ACNEM Board

At the ACNEM Annual General Meeting on 12th December 2020, a new board was voted into office. We would like to officially welcome the new board and thank them for offering their time and service to ACNEM.

We would like to also acknowledge and extend a huge thank you to the previous ACNEM Board – their leadership over the many years has been extraordinary. Whilst they are no longer a part of the ACNEM Board, they remain an integral part of ACNEM and continue to offer their support as a part of the ACNEM Education Faculty.

  • Dr Ron Ehrlich
  • Dr Kamal Karl
  • Dr Nadine Perlen
  • Dr Tracy Chandler
  • Dr Christabelle Yeoh

ACNEM’s Board members provide our organisation with invaluable strategic leadership, professional contribution and support. They are Ambassadors for ACNEM and the work that we undertake.

ACNEM Board

Mark Donohoe

Dr Mark Donohoe 
MS BS (Syd) FACNEM FASLM
President

Dr Mark Donohoe graduated from Sydney University in 1980, opening his medical practice on the Central Coast New South Wales in 1983. The patients of his new practice led him into the fields of Environmental Medicine and Nutritional Medicine. He was awarded fellowships from the Australian Society of Environmental Medicine (ASEM), the Australasian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine (ACNEM), and more recently the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM).

Over his 38 years in practice, Mark has specialised in the fields of chronic fatigue syndrome, environmental and occupational toxicology, and sensory sensitivities including multiple chemical sensitivity.

Mark works with his wife, Fiona, at Mosman Integrative Medicine in Sydney. While he focuses on causes of illnesses and diseases, Fiona manages the healthcare side of the practice where she and other natural healthcare practitioners provide consultations and classes in yoga, Qi gong, pregnancy yoga, meditation, mindfulness and movement.

Mark and Fiona work together with an underlying philosophy that health in all its forms is the best prevention of disease, and that most disease is best managed by clean air, clean food, clean water and a commitment to a diet and lifestyle that is health enhancing.

 

Elected to the Board - 12th December 2020

Committees: 

  • Membership & Marketing 
  • Finance, Operations, Risk and Audit 
Dr Shamistra_to use

Dr Shamistra Barathan  
MBBS (U.K.), FRACGP, FACNEM, DRCOG, DFFP
Vice-President

Dr Shamistra Barathan has over 20 years of experience in medicine and has worked as a General Practitioner for the last 15 years. She specialised in nutritional and environmental medicine by completing the Fellowship with ACNEM in 2019. She also holds the Fellowship with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

Dr Barathan founded and runs her private Integrative Medical Clinic in Carlton North and South Yarra, Melbourne. She is an advocate for holistic care and created a healthcare team which includes an Integrative Dietitian, Counsellor and Hypnotherapist, a Yoga Therapist and a Mind-set coach.

Dr Barathan also works part-time in a bulk-billing clinic in Balwyn, Melbourne. This has been a great opportunity to provide nutritional medicine in a setting that offers its own challenges e.g. time and access to care.

She has been a strong supporter of ACNEM over the years. She regularly attended the ACNEM annual conferences, delivered a talk to the public at ACNEM’s MedEd for Everyone series in 2018, was the MC at the ACNEM Annual conference in 2019 and hosted the ACNEM podcast series that same year.

Dr Barathan strongly supports the vision of ACNEM which is to change global health and is excited to be part of the ACNEM Board.

Elected to the Board - 12th December 2020

Committees: 

  • Membership & Marketing - Chair

 

 

 

Richard Sager

Dr Richard Sager
AdvChef, BchHSc(N&D), MSc(PHC), DrPH
Secretary

Dr Richard Sager originally trained as a Chef is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and completed a Master’s of Science degree investigating health promotion within General Practice. Richard’s Doctorate researched Indigenous Children’s anthropometric measurements and cardiovascular risk. He has been working in Private Practice for the past 16 years.  Richard is the Director of Darwin Dietitians, the largest private Dietetic Practice in the Territory. His practice services, Aged Care facilities and services Northern Territory remote and very remote communities. He has held Academic positions with the N.T. Medical Program and Flinders University.

Elected to the Board - 12th December 2020

 

 

 

Martin G

Martin Gillespie
BA, MSc
Board of Directors  

Originally born in Scotland, calling Sydney home since 2000, Martin has over 30 years commercial experience including representing leading Fast moving consumer brands, Executive recruitment, leading Hotel organisations, Leading IT Cyber Security Portfolios’ experiences and Transforming Businesses in Europe and Australia. 

An entrepreneur with a passion for healthy lifestyle, Martin created his own business to focus on the wellness and preventative health of men in society. 

He is a believer that change is necessary in society, including the teaching of wellness, good nutrition, holistic health, connection and optimism.

From a personalstandpoint, Martin has also  overcome personal trauma and stage 4 cancer over the past few years.

A keen sportsperson, Martin also enjoys running, swimming, yoga, meditation, and is an ambassador for cancer research charities.

Board Appointed - 12th December 2020

Committees:
Finance, Operations, Risk and Audit
Journal, Education and Training

Dr Caitlin O’Mahony

Dr Caitlin O’Mahony
MBBS, DRANZCOG, FRACGP
Board of Directors 

Dr O’Mahony graduated from medicine at The University of Melbourne in 2008. Since then she has worked in hospitals and GP clinics in Melbourne, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

She is currently working at a GP Clinic in Beaumaris, Melbourne. Caitlin has been passionate about healthy eating, cooking and yoga for many years then was fortunate to be mentored by an experienced Integrative GP in 2018, just after completing her GP Fellowship.

Since then, she has commenced her ACNEM Fellowship and loves incorporating nutritional and environmental medicine into her daily practice to really optimise the health and wellbeing of her patients. Caitlin is especially interested in women’s  and children’s health (including pre/antenatal care, and has completed her RANZCOG Diploma), as well as gut, cardiometabolic, and mental health.

She is fascinated by the interconnectedness of the body and mind and its incredible ability to heal. She joined the ACNEM Education Committee in 2019 to be closely involved in delivering high quality NEM training to other health practitioners.

Elected to the Board - 12th December 2020

Committee:
Journal, Education and Training - Chair 

Jo Ford_Revised 30_120x160

Joanne Ford
GAICD, ACMA, CGMA, BComm
Treasurer

Joanne is a Graduate of the Institute of Company Directors, holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and and qualified as an ACMA, CGMA with CIMA UK. She has since gained executive experience in start-ups and listed multinationals in a number of countries. Joanne brings over 30 years’ experience  in the retail, FMCG,  online, telecommunications and healthcare education sectors and has skills in strategy, finance, governance, risk management and IT. She is passionate about contributing 
to ACNEM and has a special interest in nutritional and environmental medicine and education. She joined the board as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Management (FARM) Committee in April 2018.

Caryl Hertz_to use

Caryl Hertz
DipEd, DipPR, BCom, GCertLdshp
Board of Directors

Caryl’s strategic leadership and stakeholder engagement experiences have traversed many local and international industries.

She is keen to make an impact using her customer centric strategic planning, industry engagement and marketing communications capabilities. Caryl is collaborative and cross-functional in her approach aiming to deliver innovative strategic outcomes.

She believes that adding value with real impact is a privileged journey. Caryl enjoys transforming complexity into simplicity, transitioning to agile environments and driving innovation. She has also published, as case editor through McGraw-Hill, a book on Consumer Behaviour.

Through adversity Caryl brings a health and well-being perspective which is her passion, testament to this are her roles as Non-Executive Director on a number of boards related to wellbeing of individual, planet and humankind. She is keen to make an impact on the future of health care directions and enhance well-being.

Caryl joined the board as a Non-Executive Director in April 2018.

Committees:

Membership & Marketing

Professor Myers

Professor Stephen P Myers
ND, BMed, PhD
Bionote

Professor Myers is the Director of the NatMed-Research Unit based at Southern Cross University. He is one of Australia’s leaders in natural, complementary, and integrative medicine, spearheading its development as a University academic discipline over the past 25 years. Stephen was the Head of the School of Natural and Complementary Medicine at Southern Cross University between 1995-2001. He led the development and implementation of the Batchelor of Naturopathy program that graduated 500 Baccalaureates. He was the Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Complementary Medicine Education and Research (ACCMER) [2001-2006], a joint venture of the University of Queensland and Southern Cross University

He has qualifications in naturopathy (ND), western medicine (BMed) and pharmacology (PhD). He has raised over $8 million in research funding; managed over 50 clinical trials looking at the pharmacology of natural products in a wide range of conditions; supervised 17 higher degree research students to completion; authored 3 books, 10 book chapters, 104 peer-reviewed research papers and numerous papers for the professional press; and acted as a consultant to industry, government, and academia across a broad range of issues. Despite all of this, he has a delightful sense of humour, is very down to earth and is a fundamentally good man.