Hamilton Island Medical Conference

Dr Nicole Higgins

Nicole is a practice principal  in Mackay and a GP Supervisor.. She describes herself as a true medical generalist and has held multiple leadership roles in medicine including being the President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Chair of GP Supervision Australia, director of Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges and Convenor of Future Leaders Program for RACGP. She is an influential leader and holds governance and advisory positions . She tries to  walk the talk in her own health journey, aiming to eat clean and stay fit and  attempting to grow her own veggies in pots.  She will talk to us about her journey and her views on the future of General Practice.

Dr Sally Street

Sally is very busy helping families to stay in their communities to deliver their babies. She travels the East coast providing locums to Rural Obstetric Departments form her base in Tasmania.  She  is also a Medical Educator  delivering teaching at the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine for their Rural Emergency Obstetrics Training Course  (REOT). She is a  passionate advocate for healthcare for rural and remote communities Communities.

Dr Joshua Watt

GP Addiction Specialist PhD Candidate

Josh is an addiction medicine specialist, general practitioner and addiction researcher working in Sydney. As a keen medical educator, Josh has hosted regular addiction seminars and enjoys teaching and learning from his colleagues. His PhD and research interest focuses on novel pharmacotherapy for alcohol dependence.  Come along to learn how to effectively and compassionately navigate common addiction problems in the GP setting, and hear about the latest trends in drug use.

Dr Emily Amos

Dr. Emily Amos is a General Practitioner, registered yoga and meditation teacher, and the founding director of Whole Hearted Medicine, an organisation dedicated to providing CPD-accredited wellbeing education and championing sustainable, compassionate medical practice. She is  completing her Masters in Lifestyle Medicine .From evidence-based lifestyle medicine and embodied mindfulness, Dr. Amos brings a unique lens to doctor wellbeing: one rooted in clinical insight and lived experience. Having personally navigated the depths of burnout, she now empowers fellow healthcare professionals to lead from within, sharing wellbeing rather than striving to enforce it.

Dr Balvinder Handa

Dr Balvinder Handa is a Consultant Cardiologist and Cardiac Electrophysiologist. He is an expert in management of heart rhythm disorders and cardiac devices. His areas of expertise include catheter ablation of a range of arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation, implantation of cardiac devices (pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronisation therapy devices), lead extractions and complex vascular access /venoplasty. He is also experienced in general cardiology, echocardiography, and in diagnosis and management of inherited cardiac conditions. He has authored a number of research articles, book chapters, a clinical patent and has received a number of high-profile international awards for his research. He will be speaking about Common Arrythmias and updated therapies and Prehospital management of Acute Coronary Syndromes.

Dr Aaron Chambers

Aaron is a GP, Practice Founder and Owner of Growlife Medical Practice and Urgent Care  in Brisbane Queensland. His practice won RACGP Practice of the Year in 2024.  Aaron is a Health System Innovator with a love of creating new enterprises to deliver better health outcomes.  Aaron is skilled in Children’s Health, Telehealth, Healthcare Innovation and Reform, Allergy, Aerospace Medicine, Medical Education, Elder Care, and Healthcare Management. He has been a speaker on Allergy for the RACGP – and is the  Medical Director of Allergy First, one of the biggest allergy groups in Australia.  Aaron organises and chairs the Paediatrics Masterclass for General Practice in Queensland and is also the chair of the Queensland RACGP education committee, recently chairing the RACGP clinical update.

Dr Philipp du Cros

Dr Philipp Du Cros is the co-head of TB Elimination & Implementation Science at the Burnet Institute and Principal Research Fellow.  Philipp is also the chair of the World Health Organisation Western Pacific Regional Green Light Committee, and a member of the steering committee for the MSF Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine course. He has worked extensively with Medecins Sans Frontiers, as a member of the Operations Platform in Amsterdam.  He works as  an Infectious Diseases physician at Monash Health and has more than 15 years of clinical and public health experience in TB and infectious diseases programs. He is a facinating and engaging speaker.

Dr Joanna Prendergast

DR Stephanie Weston

Dr Stephanie Weston is a dermatologist who has worked across the busy clinics of London to the red dirt of the Pilbara.  Dr Weston began her medical career in paediatrics at Princess Margaret Hospital. Her unique passion for the art of dermatology saw her make the leap into dermatology training in 2004. Having been raised in the country, Dr Weston saw first-hand the need for specialist medical care in rural areas and regularly travelled north to provide care in Karratha, Port Hedland and the Kimberley. In 2016, Dr Weston moved to the UK to undertake a 12-month clinical fellowship in paediatric dermatology with a special interest in genetic conditions affecting the skin. She stayed on in the UK for another year to work as a consultant at St John’s Institute of Dermatology at the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust in London. She practised as Head of Paediatric Dermatology at Perth Children’s Hospital for 3 years before starting her own private practise.

Dr Jason Lam

Jason was originally a professional dancer and artist before collapsing a lung and decided medicine sounded fun after watching a Scrubs marathon whilst waiting for his lung to reinflate.   He is a neurodivergent philomath who  likes to think of himself as a less pathologic ‘Dr House’ and thrives on diagnostic challenges and seeking answers for complex and difficult to diagnose conditions. He deeply understands the realities of navigating complex conditions having had lived experience of hypermobility, orthostatic hypotension/POTS and ME/CFS post septic shock ! He has a special interest in Hypermobility, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, dysautonomia, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, FND, PANS/PANDAS and is proud to be a part of The Australian EDS and HSD Network.  He was the inaugural Crichton Dance Medicine fellow with the Australian Ballet. He is involved in medical education, publication and research. Outside of medicine, Jason enjoys producing dreadfully pretentious short films, photography and custom jewellery.

Dr Ruth Spencer, Womens Health Expert - Jean Hailes

Dr Ruth Spencer is a women’s health GP based in rural Victoria, with a special interest in menopause and vulval conditions. She works in rural general practice, at Jean Hailes for Women’s Health in Melbourne, and also runs a specialised menopause and vulval clinic in Ballarat. With a passion for empowering women through evidence-based care and education, Ruth is committed to providing comprehensive women’s health services.