COURSE DIRECTORS
Below are the Course Directors and Co-Directors for 2025.
Dr Rohan Bhagwandeen
Rohan is an Interventional/Structural Cardiologist who has worked in Newcastle NSW since 2002.
He graduated (MBChB Natal 1989) in Durban South Africa. Post graduate physician training followed in South Africa (King Edward VIII Hospital) (FCP SA) and then Sydney Australia (FRACP).
His interventional training comprised an initial fellowship at the Austin Hospital Melbourne followed by an advanced Interventional year at the Toronto General Hospital Canada (2001)
He is Director of Catheterisation Laboratories at Lake Macquarie Private Hospital Newcastle where he established and leads the TAVI program. He is a senior staff specialist at John Hunter Hospital and a leader of the public TAVI program. Rohan is a TAVI proctor in the Asia Pacific region.
His interest in the structural arena is longstanding, introducing alcohol septal ablation and ASD/PFO closure to the Hunter Region in 2004. He is presently involved in the establishment of Mitral and Tricuspid technologies.
Rohan is a strong advocate for equitable health care delivery and was Co Lead of the Hunter New England Cardiac Stream from 2012-2017.
His special interests include Reperfusion strategies for AMI, Structural Intervention (including TAVI) and complex coronary intervention incorporating imaging and physiology.
Rohan is passionate about education and has convened the Essential Percutaneous Interventional Course (EPIC) since its inception in 2005.
Rohan Is a member of the ANZ Endovascular Therapies (ANZET) organising committee and sits on numerous advisory boards and steering committees including Regional Australian Interventional Structural and Endovascular meeting (RAISE), ACTION DAY, AICT.
He has contributed as an invited faculty member to numerous international meetings including EuroPCR, TCTAP, AICT and APValves
He is a board member of Asia Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiology (APSIC).
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Dr Sidney Lo
Dr Sidney Lo
Graduated medicine MBBS hons university of Sydney in 1988 with honours. Internship at Royal Prince Alfred hospital in Sydney 1988. Resident medical officer RPAH 1989. Medical registrar 1989-1993. Cardiology training at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne 1994-1995. Completed cardiology training at Royal North Shore hospital 1996 as Senior registrar. RNSH Fellow until June 1997.
Interventional cardiology fellowship at Stanford university medical centre 1997-1998. Staff attending interventional cardiologist 1999-April 2000. Investigator in the PTMR programme and PACIFIC study and co-authored a book chapter on PTMR. Expert in coronary brachytherapy and participated in INHIBIT Study. Consultant to TransVascular inc and participated in the development of PICVA and PICAB procedures. Investigator in DIRECT study and PTMR.
Director of the Coronary unit at Liverpool Hospital from April 2000 until 2013. From 2013, Senior staff cardiologist and Director of Cardiac Catheterisation laboratories at Liverpool Hospital. Interests include novel and complex PCI (CHIP) and acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, antiplatelet and anticoagulants, device therapies, vascular closure devices, intracoronary imaging and cardiogenic shock.
Recognised internationally as CTO-PCI expert and published papers on CTO-PCI. Director of the Asia Pacific CTO club. Served as an investigator in multiple international multicentre clinical trials and also investigator initiated trials. Currently elected NSW representative and secretary of interventional council of Cardiac society of Australia and New Zealand and member of the organising committee of the ANZET meeting annually. Convener of EPIC since 2006, now in its 13th meeting. Organising committee and co-director or convener of ANZCTO, ANZCCT, Action day, Crossroads meeting.
Appointed in 2018 as Associate Director of AICT-Asia PCR. Has served as Faculty at TCT, EuroPCr, CIT, summer-In-Seattle, CCT, TTT, Topic, ANZET, CSANZ, HK cardiac society, Taiwan cardiac society. Organising committee on Heart failure meetings 2003-2005. Highly experienced in PTMV, BAV, ASD/PFO closure procedures and clinical lead of the TAVI programme at Liverpool Hospital.
He has started a distal radial access programme at Liverpool Hospital Sept 2018. He has performed multiple live case demonstrations in high risk, complex PCI as well as CTO-PCI at local and international meetings.
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Dr Ravi Bhindi
Dr Ravinay Bhindi
Professor Ravinay Bhindi is a consultant and Interventional Cardiologist on the North Shore Hospital Campus. He has expertise in complex coronary intervention and structural heart disease including percutaneous valve therapies. He is Head of Department at Royal North Shore Hospital and Head of Structural Heart disease at North Shore Private and Royal North Shore Hospitals. In addition to an active clinical role, he maintains active research programs and has over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals. Professor Bhindi completed his MBBS and PhD at the University of Sydney before undertaking further interventional cardiology training and postdoctoral fellowship at the John Radcliffe hospital/ University of Oxford.
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Dr Ajay Sinhal
Dr. Ajay Sinhal
Dr. Ajay Sinhal is an Interventional Cardiologist from Flinders Medical Centre.
Dr. Sinhal received his initial Medical and Cardiology training at K.E.M. Hospital, Mumbai, India.
He went to St Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver in Canada for his Interventional Fellowship and worked with Dr. John Webb who has pioneered the percutaneous implantation of aortic valve. He was involved in the initial animal and human implants of the Edward’s aortic valve.
Since 2007, Dr. Sinhal has returned to Flinders Medical Centre and is currently the Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at Flinders Medical Centre. He has a special interest in Structural Heart Disease Intervention.
Dr. Sinhal and the team performed the first implant of Edward’s transcatheter aortic valve in Australasia on 28/11/2008.
Areas of Interest:
- Structural Heart Disease Intervention
- Complex Coronary Interventions
- Acute Coronary Syndrome
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Dr Sharad Shetty
Dr Sharad Shetty
Dr Sharad Shetty MB BS, MD, DM, FRACP , FCANZ
Dr Shetty is an Interventional Cardiologist based in Perth at Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) and Perth Cardiovascular Institute. He is s the Director of Cardiology Training at Fiona Stanley Hospital. He’s part of the state TAVI service for Western Australia (WA).
He trained in Interventional Cardiology at the Royal Perth , Massachusetts General Hospital and as a clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
He has been actively involved in several First-in-Human trials in areas ranging from coronary intervention, aortic valve intervention and interventional therapy for hypertension
He is frequently an invited speaker in major national and international conferences, performed live cases for various conferences both in Australia and overseas. He has been involved in the proctoring of other national and international Cardiologists in various procedures.
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Dr Tony Walton
Dr Tony Walton
Tony Walton is an Interventional Cardiologist based at Epworth Hospital and is an Associate Professor in Medicine at Monash University. He is Deputy Director of Cardiology and Head of the Cardiac Labs at The Alfred and is an Honorary Research Fellow at The Baker Institute.
His training in Cardiology was at the Alfred Hospital and further postgraduate training in Interventional Cardiology was undertaken at Stanford University Medical Centre in the United States.
His professional interests include General and Interventional Cardiology with particular interests in structural heart disease and hypertension. The developing areas of percutaneous valve replacement and interventional techniques for the treatment of common conditions such as hypertension are particular interests.
He has published his clinical and research work in peer reviewed manuscripts on subjects including the novel techniques of percutaneous aortic valve replacement and renal denervation for refractory hypertension.
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Dr Karl Poon
Dr Karl Poon
Dr Poon is a senior staff specialist at the Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, and a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland. (He has proctored in over 20 sites across Asia Pacific in TAVI best practice, transeptal mitral valve procedures and leaflet modification techniques. A frequent invited speaker, he continues to serve as steering committee member and faculty at major international meetings. He continues his research in several first in human and next generation transcatheter devices.)
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Prof Greg Scalia
Prof Greg Scalia
MBBS (Hons) MMedSc FRACP FCSANZ FACC FASE JP
Cardiovascular Imaging Specialist
Special clinical interest in non invasive cardiac imaging and invasive cardiac imaging (TOE)
About Prof. Gregory M Scalia
Professor Greg Scalia is a Gold Medal graduate of the University of Queensland, 1987. He was the first dedicated echocardiologist to join Advara HeartCare, having completed a two year cardiac imaging fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, USA in 1996.
Professor Scalia is a nationally respected expert in echocardiography, undertaking a busy schedule of lecturing and teaching in Australia, the United States and South East Asia. He has been co-director of the Echo Australia program since its inception in 2002.
Professor Scalia has been awarded fellowships in the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Echocardiography. He was awarded a Master of Medical Science by the University of Queensland in 1999 for original research into cardiac diastolic function.
He has been Associate Professor of Medicine at his alumni, the University of Queensland since 2004 and became a Professor in 2018. Professor Scalia is the Director of Echocardiography at The Prince Charles Hospital. Professor Scalia has published over three hundred papers, abstracts and book chapters in peer-reviewed major journals.
Professor Scalia is based at Advara HeartCare’s consulting and testing centres at the Wesley hospital. He has a particular interest in patients with valvular heart disease.
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Prof Darren Walters
Prof Darren Walters
Dr Darren Walters is an interventional cardiologist with expertise in transcatheter aortic valve implantation, percutaneous mitral valve repair, complex coronary intervention, and implantable devices.
Dr Walters is an interventional cardiologist with an interest in transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), percutaneous mitral valve repair, complex coronary intervention, implantable devices and left atrial appendage occlusion.
After graduating from the University of Queensland, Darren completed specialist cardiology training at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s and Prince Charles Hospitals. He went on to pursue further clinical and research fellowship training at Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital.
Darren is actively involved with the Australian cardiology community. He’s held positions as Chair of the International Working Group of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ), Chair of the TAVI ACORD Registry, the CSANZ’s representative on the Australian Resuscitation Council, and is a member of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force on Acute Coronary Syndrome. He has authored over 200 journal articles and is a Professor at the University of Queensland.
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COURSE CO-DIRECTORS
Dr Emily Grainger
Dr Emily Grainger
Dr Emily Granger
MBBS. (Hons) FRACS
Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Transplant Surgeon
MBBS. (Hons) FRACS
Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Transplant Surgeon
Dr Emily Granger is a Cardiothoracic and Heart Lung Transplant surgeon. She has performed more than 3000 general cardiothoracic operations and more than 300 heart and lung transplants. Her areas of interest include TAVI, ECMO, transplants and trauma surgery.
Emily completed her medical degree at the University of Queensland (1997) and her surgical fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) in 2006. She is involved with the NSW Organ Tissue Donation Service and Deceased Donor Organ Procurement, and, in 2014, was involved in the world’s first successful ‘donation after circulatory death’ heart transplant. Since then, the Transplant Unit at St Vincent’s Hospital has performed over 80 Dcd heart transplants.
Dr Granger lectures at the Clinical Medical School at St Vincent’s Hospital and the University of Notre Dame, and is active in teaching medical students, junior doctors, and trainee surgeons. She is an EMST and CCRISP instructor with RACS. In 2017, she was appointed to the Board of Cardiothoracic Surgical Examiners. She is currently the President of the ANZ Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons.
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Prof Dion Stub
Prof Dion Stub
Prof Dion Stub MBBS PhD FRACP
Co-Director, CCRET, Monash University
Coronary and Structural Interventional Cardiologist
NHRMC / National Heart Foundation Fellow
Cardiology Medical Advisor Ambulance Victoria
Co-Director, CCRET, Monash University
Coronary and Structural Interventional Cardiologist
NHRMC / National Heart Foundation Fellow
Cardiology Medical Advisor Ambulance Victoria
Prof Dion Stub is an Interventional Cardiologist at Alfred Hospital and Co-director of Centre Cardiovascular Research and Education in Therapeutics at Monash University, with leadership positions on major pre-hospital and hospital cardiac registries. He currently holds the National Heart Foundation Future Leader and NHMRC Investigator Fellowships to support his clinical research, and is cardiology medical advisor to Ambulance Victoria.
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Dr David Roy
Dr David Roy
Dr Roy is an Interventional cardiologist and adult structural cardiologist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. He has a special interest in heart attack therapies and minimally invasive valve therapies and has led a number of first-in-man studies in this field including TAVI for aortic regurgitation and the development of a dedicated TAVI wire. He is an investigator for the Evolut TAVI low risk trial. Prior to his current role Dr Roy was a consultant cardiologist at St George’s Hospital in London. Dr Roy is an Asia/Pacific TAVI proctor for Medtronic and Edwards Lifesciences, as well as a conjoint senior lecturer at UNSW and the university of Notre Dame.
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Dr Heath Adams
Dr Heath Adams
Dr Heath Adams MBBS(Hons) BMedSci FRACP FCSANZ is the Director of Structural Intervention at the Royal Hobart Hospital where he started the programme in 2020. He studied at the University of Tasmania and performed Physician and Cardiology Training at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and Royal Hobart before a 2-year Coronary and Structural Fellowship at St Vincent’s. A further structural fellowship was then performed at St Thomas Hospital London with the support of the Dr MG Ciezar Memorial Scholarship in Cardiovascular Medicine.
He was the Deputy Chair of the RACP Cardiology Physician’s training curriculum renewal team, is the Tasmanian Member of the CSANZ Interventional Council and is a current Faculty member of PCR London valves and is on the ANZET and ACTION Day steering committees. Heath is a Senior Researcher with the Menzies Institute in Hobart. Clinical interests include TAVI, mitral interventions, complex PCI, reperfusion in STEMI and teaching in interventional cardiology and structural heart procedures.
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Brooke Keeble
Dr Brooke Keeble
Brooke has a wealth of experience in the field of cardiology completing her Bachelor of Nursing degree at La-Trobe University and further post graduate education with University of Tasmania.
She is a Clinical Nurse Consultant & the Structural Coordinator for the John Hunter Hospital, Hunter New England TAVI/ Mitral program. (A high-volume service which services a large proportion of regional and rural New South Wales).
She is a Clinical Nurse Consultant & the Structural Coordinator for the John Hunter Hospital, Hunter New England TAVI/ Mitral program. (A high-volume service which services a large proportion of regional and rural New South Wales).
Brooke was instrumental in building the program from its foundation. She has formulated and implemented processes to facilitate care and optimise patient outcomes.
Brooke has initiated a coordinator led TAVI clinic and is adept with TAVI screening analysis.
She is a regular participant on steering committees related to TAVI education and is a frequent faculty member for national meetings. She provides advice relating to program initiation and maintenance to new TAVI sites.
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Dr Jayme Bennetts
Dr Jayme Bennetts
Prof Bennetts is trained in both Adult and Paediatric Cardiac Surgery. He is currently Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Flinders Medical Centre, Staff Specialist Women’s and Children’s Hospital (Adelaide), Royal Darwin Hospitals, and Private Practice across Adelaide as part of Adelaide Cardiothoracic.
As Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Flinders University, he has an extensive involvement in the research program of the Cardiothoracic Department. He has made significant contributions to the outcomes of Cardiac Surgery in Indigenous Australians and continues to promote and strive for improvement of outcomes in Cardiac Surgery more broadly. In mid-2022, he was appointed Clinical Lead, Statewide Cardiac Care Clinical Network, Commission in Excellence and Innovation in Health, SA Health and looks forward to consolidating and improving delivery of Cardiac Care across South Australia. He sits as a member of multiple Advisory Boards and Government committees across Australia and Internationally and over the last 10 years has led significant reform on behalf the Society across introduction of Transcatheter Heart Valve therapies and a review of the Medical Benefits Scheme, and restructure of the ANZSCTS National Registries.
Since returning to Adelaide in 2006, Dr Bennetts has participated in over 15 international aid missions to Fiji and Tanzania providing Cardiothoracic surgical services to populations unable to access heart surgery, or to help improve quality of heart surgery in these communities.
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Deborah Bick
Deborah Bick
Deborah Bick (Deb), is an experienced Nurse Unit Manager with over 30 years of critical care experience, specializing in Cardiac Interventional care for the past 10 years. As a seasoned professional she has a deep understanding of best practices in the interventional and cardiac care field.
Deb currently holds the position of Nurse Unit Manager of the Cardiac Investigation Unit at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane. Her previous positions include NUM John Hunter Cath Lab (where she was instrumental in streamlining the service, increasing volume and fostering growth in innovative therapies.) Prior to Newcastle she consolidated her experience in Melbourne ICU and CCU units, plus a variety of other rural, regional, metropolitan, and tertiary facilities.
Deb’s primary focus is supporting the Cardiac Unit team to provide the highest standard of care in an innovative and high intensity clinical space. She has an inspirational leadership quality and leads from the front. At EPIC we recognise that Nurse Unit Mangers are a vital component of any successful cardiac service and are honoured to welcome her as a Co-Director
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Prof Rob Gooley
Prof Rob Gooley
Rob Gooley is an Interventional and Structural Cardiologist working at the Victorian Heart Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He is the Deputy Director and Head of Interventional Cardiac Services.
Rob has a keen interest in bringing new structural and interventional devices to clinical practice through involvement in early in human clinical trials. He is also involved in investigator initiated research and supervision of higher degree research students through the Victorian Heart Institute at Monash University.
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