The current team
Adeel Aftab is an anaesthetic trainee at the QE II Hospital in Brisbane, with an interest in trainee-led research and perioperative medicine. As a former research registrar at Princess Alexandra Hospital he enjoyed involvement on multiple quality-improvement projects, ANZCA CTN trials, the PAnaesthesia conference committee and helped co-ordinate recruitment for QARRC’s iHype and Pilot SGLT2i studies. He currently holds the title of Associate Lecturer with the University of Queensland and is furthering his study in MSc Perioperative Medicine at UCL.
Matthew Bright is a BT2 based in Toowoomba Hospital. He started his research career in the lab, which has now progressed to clinical research. He’s been involved with single-centre retrospective studies, multi-centre research trials, and systematic reviews. He is looking forward to working on projects across the state, as part of his ongoing interest in a career as a clinician researcher.
Rom Ranasinghe is currently appointed as a Provisional Fellow at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, specialising in Quality and Safety. He has a special interest in health informatics and quality improvement, coordinating recruitment for QARRC’s iHype study at the RBWH, as well as a number of departmental QA/QI audits at the RBWH. He currently holds the title of Associate Lecturer with the University of Queensland. He is also an elected member of the ANZCA Queensland Trainee Committee.
Casey Steele is an AT1 working in the Gold Coast network. His interests lie in regional anaesthesia, pain and translational research. He believes that trainee-led research networks are an untapped resource and that initiatives like QARRC will lead to impactful, potentially practice changing research being produced. He is an associate lecturer with Griffith University and the University of Queensland.
The outgoing exec
Susanna van Haeringen was an anaesthetics introductory trainee and basic trainee at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane. She was involved in setting up the Statewide SGLT2i Audit and the Volatile Audit for QARRC before stepping down in late 2021. She has an interest in medical student and intern teaching and mentoring, and looks forward to contributing to teaching and research at the conclusion of her training.
Maryann Turner was one of the founding chairs of QARRC, and stepped down from this role in 2020 after finishing her training. In addition to her FANZCA, she has also been admitted as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of NSW and has a Masters in Health and Medical Law from the University of Melbourne. She holds the title of Honorary Research Fellow at MRI-UQ and Lecturer at UQ-SOM. She was the 2017 co-chair of the ANZCA Trainee Committee. She is now a staff specialist at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, a ANZCA New Fellow Councillor, and an Editor for Anaesthesia.
Scott Popham was one of the founding chairs of QARRC, and stepped down from 2020 after finishing his training. He was ASA Trainee Member Group National Chair 2016-2017, and coordinated recruitment for the Australian arm of the EpiCCS study in June 2017. His non-clinical interests include education (reinforced by his participation in a post graduate Diploma in Medical Education from University of Dundee), trainee-led research, debriefing & feedback processes, doctors’ welfare, as well as theatre efficiency and hospital systems.
QARRC’s consultant advisors
David Highton is a Staff Specialist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, with an interest in neuroanaesthesia, critical care, and research. Following medical training in New Zealand, David completed dual specialist training in anaesthesia and intensive care in London, UK, and a PhD at University College London. During this time, David established an anaesthetic trainee research group across London (www.uk-plan.net) and supported the development of the national trainee research group RAFT (www.raftrainees.com) via his role as the National Institute for Academic Anaesthesia trainee representative.
Prof André van Zundert is also Chair of The University of Queensland Centre of Excellence & Innovation in Anaesthesia. His research interest is in airway management, regional anaesthesia and obstetrics, for which he has received international recognition. He has been greatly acknowledged for his contributions to: (1) pain relief in childbirth (the suggested technique is still practiced all over the world in the labour ward); (2) providing safe and effective airway management using videolaryngoscopy; and (3) pain therapy.
Angela Tognolini is Staff Specialist Anaesthetist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. She has recently completed her fellowship training in Anaesthesia for Vascular and Major General Surgery. Angela has an interest in education and research and is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Queensland. Her interest in research started when she completed her Honours thesis during her undergraduate science degree. In 2017, Angela was a trainee poster prize finalist at the ASA NSC in Perth where she presented her study on Pain in Pelvic Exenteration: The Role of the Epidural in Major Gastrointestinal Surgery.
Louis Guy is a Staff Specialist Anaesthetist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. In 2017, he completed a fellowship in Upper GI, Hepatobiliary and Bariatric surgery at RBWH. Since 2018, Louis has been undertaking a Masters of Philosophy, Higher Degree by Research at the University in Queensland, focusing on anaesthesia for obese patients and bariatric surgery.