate Coordinator
Room 220, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9036 9406
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Anna joined OPME in 2009 as a postgraduate coordinator for the department. She has previously worked in the private sector, with experience working in finance, digital printing, pharmacy, and real estate. Her personal interests range from digital technologies, cultural studies, philosophy, writing and many more.
She will be coordinating a number of OPME’s online training courses. And is greatly looking forward to the challenges and surprises working on those projects will bring.
Alison Jones
Alison has an undergraduate degree in Social Policy from the University of York and a PhD in Medical Education from the University of Manchester (UK). She works full time at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in Sydney and will work with OPME on a range of academic initiatives and research projects. She has previously worked in medical education in New Zealand and the UK, as well as several years in Australia. Her main interests are in evaluation and assessment of medical education at undergraduate and specialty training level. Her research at Manchester focused on exploring the outcomes of the traditional and the new problem-based learning medical program. She has worked across various roles in Australia including evaluation and development of rural clinical schools programs, state coordination of the Primary Health Care – Research, Evaluation and Development (PHC-RED) program, and development of a clinical education unit and skills centre in a hospital setting. Her role at the RACP involves managing educational developments of the new Basic Training program, advising on curriculum development and assessment for Advanced Training, evaluation of educational programs and working with Faculties to assist with their training initiatives. She also facilitates workshops for supervisors, including using mini-CEX and giving effective feedback. She has published widely on a range of topics relating to medical education and presented at several international conferences.
Michelle Kempnich
Educational Officer
michellek@med.usyd.edu.au
Room 220, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9036 9406
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Koshila Kumar
MA (Hons)
Lecturer
Room 208, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 3130
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Koshila Kumar is an Associate Lecturer at the Office of Postgraduate Medical Education (OPME) at the University of Sydney. She holds a MA (Hons) in Education and has worked in educational research for a number of years. Research projects she is currently involved with include a study on the use of the Multiple Mini Interview as a selection method for medical and dental school selection, a systematic review of work based assessment methods in health professional education, and a review of teaching capacity in the Faculty of Medicine. She is also a part time PhD student and her research explores the concept of resilience in interdisciplinary research teams. Koshila’s research interests include professionalism, workplace assessment, and academic interdisciplinarity.
Janice Lealamanua
Administration Assistant
Room 203, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 3976
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Janice joined OPME in 2008 as our Administrative Assistant to provide reception services, to assist the Director, and to provide ongoing assistance to the many projects OPME runs.
James Nicholson
Room 209
Level 2, Mackie Building K01
University of Sydney NSW 2006
Ph: 9351 4650
Email:
James Nicholson joined OPME in 2008 as Education Project Manager. James manages a number of OPME's IT-based projects.
Ana Munro
BA (Communications)
Project Officer
Room 220, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9036 7176
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Ana joined OPME in 2008, working primarily as a Project Officer on a project funded by Cancer Australia to develop professional development opportunities for professionals working in cancer care.
Jackie Ross
BA Grad Dip Cont Ed Grad Dip Human Nut
Acting Director, Continuing Professional Development
jross@med.usyd.edu.au
Room 217, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 8799
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Jackie Ross is Senior Project Manager, leading OPME's project management stream and responsible for managing major commercial projects and for project management support across OPME's project portfolio.
Jackie has extensive experience in project management and policy development in the higher education sector. She brings a high level of expertise to the management of professional health education projects within OPME. Jackie recently managed a national project to scope and analyse CPD for cancer care professionals. Her portfolio also includes oversight of the Sydney Professional Master of Medicine Program (SPMMP), a major new initiative for the Faculty of Medicine with streams across a range of medical disciplines. In 2004 she coordinated the project to develop the National Patient Safety Education Framework for the Australian Council for Quality in Health Care.
Imogene Rothnie
B.A., B. Sci., Post Grad Dip (Psych)
Lecturer (Assessment)
irothnie@med.usyd.edu.au
Room 206, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9036 6434
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Associate Lecturer Imogene Rothnie works in the development of medical education assessment strategies and educational evaluation. Imogene is also involved with teaching in the Postgraduate Program in Medical Education, particularly in the areas of design and analysis of assessment instruments and program evaluation.
Imogene’s background is in educational psychology with a particular interest in the psychometrics of student assessment and approaches to the evaluation of medical education innovations, particularly in IT. Her research interests include the use of alternate measurement theories in standard setting and the use of information technology in the design and delivery of medical education curriculum resources and assessment.
Samantha Van Staalduinen
BSc (Integrated Science), MMedEd
Associate Lecturer
Room 207A, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 3687
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Samantha joins OPME after a number of years at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where she was actively involved in research, curriculum development and community outreach in the areas of doctor-patient and cross-cultural communication, as well as the management of CPD for health and human service professionals. Samantha brings 7 years of experience in health sciences research, project management and program/curriculum development to her work at OPME, which currently includes a project investigating the education, training and support of NSW’s prevocational doctors and international medical graduates. She also recently completed collaborative work on a patient safety curriculum guide for the World Health Organization.
Jutta Johanna von Dincklage
Research Support Officer
Room 207A, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 4245
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Jacqueline Wells
BA (Social Science and International Studies)
Postgraduate Programs Officer
Room 216C, Mackie Building (K01)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 4551
Fax: +61 2 9351 6646
Jacqueline has a sound background in adult education and joined OPME as the Postgraduate Programs Officer in 2007. Jacqueline primarily manages the support of the Master of Medical Education; in both online and blended delivery. Her role also includes organisation of postgraduate events and programs and also assistance to PhD students.