Dr Bob Kass Director

Currently a Director of the Travellers' Medical and Vaccination Centre Pty Ltd and responsible for the strategic development of the Travel Doctor Group of clinics TMVC. He was National Medical Director of the Group for 7 years. He is an international health consultant and has served on the Executive Board of the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) for 4 years. He holds specialist qualifications in paediatrics and public health medicine and has worked in a number of overseas countries, including Western Samoa, Papua New Guinea, UK, Tonga, Tokelau, Thailand, Laos, India, Uganda and Burma. He has also worked as a paediatrician in central Australia where much of his work was with aboriginal communities.

During his period as paediatrician for the islands region of PNG Dr Kass was responsible for overseeing the care of not only the local people but also the considerable number of expatriate children living in the region. He maintains a special interest in tropical child health and activities focussing on Sustainable Tourism. The Travel Doctor's publication, "Treading Lightly, Responsible Tourism with the Africa Great Apes" is seen as a benchmark for International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) involvement in the health of local communities.

Since 1991 he has served on the National Health and Medical Research Council's expert committee on malaria and using the TMVC Group database was a chief investigator in a major study of user acceptability of commonly used antimalarials.

In 1998 he was invited as a plenary speaker to the Asia Pacific Travel Health Association meeting in Taiwan where he spoke on the role of travel medicine clinics. In October 1998 he was an invited speaker at the Australian College of Tropical Medicine meeting in Perth where he introduced a new concept on the surveillance of travel related illness through Travel Medicine Clinics. This is coordinated by the quarantine branch of CDC in Atlanta USA. More recently he spoke at the 1999 Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases (ASID) meeting in Cairns on the direction of travel medicine as a medical discipline and the role of travel medicine clinics as a specialised service for overseas travellers, in particular those to less developed regions of the world. Each year he is requested to participate in numerous general practice divisional workshops focussing on issues relating to traveller health.

In 1999 he helped develop an innovative CD ROM travel medicine programme, Walkabout MD. This is available to medical practices with an interest in travel medicine.

Dr Mandy Hu(MBBS UNSW) VR Company Director

One of the original founders of TMVC, Mandy has been involved with the company since its inception in Sydney in 1986. She has a particular interest in travel medicine as well as public health and infectious diseases. AMH has travelled extensively in the past and plans to resume this noble activity as soon as her offspring are able to carry their own backpacks.

Dr Trish Batchelor National Medical Director

Dr Trish Batchelor has taken up the position of National Medical Director from April this year. She will replace Dr David Scimgeour who kindly agreed to act in this role until a replacement was found for Dr Gherardin. Trish has just returned to Australia after spending 5 years in New Zealand, where she established the first New Zealand Travel Doctor clinic in Auckland in 1996. New Zealand now has a network of six Travel Doctor clinics.

Trish first joined the Travel Doctor group in Perth in 1991after a two-year period of travel. This included a 6-month job as a volunteer doctor in Dharamsala, North India. Whilst traveling she developed an interest in illness prevention and infectious diseases. and thus travel medicine provided the perfect means of combining these two disciplines. Additionally it allows the benefit of pursuing her other great passion - travel.

After 5 years of experience in Perth, during which time she completed her FRACGP, she moved to Auckland and established the first Travel Doctor clinic in New Zealand. Whilst in New Zealand she was involved in the role of teaching other doctors in the field of travel medicine, and continues to teach at the University of Otago in travel medicine and migrant health. Trish Batchelor is a prolifent writer with regular features on travel health in NZ Doctor magazine and NZ Adventure magazine. She has also developed close relationships with a number of large corporate clients, who were, for the first time, able to access complete pre travel services for their employees.

During her time in New Zealand Trish also worked with the Public Health Department undertaking refugee health screening and following up TB contacts. On a personal note Trish has a passion for travel - in particular trekking in remote high altitude areas. With her husband she has trekked extensively in Nepal, India, Tibet, South America & Africa. She has a special interest in high altitude medicine and is a member of the International Society of Mountain Medicine, as well as the ISTM, Wilderness Medicine Society and Australian College of Tropical Medicine.

Her other special interest is the impact of tourism on host countries, and she is a member of the International Society of Travel Medicine Host Country Committee. She is a representative of the International Porter Protection Group (a grass roots organization which aims to educate trekkers and trekking companies on the issue of porter welfare in the mountains) and is a member of ECPAT. With her extensive experience in the filed of travel medicine, as both a doctor and a clinic manager, and her practical 'on-the-road' experience as a traveller she offers.

Dr David Scrimgeour MBBS BMedSc MPH FAFPHM

Medical Director, The Travel Doctor Adelaide David Scrimgeour is a graduate of Melbourne University, with postgraduate qualifications in public health from Harvard University. He has worked on a refugee health program in Sudan, on tuberculosis control in Indonesia, with WHO on malaria control in Namibia, and with WHO and AusAID on non-communicable disease control in various Pacific Island countries. His most recent consultancy has been in Vietnam where he worked on a primary health care project with AusAID. He also has extensive experience working with Aboriginal people in remote areas of Australia. He also enjoys travel, and has traveled through many countries especially in Asia and Central America.

Dr Sonny Lau MBBS, MRCP(UK), MPHTM

Medical Director, The Travel Doctor Melbourne Dr Lau is a medical graduate of the University of Melbourne. He has been working specifically in the travel medicine field since 1993. Prior to this Dr Lau worked in Hong Kong between 1985 to 1991. He then gained training in Infectious Diseases at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital in Melbourne. He completed his Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at the James Cook University of North Queensland in Townsville in 1998. He is a certified medical examiner for recreational diving medical. His special interest is tropical diseases in returned travellers.

Dr Debbie Mills

Medical Director, The Travel Doctor Brisbane After graduating with an MBBS from the University of Queensland in 1983, Deborah completed her internship at Rockhampton Base Hospital. The next few years were spent travelling overseas with a variety of locum, registrar and clinical positions providing experience in travel medicine related areas, and culminating in the 1988 establishment in Brisbane of the second Travellers Medical And Vaccination Centres (TMVC) clinic. When this clinic commenced operation, travel medicine in Australia was in its infancy, and TMVC Brisbane was the first privately run clinic in Queensland to gain approval to administer Yellow Fever vaccine. Deborah's role for several years was National Quality Assurance Manager for the entire TMVC Group, involving the development of travel medicine manuals for vaccinations and malaria prescriptions, training programs for doctors, standardisation of medical kits, and co-ordination of medical staff across a rapidly growing network of clinics Australia-wide. From 1992 to 1994 Deborah operated the Travel Medicine Clinic and General Practice at the Royal Brisbane Place Medical Centre, and she is currently Medical Director of the TMVC Brisbane clinic. During this period there were no recognised courses or degrees in Travel Medicine, but despite not having formal Travel Medicine qualifications, Deborah now participates in curriculum development for tertiary courses that are now available.

Dr Maggie Phillips MBBS, DTM&H;, DRCOG

Dr Phillips has a special interest in tropical medicine and infectious diseases. She has many years experience as a primary health care provider in the Northern Territory, P.N.G. Western Samoa, Bangladesh and suburban Adelaide. She is currently a regional co-ordinator for an international surveillance programme on travel related health problems - Geosentinel. This programme is a joint operation between the International Society of Travel Medicine and the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta. Dr Phillips is experienced in women's health care and accredited to perform medicals for recreational divers. Her MPH treatise on "User acceptability of currently used antimalarials" and follow up paper in the Journal of Travel medicine is well quoted in medical literature.

Dr Norman Hohl - MBBS, DTM&H;, FAFPHM

Medical Director, The Travel Doctor Gold Coast "Two years in Papua New Guinea convinced me of the imperative need for preventive medicine. After six years in Nigeria establishing a Rural Health Program, I am back in Australia and my emphasis is still on preventative medicine."

Dr Paula Fogarty MB BS, MPH & TM

Medical Director, The Travel Doctor Chatswood. Dr Fogarty has a special interest in post-travel illness. Her Masters degree in Tropical Medicine means that she is also extremely well equipped to give advice on travel vaccines and malaria prevention, as well as other health risks. Dr Fogarty has worked in travel medicine for 6 years and has had extensive travel experience in developing areas, and can therefore give travellers first hand advice regarding health issues there. Dr Fogarty has also had experience in Lyssavirus prevention amongst the bat-handling community and park ranger/wildlife staff of our NP&WS.;

Dr Peter Burke

Medical Director, The Travel Doctor Fremantle and Perth. A Western Australian medical graduate who has worked in developing countries such as Pakistan and Peru, and completed the Diploma of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene at the University of Liverpool, UK. He has a special interest in illness in returned travellers

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