Meet the team
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Dr Trevor Chan
Clinical Director
Dr Trevor Chan joined the ECI team in November 2020 and is responsible for clinical oversight of the ECI. Prior to this, Trevor was the Emergency Department Director at St George Hospital for 10 years, where he continues as a Senior Staff Specialist and member of the Clinical Council. Trevor is also the New South Wales Faculty Chair for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and a member of ACEM’s Quality and Safety Committee.
Kylie Smith
ECI Manager
Kylie is responsible for the strategic and operational functions of the ECI. Kylie has a background in trauma and emergency nursing in clinical and management roles at St George and Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospitals. To pursue an interest in quality and safety, strategic planning and translational research, Kylie recently worked as a Clinical Stream Manager for Cancer, Gastroenterology and Surgery at SWSLHD. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kylie worked as the Operations manager for the SWSLHD Emergency Operations Centre.
Jo Goodenough
Project Officer
Jo is supporting a number of priority projects within the ECI operational plan, specifically supporting and collaborating on the development and review of clinical guidance relating to emergency care. Jo also supports the ECI Clinical Advisory Committee and ECI Rural and Regional Emergency Advisory Group. Jo stared her career as a nurse in oncology, then went onto midwifery, an area she remains passionate about to date. Jo then progressed into a roles within the Health Care Complaints Commission and other ACI networks, before joining the ECI.
Laura George
Project Officer
Laura is supporting a number of priority emergency care related projects within the ECI operational plan, including the state-wide Emergency Protocols Initiating Care (EPIC) project and supports the ECI Information Systems and technology Advisory Committee. Laura stared her career as an ICU nurse in the UK and Australia and then moved into the private sector managing state-wide roll outs of medical devices and software solutions. Laura's passion is exploring how digital technologies can build capability and efficiencies within health and change management processes.
Dr Hatem Alkhouri
Research Fellow
Dr Hatem Alkhouri is a Research Fellow at the NSW Emergency Care Institute and an Affiliate of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales. He leads the ECI research program including the Airway Registry Project and also supports the ECI Research and Innovation Advisory Committee. He completed a PhD in Pharmacy at the University of Sydney in 2011 and MSc in Biotechnology from UNSW. Alkhouri is an experienced clinical researcher, whose track record of achievement is extensive. To-date, he has published 35 peer-reviewed journal articles which have appeared in high-impact medical journals such as Emergency Medicine Australasia, Allergy and Clinical and Experimental Allergy (Scopus 2021: 526 citations, h-index 18).
At the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, Hatem has been working collaboratively with students, researchers, clinicians and policy makers to inform clinical practice based on research evidence provided though the multicentre projects he is conducting.
Since 2020, he has been working with the COVID-19 Critical Intelligence Unit to provide real-time, synthesized advice and options to be considered by system leaders in response to the pandemic.
Research Interests: Quality Clinical Registries, ED models of care, emergency airway management and end of life care in the ED.
Advisory Committee Co-Chairs
Matthew Bragg
Dr Matt Bragg is a senior staff specialist in emergency medicine at South Western Sydney LHD, currently working at both tertiary referral and rural district hospitals, and also holds a fractional appointment with NSW Ambulance as a retrieval/prehospital physician. His interests include clinical emergency medicine, emergency ultrasound, ED management, and retrieval medicine.
Professor Kate Curtis
Kate Curtis has been an Emergency Nurse for 25 years and is Clinical Nurse Consultant Emergency in the Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD. She is also Professor of Emergency and Trauma at Sydney Nursing School. Kate is a Fellow of the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia, Professorial fellow at the George Institute for Global Health and the University of Wollongong. She is one of the most published emergency nurses in the world.
Amith Shetty
Amith was appointed as Co-Chair of the Research Advisory Committee in March 2016.
Kylie Stark
Kylie is currently Nurse Manager, Emergency Department at Sydney Children’s Hospital. Kylie has 26 years experience in nursing in both the adult and paediatric environments. Kylie has worked in the UK and USA giving her broad exposure to different health care models and quality systems. Since 1999 Kylie has worked in the Emergency Care environment as a CNS then a Nurse Educator and in a management role since 2003.
Kylie is the immediate past NSW President of CENA and has a keen interest in quality and safety, education and training and clinical leadership. Kylie’s main passion is for the way we provide accessible safe care from the cradle to the grave in the city or the rural areas.
A/Prof. Naren Gunja
Information Systems and Technology Advisory Committee
Dr Naren Gunja is an emergency physician and toxicologist in Western Sydney. Since 2017, Naren has been the Chief Medical Information Officer with an ambitious program of eMR capability and expansion. Naren's interests include health technology, medication safety and clinical analytics.