Invited Speakers
Associate Professor Kirsty Freeman FSSH, MHPE, BNur
Rural Clinical School of WA; The University of Western Australia
Kirsty Freeman is the Academic Coordinator of the Rural Clinical School of Western Australia penultimate year program. A Fellow of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and Board Member of the Society for Simulation in European (SESAM), she is a recognised world leader in the application of simulation in health professions’ education, with 20 years’ experience in healthcare education, assessment, and research. Kirsty has worked across a variety of healthcare disciplines including medicine, nursing, allied health, and paramedicine, and has extensive experience in providing simulation-based experiences to undergraduate healthcare students, through to experienced healthcare providers. Born and raised in rural regions of Western Australia, she is passionate about growing the healthcare workforce in rural and remote environments to ensure healthcare access for those communities. Kirsty is excited to share her passion for health professions education at ANZAHPE 2024 in Adelaide.
Professor Shane Hearn
Professor Shane Hearn is a proud Ballardong, Noongar, from Western Australia. Professor Hearn's
formative years were shaped by the teachings of his grandfather and uncles. They imparted
invaluable cultural insights during their journeys on country, instilling a deep understanding of
Noongar culture and language. With over 25 years’ experience he has a distinguished record in the
field of higher education, the private sector and demonstrated leadership in health research,
scholarship, and management.
Professor Hearn's extensive background includes the development of high-level strategies, including
Reconciliation Action Plans, and notable contributions to various national campaigns, such as his
involvement in the "Racism stops with me" and the 'voice' to parliament civics education campaign.
His efforts have also been pivotal in expanding the reach of essential messages, including campaigns
on Covid Vaccination in First Nations communities, Opal Fuel, and the LIVE! Longer, Local
Community Campaigns (LCC).
Over his decorated career, Professor Hearn has worked to successfully improve outcomes for First
Nations people through the development of policies, strategies, and major campaigns.
Professor Hearn holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in resilience and health behaviour change, a
Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Applied Science, from
Curtain University of Technology Western Australia.
Professor Lambert Schuwirth
Lambert Schuwirth is a medical educator who has specialised in the field of medical education, particularly in the assessment of medical competence and performance. After completing his medical degree (MD) and his PhD at Maastricht University, he dedicated himself to medical education and research starting in the early 1990s. His career at Maastricht University spanned almost 20 years, where he held various positions including assistant, associate, and full professor in the Department of Educational Development and Research. In 2011, he transitioned to Flinders University in Adelaide, where he currently serves as a Strategic Professor in Medical Education within the College of Medicine and Public Health.
Throughout his career, he has been deeply involved in the development and refinement of assessment methods in medical education. He has held key roles in overseeing assessment processes, such as chairing inter-university progress test review committees and OSCE review committees. His advisory work extends beyond the Netherlands to include the UK and other international contexts. Additionally, he holds adjunct professorships at several other institutions globally, indicating his broad influence in the field of medical education.
His responsibilities at Flinders University include leading research in medical education and contributing to teaching and curriculum development. He is particularly interested in scientific research methods, learning processes, and assessment basics. He is involved in supervising research on topics like assessment design, clinical education, and the outcomes of innovation in medical education.
Professor Carolyn Semmler
Carolyn Semmler is a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide. She leads the Applied Cognition and Experimental Psychology research lab where she investigates the application of cognitive and social psychological theories to applied problems across legal, health and defence contexts. Her internationally recognised work on improving the legal system through the careful consideration of the science of memory has been included in legal practitioner handbooks in the United States and Australia – and has been cited in numerous legal cases as a basis for evaluation of evidence. Most recently she has been working on the safe and responsible implementation of machine learning in health care from a human factors perspective – with collaborators from the Australian Institute of Machine Learning – Medical Machine Learning research group. She also leads the Healthy Societies Research Mission for Converging and Emerging Technologies at the University of Adelaide – where she fosters leveraging technologies and advances in big data, supercomputing, personalised health-care, precision medicine, genetics-based disease marker development and advanced biomaterial development, which will all contribute to improved treatments for major diseases. Her work is informed by human rights and the consideration of ethical and legal requirements of technological innovation. She has contributed to publications assisting in explaining the requirements for Responsible AI in Australia (Australian Academy for Technological Sciences and Engineering) and has been awarded over $4.3million in competitive research funding in the last 5 years.
Dr Naomi Steenhof
Dr Naomi Steenhof holds a PhD in health professions education research. She is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, a scholar at The Wilson Centre, and a pharmacist at the University Health Network. Her research interests focus on the development of adaptive expertise in health professionals, with a particular concentration on instructional strategies that assist novices in acquiring the conceptual knowledge they need to learn in the future. Naomi uses theories from psychology to understand how learners transfer knowledge from a familiar classroom environment into the ambiguous and unpredictable world of clinical practice. Her main research goal is to use this knowledge to create educational programs that train skilled and innovative clinicians, enabling them to effectively handle complexities in the workplace.