The Secretariat

Tel -  61 7 4642 1603

President - CAMS Chairman

Level 6,

372 Albert Street

Elizabeth Farrell is the President of the Asia-Pacific Menopause Federation (APMF) for the triennium 2007-2010 and the Australasian Menopause Society representative to the APMF.  She is also the representative to CAMS of the IMS.   She is a gynaecologist, and Head of the Menopause Unit at Monash Medical Centre, Clayton Victoria, a director of the Jean Hailes Foundation and a consultant Gynaecologist to both the Jean Hailes Medical Centre and their Education Unit.  For many years she has been involved in education to both the community and health professionals and in clinical research. She is the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 4th Scientific Meeting of the Asia Pacific Menopause Federation, Sydney 2010

Honorary Treasurer

DR LINDA SPINKS, MBBS (QLD)            

Dr Linda Spinks graduated from Queensland University and practiced as a GP in rural Qld for 13 years where her interest in Women’s Health and menopausal medicine developed.  She was involved in developing preventive health screening clinics for women in smaller rural towns.  She currently works in Brisbane in general practice and at the Lilian Cooper Centre – a clinic specialising in Women’s Health.  Linda has been a surveyor for General Practice Accreditation since 1999 and regularly participates on the Accreditation Review Committee.   She has a strong commitment to quality healthcare and evidence based practice.

DR ANN OLSSON MBBS, FRANZCOG

Dr Ann Olsson is a gynaecologist currently practising in Adelaide. She graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1984 and completed specialist training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1994. Since that time she has been working in private practice in metropolitan Adelaide.  Hospital appointments include Senior Visiting Gynaecologist to the Menopause, Hysteroscopy, Colposcopy and Vulval Disorders Clinics at the Royal Adelaide Hospital where she is also involved in the training and supervision of gynaecology trainees and medical students.  She is currently President Elect of the Australian Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynaecology.  She has served on the Education subcommittee of the Australasian Menopause Society since 2003 and has been involved in the development of the patient information leaflets available on the AMS website. She is a member of the Scientific Program Committee for the Australasian Menopause Society Congresses in 2007 and 2008. She is also a member of the Organising Committee for the 2007 Congress and has been responsible for organising the Public Forum for that Congress.  Dr Olsson is also a Member of the Board of Directors of Burnside War Memorial Hospital, a position she has held since 2001.

Education & Research Sub-Committee Chair

Email -jane.elliott@adelaide.edu.au

DR JANE ELLIOTT MBBS

Dr Jane Elliott is a GP with a longstanding interest in menopause medicine.  She is currently the Clinical Director of the Adelaide Hormone and Menopause Centre , which is a clinical and research centre with GPs , nurses and specialists consulting as a team.  She is also a partner in a general practice for the past twenty years in North Adelaide and has additional interests in counselling.  Jane has a strong commitment to the holistic management of the menopause using evidence-based medicine and research and is involved in many international clinical trials in menopause therapies.  Her other interests include medical education and doctors’ health.

Jane has been a member of Australasian Menopause Society for many years, and for the past 2 years has been Honorary Secretary of the AMS Council and has been Acting Chair of the Education Sub-committee , which has developed the AMS patient information pamphlets , Menopause Monologues and been involved in collaborations with the Jean Hailes Foundation.

Jane is keen to continue to be part of the team working to see  the AMS thrive and grow to enable it to support and promote research into women’s midlife health as well continuing the role of education of both health professionals and the community as a whole. She  believes that GPs are the forefront of  the holistic care of women at menopause and would like to continue to facilitate further education and peer support for GPs, all AMS members and women in this area via our website, email and meetings.

Past President

DR BEVERLEY LAWTON - MB ChB
Dr Beverley Lawton is Senior research fellow women’s health Department of General Practice, Wellington School of Medicine and Health science. Involved in research trials and public education and co- principle investigator of former UK WISDOM study. Beverley’s research focus is mid-life health for women, She is a Member of New Zealand Guidelines Committee on HRT, Member of National Ethics Committee on Assisted Human Reproduction, Director of Wellington Menopause Clinic. She is committed to the Australasian menopause Society being the premium organisation for supplying educational support including research news, concerning women’s midlife health for its members. This last year has shown us that we all need rapid access to research information and the clinical significance of results so that we can best inform our patients and this has been a major role of the AMS . The council has endeavoured to respond publicly and through Changes and the web site to inform members and the public.

Changes Editor

173 Carinish Road

Clayton  Vic  3163

DR SONIA DAVISON MBBS FRACP PhD
Sonia is currently an NH&MRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Women’s Health Program, Alfred Hospital, Monash University where she is undertaking a study of the effects of testosterone on cognition in women.   She is an Endocrinologist in Private Practice at the Jean Hailes Foundation for Women’s Health with interests in gynaecological and general endocrinology.  Sonia completed a PhD in 2006 examining androgen levels in 1423 Victorian women and their relationships with age, wellbeing, sexual function, natural and surgical menopause

DR CHRISTINE READ  MBBS ThA FAChSHM Grad Cert PH            

Dr Christine  Read is Medical Director, Family Planning NSW and a sexual health physician. She worked at the Sydney Menopause Centre from 1999-2005 and was investigator on a number of menopause related studies at the Barbara Gross Research Centre at the Royal Hospital for Women.

She has a particular interest in educating health professionals about menopause and regularly holds basic workshops for general practice registrars and advanced programs for the management of menopause in primary care. She has worked with the Jean Hailes Foundation to provide satellite educational programs and distance programs for rural general practitioners.

Providing reproductive and sexual health services to rural and Indigenous women is another passion and Dr Read regularly travels to Dubbo in western NSW providing clinical services and has worked on projects with the RACGP Women’s ATSI Project and Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation to provide better services for rural Aboriginal women.

Christine will work towards improving the quality of information and knowledge general practitioners and community members have about the menopause and its management; and will provide a balanced and ethical viewpoint on debates and controversies that may arise and provide clear communication to council from a primary care perspective.

Profile

Dr Jan Batt is a generalist gynaecologist with interests in menopause and colposcopy.   Jan works in a group practise part-time in Hobart and the remainder of her time is spent looking after her family. This comprises a husband who is an anatomical pathologist, four children ranging in age from 12 -18 years, 5 dogs and a cat.   Jan trained at the University of Tasmania and the Royal Hobart Hospital and then travelled to England for 2- 3 years of advanced training. Like many Tasmanians before, they returned home to enable the combination of work and starting a family. Once here, Jan was the only female O&G in the state for some 10 years so needed to become interested rather rapidly in this area of health.   One of the more valuable lessons Jan has learnt about menopause is that everyone has a different story and as the practitioner, it is her role to guide and provide information.

Email - gallagher@aapm.zzn.com

DR ELIZABETH GALLAGER  BMed. BMedSci(Hons), FRANZCOG

Dr Elizabeth Gallagher is an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Canberra. She graduated from the University of Newcastle and trained at the John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth UK and The Canberra Hospital. She completed her specialty training in 2001 and saw a need for a menopause clinic at The Canberra Hospital when specialty outpatient clinics were in their infancy. She now runs a menopause and pelvic floor clinic at TCH and is involved in the supervision and teaching of medical students, residents and registrars. She has been involved in GP education through Family Planning and RACGP training and general education sessions. She also has a busy private obstetric & gynaecology practice at the John James Medical Centre, again with a strong interest in menopause and prolapse.

Having been a member of AMS since 2000, she would now like the opportunity to actively contribute to the organisation that she has used so much in the past few years. The AMS conference is scheduled to be held in Canberra in 2009 and she sees herself actively contributing to this.

Dr ANNA FENTON BHB, MBChB, PhD, FRACP

Dr Anna Fenton is a Gynaecological Endocrinologist who completed her endocrine training in Perth, Western Australia and a PhD in bone cell biology at the University of Melbourne.  She was involved in establishing the New Zealand branch of the AMS and has served on the board of Osteoporosis New Zealand.  Anna has been active in establishing quality standards in bone densitometry in New Zealand.  She has been responsible for establishing and expanding the gynaecological endocrine service at Christchurch Women’s Hospital and is actively involved in research and both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.  Her research interests cover metabolic bone disease and midlife women’s medicine. She serves on a number of corporate and journal editorial boards