PRESIDENT
VICE PRESIDENT ACADEMIC
VICE PRESIDENT ADMINISTRATION
Mike O’Connor is Professor of O&G at Western Sydney University and a Visiting Obstetrician & Gynaecologist at The St George Hospital, Kogarah, and St George Private Hospital, where he is Chairman of the Patient Care and Clinical Review Committee. He is a Conjoint Senior Lecturer at UNSW in the Division of Women’s and Children’s Health and Lecturer at Sydney University. From 1981-1983 he was Medical Superintendent at the Women’s Hospital (Crown St.) in Sydney. For 6 years Mike O’Connor was a Federal Councillor of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, representing NSW and served as Vice President of the College from 2002-2004. His College work included the development of an Indigenous Health Worker training program in antenatal care, adult and neonatal resuscitation courses as well as courses on the management of sexual assault. He established the Chapter of Military O&G in the RANZCOG and is its Chairman. Mike O’Connor was awarded the Gold Medal of the RCOG at the MRCOG exams in 1975 and in 1982 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine (Sydney University). He holds Diplomas in Diagnostic Ultrasound & Child Health. He is an active member of the ACLM, the ASCCP and the ASUM. He has a Master’s degree in Health Law from Sydney University and a Master’s degree in Forensic Medicine from Monash University. He acts for both Plaintiffs and Defendants as an expert witness. He is a section editor for the Journal of Law and Medicine. In 2009 he was created a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his longstanding work in Indigenous Health.
Dr Phoebe Mainland is a consultant anaesthesiologist, a Fellow of both Australian & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) & Hong Kong College of Anaesthesiologists (HKCA). She continues to hold appointment as Honorary Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care,
Chinese University of Hong Kong. Phoebe read for MA (Medical Ethics & Law) from King’s College, London and has sat on various committees related to these interests including health ethics committees and a medical defence organization advisory committee. Phoebe was admitted as a Fellow of Australian College
of Legal Medicine in 2008 and appointed as a Council Member as of 2019. She is also a Member of the Academy of Experts (UK). Phoebe was 2017/18 President of the Medico-Legal Society of Victoria. In 2015 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship for her project related to patient safety.
Dr Selva Mudaliar has been practicing as a rehab physician in Melbourne for 20 years. He has recently become Director of Rehabilitation at Beleura Private Hospital. Currently he is the Clinical Head of the Orthopaedics and Prosthetic Rehab at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and also consults at the SJOG Rehab hospital, Brunswick Private Hospital, Frankston Pain Management Clinic and Casey Pain and Rehab Clinic. He was the Director of Rehabilitation at Peninsula Health from 2002 to 2009.
Selva’s qualifications include DSM, FAFRM, AFRACMA, Grad Cert in Legal Medicine, Grad Dip in Law (Monash) and FACLM. He has completed legal studies and has been admitted to the Victorian Legal Admissions Board and the Supreme Court of Victoria as an Australian Lawyer. He was one of the very first candidates to obtain his fellowship in legal medicine by successfully completing the college exams. Previously he has been an Honorary Lecturer in Medicine at Monash University and also taught Medical Law to 3rd and 5th year medical students. He spent 8 months in the Medico-legal Dept at Royal Melbourne Hospital as sabbatical. He previously served as a member of the specialist medico-legal advisory committee of RACP and of the Victorian Critical Incident Review Panel.
Dr Adam Griffin is the current director of Queensland’s Clinical Forensic Medicine Unit. He received a medical degree from the University of Queensland and a Masters in Forensic Medicine from Monash University. He is a Fellow of the Australasian College of Legal Medicine, foundation member of the Australasian Association of Forensic Physicians, and member of the Forensic and Clinical Toxicology Association. Dr Griffin enjoys study and research, educating others, playing tennis, recreational pursuits in IT and travel.
Don Buchanan has been a full time forensic medical officer in Queensland for over 30 years, during which time he was director of state government medical officer services for 7 years. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Queensland and is a Fellow of the Australian College of General Practitioners and a Fellow of the Australasian College of Biomedical Scientists. Don is a past President of the Australasian College of Legal Medicine, and is a Fellow. He obtained a Master of Public Health from the University of Queensland in 1996 and was awarded a Juris Doctor (a graduate law degree) from the University of Queensland in 2003 and admitted as a legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2004. He is registered as a barrister through the Bar Association of Queensland and has completed a Master of Laws (Health Law) from the Queensland University of Technology. He has worked as the deputy coronial registrar for the Coroners Court of Queensland.
Roy G. Beran is trained as a consultant neurologist and accredited sleep physician, in addition to working within legal medicine, military medicine and aviation medicine. His qualifications include: MBBS, MD, FRACP, FRACGP, Grad. Dip. Tertiary Ed., Grad. Dip. Further Ed., FAFPHM, FACLM, FRCP, FAAN, FACBS, B Leg. S, MHL and FFFLM (Hon). He is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) as a specialist in Neurology, Public Health and Sleep Medicine and is a Designated Medical Examiner for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. He is a medical assessor for Dispute Resolution for the State Insurance Regulatory Authority and an assessor for the Workers Compensation Commission of New South Wales (NSW). He is a Conjoint Professor of Medicine at the University of NSW; Professor in the School of Medicine at Griffith University, Queensland; and Professor, Chair, Medical Law, Sechenov Moscow 1st State University, Moscow, Russia. He was the inaugural Visiting Professor at the International Research Institute of Health Law Sciences at the Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
He is: a founding Fellow of the Australasian College of Legal Medicine; a Past President of the College, having stepped down in 2011, while remaining on Council, and was awarded the second ever Honorary Life Fellowship of the College. He is the Australian Governor and was the Secretary General and remains a Vice President of the World Association for Medical Law (WAML), having served on the Organising Committee of numerous World Congresses on Medical Law, presided over the World Congress, in Sydney, in 2004, and successfully bid to host the World Congress to be held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, in 2022. He was the first Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians (London).
In Neurology, he is: a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians; a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh; Corresponding Fellow of the American Academy of Neurologists; and a Member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists. He is a Member of the Australasian Sleep Association, serving on various committees thereof. He pioneered the conduct of clinical trials and undertaking research within private practice, having been principal author in publications which included leading academic/tertiary referral institutions. He has published in the order of 320 papers, book chapters and letters to the editor, presented in excess of 370 papers at national and international meetings and written or edited 15 books, including ‘Legal and Forensic Medicine’, and is on numerous editorial boards, including being the editor in chief of the international journal, Medicine and Law, for the WAML.
He was an officer in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve (holding the rank of Commander) and was awarded membership of the general division of the Order of Australia, in 2015.
MBBS, GDHlth&MedLaw, FANZCA
Dr Jane Anderson works as an anaesthetist in private practice in Melbourne, Victoria, and is the Director of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine for Epworth HealthCare. Jane also works as a Presiding Member for Medical Panels Victoria.
MBBS, MHlth&MedLaw, MBioethics, FRACP, FCICM, FACLM
Intensive Care Specialist | Monash Health, Victoria
Deputy Convenor | Medical Panels Victoria, Victoria
David Ernest is an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor (Monash University) and Intensive Care physician with post-graduate qualifications in Health & Medical Law and Bioethics, practicing in both clinical medicine and medico-legal medicine. He trained in Intensive Care Medicine at Prince Henry’s Hospital (Victoria) and Royal North Shore Hospital (NSW) and undertook a research fellowship at St Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, Canada. David returned to Australia as the Assistant Director of the Epworth Intensive Care Unit (1992-2000) and then as Director of Intensive Care at Box Hill Hospital (2000-2010) and has been at Monash Health since 2011 as an ICU Specialist. Over this period, David participated in a range of research trials and also undertook the roles of Supervisor of Training for a range of College trainees and Medical Donation Specialist.
David is a longstanding member of the Human Research Ethics Committee at Monash Health and currently serves as an Australian Medical Association (AMA) representative on the Joint AMA/Law Institute of Victoria/Bar Medico-legal Standing Committee. He has a Ministerial appointment as both Deputy Convenor and Panel Member for Medical Panels, an alternative dispute resolution tribunal for resolving medical disputes involving workplace injuries and personal injury claims in Victoria.
David previously served as a National Board Member and Education Officer for the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (Australia and New Zealand) and been a member of the Professional Advisory Committee for the Custodial Health Service (Victoria Police) and the Victorian Medical Expert Committee for Avant (Australia’s leading Medical Defence Organisation). He is a former Chairman of the Victorian Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS) and also served as a National Board Member of ANZICS.
MBChB, MBA, MForensMed, FACLM, FFCFM, AFRACMA
Dr Geoff Fisher qualified MB, ChB from University of Leeds, England in 1984 and worked in mental health with a focus on drug misuse, forensic, and custodial psychiatry in England, New Zealand, and Australia. In 1998, Geoff changed to Clinical Forensic Medicine (CFM), completed a Master of Forensic Medicine through Monash University, and was admitted FACLM in 2005. He worked full time in Clinical Forensic Medicine until 2010 and continued part time involvement until 2024. In 2010, Geoff graduated with an MBA from JCU and joined Townsville's medical administration team as Deputy Executive Director of Medical Services (DEDMS). From 2015 until recently, Geoff was DMS for Toowoomba Hospital. In 2024, Geoff decided to leave medical administration and return to Clinical Forensic Medicine, working with the forensic medicine team at Gold Coast University Hospital. Geoff looks forward to being able to contribute to the ACLM Council and give back something to the legal medicine craft group which has been a large part of his working life.
Marnie is a lawyer, researcher and academic. She has extensive experience establishing and leading multi-jurisdictional legal functions of businesses in various sectors including health, forestry, construction, engineering and manufacturing. She is currently Group General Counsel of Australia’s largest dental group, the Smile Solutions Group. The group comprises Smile Solutions, the Core Dental Group and various other healthcare practices specialising in orthodontic, periodontic, endodontic, prosthodontic and paediatric dentistry, and in oral & maxillofacial surgery.
Marnie’s primary academic and research work examines how Australian judges and doctors deal with conflicts involving the medical treatment of seriously ill young people (adolescents) and children. She is a PhD Candidate in Law at Monash University and completed part of her research as a Recognised Student at the University of Oxford.
She is a Non-Executive Director of the Hush Foundation and holds Fellowships with the Governance Institute of Australia and the International Intellectual Property Strategists Association. She has a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in molecular biology, and a mini MBA from Boston University.
MBBS, MSc (Pharmacy), MForensMed, FACLM
After working in anatomical pathology and critical care medicine, Dr Robinson entered the field of Clinical Forensic Medicine in Queensland, practicing as a Forensic Physician, completing a Master of Forensic Medicine and achieving Fellowship of the ACLM in 2019. In 2023, Katherine was awarded a Master of Clinical Toxicology from the University of Florida to increase her expertise in managing complex clinical forensic toxicological matters in the criminal and coronial spaces. Having worked as a Medical Advisor for the Department of Veteran Affairs and BUPA, Katherine is also a qualified Medical Review Officer.
MBBS, MBA, GDAppLaw, GCArts, GCEm (ACEM), MACLM
Dr Mark Woodrow graduated from the University of Queensland, and after a short time in a rural hospital and a year in surgery, has worked as an emergency physician for 30 years in the private sector. He has worked at the Wesley Hospital for most of this time and represented the emergency department as chair of the emergency medicine craft group, as a member of the Medical Advisory Committee, and is currently chair of the Quality Assurance Committee. He has completed additional training in several emergency related fields including diving and hyperbaric medicine, toxinology, prehospital life-support, burns, ultrasound and sports medicine. He completed and was an instructor for both EMST and APLS. He also became a faculty member of The Cognitive Institute, facilitating workshops in communication skills and clinical safety.
During those postgraduate years, Mark achieved a Masters of Business Administration, Graduate Diploma of Applied Law and Graduate Certificate in Arts (ethics). This eventually led to a part-time position as claims manager and medical advisor with Avant, medical defence organisation. He is now General Manager - Medical Advisory Services and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Avant. He is also currently vice president of the Medicolegal Society of Queensland.