SPEAKERS

Click on the sessions in the program tab to find out what topics our speakers will be covering.

Please Note: The program will be launched in the coming weeks along with a full list of speakers.

Conj Prof. Carolyn Hullick

Keynote Speaker

Professor Hullick is an Emergency Physician in Newcastle, New South Wales. She is a senior Harkness Fellow having spent 12 months at Weill Cornell Medical School in New York, investigating care for older people in emergency departments. With this expertise in geriatric emergency medicine, she has developed a program to support acutely unwell residents in residential aged care facilities and has geriatric emergency medicine leadership roles with the Australasian College and the International Federation for Emergency Medicine.

Professor Hullick recognises that vulnerable and complex older people need a health system which collaborates, communicates and places people and their families at the centre of care.

Prof. Steve Wesselingh

Keynote Speaker

Professor Wesselingh took up the position of the Chief Executive Officer at the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in August 2023.

Professor Wesselingh is an infectious diseases physician and researcher. He undertook his undergraduate and doctoral training at Flinders University and his post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins in the United States.

Until July 2023, Professor Wesselingh was the inaugural Executive Director of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). He was also a member of NHMRC Council, Chair of Research Committee, and the President of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS).

Between 2007-2011, he was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University.

Professor Robert W. Neumar

Keynote Speaker

Robert W. Neumar, MD, PhD, is Professor and Immediate Past Chair of Emergency Medicine at the University of Michigan. He has over 35 years research experience across the translation spectrum, and has mentored numerous doctoral students, residents, post-doctoral fellows and early career faculty.

Professor Neumar has been leading advocate for advancing emergency care research throughout his career. In 2007, he was appointed the inaugural Co-Chair of the Task Force on Emergency Care Research co-commissioned by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). This Task Force was instrumental in the 2009 NIH Roundtables on Emergency Care Research, establishment of the first NIH K12 career development program focused on emergency care research in 2011, and the creation of the NIH office of Emergency Care Research in 2012.

Dr. Neumar previously chaired the ACEP Research Committee, Scientific Review Committee, and Research Section. He also Co-Chaired the Research Workgroup of the Association of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine (AACEM) that led the development of the 2030 Strategic Goals for Emergency Medicine Research published in 2021. Dr. Neumar is the recipient of the 2007 ACEP Award for Outstanding Contribution in Research and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015.

Dr Elizabeth "EJ" Marsden

Keynote Speaker

Dr Elizabeth “EJ” Marsden is an emergency physician with a special interest in geriatric emergency medicine. She is currently focused on developing and evaluating prehospital emergency care models for frail older adults. EJ serves as the Clinical Director of the Older Persons Emergency Network (OPEN) across Metro North and holds a Clinical Research Fellowship with Metro North Health.

Outside of work, EJ enjoys camping, surfing and playing card games with her 7-year-old daughter.

Associate Prof. Stephen Macdonald

Invited Speaker

Associate Professor Stephen Macdonald, will present the results of the Australasian Resuscitation in Sepsis Evaluation: FLUid or Vasopressors in Emergency Department Sepsis (ARISE FLUIDS) trial presented at the at the ACEM and EMF Research Symposium 2026. The largest trial ever conducted of fluids vs vasopressors in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The ARISE FLUIDS trial is a multicentre, randomised controlled trial which enrolled 1000 patients presenting with septic shock to the emergency department of participating hospitals in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Ireland. Participants received haemodynamic resuscitation with either a restricted fluids and early vasopressor regimen, or a larger initial IV fluid volume with later introduction of vasopressors if required. The trial primary outcome is days alive out of hospital at 90 days post-randomisation.

This will be a closed, confidential session.