About Us
Key Personnel
Dr
Bob Kass Chief
Medical Advisor
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 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
Media Contacts
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