AMD eBulletin – December 2025
A message from your President
Hello and Kia ora,
As we publish the final eBulletin for the year, many of us were deeply saddened to hear of the recent mass shooting at Bondi Beach. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragic event. We also acknowledge and thank the healthcare workers and first responders caring for those injured. In the face of such an appalling tragedy, it is more important than ever to show kindness, support one another, and take care of ourselves and those around us.*
This is the first time I have I have had the opportunity to reach out as the President-elect of the Adult Medicine Division (AMD). The RACP comprises two Divisions, the AMD and Paediatrics and Child Health, as well as Faculties and Chapters. These structures sit beneath the overarching governance structure including the RACP board, with a role to escalate and sense check on a variety of issues. For those of you I have not met, I am an adult gastroenterologist and work predominantly at Redcliffe Hospital in Brisbane, a peripheral hospital on what locals affectionately call 'the peninsula', as well as at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. I am also currently Acting Deputy Director of Medical Services at Redcliffe.
Reflecting on the past 12 months, it has been an encouraging and productive period for AMD Council, as we close off several key initiatives from previous years. At the same time, most of us have felt the clinical load continue to intensify: clinics are fuller, lists are heavier, MDTs are never-ending, the time to teach and mentor has disappeared, and the paperwork seems to multiply on its own. Many of our colleagues in private practice describe parallel pressures, especially the widening gap between what is achievable within realistic fees and the realities of running a business. These shared challenges are part of the backdrop for our work as a Division.
One of the notable achievements this year has been the Board’s recent approval of amendments to the AMD Council By-law. These changes modernise the composition of AMD Council’s membership, strengthening how we draw on the broad range of perspectives that make up adult medicine, and ensuring AMD Council remains contemporary, representative, and fit for purpose.
Looking ahead, AMD President Brian Wood and I are working closely on modernising how AMD Council functions and taking advantage of where it sits within the College, with a view to making sure our members who volunteer their time are able to contribute to useful, practical, and responsive changes that the College needs. Like many of you, we have watched the recent spotlight on College leadership. We will remain constructive and focused on what helps members and patients, and I encourage everyone to turn up, participate in the College, and help ensure that the full range of member voices are heard.
Our final AMD Executive Committee meeting for the year took place in November. During this meeting, we received updates from the Policy & Advocacy team and on the progress of the Education Governance Review Implementation. As the new Basic Training curriculum requirements roll out, we are actively advocating for how the time required for training is recognised and supported, and for close monitoring of impacts on trainees, supervisors, and Fellows across our services.
Professor Brian Wood, recently attended the Brisbane Convocation Ceremony, and it remains one of the few occasions in the year where we can bring together the broad church of specialties that sit within adult medicine to celebrate one of the most important milestones in our colleagues’ careers. We extend our sincere congratulations to the new Fellows – good luck on your next adventure.
I would also like to take a moment to formally acknowledge and extend our sincere appreciation to several AMD Council members whose terms have recently concluded: Associate Professor Rathika Krishnasamy (ANZSN), Associate Professor Hui-Peng Lee (HSANZ), Professor Jackie Center (ANZBMS), Professor Alex Thompson (GESA), and Dr Amanda Ormerod (ANZSBT). We thank them for their dedication, leadership and contributions to the Division.
I also want to say that I’m looking forward to meeting more of you over the next five years as I work with AMD as your current President-elect. In the meantime, if you have any topics you would like us to consider, I encourage you to contact me via the AMD secretariat at adult.med@racp.edu.au.
I wish you all a wonderful summer, and for those of you who do manage to take some time off that you have a great holiday.
*Following feedback from members, the RACP acknowledges that the Bondi Beach attack has since been formally declared a terrorist act targeting the Jewish community. We recognise the profound distress this has caused, particularly for Jewish members, and regret that our initial messages did not explicitly reflect this.
Dr Anthony Deacon
President-elect, Adult Medicine Division
AChSHM President’s Post
Hello and kia ora,
I would like to welcome Dr Katerina Lagios as our newest Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine (AChSHM) Committee member, filling a casual vacancy until May 2026. Katerina is the Clinical Director Population Health and Co-Clinical Director Drug and Alcohol Justice Health NSW. She also has a Doctorate in Public Health and I look forward to working with her over the coming months. We also welcome Leanne Roberts to the position of Executive Officer Adult Medicine Division Chapters, Member Engagement and Support.
We are currently seeking Expressions of Interest for a Sexual Health Editor for the Internal Medicine Journal (IMJ). Applicants should have a strong publication record in the field of Sexual Health Medicine and I strongly encourage members to either apply or share with your networks to ensure the publication continues its important work into 2026 and beyond.
In 2025, the AChSHM Committee has made some fantastic progress and we are seeing tangible impacts for our members and our patients. Key highlights include:
- Partnering with the Training Committee in Sexual Health Medicine, we have successfully changed the wording in the PREP Handbook to clarify that six months of core training (plus reproductive logbook) can be completed in lieu of a six-month reproductive health rotation for trainees under the current curriculum. This removes an ongoing barrier for existing trainees and is more aligned to the new curriculum requirements.
- Creation of a draft RACP position statement on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
- Ongoing advocacy about the importance of HIV clinical indicator testing.
- Presentation of multiple AChSHM awards, scholarships and prizes.
- Our face-to-face 2025 AChSHM Annual Scientific Meeting in March was a great success with over 60 attendees. Registrations for the 2026 AChSHM ASM are now open with early-bird rates. This will be held virtually on 21 March 2026.Please share with your networks and encourage your team to attend.
One of the Committee’s key ongoing activities is meeting with internal and external stakeholders to advocate on key issues and represent the concerns of our Chapter’s members. Recent meetings (September to November) have included:
- Virtual meeting with the National Syphilis Response Team.
- Advocacy on the importance of HIV clinical indicators with the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) and Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO).
- Discussions with the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) about the Australian framework for diagnosing gender incongruence in adults.
- The College’s Policy & Advocacy team has met with local AChSHM members in Aotearoa NZ and Queensland to discuss workforce challenges in these jurisdictions. This is a complex issue that the College and the AChSHM Committee will continue to work on throughout 2026.
- I also spoke with many of you in person at the AChSHM Fellow’s Update in September at the Adelaide Convention Centre. If you were unable to attend, I encourage you to reach out to me with any comments or concerns via shmed@racp.edu.au.
I’d like to make a special mention to thank one our past AChSHM Presidents, Associate Professor C. Ross Philpot OAM, for his recent donation of his carefully preserved archival items of the Sexual Health Chapter. These items were accepted on behalf of the College and have been transferred to the RACP Library in 145 Macquarie Street, Sydney.
A reminder that Committee positions opening for election in early 2026 will be announced on the RACP website as well as by email.
For updates on AChSHM submissions, position statements, and media, please visit the Chapter webpage.
I’d like to express my thanks to the AChSHM Chapter Committee members and RACP staff that support the Chapter and wish everyone associated with the Chapter a safe and happy holiday season.
Clinical Professor Louise Owen
President, Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine
AChPM President’s Post
Hello and kia ora.
2025 has been a very busy year and I would like to thank the AChPM Committee members for their contributions during the recent in-person Committee meeting held in Sydney, and throughout the year. I’d also like to thank the Training Committee in Palliative Medicine (TCPM) for their ongoing tireless work in supporting the training and education needs of our trainees.
The Spirituality Training Working Group, led by Dr Alan Oloffs, delivered the recent AChPM Spirituality Workshop and I would like to thank this group for working so hard to ensure this workshop happened. Spirituality is an important part of the palliative care practice and is a vital skill for trainees and Fellows alike. We had 16 attendees for these virtual workshops, which would not have been possible without the tireless contributions of the late Dr Doug Bridge who created the workshop content.
We are also seeking Expressions of Interest for a Paediatric AChPM member to represent on the AChPM Committee. This position is open to all AChPM Paediatric members and I strongly encourage you to nominate a colleague and share with your networks.
There has been ongoing advocacy work in 2025, which the AChPM Committee plans to continue as we move into 2026. We recently met with the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DoHDA) to discuss the development and implementation of the Support at Home Program, particularly our concerns in relation to the End-of-Life (EOL) Pathway, and a further meeting to discuss MBS item numbers and ongoing discrepancies within our specialty.
The Youth Appropriate Health Care (YAHC) Working Group and Youth Advisory Group recently met to finalise edits to the draft RACP position statement on Youth Appropriate Health Care. Consultation will commence in the coming weeks with internal and external stakeholders.
In November I gave an AChPM Fellows Update at the Australia and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine (ANZSPM) Conference in Melbourne. I also awarded two AChPM Awards to the 2025 recipients, Professor Phillip Good for his outstanding contribution to palliative care, and Dr Ashwin Kaniah for his excellent research project.
Helpful links on the new Support at Home program and the End-of-Life Pathway
The next AChPM Committee meeting will be held virtually in early 2026. If you have any feedback, questions, or concerns for the Committee, please feel free to reach out through the Chapter secretariat at PallMed@racp.edu.au. I would also like to encourage you all to consider joining a committee within the college, or our specialty society ANZSPM, to help grow and advocate for our specialty.
I wish you all a safe and restful end of 2025, and a happy new year!
Dr Gauri Gogna
President, Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine
Hello and kia ora,
As we approach the end of 2025, I would like to recognise the substantial contributions of so many members of AChAM to our collective efforts, notably:
- members of the AChAM Committee
- members of the Training Committee in Addiction Medicine
- all our colleagues within the Chapter who have been supervisors, assessors, and members of working groups and subcommittees
- all who have represented AChAM on external bodies.
We know how much this is valued by our trainees, RACP members and staff.
As many of you heard, during the two Fellows and trainees update meetings at the IMiA Conference in August and the APSAD Conference in November, we have made great progress on a number of initiatives, and the committee has been tirelessly advocating on several major issues including:
- updating Australia’s National Guidelines for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (the last version was published in 2014)
- advocating for health-oriented drug policies, which has included meetings with key advisers to the NSW Government following the 2024 NSW Drug Summit and with representatives of the Queensland Government
- advocating for MCNZ Vocational Scope of Practice recognition for addiction medicine
- collaboration with RACP stakeholders on regional, rural and remote strategy and advocacy for improved services in rural areas.
A consequence of recent activities has been closer collaboration with other sections and training programs within the College. We are also collaborating with other speciality colleges such as the RANZCP and the RACGP, and working with external bodies such as Harm Reduction Australia, Unharm, and the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL).
In 2025, we updated the composition of the AChAM Committee so that all jurisdictions are now represented individually. We have added three new branch roles (ACT, South Australia, and Tasmania), all of which are filled.
There are ongoing challenges in many jurisdictions which the Committee receives regular updates on, including:
- naloxone access in Aotearoa NZ
- impending changes to the Tasmanian Poisons Act
- WA authorisation procedures for buprenorphine-based treatments
- workforce challenges in multiple jurisdictions.
We are also in the process of creating a voluntary register of FAChAMs who can provide aviation medical assessments, to address one of the more common requests we receive from members of the public. To be included in this register, add your details here.
Finally, I’d like to once again thank you all for your responses to the AChAM Pathways to Specialist Fellowships Survey completed earlier this year. Over 45 per cent of active members responded, and we saw overwhelming support for efforts to create a dual training pathway for Addiction Medicine (leading to FRACP). Behind the scenes, we have met with key College staff to understand the likely path forward here, and we have also been seeking input from several Training Committees (including the TC in Addiction Medicine) about which specialties would be most appropriate to include in this proposal. There is still much work to be done to move this forward, but I hope to be able to share further updates about our progress in early 2026.
I wish you all a safe and restful end of 2025, and a Happy New Year!
If you have any feedback, questions, or comments for me or the Committee, please feel free to reach out via our secretariat at AddictionMed@racp.edu.au
Professor John Saunders
President, Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine
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