Dr Chris Holmwood FAChAM, FRACGP | Specialist contractor

Chris is an Addiction Medicine Physician in Adelaide. Until recently he was Director of Clinical Partnerships with Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia. He is a member of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine Training Committee. Prior to working at DASSA he was Clinical Director of the South Australian Prison Health Service, and prior to that was State Director of the RACGP Training Program for SA/NT. His main professional interest is improving health service responses for people with substance use related problems.

Professor John B. Saunders FRACP, FAFPHM, FAChAM, FRCP | Chair

John Saunders is a professor and consultant physician in internal medicine and addiction medicine, based in Sydney. His clinical, academic and research career in addiction medicine extends back nearly 50 years. During this time, he has been Professor of Alcohol and Drug Studies at the University of Queensland (currently with the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research) and also a service director for NSW and Queensland Health. He has worked with the World Health Organization since 1981 and has led international multi-country studies in the field of screening and brief intervention for unhealthy alcohol use. He maintains an active clinical and consulting practice across the range of addictive and related medical disorders.

Dr Kate Senior FAChAM | Deputy Chair

Kate Senior is a New Fellow. She is an Addiction Medicine Specialist at Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia (SA), with a background in General Practice. She has served as the Trainee Representative on the AChAM Committee since early 2022; is the workplace representative of the SA Salaried Medical Officers’ Association; and is the current APSAD SA Representative and Convenor of the APSAD23 Conference which will be held in Adelaide in November 2023. Kate’s particular areas of interest include Aboriginal health, substance use in women and pregnancy, hepatitis C and chronic liver disease, and co-morbid chronic pain and opioid dependence. She is a passionate advocate for the principles of harm reduction and is a keen teacher and supervisor.

Associate Professor James Bell FRACP, FAChAM 

James Bell trained as a physician and has worked in Addiction Medicine in Sydney, regional Australia, and London. He pioneered development of training programs in Addictions, led the establishment of ACHAM and specialty recognition of Addiction Medicine in Australia. He has published extensively on treatment of Opioid Use Disorder and has been recognised with awards in Australia and the United States. He has been employed as a consultant by WHO, UNODC, and the EU.

Dr Jonathan Brett FRACP, FAChAM 

Jonathan Brett is a Clinical Pharmacologist and Addiction Specialist previously sitting on both RACP training committees and recent past coordinator of addiction training.

Dr Joan Chong FRACP, FAChAM 

Joan Chong is an Addiction Medicine Physician and General Medicine Physician. She is currently appointed as an Addiction Medicine Specialist at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Her area of interest includes reducing harms from pharmaceutical opioid use and chronic pain management.

Dr Clara Dawkins

Clara Dawkins is a General Physician who has been working in the Community Drugs and Alcohol Services since 2017. Originally from Colombia, Clara completed her General Physician training in the UK, and later on served as a General Physician in South Auckland. For almost a decade, Clara has been working in Tamaki Makarau, making passionate efforts to improve the screening and treatment of substance use disorders in the community. Clara has most recently been working on completing her Fellowship in Addiction Medicine. Clara is currently working as an Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisor for Te Whatu Ora Waitemata as well as on the Auckland Opioid Substitution Service and Medically Managed Withdrawal Unit. Clara is also actively making an avid effort to promote training in Addiction Medicine, hoping for it to achieve the recognition as a specialty in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Dr Chris Holmwood FAChAM 

Chris Holmwood is an Addiction Medicine Physician and semi-retired. He is currently the Specialist Contractor for the Addiction Medicine curriculum. Chris was previously the Director of Clinical Partnerships at Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia, and before that the Clinical Director of the South Australia Prison Health Service. Chris’s original background was in general practice. In the 1990s He was State Director of Training for the RACGP for South Australia and Northern Territory.

Dr Vicki Macfarlane FAChAM 

Vicki Macfarlane is of Te Arawa descent but was born and raised in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. She graduated from the University of Auckland in 1989 and completed a Fellowship in General Practice becoming a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners in 2004.   In 2011 she started working with the Community Alcohol and Drug Services in Auckland and her training in Addiction Medicine with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She became a Fellow of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine in 2015.

Since 2011 she has been the Lead Clinician of the Medical Detoxification Services, providing clinical leadership for both a community detoxification service and an inpatient withdrawal unit. The multidisciplinary service provides medically supervised withdrawal services for all substances to the population of Auckland. She was the Aotearoa New Zealand Branch Chair on the AChAM Committee from 2016 until 2022 and has been on the AChAM training committee since 2022. She is a member of Te Akoranga a Māui, the RNZCGP Māori representative group and on the board of Whare Tututuku the National Maori Addiction Centre.

Associate Professor Mike McDonough FAChAM 

Mike McDonough has had 35 years clinical experience in the Addiction Medicine field, and in 2009, was a Foundation Fellow with AChAM including membership of the initial Curriculum Development Group along with Prof Greg Whelan and A/Prof James Bell. In the past, he has acted as AChAM State representative for Victoria and more recently, for South Australia and also as AChAM representative for the Australian Prescriber – National Prescribing Service. He is most recently, a member of AChAM Training Committee. He maintains his appointment as A/Professor with Adelaide University, within the discipline of pharmacology and as a specialist advisor in Addiction Medicine with Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Dr Allan Pascoe FAChAM 

Allan Pascoe is an Addiction Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist. He is Clinical Director of Toowoomba Alcohol & Other Drugs Service (AODS) and provides psychiatric Telehealth consultations and clinical oversight to South West Queensland (QLD). Allan is RANZCP QLD Director of Advanced Training in Addiction Psychiatry, Senior Lecturer with the University of QLD Rural Clinical School in Toowoomba and is also a member of and Director of Training for the RACP Training Committee in Addiction Medicine. He is passionate about delivering and developing addiction training and providing gold standard psychiatric and addiction care to regional, rural and remote communities.

Dr Craig Rodgers FAChAM 

Craig Rodgers completed his training with the College of General Practitioners in 2000 and was inducted as a founding Fellow of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine in 2004. He has continued to work in both the drug and alcohol sector and general practice with roles at the Kirketon Road Centre, East Sydney Doctors, the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre and since 2012 he has been working as a Staff Specialist in Addiction Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital. He is also a conjoint lecturer with the University of NSW and has contributed to registrar and General Physican training in the areas of Addiction Medicine, HIV and Sexual health.

Dr Amelia Woods

Amelia Woods in a General Physician, PhD Student and addiction medicine registrar. She completed a Masters of Addictive Behaviours (Monash University/Turning Point) in 2018 and has since held roles conducting research and supporting medical registrars in conducting research. In her clinical roles, she has worked as a General Physician in the Aboriginal and Prison Health Services and continues to work and research at the intersection of delivering Addiction Medicine for Aboriginal and incarcerated clients.