Patrea Andersen, RN, PhD

Associate Professor for Nursing and Simulation, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Patrea has extensive professional practice experience in New Zealand and Australia, and  over 30 years’ experience as an educator and researcher. As Associate Professor for Nursing and Simulation at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), the primary focus of her work is simulation development and curricula integration. Patrea’s current research interests spans clinical education, simulation (including visualisation and game-based simulation, AR and VR applications), patient safety, professional competence and issues impacting on the preparation and development of health professionals. Her teaching and scholarship were recognised with an OLT citation for leadership in simulation in 2015, and appointment to the Higher Education Academy (HEA) as a Senior Fellow. Patrea holds an adjunct position with the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service and has several governance roles. These include: Chair of national Simulation Education Collective (InSPIRE), Australian chair for SimGHOSTS Australia, International Affairs Committee for International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and leaning (INACSL) and  Editorial Board membership for Clinical Simulation in Nursing.

Vicki LeBlanc, PhD

Chair and Full Professor, Department of Innovation in Medical Education (DIME), University of Ottawa, Canada

Dr. LeBlanc earned her PhD in experimental psychology from McMaster University in 2001. Prior to joining the University of Ottawa in 2015, she was the Associate Director and a Scientist at the Wilson Centre for Research in Education, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Dentistry and the Department of Medicine, at the University of Toronto.

Dr. LeBlanc leads a program of research looking at the effects of emotions (particularly stress) on the learning, performance and mental health of health professionals and trainees. She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, and regularly presents at national and international conferences. She also has a number of national and international leadership roles, including serving as member of the Association for Medical Education in Europe’s research committee, an Associate Editor of the journal Advances in Health Sciences Education, as well as working with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to advance simulation-based education.

Cristina Diaz-Navarro, MD, PhD

Associate Dean for Simulation and Clinical Skills, Health Education and Improvement, Wales

Dr Diaz-Navarro is an Associate Dean at Health Education and Improvement Wales and a Consultant Anaesthetist with an interest in neuro-anaesthesia at the University Hospital of Wales. She is the Simulation Lead for Wales at the Royal College of Anaesthetists (UK). She has been involved in simulation based education and debriefing since 2006 and led the development of undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental simulation education in Cardiff since 2008. Her academic work has focussed on human factors training and simulation faculty development since 2011.

Dr Diaz-Navarro is the lead author in the creation of the TALK framework for clinical debriefing, which aims to fill an international gap in clinical safety culture. It is designed to guide structured team self-debriefing after any learning event in clinical environments. This project was awarded a Marie Sklowdoska-Curie Actions Grant (Horizon 2020 programme, European Commission) funding a collaboration between UK, Spain and Norway institutions. She chairs the Board of Trustees of the TALK Foundation.

Dr Diaz-Navarro enjoys developing innovative simulation based projects that encourage new perspectives for reflection on everyday elements of healthcare.

Doris Østergaard, MD, DHPE

Professor and Head of Research, Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES), Denmark
Anaesthesiology & Medical Education

David M. Gaba, MD

Associate Dean and Director, Immersive and Simulation based Learning (CISL), Stanford University School of Medicine, USA

David M. Gaba, M.D. is Associate Dean for Immersive and Simulation-based Learning and Director of the Center for Immersive and Simulation based Learning (CISL) at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is Professor (with tenure) of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford and Founder and Co-Director of the Simulation Center at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System where he is also a Staff Physician.

Over the last 34 years Dr. Gaba's laboratory has worked extensively on human performance and patient safety issues. His laboratory is a pioneer in applying organizational safety theory to health care. The laboratory is also the inventor of the modern full-body patient simulator and is responsible for adapting Crew Resource Management training from aviation to healthcare, first for anesthesia and then for many other healthcare domains.  He is a key pioneer in the development of cognitive aids and Emergency Manuals in healthcare. He has been the principal investigator on grants from a wide variety of federal and foundation funders. Dr. Gaba is an author on over 140 original articles, commentaries, and editorials in a wide diversity of peer-reviewed journals. He is the author more than 28 book chapters, and lead author of a well-known book Crisis Management in Anesthesiology (now in its 2nd edition). He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the indexed peer-reviewed journal Simulation in Healthcare– he served as the EIC for 12 years. Simulation in Healthcare is the only indexed peer-reviewed journal on simulation, published in print and online by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH).

In his spare time he cycles, reads/listens to books voraciously, avidly follows at a serious level developments in physics and space sciences, and since 2017 is an artist – printmaking (monotype) and abstract painting (acrylics). He and his wife Deanna are avid theater goers and supporters. He used to do many other interesting things including epee fencing, flying, scuba diving, rock climbing, soccer (goaltender), skiing, golf, glass blowing -- but is currently (sadly) retired from those activities.

Marc Priestley, Eng.

Former F1 Mechanic (Off topic speaker)

Marc Priestley worked as a Formula One race mechanic, member of the pitstop crew and in team management at one of the sport's most successful organisations, McLaren Racing, for almost a decade. ! He's stood in the pitlane as cars approach at motorway speeds, stopping centimetres away, where he and his team come together in perfect sychronicity to change tyres in little more than two seconds and get it back into the race. 

He's worked with an impressive and long list of drivers and a number of World Champions including Mika Hakkinen, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

Marc now shares his experiences and knowledge through different outlets in television, radio, online and printed media, as well as delivering talks to businesses and conferences.! ! In one sense an F1 team is a business like any other, but it's also different in many ways to most others and offers unique lessons in such areas as rapid productivity, marginal gains, image portrayal, data analysis and of course team work. Having been an integral part of these processes for so long and seen, first hand, how they impact on a company, there aren't many people more perfectly placed, or better educated in the field, to impart these lessons.

Follow Marc on Twitter: @f1elvis