Keynote Speakers

Keynote speakers are internationally recognised experts in their field, promising delegates an exciting and challenging program. Keynote speakers confirmed to attend include:

Mr. Thomas S. Ahrens, RN, DNS CCNS FAAN

Research Scientist
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri

Thomas Ahrens is a Research Scientist at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He has extensively published, including 5 books and over 100 papers. He has lectured both nationally and internationally on critical care topics. Dr. Ahrens is actively involved in technology application, particularly in terms of hemodynamic monitoring and capnography. He has been widely published in the application of technology to clinical practice.

Dr. Ahrens organized a multi-center study that illustrated how end tidal CO2 could accurately predict survival following cardiac arrests. His book “Hemodynamic waveform analysis” is considered by many to be the finest clinical guide to the topic. His book “Essentials of Oxygenation” was an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year. He was awarded the 1999 Presidential Citation by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and in 2004 was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing.

Being a strong advocate for hospitalized families, he has published a research paper that demonstrated how improving communication with high risk patient families can improve both outcome and costs control. He has helped design communication programs to aid clinicians and published how nursing can lead the way to better matching patient/family wishes with the plan of care.

In 2006 he was selected as an Edge Runner by the Academy, which is designated “for those people who are developing innovative solutions that eventually become mainstream solutions”, for his work with families of hospitalized patients. In 2008 Dr. Ahrens was awarded the “Flame of Excellence” award from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses for sustained and influential work in critical care.

Dr. Ann Tourangeau

Associate Professor
The Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
University of Toronto

Dr. Ann Tourangeau is an Associate Professor with the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Scientist with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Ontario. She is also a co-investigator in the Nursing Health Services Research Unit at the University of Toronto. She received her PhD (Nursing) from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada in 2001.

Before her academic career, Ann was a hospital administrator in acute care hospitals in two Canadian provinces between 1987 and 1997. Her program of research focuses on developing knowledge of determinants of patient, nurse, and safety outcomes that are of importance to health care organizations and policy / decision makers. Ann uses both large administrative databases and primary survey data such in her research.

Martha A. Q. Curley, PhD, RN, FAAN

Associate Professor of Nursing
Secondary Appointment - Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
Nurse Scientist: Critical Care and Cardiovascular Nursing Program
Children’s Hospital Boston, USA

Dr. Curley was awarded a PhD in 1997 from Boston College, received a masters degree in Pediatric Acute Care Nursing from Yale University in 1987, a bachelors degree in 1985 from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, and a diploma in nursing in 1973 from Springfield Hospital.

Dr. Curley has achieved international recognition for her work related to clinical management of critically ill infants and children and their families, and she has made a major contribution to the field of pediatric critical care nursing. Her award winning textbook Critical Care Nursing of Infants and Children, is the most widely used in the field.

The unique scope and significance of Dr. Curley’s scholarly achievements relate to her ability to span nursing research, practice, and education. Her program of research has focused on (1) interventional studies to support parent needs and priorities in the pediatric intensive care unit, (2) instrument development studies to provide clinicians with better tools to assess patient status and risk, and (3) multi-site clinical trials to generate new knowledge in the care of critically-ill pediatric patients. Since receiving her doctorate in 1997, Dr. Curley has received over $15 million US dollars in research awards of primarily federal grants

Although Dr. Curley’s research trajectory alone is impressive, her contributions to the discipline are broad reaching. One of Dr. Curley’s extraordinary accomplishments was to lead a team of experts in developing the Synergy Model for Critical Care for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Judged on the impact of this model, Dr. Curley’s creativity and vision have pushed the adoption of “Synergy” for certification exams, for curriculum in Schools of Nursing, and for designating magnet status in numerous hospitals. She has truly revolutionized a model for critical care delivery in the US for children and adults.

Professor Kenneth Walsh

Professor of Nursing Practice
Development School of Nursing
Midwifery and Indigenous Health
The University of Wollongong, New South Wales

Director of the Nursing
Development and Research Unit
South East Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service
Southern Hospitals Network
Wollongong Hospital, New South Wales

Dr Walsh is the Professor of Nursing Practice, Development School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health, The University of Wollongong and Director of the Nursing, Development and Research Unit, South East Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service, Southern Hospitals Network, Wollongong Hospital. He is also a Fellow of the Joanna Briggs Institute. Ken has over 30 years experience as a nurse and has a clinical background in psychiatric and general nursing including work in counseling and group therapy. He completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide in 1996.

Ken has worked in joint university and health service positions in Australia and New Zealand. His research activities and interests revolve around clinical practice research, with a particular focus on nurse-patient interactions and the implementation and evaluation of practice development initiatives. He has developed a large portfolio of work related to clinical practice change and quality improvement in the health care environment.

Professor Megan-Jane Johnstone

Chair in Nursing
School of Nursing
Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing, and Behavioural Sciences
Deakin University

Professor Megan-Jane Johnstone is currently Professor of Nursing at RMIT University, and in September 2008 will be taking up her new position as the Chair in Nursing at Deakin University, Burwood Campus in Melbourne. Professor Johnstone is an internationally reputed scholar who is well known for her work in the area of nursing and health care ethics, with a particular emphasis on health and human rights, cross-cultural ethics, end-of-life decision-making, professional conduct and, more recently, clinical risk management and patient safety ethics. She has published several books, including the internationally acclaimed: Bioethics a nursing perspective (soon to be released as a fifth revised edition), Ethics in nursing practice: a guide to ethical decision making (commissioned by the International Council of Nurses and co-authored with Sara T. Fry of the USA), and Nursing and the injustices of the law. Professor Johnstone is currently serving a third fourth year term as a nominated consultant in the area of Ethics (Health and Human Rights) with the International Council of Nurses, Geneva.

Rosemary Bryant

Commonwealth Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer

Rosemary Bryant commenced in the position of Commonwealth Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer in July 2008. She was formerly Executive Director of Royal College of Nursing, Australia, a position she held for eight years.

She has had a broad career in acute hospital and community nursing, as well as in government relations. Executive positions she has held include Director of Nursing at Royal Adelaide Hospital and also at the then Child, Adolescent and Family Health Service in SA and the chief government nursing position in Victoria. She also spent some time in private consulting undertaking projects on nursing and health. During this time she was a consultant to the World Health Organisation.

Rosemary has had a broad experience in policy development both in nursing and the broader health sector. Her academic interests revolve around the regulation of health professionals, having had practical experience as a member of three nurse regulatory bodies.

Rosemary was elected as the Second Vice President of the International Council of Nurses in 2005.