The Procedures Course - Europe

Professor Mark Fitzgerald is Director of the National Trauma Research Institute and Director of Trauma Services at The Alfred and has led the establishment of trauma reception, resuscitation and management programs along with Trauma Systems development in Australia, China, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka. He is co-chair of the Australian New Zealand Trauma Registry. Professor Fitzgerald’s research themes include trauma systems development, clinical care of the severely injured, error reduction and the standardisation of resuscitation care.

A/Prof Mathew has been successfully involved in Trauma systems development across Asia in countries like India, Sri Lanka, China and Saudi Arabia. He was the Australian lead of the successfully completed Australia- India Trauma System Collaboration which involved systems development, registry development and technology development. He is done work as a consultant in trauma systems development.

A/Prof Chris Groombridge is an Emergency Physician and Trauma Specialist at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne and was recently appointed head of clinical research at the National Trauma Research Institute after completing a PhD focusing on clinician performance during resuscitation. Chris has a particular interest in the prehospital management of trauma and has worked as a retrieval specialist with Sydney HEMS, CareFlight NSW, and Adult Retrieval Victoria, and internationally with London’s Air Ambulance and Essex & Hertfordshire Air Ambulance in the UK.

Dr Amit Maini is an Emergency Physician and Director of Emergency Medicine Training at the Alfred Hospital. Dr Maini obtained his MBBS at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London 2002, and his Fellowship to the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine in 2011. In 2014, Dr Maini became the program director for Emergency Medicine trainees at the Alfred Emergency & Trauma Centre.

Dr Mike Noonan has been working at The Alfred since 2014, having previously trained and worked in QLD, NSW and the United Kingdom. He completed a fellowship with the Alfred Trauma Service over this period. Mike has a strong interest in Medical Education, having competed a post-graduate qualification in Medical Education from the University of Dundee (UK) and being involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education through honorary roles with Bond and Griffith Universities (Gold Coast).

Fran began his advanced training in Emergency Medicine at The Alfred in Melbourne in 2009, and went on to hold consultant roles with both the Alfred Emergency Department and Trauma Service before returning to Ireland in 2016.
Upon his return, Fran took up the role of Clinical Lead for Trauma at the Mater Hospital in Dublin which eventually saw the Mater officially designated as the inaugural Major Trauma Centre (MTC) for the Central Trauma Network in Ireland.
Fran maintains strong ties with The Alfred and continues to collaborate on a range of international projects aimed at advancing major trauma care globally.
His key clinical interests lie in critical care and trauma resuscitation. A passionate educator, Fran is a co-founder of The Procedures Course and regularly teaches on the European Trauma Course (ETC), ATLS, ACLS, and more across Ireland, Australia, the Middle East, and China. He is also actively involved in research and has published widely in the fields of emergency medicine, trauma, and critical care.

Dr Danny Ben-Eli is a Trauma Consultant and Emergency Physician at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. He completed his medical degree at Israel’s Institute of Technology in 1993 and his Emergency Medicine training in 2008. Danny has worked as an Emergency Physician at Alfred’s Emergency and Trauma Centre since 2009. He served as Program Director for Emergency Medicine training at Monash Medical Centre from 2013 to 2018 and as a Retrieval Consultant with Adult Retrieval Victoria from 2008 to 2017. Danny regularly instructs both locally and internationally, contributing to the Alfred Trauma Service and the National Trauma Research Institute's trauma system development and education programs. He was previously a member of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine's Court of Examiners.

Dr Panagiota Kakridas is an Emergency Physician and Trauma Consultant at The Alfred Hospital. She has a strong commitment to medical education and particularly enjoys procedural and clinical skills teaching.

Dr Johnny graduated with a MBBS from Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, India, in 1998, and achieved a Master of Surgery in 2005. He joined The Alfred in 2010 where he completed his Advanced Training in Emergency Medicine, and subsequently went on to receive his Fellowship of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine in 2017. Dr Johnny previously held the positions of Senior Resident & Lecturer in General Surgery at Christian Medical College & Hospital and Trauma Fellow for The Alfred Trauma Service. He has significant surgical experience including general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery and vascular trauma.

Dr Clare Richmond is an emergency physician who provides critical care anywhere in her role a s pre-hospital and retrieval medicine specialist with NSW Ambulance, where she is Supervisor of Medical Training and a State Retrieval Consultant. On other days, Clare can be found in the emergency department at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, asking her team ‘what do you want to learn about today?’ musing the same thoughts for her own time, seeking always to discover. She enjoys educating multidisciplinary clinicians for Sydney HEMS, Sydney Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre, the University of Sydney and at the courses and conferences across the globe.

Dr. Dries Helsloot is a consultant in Anaesthesia & Emergency Medicine at the AZ Groeninge Hospital in Kortrijk (Belgium), who was trained in Belgium (KU Leuven) and Australia (Royal Adelaide Hospital).
He used his passion for trauma resuscitation to improve the reception of the severely injured in his hospital and was co-responsible for obtaining certification as a supra-regional trauma centre. He now acts as the managing director of the Major Trauma Service.
Dr. Helsloot is actively involved in trauma education (European Trauma Course and The Procedures Course) and scientific research in collaboration with the National Trauma Research Institute. His research focuses on early death after major thoracic trauma and the management of ionized calcium levels.