Executive Committee

Dr Jocelyne Basseal leads the strategic development of the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute at the University of Sydney, fostering national and global partnerships. Prior to this role, from April 2020, Jocelyne supported member states in the WHO's Western Pacific Region as an Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) consultant for the COVID-19 response. She is a graduate from the University of Sydney with a PhD in Medical Microbiology and has supervised post-graduate students, delivered lectures, organised scientific conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks.

After leaving academia, Jocelyne spent over 8 years as the Managing Editor, Research and Policy Manager for the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine. With strong governance knowledge, skills in policy development, writing and communication, Jocelyne was instrumental in advocating for best practices in IPC for medical imaging. During this time, she was an IPC advisor and consultant for commercial companies, delivered educational workshops, supported medical associations with their peer-reviewed journals and developed the research grants scheme for a philanthropic organisation. She is currently the President for the Australasian Medical Writers Association, an active member of the Standards Australia HE-023 committee and facilitating IPC guideline development for Radiology Across Borders.

Email: president@medicalwriters.org

Nicola started her career in medical writing after completing a BSc majoring in physiology and pharmacology. Over more than 30 years she has developed experience and expertise in a wide variety of scientific medical writing tasks, from manuscripts (including publications in NEJM, JAMA and the Lancet family of journals) to “plain language” patient information/web site resources, and conference materials. As a freelancer for the last 9 years, she primarily works directly with researchers and key opinion leaders based in Asia or Europe.

Email: vicepresident@medicalwriters.org

Shelley was advised to become a journalist when leaving school but instead went into a life-long career as a nurse midwife specialising in neonatal care. She holds tertiary qualifications in nursing, psychology, editing and publishing, public health, and is currently working towards completing a PhD before she hits retirement age. Currently she works at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Women and Babies as Clinical Nurse Specialist – Audit and Research in RPA Newborn Care.
Her career has also included continuous service on the Executive of the Australian College of Neonatal Nurses, since its early beginnings in New South Wales last century when she began producing their newsletter, and has continued to do ever since. In 1997 she was commissioned to set up a peer reviewed journal for the college and was founding editor for the first six years. Shelley became a member of AMWA after attending one of their annual conferences, quite by chance, and eventually joined the AMWA Committee to contribute her expertise on association governance.

Email: secretary@medicalwriters.org

Sheridan has a PhD in lung cancer and subsequently completed post-doctoral work in COPD. Following this, she left academia and Australia for the varied life of medical writing in New Zealand. After 15 years in medical communications at a medical publisher, she is now back in Australia, and a freelance medical writer focusing on manuscripts for submission to medical journals, medical conference materials and medical education. Oncology, inflammatory lung diseases, HIV and diabetes are specialities, but she’ll turn her writing hand to almost any topic that requires evidence-based, clear and balanced communications.

Email: treasurer@medicalwriters.org

Aajuli Shukla is a General Practitioner with several years of experience working in the diverse communities of Western Sydney. She is one of the editors of the Medical Journal of Australia and is on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Diabetes Management Journal. Recently, she has also been involved in the editing and re-writing of the curriculum and syllabus for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. She is a passionate advocate of early intervention and community-based projects.

Email: ahmen@medicalwriters.org

Lynnette Hoffman is an award-winning medical journalist, health communications specialist and podcast tragic. She’s passionate about developing evidence-based resources that support consumers and health professionals to create lasting behaviour change and make informed decisions that improve outcomes.

Lynnette has written for leading newspapers, magazines, websites and brands, and worked in-house in both the not-for-profit and corporate space.

Eve is an Australian freelance medical writer and marketing consultant based in Brisbane. She specialises in creating clear, caring and credible health content.  Combining a master’s degree in marketing with her past experience as the marketing manager at a major hospital research foundation, Eve applies health-literacy strategies to produce thoroughly researched, up-to-date, evidence-based content.

Jennifer Rowland is an Australian biomedical scientist with 20-years of experience in the academic research sector, and she has worked across a range of research foci and disciplines internationally. She is formally trained in Science, Biomedicine, Economics and Development, Education, and Project Management. Jen moved away from the lab and into writing and editing in 2011, working for Helsinki University, and more recently directing the Master of Research at Macquarie University Medical School. She freelances as a consultant medical writer, online educator, and editor. 

Marie has an MSc(hons) in physiology from the University of Auckland. After graduating, a chance viewing of a job advertisement for a medical writer at Adis International was the start of a medical writing career spanning almost 20 years. Marie has worked on a variety of publications and has reported on late-breaking research from major medical conferences. She has worked as a freelancer for 10 years, and now works with agencies across the globe. She has substantial experience in diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatology and multiple sclerosis, and is willing and able to work across any and all therapeutic areas. Her areas of expertise include manuscripts, conference materials, patient information, and medical education.

Ben is a freelance medical writer based just outside of Melbourne, Australia. Originally from New Zealand, he studied at the University of Auckland, graduating with a BSC in Pharmacology and a Post-Graduate Business Diploma in Health Management. Over the past 15 years, Ben has worked in various roles in medical communications agencies and pharmaceutical companies both in New Zealand and the UK. In 2020, he relocated from the UK to be closer to family in Australia and New Zealand, which gave him the opportunity to try freelancing.

Jen has a BA in Psychology and a Diploma in Proofreading and Editing. She has a diverse background in pharmaceutical distribution customer service, recruitment, property administration and as a teaching assistant.

Jen currently works as a healthcare administrator and also provides content marketing and administrative support to the AMWA Executive Committee.

Email: marketing@medicalwriters.org