Our Speakers
Thank you to all of our speakers at the 2023 AMWA Conference, Making a Difference.
In this era of ‘fake news’, ill-informed influencers, and social media algorithms effective science and health communication is vital for maintaining public trust. A microbiologist by training, Siouxsie has spent the last decade learning how to be a better communicator. That’s including tweeting and blogging, as well as working with artists, animators, and illustrators. In her presentation, Siouxsie will talk about her journey to becoming an engaging and trusted public communicator of science and reflect on the lessons she’s learned along the way.
Archana Arya-Ram (MSc) is a Medical Writer at AMICULUM, a UK-based healthcare communications agency. While studying at university, she worked through a range of retail and office roles. Upon completing her masters degree she chanced upon a job advert for an entry-level medical writer. This role set in motion a transformative journey in the field where she now has over two years of experience delivering a diverse range of projects across multiple time zones.
Blair Hesp is Principal Consultant at First in Human Communications and Managing Director at Kainic Medical Communications, a multi-award—winning medical communications agency. He was is the lead author of the Asia-Pacific adaptations of GPP3 and GPP2022, as well as being an active contributor to the Australasian Medical Writers’ Association, International Society of Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) and the Asia-Pacific MedComms Network. Blair has previously been named the most innovative person in marketing and communications in New Zealand.
Chris Carswell has been the Editor in Chief of PharmacoEconomics for eighteen years and he is a Senior Editor for Springer Nature. He is also the Editor in Chief of The Patient:Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Co-Editor in Chief of PharmacoEconomics Open, and the consulting editor of Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. He also leads a team of professional journal editors in the fields of pharmacoeconomics, pharmacovigilance, sports medicine and pharmacokinetics. He practised as a clinical pharmacist for over 10 years before becoming a medical writer and then a full-time professional journal editor with Adis publications in 2001. Chris has a particular interest in the communication, understanding and reporting of research and the use of social media in health communication. He has been a regular international speaker on these topics including at the UK China Health Economy Partnership and the UK-Egyptian Welfare, Impact, Society, Economy Partnership. Chris is an author on the Good Publication Practice Guidelines-3 and the CHEERs reporting guidelines.
Darren Goossens is Biotext’s training manager. Darren has more than 25 years’ experience in communicating science at all levels up to invited talks at international conferences. A specialist in mathematical sciences, he is an experienced science writer who has authored or co-authored textbooks, online learning resources, scientific papers and numerous reports. He has a PhD in physics and has been a researcher at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales. Apart from writing, editing and proofreading, Darren’s role at Biotext includes developing learning materials, presenting training workshops and providing expertise on the presentation of data.
He has a Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing and Editing from the University of Canberra and is an Accredited Editor with the Australian Institute of Professional Editors.
Emily Writes is a mum of two, a columnist, an activist, a volunteer, a writer and a friend. She is currently making a living from her online newsletter (Emily Writes Weekly) subscriber base. She is also the director of Awhi Nga Matua – a charity supporting parents of disabled and medically fragile kids.
Emily has been navigating the health system for her eldest child for more than a decade. She began to write about her experiences parenting a medically fragile child around eight years ago, and this mahi has become her life’s work. She is the director of a not-for-profit providing guidance and support for parents of disabled and medically fragile children - Awhi Ngā Mātua.
Emily believes that parents and tamariki sharing their lived experiences of illness and disability and living within the margins of the health system is empowering and world changing too. She will share how she has created changes in her whānau and community by writing about the health system and her family’s experience of it.
Emma began her career as a pharmacist and discovered medical writing whilst living in the UK. Emma's most recent role is as the Medical Lead for a Sydney-based medical communications agency. Past roles include Senior Medical Writer for Australian med comms agencies (in-house and freelance) and Medical Writer Manager for a global pharmaceutical company in London. She was also the president of AMWA from 2019—2021.
Emma’s clinical experience enables her to write patient-centric, insight-driven content to help address the challenges faced by healthcare professionals — whether that's accredited medical education, branded content or anything in between.
2019—2021.
Eve Vickerson is a freelance health writer and marketer whose speciality is creating compelling content for diverse sectors in the healthcare industry including digital health companies, health tech firms, healthcare not-for-profits, clinical research organisations, national peak health organisations, health insurance funds, and healthcare providers. 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.
Felicity Nelson is a science and medical journalist with bylines in Nature, ScienceAlert, Guardian Australia, news.com, Mamamia, Croakey, Healthed and The Medical Republic. She edits Nature’s weekly Cancer Briefing and writes scripts for YouTube channel Veritasium. Felicity owns a writing, coaching and strategy consulting business called Frogs and Stars. Her stories were published in The Best Australian Science Writing anthologies in 2020, 2019 and 2017. @frogsandstars
Professor Gillian Whalley has maintained both a clinical career as a registered sonographer and an established herself researcher in cardiology. Her research interests include equity and appropriateness of care; using echocardiography for prognosis; the role of echocardiography for screening in asymptomatic high-risk populations; and indexing heart size for body composition. Her PhD thesis (2006) evaluated the role of echocardiography in the management of patients with heart failure. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Australasian Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine and serves on several other journal boards, including BMJ Open Heart, Heart, Lung & Circulation. She has co-authored approximately 200 peer-reviewed papers and her H-index is 39. ORCID link: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5713-6967
Dr Heather Came is a seventh generation Pākehā New Zealander. She has
a background is in public health and social justice activism. Her
research focuses on critical policy analysis, Te Tiriti o Waitangi,
anti-racism and institutional racism in the health sector. As an
activist scholar Heather is a founding member and co-chair of STIR:
Stop Institutional Racism, has prepared expert evidence for Waitangi
Tribunal, has presented to United Nations human rights committees. In
2020 she founded the Decol 2020 series of virtual anti-racism
gatherings. She was a joint winner of 2021 Kāhui Hauora Tūmatanui
Public Health Champion Award and in 2022 was the winner of the AUT VC
Individual Teaching Excellence Award. In 2022 she was made a member of
the order of New Zealand for her contributions to Māori, health and
education. She works as an Associate Professor at Auckland University
of Technology and is an Adjunct Professor with Victoria University of
Wellington. She also has a consultancy – Heather Came and Associates
focussing on pursuing racial justice.
Professor Jonathan Koea (Ngāti mutunga, Ngāti tama) grew up in Taranaki and graduated from Medical School at the University of Auckland. After completing General Surgery training in Aotearoa New Zealand, Jonathan undertook post fellowship training in surgical oncology and hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City. He is Professor of Surgery at the University of Auckland, an examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the subspeciality editor for HPB Surgery for the ANZ Journal of Surgery and maintains a research program in the fields of HPB Surgery, gastrointestinal cancer and indigenous health.
Dr Taiuru is a leading authority and a highly accomplished visionary Māori technology ethicist specialising in Māori
rights with AI, Māori Data Sovereignty and Governance with emerging digital technologies and biological sciences.
He brings extensive expertise in mātauranga, tikanga Māori, te Tiriti and advocacy for digital Māori rights and data sovereignty and a
profound understanding of the intersection between Māori knowledge and emerging technologies.
A professional director with membership with Institute of Directors and Governance New Zealand, Dr Taiuru operates a boutique Research and
Māori cultural advisory company Taiuru & Associates.
Other roles include membership and Kahui Māori advisor of the New Zealand AI Forum, member and tangata whenua governor of the Artificial
Intelligence Researchers Association, invited member of the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor – Expert Advisory Committee
on Artificial Intelligence, a legislated expert member of the Trade Marks Advisory Committee and Ministry of Health Tikanga Expert on
Assisted Reproduction, as well as many other governance appointments.
An honorary Academic at the Faculty of Engineering Auckland University Robotics courses, Dr Taiuru is also involved with numerous academic
research projects and one Marsden Research project.
Dr Taiuru is a leading authority and a highly accomplished visionary Māori technology ethicist specialising in Māori rights with
AI, Māori Data Sovereignty and Governance with emerging digital technologies and biological sciences.
He brings extensive expertise in mātauranga, tikanga Māori, te Tiriti and advocacy for digital Māori rights and data sovereignty and a
profound understanding of the intersection between Māori knowledge and emerging technologies.
A professional director with membership with Institute of Directors and Governance New Zealand, Dr Taiuru operates a boutique Research and
Māori cultural advisory company Taiuru & Associates.
Other roles include membership and Kahui Māori advisor of the New Zealand AI Forum, member and tangata whenua governor of the Artificial
Intelligence Researchers Association, invited member of the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor – Expert Advisory Committee
on Artificial Intelligence, a legislated expert member of the Trade Marks Advisory Committee and Ministry of Health Tikanga Expert on
Assisted Reproduction, as well as many other governance appointments.
An honorary Academic at the Faculty of Engineering Auckland University Robotics courses, Dr Taiuru is also involved with numerous academic
research projects and one Marsden Research project.
Koa Webster PhD is an experienced medical writer with Envision Pharma Group, based in Sydney, Australia. Prior to Envision, she worked as a research scientist and science communicator. Koa is passionate about patient involvement in medical research and publications.
Dr Lesley Cunliffe (PhD) is a freelance Medical Copywriter and healthcare Creative Director. After completing her PhD, she spent time working for Nature Reviews Journals as a Copy Editor, and later an Associate Editor. From there, she took the leap into healthcare advertising and worked at several leading agencies in London and Sydney as a Senior Medical Writer, and ultimately a Creative Director, before deciding to work for herself. Now she is dividing her time between working remotely for her clients and replanting a small corner of native forest in New Zealand.
Lynnette Hoffman is the managing editor at Healthed, which provides continuing education for GPs. Previously, she specialised in health promotions, behaviour change and program design in the private health insurance space. She also developed educational resources for health professionals at government-funded not-for-profits, and has freelanced as a medical writer for a broad range of clients. Before all that, she began her career as a journalist, first as a small-town newspaper reporter and then regularly contributing health and medical articles to leading newspapers, magazines and websites aimed at both health professional and consumer audiences. @nomadlynnette
Mangor is an Associate Professor at Auckland University of Technology (AUT - Department of Psychology and Neuroscience) and the Associate Head of Research at the AUT School of Clinical Sciences. His research interest is developing and validating new technologies for quantifying human brain networks using MRI, including machine learning and network science approaches. These approaches have contributed to the ability to model brain dysfunction in people with epilepsy and traumatic brain injury. He currently holds the HRC Emerging Researcher Grant. He is the AI lead of the $30 million Australian Epilepsy Project and a theme lead in the AUT Traumatic Brain Injury Network and the AUT BioDesign Lab. He received the AUT Excellence Award Emerging Researcher in 2021, the University of Melbourne early-career fellowship in 2018, and the American Epilepsy Society Young Investigator Award in 2017.
Mark Caswell is a freelance medical writer based in Dunedin, New Zealand. He worked at bpacnz for ten years, including one year as Managing Editor, before starting his own business in 2020. Mark predominantly writes educational articles for health professionals in New Zealand and Australia, including general practitioners and other healthcare specialists. He also has experience writing for patient advocacy groups and medical textbooks. Mark served on the AMWA Board from 2016 until 2021.
Dr Myra Ruka (Raukawa, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Kuri) is a Clinical Haematologist at Waikato Hospital and a PhD student at Auckland University. Through her roles as co-chair of the Te Whatu Ora Waikato Clinical Equity Leadership, Waikato Clinical Procedures Committee and member of the Board of Clinical Governance Myra has provided strategic direction and led local and regional service planning efforts, resulting in significant equity gain. She co-led the design and implementation of a Kaupapa Māori service at Te Whatu Ora Waikato working collaboratively with Māori leaders, kaimānaki (patient navigators), patients, whānau (family) and the organisation, to address waitlist inequities in planned care services. She serves as a board member of Hei Ahuru Mowai (Māori Cancer Leadership Aotearoa) and is the Clinical Equity Lead at Te Aho o Te Kahu (The Cancer Agency). Myra’s leadership is also evident in her current PhD research project, co-designing and implementing a Māori-led cancer service in Te Whatu Ora Waikato. Her commitment to advancing equity and culturally safe practices in cancer research is further demonstrated through collaboration with Cancer Trials New Zealand and Hei Ahuru Mowai and her role as equity research advisor for CAR-T cell therapy research at the Malaghan Institute, Wellington.
Priya is a senior biostatistician/senior lecturer at the University of Auckland. She is known as a global health analyst, data analytic visionary, discrete creative disruptor, and dynamic public health strategist. She has dedicated her research to reducing inequalities and inequities within the national and across global health sectors, specialising in adverse neurological causes and outcomes. Priya is passionate about building capability and capacity in analytics and has been fundamental in implementing and leading large-scale transdisciplinary platforms that enable collaborative learning and training. She is a respected member of numerous national and international advisory boards/committees, leveraging expertise in health, analytics, law, and ethics to advocate for improving health outcomes for New Zealanders.
Serina Stretton PhD, ISMPP CMPP™ is a certified medical publication professional with more than 20 years’ experience working with authors and clients globally and in the Asia Pacific region. Serina has published peer-reviewed research on publication misconduct, is a past-Convenor of the Medical Writing Interest Area Committee for ARCS Australia, and past-member of the Global Alliance for Publication Professionals. Currently, Serina is Division Lead for Envision Pharma Group, based in Sydney Australia.
Simone started her career in medical writing after completing a BSc majoring in biomedical science. As the team leader of the Medical Communications writing division at the Springer Healthcare New Zealand office, she is involved in managing the successful delivery of a wide variety of scientific medical writing tasks from her 8 direct reports and herself. Over the last 15 years in the industry, her primary specialties have been diabetes, oncology and cardiovascular disease; but, like any experienced medical writer, is happy to apply her medical writing expertise to any therapeutic area.
Dr Suszie Tyree, PhD, CMPP, completed her postdoctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University Medical School, where she also obtained a certificate in Machine Learning. Dr Tyree has previously led the Scientific and Regulatory team at an international clinical research organization, where she assisted in designing clinical trials that incorporated machine learning methodologies to analyse data from medical device trials. Dr Tyree is now a medical writer at ICON Plc.
Victoria Thompson is the Nurse Support Coordinator with Bowel Cancer NZ.
Her role is varied and involves not only support for patients and whanau, but also education, advocacy and helping to raise the profile of
bowel cancer in NZ.
With a background in community palliative care both here and in Australia, she believes that coming alongside people, hearing their stories
and being part of that journey is incredibly important. She also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing with a focus on Adult
Education and Palliative Care.
Yasmin Wilkinson (BBiomedSc[Hons], University of Otago) is an accomplished medical writer at Kainic Medical Communications with expertise in immuno-oncology. She enjoys experimenting with emerging technologies to gain hands-on experience and uncover innovative use cases for the medical writing field.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.