Meet the speakers
Shantha Raghwan
Dr Shantha Raghwan is a QLD based FACEM driven by the belief that the future of Emergency Medicine must be both excellent and humane. With extensive experience in workforce strategy, governance, and advocacy, she is known for speaking candidly about power, purpose, and the courage it takes to create inclusive, sustainable workplaces. Energetic, reflective, and unapologetically values-led, Shantha invites audiences to lift their gaze toward bright horizons - where listening is leadership, wellbeing is core business, and the next generation of Emergency Care is shaped with intention and hope.
Ben McKenzie
Dr Ben McKenzie is an emergency physician, retrieval specialist, and researcher with extensive experience in both adult and paediatric emergency medicine. Dr McKenzie is the co-founder of the AMAX4 initiative, a best-practice framework designed to improve outcomes in life-threatening anaphylaxis and asthma emergencies. His work in this area has been widely presented to emergency clinicians across Victoria.
Tammy Pegg
Tammy has twenty-five years of working in frontline medicine. After five years in the NHS she took a break to complete a PhD at Oxford, working with one of the UK’s leading cardiothoracic surgeons. Her research was a finalist for the American Heart Association prize in cardiothoracic surgery. In 2008 she moved to New Zealand where she now works as a cardiologist. She has worked on the NZ STEMI pathway, leading the project for the first comprehensive NZ pilot site offering both pre hospital lysis and direct transfer to a PCI centre. She was awarded the order of St John for this work. In 2021 she took a post with Te Tāhū Hauora- The Health and Quality Safety Commission of New Zealand as the clinical lead for Advance Care Planning and the National Shared Goals of Care Program; initiating a national conversation on CPR in hospitals. She is currently a member of the NZ Clinical Senate. In her spare time she is working on a book, title The Endgame - How CPR changed medicine forever, a public facing piece to balance off the unending enthusiasm for this technique inside our hospitals.
Tom Jerram
Dr Tom Jerram is an Emergency Physician at Nelson Hospital. He sees the role of emergency medicine as wide boundaried, with responsibilities extending beyond the patient in front of him to the waiting room, the wider community, society as a whole, and the health of the planet we share.
Sarah Buller
Dr Sarah Buller is an ED Consultant and FACEM at Te Toka Tumai Auckland City Hospital, and Lead for Toxicology at Auckland City Hospital. She has over 10 years’ experience in clinical toxicology across local, regional, and national services.
John Bonning
John Bonning is a specialist Emergency Physician with over 25 years’ experience in that field and has been a doctor for 35 years. He is a past President of ACEM and former Aotearoa New Zealand Faculty Chair, and now works mainly in New Zealand in Waikato and regional hospitals, as well as nationally in telehealth. He has held a variety of leadership positions in both New Zealand and Australia, representing the interests of Emergency Physicians on both sides of the Tasman, and has held College roles for 20 years. A passionate advocate for the fair and equitable use of healthcare resources, he is now focusing on equity and the triple sustainability aim – personal, professional and planet. His final ACEM leadership role is as Chair of the ACEM Foundation, which recently announced a fourth pillar of the Foundation: Sustainable Emergency Medicine and Climate Health. He is on the executive of the ACEM SEMCAN Network and is passionate about sustainability in healthcare, rational resource stewardship and trying to save the planet at the same time.
Peter Allely
Dr Peter Allely is the current President of ACEM. He's been the Director of Emergency Medicine at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital since 2014 and has also worked in Albany ED on the beautiful south coast of WA since 2010. He loves the collegiality and teamwork of working in EDs. He has served on numerous college committees since 2013 as well as convening the 2018 Annual Scientific meeting in Perth.
Adam Pomerleau
Adam is a medical/clinical toxicologist and emergency medicine specialist. He has been the Director of the National Poisons Centre, which is based at the University of Otago in Dunedin, since 2017. He regularly provides telephone-based consultations to healthcare professionals across the country treating poisoned patients in every setting, from primary care to ED and ICU, as part of the NPC’s 24/7 service and liaises with a wide range of stakeholders across multiple sectors to provide clinical toxicology expertise. Adam also works clinical shifts in the ED at Dunedin Hospital.
Ryan Radecki
Dr. Ryan Radecki is an emergency specialist from Waitaha Christchurch and the Senior Clinical Advisor to Health New Zealand Health X and AI Lab. He also serves on the National Clinical Practice Committee and the National AI and Algorithm Expert Advisory Group.
Heidi Baker
Emergency SMO & Paediatrician - Dr Heidi Baker is an Ambassador for Heidi Health. In 2023 Heidi became Aotearoa's first user of the AI Scribe tool now endorsed by Health NZ. She is grateful to the company for ensuring that everyone around the world, can now spell her name! Heidi sees AI used properly as a tool tool to help restore connection| whaunangatanga to healthcare in our busy emergency departments and clinical spaces.
Saxon Connor
Dr Saxon Connor is a senior liver and pancreas Surgeon at Christchurch Hospital . He has had a long interest in process improvement and digitisation of hospital workflows within the public health system. He has strong academic background with H-index of 47 and over 160 peer reviewed papers and book chapters. He has served as a board member for multiple surgical journals and professional associations. In recent times expanded his leadership roles into commercial governance. On a personal level Saxon has become increasingly interested in creating fairness within our health system. His talk will hopefully challenge your thinking on the direction of our current health system and ask you to lead the change.
Jo Cole
FACEM
Ally Hossain
AS CEO of the New Zealand Sepsis Trust, Ally Hossain is a communications & community engagement specialist, bringing more than 25 years of experience to the role. As a former journalist and communications educator in the UK, Australia & New Zealand, she has a wealth of knowledge in understanding what matters to people. Ally also brings first-hand experience to this position after her son had sepsis in 2024 and she is fiercely passionate about her role as a result. Ally is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities of the Trust, formulating the public & health clinician awareness campaigns around sepsis, its media outreach, and the Trust's advocacy for better sepsis prevention and treatment in Aotearoa New Zealand. Ally is an elected member of the Global Sepsis Alliance Board for 2025-2028.
Peter Jones
Peter is the Clinical Lead for Acute Care at Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ), Director of Emergency Research at Auckland Hospital and an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland. He has an MSc in Evidence Based Healthcare from Oxford and a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Auckland, exploring ED time targets and quality of care. He has served on the ACEM Trainee Research, Quality, Overcrowding and Scientific Committees.He is on the IFEM Research Committee and is a member of the International Health Systems Research Collaborative based in Harvard. He also chairs the NZ Emergency Medicine Network for research and has over 120 publications in peer reviewed literature.
Mike Nicholls
Mike has been a doctor for almost 30 years. He has been enjoying his PhD investigating workplace wellbeing in emergency departments in NZ. He is very grateful to all participants and investigators in the study he will be presenting. Protocol link: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/10/e087328. Mike hopes we can learn from this work, put some lessons into practice, and thinks that the new network EDWWIN (https://www.woweated.com/edwwin) has potential to make a positive difference.
Leanne Toney
FACEM
Kim Yates
Dr Kim Yates is an emergency physician who works at North Shore & Waitakere EDs, and who is co-chair of ACEMs Manaaki Mana Advisory Rōpū.
Piki Mathieson
Piki is a Pou Matanga (Clinical Nurse Specialist) in Manaaki Mana at Taranaki ED in Aotearoa. She works within her tribal boundaries of Taranaki and Waikato, supporting her communities through her clinical and leadership roles.She is also Co-chair of the Manaaki Mana Advisory alongside Dr Kim Yates. Piki continues to strive for equitable outcomes for Māori within Emergency Departments.
Juliet Elvy
Juliet is a clinical microbiologist from Awanui Labs Te Waipounamu, as well as PHF Science Wellington. She has a keen interest in all things diagnostic stewardship, quality and antimicrobial resistance, and is an enthusiastic advocate for the NZ Pathology sector. She is an active member of the New Zealand Microbiology Network, the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Advisory Committee and the New Zealand Pathology National Clinical Network.
RISE
RISE is a specialist family violence organisation with over 35 years of experience helping individuals and whānau build safer, healthier lives. Their team of expert clinicians and social workers bring deep knowledge, empathy and specialised training to every service they provide, fostering respectful, resilient communities. Their work focuses on creating lasting change through partnership, innovation and a strong commitment to family wellbeing.
Kate Anson
Kate has been working as an ED physician at Whakatāne ED in the Bay of Plenty, for over 3 years, having previously spent 10 years at Middlemore, South Auckland. She undertook Emergency Medicine training in Christchurch, Auckland and Alice Springs in central Australia. A decision to start learning te reo Māori was the start of a journey into the world of Indigenous health equity. This led to her involvement in the creation and implementation of Te Rautaki Manaaki Mana, ACEM’s Māori equity & excellence strategy. While no longer involved at a college level with Manaaki Mana, Kate continues to promote equity, antiracism, cultural safety and Tiriti responsiveness. Kate’s other passions include mountain biking, tramping and protecting Aotearoa’s unique biodiversity.
Natalie Pugh
Emergency Department Social Worker Natalie has been in her full-time role as the Nelson Hospital ED Social Worker for just over two years, working with multidisciplinary teams to manage crisis situations, facilitate safe discharges, and ensure patient safety by assessing risks, providing support, and navigating social, legal, or financial challenges.A large part of the role involves screening for and supporting individuals and whanau who are actively experiencing family violence, providing a safe place where they are heard, supported and empowered to connect in with the appropriate services / agencies.