The Council develops policies and submissions on issues of concern to the medical profession and is the governing body of the AMA(SA). Members of Council provide direction and advice to the President and Chief Executive Officer as well as being the peak policy making body of the AMA(SA)

(click on following links to take you to each group)

Office bearers

Craft Group Representatives

Ordinary members

Regional members

Medical Student Representatives

Committee Members Bios

AMA(SA) Council Membership

Office Bearers

President
Dr Peter Ford
president@amasa.org.au

Vice President
Dr Andrew Lavender
vicepresident@amasa.org.au

Honorary Treasurer
Dr Peter Sharley
treasurer@amasa.org.au

Honorary Medical Secretary
Dr David Thomas
homed@amasa.org.au

Federal Councillors
Dr Peter Ford

Dr Rodney Pearce
Dr William Heddle

Dr David Thomas

Craft Group Representatives

Surgeons
Dr David Walsh
surgeonsrep@amasa.org.au

Pathologists

Dr David Evans
pathologistsrep@amasa.org.au

Anaesthetists
Dr Mary-Ann Fox
anaesthetistsrep@amasa.org.au

Doctors in Training
Dr Selma Torronen
ditrep@amasa.org.au

General Practitioners
Dr Robert Wight
gprep@amasa.org.au

Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Dr Stephen Lane
oandgrep@amasa.org.au

Physicians
Dr Roger Hunt
physiciansrep@amasa.org.au

Psychiatrists
Dr Ken Fielke
psychiatristsrep@amasa.org.au

Radiologists
Dr Brian Donnelley
radiologistsrep@amasa.org.au

Women in Medicine
Dr Janice Fletcher
womensrep@amasa.org.au

Salaried Medical Officers
Dr David Thomas
salariedmedicalofficersrep@amasa.org.au

Ordinary Members

Ordinary Member
Dr Johnathan Sporne

Ordinary Member
Dr Michael Rice

Ordinary Member
Dr Rod Pearce

Ordinary Member -
Dr Joseph Przybylko

Regional Members

Northern Region
Dr Nigel Stewart
northernrep@amasa.org.au

Riverland Region
Dr Roger Sexton
riverlandrep@amasa.org.au

South Eastern Region

To be advised
southeastrep@amasa.org.au

Western Region
Dr Sue Baillie
westernrep@amasa.org.au

Medical Student Representatives


Adelaide Medical Students

Mr Rick Fielke
adelaiderep@amasa.org.au

Flinders Medical Students
Mr Shehnarz Salindera
flindersrep@amasa.org.au

Council Members' Bios

Sue Baillie
MB BS Hons, Dip. RCOG, FACRRM, Dip. Health Economics

AMA(SA) Council Regional Representative – Western Region

Dr Sue Baillie is a rural practitioner who has been practising on the Eyre Peninsula since 1986. Her special interests include obstetrics and women’s health, procedural general practice and teaching medical students.

She currently works part-time for the Spencer Gulf Rural Health School as a clinical lecturer. She has held voluntary positions on the hospital Boards at both Cleve and Port Lincoln and has worked as the ‘principal medical officer’ of the Port Lincoln Hospital and Health Services. Having worked in both small and large practices, full-time and part-time over the years, she is in an excellent position to understand the issues facing both rural practice and general practice.

Dr Baillie loves medicine for the fact that it involves life-long learning, and she also welcomes the interactions her work involves with patients and their families during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, which create a very special relationship which she finds a privilege to have. Outside of medicine, she loves to paint and be creative, but finds it hard to find the time, and she also enjoys keeping fit.

Ken Fielke
MB BS, FRANZCP, FRACGP, Dip. RCOG, Dip. Hypnotherapy
AMA(SA) Craft Group Representative for Psychiatrists

After graduating in 1983 from the University of Adelaide, Ken served for four years in the regular Army before venturing into full time general practice for seven years. He subsequently specialized in psychiatry and is a member of both the Colleges. This dual background has enabled him to focus on developing models for the delivery of specialized psychiatric services in primary care using a consultation - liaison approach.

Ken is currently the clinical director of Country Mental Health and was previously the clinical director of the Rural and Remote Mental Health Services (RRMH). He is committed to the provision of psychiatric care to the under-serviced and under-resourced areas of Country SA. He conducts private psychiatric outreach clinics in the Riverland, Victor Harbor, Mount Barker, Ceduna, Yalata and Oak Valley.

His other major interest is indigenous mental health and has been a driving force behind the development of an ‘Indigenous team’ at RRMH which aims to make stream services more sensitive and relevant to patients from an Indigenous background.

Ken was recently a Reference Group member with the Social Inclusion Board in preparing the ‘Stepping up’ report. He is a passionate advocate for leadership by psychiatrists in transforming the SA mental health system.

Rick Fielke

AMA(SA) Council Student Representative – University of Adelaide

Rick Fielke is currently studying medicine at the University of Adelaide, which he commenced in 2003, after taking a year off study after high school, during which time he worked in the operating suite at Wakefield Hospital. He is also currently studying part-time for a diploma of theology at the Australian Lutheran College.

He is particularly interested in surgery, psychiatry and indigenous health, and is attracted to the balance of the challenges found in medicine and the variability in practice which allows medical practitioners to pursue their specific interests while contributing to the community. Some of the issues that particularly concern him are those around the provision of adequate clinical teaching to students and young doctors, particularly with increased student numbers, and the impact this has on the future workforce.

In his life outside study, Rick is undertaking a Duke of Edinburgh Award, and is also a keen bush walker and hiker, often disappearing during the holidays to various part of the bush. He also loves Aussie Rules football and cricket.

Janice Fletcher
MB, BS (Hons), FRACP, MD, BSc, Clinical Genetics (HGSA), Biochemical Genetics
HGSA), FRCPA (genetics)

AMA(SA) Council Representative for Women in Medicine

After a career in paediatrics and genetics working in inborn errors of metabolism, Dr Janice FLetcher has moved her focus to administration and genetic pathology.

She trained primarily in Sydney, at the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital and Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, and was a genetics fellow at the Murdoch Institute, Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, where she obtained her MD.

Dr Fletcher was the Head of the Metabolic Unit at the Women's and Children's Hospital from 1995 to 2008. In 1996, she set up Australia's first adult metabolic clinic at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, with Dr Ian Chapman. In 2001 she was appointed Acting Head of Chemical Pathology at the Women's and Children's Hospital and, in 2003, Deputy Director of Genetic Medicine at the Women's and Children's Hospital. In 2008 she was appointed as Regional Medical Director of the Children's Youth and Women's Health Service.

She has been on the National Examining Panel for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians since 2004, and is the President of the Australasian Society for Inborn Errors of Metabolism and the corresponding member for the Australia for the Society for Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism.

Her particular interests include newborn screening, quality outcomes in inborn errors of metabolism, safety and quality, postgraduate medical training, and the interface between the laboratory and the clinician. Her passions outside of medicine include golf, travel and cooking.

Peter Ford
MB BS, Dip. RACOG, FRACGP, RDA

President, Australian Medical Association (South Australia)

After three years of post-graduate hospital training Dr Ford entered private general practice in the Tea Tree Gully area, and he has now been in general practice for over 25 years. He is a Clinical Lecturer with the University of Adelaide and a Clinical Examiner with the RACGP.

Dr Ford has been awarded the Dr Brian Butcher Award for Service to General Practice, having been a former Chairman of the Division, and also a Manager of Aged Care Programmes. His professional interests include the AMA, support for general practice through the Divisions, and supporting medical student and post graduate general practice training.

As a doctor, he enjoys being able to apply a knowledge of medicine in association with patients and their families, and also finds satisfaction in being able to connect people with components of the medical system which they may find daunting.

His concerns include the ability of the medical profession to adequately service the wider community, care for the disabled, and the importance of ethical conduct in medical practice, not only in relation toachieving the highest standards, but also in perpetuating and enhancing education and communication at all levels.

Mary-Ann Fox

BM BS, FANZCA, MA

AMA(SA) Council Craft Group Representative for Anaesthetists

Dr Mary-Ann Fox graduated from Flinders University in 1987 and pursued her interest in anaesthesia immediately, following the Adelaide rotation through all the major hospitals and being appointed the youngest consultant in the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care in 1995.

Her professional interests have been in consent, and she has made an information video on this area. She has also been involved in the Australian Incident Monitoring Study, and published many articles regarding incidents in regional anaesthesia. She also contributed to the Crisis Management Manual published by this group.

Her current interests include perioperative assessment and management of the high risk patient. She enjoys the many challenges of anaesthesia, particularly the increasingly complicated patient population.

She believes the AMA is the broadest and most prolific supporter of our profession and appreciates being able to understand the challenges faced by her colleagues outside the cocoon of the operating theatre.

Bill Heddle

MB BS, MD, FRACP, FSCANZ, FAMA
Federal Councillor

Bill Heddle is a cardiologist who divides his time between public work as a part-time Senior Consultant at Flinders Medical Centre and private practice in Cardiology. He is also a visiting cardiologist to regional areas including the Riverland, Victor Harbor, and Mt Gambier.

He has keen interest in research and teaching (undergraduate [currently Co-cordinator of Year 3 Graduate Entry Medical Program (GEMP) Flinders University of South Australia] and postgraduate) and is widely cited in many publications, as well as being an active military reservsit and an active member of many professional societies.

He is Chair of the AMA(SA) Road Safety Committee, an elected member of the State Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (SA Branch), a Fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, a member of the Heart Rhythm Society. Dr. Heddle has been an AMA member since 1972, and has been the AMA(SA) Craft Group Representative for Physicians, AMA (SA) Vice-President 2002-3, AMA(SA) President (2003-2005). He is currently Federal Vice-President of the Australian Association of Consultant Physicians (AACP).

His interests outside of medicine include music, gardening, fishing, downhill skiing and farming, and within medicine, issues he feels strongly about include the importance of teaching and research in all areas of medicine, the importance of road safety, and support for rural general practitioners.

Roger Hunt
BM BS, GDPH, FAChPM, MD

AMA(SA) Craft Group Representative for Physicians

Dr Roger Hunt pioneered palliative medicine in southern Adelaide (1984-2003), and is a Foundation Fellow of the Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine. He has a Doctorate of Medicine (by published work) in investigating patterns of terminal care in South Australia, and is widely published, in both professional and public media, on clinical developments in end-of-life care and ethical issues, including euthanasia.

He is particularly interested in the provision of patient-focussed palliative services, ethics, teaching and research, and he is currently Director of Western Adelaide Palliative Care and Clinical Leader of Respecting Patient Choices Program at TQEH.
The thing he enjoys most about being a doctor is helping people in need and being appreciated for it, and he feels strongly about the need to be practical in medicine, to minimise harm and to make healthy choices the easy choices. His interests outside of medicine include music composition and recording, visual art and sport.

Andrew Lavender
MB BS, FRCA, FFARCS

AMA(SA) Vice-President

Dr Andrew Lavender is the vice-president of the AMA(SA) and is also the regional representative for SA/NT on the federaql AMA council. He has worked as a staff anaesthetist at the Royaql Adelaide Hospital (RAH) since 1995, when he returned to Adelaide after nine years living and working in the UK and Ireland, and has a special interest in cardiac and neurosurgical anaesthesia. He is currently deputy director of anaesthesia at the RAH.

Dr Lavender has been involved actively in the affairs of the AMA(SA) over an extended period, having served on the AMA(SA) Council over a number of years. During this time he has been involved with several rounds of enterpriose bargaining negotiations in SA, and he is a strong advocate for public sector doctors and the patients they care for.

Rodney Pearce
MB BS, FAMA

AMA(SA)Council – Federal Councillor

Dr Rod Pearce has studied in Adelaide and worked at the RAH, TQEH and Modbury hospitals before starting work in his current city practice. He has worked in rural areas of South Australia and continues to work in medical politics to enhance the opportunities for better patient care.

Dr Pearce is on the board of the Influenza Specialiswt Group, AGPAL/QIP, the Adelaide Central and Eastern Division of General Practice, and TRACsa. As a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, he has a national interest in immunisation. He also chairs the National General Practice Supervisors Association, and is keenly interested in educating the next generation of doctors.

Patient empowerment is a key issue for Dr Pearce, and he finds great satisfaction in helping people stay well, as well as the insights that working with his patients provides. He believes that the medical profession is given a privileged position in the community and that it is vital that the profession responds to this and keeps the respect of the community and the confidence of patients.

Dr Joe Przybylko

MB BS (Adelaide)

AMA(SA) Counvil - Ordinary Member

Dr Joe Przybylke is a family GP with a focus on lifestyle and prevention. He has a special interests in diabetes, mental health and medical education, and views socially responsive and responsible general practice as the cornerstone of health care delivery, in which big health care dollar savings can be made or wasted.

Dr Przybylke believes that health economics and social and community medicine need to be taught in the undergraduate medical courses and that the notion of responsible and sustainable “consumerism” of health care services needs to be a strong focus of government policy and public education.

He is 58 years old, is married to Roslyn and has three adult children, two of whom have committed to the “craft” of medicine.

Dr Przybylko has been in general practice for the past 20 years, having been a farmer, electrician and an engineer in his “former life”.

Michael Rice

MB BS, FRACP
AMA(SA) Councillor – Ordinary Member

Dr Michael Rice has been a consultant paediatrician in private and public hospital practice in Adelaide since 1967. He has been awarded the Howard Williams Medal (Australian College of Paediatrics), the Medal of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Centenary Medal and the AMA Gold Medal, and has been made a Fellow of the Australian Medical Association and a Member of the Order of Australia.

He has also been highly active on a number of committees, including the Medical School Curriculum Committee at the University of Adelaide and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Committee for Examinations, and has been a member of the RACP Council and the AMA Federal Council, and was the inaugural Chairman of the AMA Child and Youth Health Committee and president of the AMA(SA) (2000-2002). He is also currently Chairman of the South Australian Clinical Senate.

Dr Rice has an ongoing interest in the problems associated with children with cancer, child advocacy and, more recently, the new public health problems facing children and families. His interests outside of medicine include sport, travel, reading, wine and watching the achievements of his children and grandchildren.

Shehnarz Salindera

AMA(SA) Council Student Representative – University of Adelaide

Shehnarz is in her third year of study in the Flinders University graduate entry medical program. Her previous study includes B. Molecular Biotechnology and also a Masters Health Law from the University of Sydney. She is currently undertaking her third-year studies in the Riverland as part of the Flinders Parallel Rural Community Curriculum because of her commitment to working as a rural doctor in the future. The Riverland program provides a great opportunity to have a very 'hands on' clinical experience in a range of areas including emergency medicine, surgery and general practice, and also exposes students to the benefits of rural life.

Areas of medical specialty that interest her include general practice, general surgery and cardiology. She is particularly passionate about issues of medical education and training opportunities for medical students in our already overloaded health system, support for women in medicine, and also about improving health care in rural areas. Her interests outside of medicine include travel, fashion and sailing and so naturally her favourite holiday destinations are places that combine all three of her hobbies such as Singapore and the Mediterranean.

Roger Sexton

MB BS, DRCOG, FRACGP, FACCRM

AMA(SA) Council Regional Representative – Riverland Region

After growing up in country South Australia, Dr Sexton studied for his medical degree at the University of Adelaide.
After internship at the QEH in 1978, he then studied obstetrics and gynaecology in the West Midlands in the UK before returning to Adelaide to study paediatrics and anaesthetics, in preparation for his future work in rural general practice at Mt Pleasant and Birdwood, where he has served the local communities for 27 years.

In addition to his full -time work with patients, he also coordinated GP training at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for five years and organised the GP Education Week. Roger has a keen interest in doctors’ health and managed the innovative Dr DOC Program for rural GPs across South Australia for five years to 2006. The opportunity to make a positive difference drew him to become a member of the Medical Board of South Australia in 2006 and AMA(SA) council member in 2008. He is married with two teenage children, enjoys music performance and runs a small rural sheep property near Birdwood.

Peter Sharley OAM
MBBS, Dip Obs RACOG, PG Dip Av Med, PG Cert AME, Dip Bus Mgt,
FANZCA, FJFICM
AMA(SA) Treasurer

After graduating from the University of Adelaide Dr Sharley completed terms in obstetrics and rural general practice. He commenced specialist training in anaesthesia and subsequently intensive care medicine, commencing as a specialist at the RAH in 1993.

He has spent a great deal of his professional life providing critical care services to rural South Australia 24/7. The introduction of critical care telemedicine to the rural sector and improvement in the state systems that support rural doctors have been long term rewarding projects.

Dr Sharley is currently Deputy Director of the Royal Adelaide Hospital Intensive Care Unit. He is also a Specialist Medical Officer for Careflight NSW, a Visiting Intensivist at Memorial, Calvary and Alice Springs Hospitals, and is active on the
Adelaide University Sports Blues Committee. Previous professional postings include: Assistant Professor in Anesthesiology at the University of California, Davis Medical Centre, California USA and Director, Royal Adelaide Hospital “Mediflight” Critical Care Retrieval Service. 2002-2007.

David G Thomas
MB BS, FRACGP, MD, M. Ed

AMA(SA) Council – Federal Councillor

Dr David Thomas studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, winning both the Elder Prize and Sir Trent Champion de Crespigny Prize, and going on to gain fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and completing an MD and M. Ed at Flinders University.

A consultant paediatric physician, Dr Thomas has expertise in general paediatrics, and wide experiemce in tertiary and metropolitan hospitals, community and rural settings. His particular interests include nutrition, child obesity, child development and behaviour, and diabetes, and he has an ongoing research interest in learning styles in medical education and factors influencing motivation and work satisfaction.

He is currently director of paediatric physician training and senior consultant in paediatric medicine at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. He is also a senior lecturure in paediatrics for the University of Adelaide, a visiting paediatrician for South Australia’s Riverland region, and co-director or the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Centre for Continuing Education.

Selma Torronen
MB BS

AMA(SA) Council – Doctors in Training Representative

Selma Torronen is a graduate of the University of Adelaide. Originally from Canberra, she found South Australia a warm and welcoming environment during her medical degree. She spent her fifth year of medical school training in Whyalla and developed a taste for rural medicine. An elective in Kompaim, a small village in Papua New Guinea helped to cement her interest in paediatric and community health. She completed her intern year at Flinders Medical Centre in 2007 and is currently undertaking her first year of paediatric training at Flinders Medical Centre with a view to becoming a general paediatrician. She is interested in undertaking rural paediatric practice.

After attending AMA(SA) Doctor’s in Training (DiT) Committee meetings with other trainee doctors who were keen to work towards improved training and education, she decided to nominate for the chair position.

During her training, she would like to undertake a diploma of education and spend some of her training educating others. She is passionate about DiT issues concerning intern training and education, increasing educational opportunities for doctors in training and working towards reducing barriers to DiT educational opportunities.

Outside of medicine, she enjoys ballroom dancing, surfing, soccer, reading, cooking, music and spending time with friends.

David Walsh

MB BS, FRACS

AMA(SA) Council Craft Group Representative for Surgeons

Dr David Walsh is a general surgeon with strong interest in breast, endocrine and surgical oncology and, in particular, familial breast cancer and high risk breast cancer families. He has published on Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Micrometastases in peripheral blood and Laparoscopic Oophorectomy in Breast Surgery.

Dr Walsh is the Head of the Breast Endocrine Surgical Unit at TQEH and Senior Lecturer in Breast Endocrine Surgery at the University of Adelaide, and is a former Chair of the South Australian Regional Board of the College of Surgeons.

His interests outside of medicine include tennis, running and the Sturt Football Club, and the thing he enjoys most about being a doctor is trying to live up to the trust that patients have in their doctors.

Robert Wight
MB, BS, FRACGP, DPH, M.Sc (Ex Physiol)
Chair AMA(SA) CGP Committee and on Executive of National AMACGP Committee
AMA(SA) Council Member Craft Group Representative

Dr Wight graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1963. He spent four years as Medical Superintendent at the Pit River Hospital in Papua, Indonesia; worked with the National Trachoma & Eye Health Programme with Fred Hollows in Central Australia; held the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Southern Domiciliary Care now Metropolitan Domiciliary Care for 20 years and Chair of SDGP for six years.

He has been a Senior Clinical Lecturer at both Adelaide and Flinders Universities; a consultant for Rotary International in Bangladesh and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Burma and for World Vision in Indonesia. He received the Paul Harris Fellowship Award for service to third world countries.

Dr Wight has been in practice at Christies Beach for 29 years and is a life member of the RACGP. He presented a research paper in Denver, Colorado on Exercise Physiology which was published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology. He has been lecturing to the community on Lifestyle Planning for almost 30 years.

He is passionate about general practice in both urban and rural areas and feels GPs are critical to the health care of Australia and need to be appropriately funded and supported. He enjoys teaching and encouraging medical students and received a Teacher of the Year Award from Flinders University in 2006. HIs interests outside of medicine include concert piano, canoe racing, swimming and golf.