MD Learning Hub Casual Staff Profiles

Dr Carissa Phillips	Dr Carissa Phillips graduated with an MBBS from the University of Queensland in 1999 and has tutored CBL since 2017. She is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and works part-time as a general surgeon specialising in breast surgery. Dr Phillips enjoys teaching and obtained a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Education from the University of Melbourne in 2021. She enjoys spending time with her family, chooks and sausage dog.

Dr Beth Shirley	Dr Beth Shirley (BSc, MBBS, FRACGP, FHEA) is a medical graduate of the University of Queensland and a GP. Her clinical interest is in working with families with children who have difficulties with sleep or breastfeeding. Beth has been teaching medical students since 2009 and is currently a year one clinical coach and a year two case based learning tutor. She also contributes to the development of clinical skills learning resources within the MD Learning Hub. She completed her FHEA in 2021.
Dr Ameer Alhusuny	Dr Alhusuny has a Bachelor in General Medicine and General Surgery and a Master of Science in occupational health and safety. His clinical and teaching experiences are in Occupational Medicine and Occupational Health and Safety. He has been a case-based learning tutor in the MD Learning Hub since 2017. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the topic of Occupational Health and Safety at UQ. His Ph.D. research is on the neck/shoulder problems and visual symptoms among surgeons performing laparoscopic and robotic surgeries. https://shrs.uq.edu.au/profile/840/ameer-alhusuny
Dr Dale Garred	Dr Garred is a Brisbane-based GP. She has an interest in women’s health, chronic disease management and skin cancer medicine. Dale has been teaching medical students since 2014 in both CBL and Clinical Coaching.
Dr Peter Day	Medical degree: University of New South Wales, Australia; 1980 Internship and Residency Royal Newcastle Hospital of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; Resident 1981 to 1984 The Royal Newcastle Hospital; Royal Brisbane Hospital, Queensland, Australia 1985; Redcliffe Peninsula 7 Day Medical Centre, Queensland, Australia Private Practice 1987 to present, tended to patients in a family medicine practice. University of Queensland tutor in Clinical Communication Skills, work included examining medical students with my first appointment on the 6th of August 1999; Royal Australian College of General Practitioners examiner since 21st of May 2005.
Dr Lesley Palmer	After graduating from UQ Medical School, I proceeded to undertake vocational training in General Practice. Whilst achieving my FRACGP, I also maintained an interest in medical education. I have been working as a Medical Educator in the area of GP training for over 20 years and continue to do so. For the last 10 years I have also worked as a Clinical Coaching and Clinical Communication skills tutor with first year medical students. I also enjoy work in the medical accreditation sphere, both at a GP and hospital level.
Collette Chard	Colette Chard is a Registered Nurse trained at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, with over 40 years of experience working in Brisbane, Melbourne and Hong Kong she has worked across both the public and private sector and is currently working for QLD Health. Her experience extends across a number of speciality areas, such as the perioperative & procedural roles of anaesthetics, post anaesthetic care, scout scrub, cardiac catheter theatre, infection prevention and control and lung cancer research. She has a passion for Quality and Safety in Health Care and has a lead auditors qualification.
Dr Pat Beresford	Pat hails from sunny South Africa, where she attained a BSc honours in Physics. After a stint studying molecular genetics she completed an MBBCh, following which she worked in South African public hospitals in casualty / O&G. She migrated to Victoria, Australia in 2011, and worked as an SMO in Emergency, as well as a tutor of medical students. She has about 8 years experience tutoring, most recently at UQ, including clinical coaching, CBLs, epidemiology / HSR, journal club and bedside tutorials. In 2018 she moved to Brisbane where she works part time, locums in ED and tutors UQ's bright and capable medical students. She enjoys wildlife, diving, flying, warthogs, dogs and chocolate.
Dr Tu Huynh	Dr Huynh graduated from the old UQ undergraduate MBBS. He worked in Ipswich for his early years, while trying to pursue a career in Ophthalmology, and started teaching during this time. Finally, after many unsuccessful years of trying, some publications, an MPH, and few years working in various ICU and ED's, he decided to do General Practice. Dr Huynh Started travel medicine in 2012 and has been teaching and in general practice since. I enjoy teaching both medical students and GP registrars
Dr Penelope Mainstone	Dr Mainstone is a University of Queensland medical graduate, and has worked and trained in Australia, New Zealand, England and the Republic of Ireland. She has speciality qualifications in Palliative Medicine and General Practice, and is an accredited Royal Australasian College of Physicians Supervisor of Palliative Medicine Advanced Trainees. Penny enjoys working as a palliative care clinician, and is an enthusiastic tutor of UQ MD students in Clinical Practice, Case-Based Learning and Medicine-in-Society. She is constantly learning from her students, colleagues and patients!
Dr Susan Bennett	Dr Susan Bennett graduated with honours from the University of Queensland in 1978. She followed a generalist pathway gaining experience in varied clinical fields before settling into General Practice for 23 years. Her particular interests were Palliative Care & Oncology, Gynaecology & GP Obstetrics. Since leaving General Practice she has been tutoring Case Based Learning and Clinical Coaching for UQ for 15 years and continues her clinical work as a general registrar at St Andrews Private Hospital in Ipswich.
Dr P. Jim Drum	Graduate UQ 1968, FRACS 1974 (General Surgeon/Endocrine/Breast), Southport, Gold Coast, Queensland AU - 2002. Remote Area Generalist N.T. 2003. M.O. RFDS, Queensland Section, 2004 - 2008 Clinical Tutor FOM, ‘post retirement’, July ‘08 - Widower - Interests outside of Family: Blue Heelers, opal prospecting, aviation - ‘born to fly’ - per ardua, ad astra. Favourite quotes: ‘ARS longa, VITA brevis’ (Hippocrates). ‘I am not young enough to know everything’‼️ (Oscar Wilde). Gratefully, Dr Jim, Class of ‘68, University of Queensland
Dale Gorry	Dale is a Registered Nurse who is currently studying his Master of Nurse Practitioner after completing a Master's of Advanced Practice and Master of Public Health. Dale has clinical experience in Australia and overseas in emergency, critical care and the prehospital and retrieval environments and has teaching experience with several universities and private organisations including the Australian Resuscitation Council for which he is a Course Director. Dale contributes to the Advanced Life Support workshops in Clinical Practice.
Dr Graham Huxham	Dr Huxham is a medical graduate of the University of Queensland, a retired GP and Senior Lecturer in Physiology and Pharmacology. He was, for a time, elected by students as Faculty Sub-Dean. He had a particular interest in clinical respiratory physiology. He contributed to the development of the Graduate Medical Course which evolved into the MD program and has been a facilitator for PBL or CBL since 1997. He takes great pleasure in the company of enthusiastic adult learners and the opportunity to facilitate the pursuit of knowledge and skill in their chosen profession
Dr Hiro Fukuzawa	Dr Fukuzawa (Hiro) has been working as a GP and teaching UQ Med students for about 15 years. His interests include travel, helping to look after small children and volunteering as a parent helper in primary school. If he gets any spare time, he likes to go and fly an air plane; unfortunately, mostly limited to computer simulation these days
Dr Dhafar Al-Bakry	Dr Al-Bakry graduated from medical school in 1999 and has been working as an academic teaching medical students since 2002. Dhafar has been actively involved in teaching at the University of Queensland since 2011 and currently works as a Case Based Learning tutor for both year one and year two medical students. Dr Al-Bakry also holds a masters degree in public health, completed in 2008 (courses and thesis).
Dr Sujatha Vanguru	Dr Sujatha graduated from NTR University, India. Her clinical interests are in Family Medicine and Geriatrics. She has been teaching at UQ since 2017. Currently Dr Sujatha is a Case Based Learning tutor for Year 1 and Year 2 medical students and a USMLE Step 1 Tutor.
Dr Deborah Hill	MBBS Uni of QLD 1985. Diploma of family planning and FRACGP. Spent her intern year and subsequent 3 years at PA hospital, the last year in the capacity of medical registrar. Went into general practice in 1990 after getting married and became part time after birth of first daughter. Thirty years later still in part time general practice on the outskirts of Brisbane, with 3 grown up daughters. Ten years ago I took on a clinical coaching position at UQ and fell into PBL then CBL when the coaching hours clashed with my clinical work. How time flies.
Dr Julie Hodges	Dr Julie Hodges is a Clinical Psychologist (MAPS, MCCP). She has been a lecturer in the School of Psychology and currently tutors post-graduate psychology students. She is also an accredited supervisor of both Provisional Psychologists and Psychology Registrars. Julie's area of interest is the wellbeing and self-regulatory capacity of children and adolescents. Julie teaches medical students as a tutor in the Clinical Communication Skills modules.
Dr Tim Lowry	Dr Tim Lowry is a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist with a Doctor of Psychology (Clinical) degree from UQ. He also holds Master of Forensic Mental Health (Griffith) and Master of Public Health (Newcastle) degrees. He has worked in public mental health for almost two decades and has clinical and research interests in the fields of forensic mental health and risk assessment. Tim has taught first and second year medical students in the Clinical Communication Skills modules since 2010, and also teaches in other postgraduate psychology and health professional courses.
Dr Kris Mylonas	Dr Kris Mylonas, a UQ graduate, trained at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. His past and present experience includes General Practice, Medical Superintendent of several Central Queensland hospitals in remote communities, Club doctor to a premier Brisbane Football Club, numerous educational roles within the RACGP, Divisions of General Practice and Corporate organisations, such as Med-e-Serv, as well as over 10 years as Clinical Coach and CBL Tutor for UQ Med. Kris' main teaching passion is exploring not only the Science of Medicine, but passing on to medical undergraduates, the valuable 'art' of medicine. Kris also encourages students to fully embrace the bio-psych-social domains of health and to be prepared to question respectfully, current medical practices, because medicine is, and should remain, organic, dynamic and ever-changing.
Dr Harveen Sudarshan Singh	Dr Singh graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Malaysia in 2009. She has worked in various clinical departments in hospitals in Malaysia and Australia. Dr Singh has been a case-based learning tutor since 2018, and a clinical coach since 2019. Having developed an interest in medical education, she completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Education in 2019, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). She is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Education.
Dr Annelie Blinks	Dr Blinks graduated with MBBS from the University of Queensland and is a fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. She has been teaching medical students since 2010 and is currently a year one clinical coach and a relief case based learning tutor. Her area of interest is Emergency Medicine and she has worked in various metropolitan and regional areas within Australia in General Practice but predominantly in Emergency Centres.
Dr Michaela Kelly	Michaela is a medical graduate of the University of Queensland and a general practitioner with a specific interest in aged care. She is interested in the health and well-being needs of older people, multi-morbidity, rehabilitation within aged care, palliative care and the ethical issues surrounding the medical care of elderly people. Michaela has been teaching medical students at UQ since 2010 and currently is a year two case-based learning tutor and the academic coordinator for the Medicine in Society course. Michaela completed a Master of Clinical Education in 2017 and contributes to the work of the RACGP in the development of guidelines for general practice care of older patients and standards for Aged Care.
Dr Bahar Bella Khaki	Dr Bella Khaki is a medical graduate of Beheshti University and practiced as a Medical practitioner and GP for 6 years before she started teaching . Dr Khaki achieved the status of a Associate Fellow (AFHEA) with AdvanceHE in January 2022 . Her clinical interest is women’s health and medical acupuncture, for which she holds a separate registration. Bella has been teaching medical students since 2008 at UQ and is currently a year two CBL tutor. She has a clear understanding of both eastern and western medicine and has an integrative approach in her practice.
Dr Lien Do	Dr Do graduated from school of medicine in Vietnam in 1992. She completed a Master of Science in Medicine (2002) and PhD in Internal Medicine at UQ (2008). Her research focuses on the field of aortic aneurysm; identifying the relationship between oral care and cardiovascular disease; and blood transfusion. Dr Do has been teaching medical students at UQ since 2011 (PBL & CBL) and an OSCE examiner. She holds the certificate of Essential Skills in Medicine Education, certificate in musculoskeletal medicine and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). She was nominated by her students for exceeding their expectations as a clinical teacher and mentor in 2019.
Wendy Katterns	Wendy is the Simulation Centre Manager with the FBBC. She has completed a Master of Nursing (Women’s Health) and has been involved in providing education enhanced by the simulation environment for the past 6 years. Wendy also has extensive experience in various areas of nursing including neurosurgery, surgical, orthopaedics, gastrointestinal, midwifery, neonatal intensive care, emergency medicine, research, retrieval services and simulation education. Wendy has expertise in simulation scenario development and is particularly interested in working with the wide range of health professionals that utilise the FBBC. She maintains a current registration in nursing and endorsement in midwifery. Wendy tutors the advanced life support workshops.
Graeme Wainwright	Graeme is a Registered Nurse with over 20 years clinical experience in the emergency and critical care settings in both the UK and Australia. He has a keen interest in interdisciplinary learning and building effective clinical teams. This includes extensive experience in the delivery of simulation based education to multi-disciplinary clinical teams across Australia. Graeme is one of the lead educators with the Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway and a clinical education advisor and educator for Health Workforce Queensland. Graeme tutors the advanced life support workshops.
Susie King	Susie has been teaching in UQ Medicine since 2002. She has facilitated PBL and Clinical Communication Skills, as well as previously conducting three small research projects and assisting in another. Her academic qualifications are a Bachelor of Arts/Social Work and a UQ Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. A lifelong learner with an interest in facilitation for learning, Susie's clinical experience has included individual and couples counselling and therapy, grief counselling, group work with patients who are post plastic surgery, parents of children with behavioural difficulties, as well as parenting skills groups – variously within hospital and community health settings.
Kay Strom	Kay is a University of Queensland graduate with first class honours. She went on to obtain her FRACGP and has longstanding interests in sexual and reproductive health, communication and medical education. Kay has more than 30 years’ experience in clinical practice, and has been involved in medical education in various forms for more than 20 years. She has a range of teaching roles at UQ, as well as being a director of her own education company, which she co-founded in 2015. Kay’s other major passion is her family – her husband and three magnificent sons.
Dr Jessica De Lopera	Dr Jessica De Lopera completed postgraduate medical training at Griffith University and currently works in General Practice with a special interest in women’s health and paediatrics. Jessica has been involved in the teaching of medical students in CBL and clinical coaching since 2016.
Dr Parul Agarwal	Dr. Agarwal is originally from India, moved to the USA and did secondary school and college there, went to Ross University in Dominica and received her MD in 2004. She did her clinical training in different hospitals in the USA. She moved to Australia in 2006, worked mainly in Mater Adults ED and Mater Mothers and then at Ipswich hospital as ED PHO. In 2014, she got involved in case base learning and clinical coaching for year 1 and 2 medical students at UQ. For the past 4 years she has mainly focussed on GP and UQ students year 2 CBL. Outside of medicine, she loves to meet people from different cultures and travel the world while making a difference in others’ lives.
Dr Xue-Qing Wang	Dr Wang obtained her MBBS from Zhejiang Medical University, China and PhD from The University of Queensland. She has experience in both clinical practice and medical research, and has published 29 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 21 as first author and 14 as corresponding author. She enjoys teaching medical students and has been involved in Phase 1 of UQ’s medical program since 2010.
Dr Paul Cleary	Dr Paul Cleary graduated MB.BS from UQ in 1979. Worked for 7 years in rural Base Hospitals as a Registrar in multiple areas including doing his DRACOG. The next 10 years he was a rural Medical Superintendent. Worked in metropolitan general practitioner for 8 years during which time he did a Graduate Diploma of Skin Cancer Medicine. After doing a Graduate Diploma in Musculoskeletal Medicine he trained as a Medical Osteopath through the London College of Osteopathic Medicine. He returned to Australia working in full time Musculoskeletal Practice. During this period he taught in the Musculoskeletal Post Graduate program at Flinders University. He has been chief author and member of the teaching team for the Certificate of Musculoskeletal Medicine of the Australian Musculoskeletal Medicine Association over the last 4 years. He has been a Tutor in Clinical Practice and CBL since 2016.
Dr Anita Gatt	Dr Gatt completed a BSc majoring in Biomedical Sciences and MBBS at The University of Queensland before interning at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. She then worked at the Queensland Eye Bank undertaking duties relating to tissue transplantation as well as research and quality improvement. She began training in Anatomical Pathology before starting a family, and since 2015 has been a CBL tutor for Year 1 and Year 2, having the opportunity to deliver all CBL tutorials across Phase 1 of the MD program in that time. She is also a surgical assistant at Greenslopes Private Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Dr Rachel Claydon	Dr Claydon is a General Practitioner who specialises in refugee health at the Mater Refugee Complex Care Clinic. She graduated from UQ in 1997 and has been involved in CBL and Clinical Coaching for over 10 years which she thoroughly enjoys.
Dr Upekha Liyanage	Dr. Liyanage completed Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 2012 in Sri Lanka, She worked in various clinical rotations including Emergency Medicine, Paediatrics, and Surgery since then. She started teaching in Case based learning in Clinical Science, Clinical practice and Health, Society and Research in the University of Queensland since 2018. Her research interests (PhD) are in the fields of Epidemiology and Genetic Epidemiology of Skin cancer. She enjoys reading, travelling and having pets.
Dr Aida Stevenson	Aida graduated from Monash University, Melbourne with MBBS and BSc degrees. She attained a Fellowship with the College of General Practitioners and worked part-time in General Practice for over 20 years after early experience in Surgical, Emergency, Paediatric and Psychiatry hospital positions. Her passionate interest in teaching began early in her career starting with Anatomy demonstrating at Monash and later at UQ. Sydney University gave her an introduction to PBL and Clinical Coaching and she has since continued PBL, CBL and Clinical Coaching at UQ. During this time she also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Tertiary Education at UQ. Aida is also a regular assistant in Colorectal Surgery and Urology and works in Colorectal Diagnostics. Her hobbies include sailing and snow skiing, with a Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance Level 2 qualification.
Dr Cherri Ryan	Dr Cherri Ryan (née Willemse) is a Senior Lecturer, with over 20 years’ experience in facilitating collaborative learning in the fields of undergraduate and post-graduate medical education. Dr Ryan completed a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, and a Graduate Certificate in Health Studies (Community Child & Adolescent Health), through the University of Queensland, then specialised in General Practice, obtaining Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in 2001. Dr Ryan worked in clinical medicine for 17 years, before focussing on education and writing. Dr Ryan’s special interests include the design, implementation and continuous improvement of effective medical education, children’s health, and respiratory health. She has worked with non-profit organisations, including Asthma Australia and Lung Foundation Australia, completing a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, and delivering education to a broader audience. She has also been a health columnist for a business magazine and is an author of children’s stories and junior non-fiction.