Program Organising Committee
Prof Greg Scalia
Main Organisor
Professor Greg Scalia is a Gold Medal graduate of the University of Queensland, 1987. He was the first dedicated echocardiologist to join Advara HeartCare, having completed a two year cardiac imaging fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, USA in 1996.
Professor Scalia is a nationally respected expert in echocardiography, undertaking a busy schedule of lecturing and teaching in Australia, the United States and South East Asia. He has been co-director of the Echo Australia program since its inception in 2002.
Professor Scalia has been awarded fellowships in the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Echocardiography. He was awarded a Master of Medical Science by the University of Queensland in 1999 for original research into cardiac diastolic function.
He has been Associate Professor of Medicine at his alumni, the University of Queensland since 2004 and became a Professor in 2018. Professor Scalia is the Director of Echocardiography at The Prince Charles Hospital. Professor Scalia has published over three hundred papers, abstracts and book chapters in peer-reviewed major journals.
Dr Natalie Edwards
Main Organisor
Dr Natalie Edwards is a senior cardiac scientist at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, with over 25 years of experience in echocardiography. She is also a Clinical Fellow at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
Dr Edwards completed her PhD focusing on the non-invasive assessment of myocardial work and has published extensively in leading international journals, as well as contributing to clinical textbooks. Her work has been widely recognised, including being awarded the Brian Haluska Sonographer Award at the 2019 American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) Scientific Sessions.
She has also received multiple Researcher of the Year awards from the Australasian Sonographers Association, reflecting her significant contribution to advancing echocardiographic research and clinical practice.
Dr Akshay Hungenahally
Intraoperative Stream
Dr Akshay Hungenahally is a Consultant Anaesthetist at Princess Alexandra Hospital, specialising in cardiac, thoracic, and liver transplant anaesthesia. He is the Clinical Lead for Echocardiography, overseeing the intraoperative echocardiography safety and quality program and the cardiac point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) training program. He has supervised both DDU and ESC echocardiography candidates and has additional technical expertise as a medical perfusionist, with experience in cardiopulmonary bypass and ECMO.
Dr Hungenahally has a strong interest in trainee education and serves on the ANZCA Training Accreditation Committee. He is a regular lecturer for ANZCA primary and fellowship examination courses and is a Senior Instructor for Early Management of Severe Trauma (EMST/ATLS), with a solid background in simulation-based education.
While working in Darwin, he helped establish the anaesthesia transthoracic echocardiography fellowship program at Royal Darwin Hospital, improving perioperative cardiac assessment for Northern Territory patients. He strongly believes that echocardiography training should be accessible to clinicians at all levels.
Dr Mona Lwin
ACHD Stream
Dr Mona Lwin is a Cardiologist with subspecialty expertise in Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) and ACHD echocardiography, including advanced perioperative and structural imaging for ACHD interventions. Her clinical interests include aortopathy, ACHD pulmonary hypertension, and pregnancy cardiology.
After completing adult cardiology training in Australia, Dr Lwin undertook international subspecialty training in the United Kingdom. She completed fellowships in Adult Congenital Heart Disease at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and in ACHD echocardiography with a focus on perioperative and periprocedural transoesophageal echocardiography at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Dr Lwin worked for four years as a Consultant Cardiologist in ACHD within the NHS at University Hospital Southampton and Barts Health NHS Trust, where she held leadership roles in ACHD echocardiography, transition care, pulmonary hypertension, and pregnancy cardiology services.
She is passionate about ACHD education, has presented at international and national meetings, and organised the annual ACHD echocardiography course at Barts Health NHS Trust. She is committed to advancing ACHD care and education in Australia in response to the growing ACHD population.
Dr Sam Orde
ICU Stream
Intensive Care specialist & Director of ICU Nepean Hospital, Sydney. Co-Director of Nepean echo lab. Trained in UK (at Oxford + Guy's&Tommy's, London). ICU training in Australia. Completed 2 echo fellowships (incl. Mayo clinic, USA). PhD done assessing use of advanced echo techniques in the critically ill. Particularly interested FOAMed (free open access medical edudcation) eg: echo education site on YouTube = "Echo at Nepean" which has >11.8K followers).