Dr Sulisti Holmes is the Head of Decontamination and Incident Reporting Investigation Centre at National Services Scotland. In conjunction with/or on behalf of Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate, she acts as the strategic lead for medical device safety and decontamination strategies in National Health Service (NHS) Scotland.

She manages a team of 27 staff, providing services and advice to NHS Scotland Boards and Local Authorities.

She represents NHS Scotland on UK advisory groups and committees for medical device safety and decontamination. She sits in British and European Standard Committees related to decontamination of medical devices. Sulisti has presented at several national and international conferences. She is the author/co-author of decontamination articles published in books and peer review journals.

She completed a degree in Pharmacy, PhD in Applied Microbiology, postdoctoral research projects and an Advanced Course in Sterilization Technology. She is a qualified lead auditor for ISO 9001/ISO 13485.

Alison is Programme Coordinator for sterilising technology at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology Limited. She also teaches on both the NZ Certificate in Sterilising Technology (Level 4) and NZ Diploma in Sterilising Technology (Level 5). Alison entered sterilising technology as a technician and progressed to management of reprocessing in a district health board. From there she has been involved in the delivery and growth of the sterilising technology qualifications.

Alison sees development of the personnel involved in sterilising technology as a key means of growing awareness of the profession and the people within it alongside robust standards guiding best practice. Alison is involved with the New Zealand Sterile Sciences Association as the Treasurer and is the Association’s representative on the Australian Standards committee, HE-023.

Recognised with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM), Mark Squirrell’s work as an International Aid Worker has seen him work under pressure in some of the world’s most tense situations. From car bombings to meeting Yasser Arafat, Mark ‘Squiz’ Squirrell OAM has experienced more than most.

After serving in the Australian Commandos and being awarded the coveted “Green Beret”, Squiz took his courage and leadership skills abroad to help others overcome adversity and turmoil.

Squiz has escorted food convoys through the Gaza Strip, negotiated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamel Eelam (Tamil Tigers) and brokered deals with Somali Clansmen to ensure the safe delivery of United Nations food aid. In doing so, Squiz continues to master the challenges of performing under pressure.

Inspired by his work with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Squiz climbed his way to the top of Mount Everest to help raise awareness of the global hunger crisis. The gruelling six week ordeal across glaciers and over exposed cliffs reveal the motivation, habits and adversity skills that facilitated his success.

He continues to be deployed on short-term assignments to emergency zones, such as the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa and 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

After a stellar career spanning decades in infectious disease research and international health at Burnet Institute, Professor Toole retired at the end of September 2021. He remains an Associate Principal Research Fellow at Burnet.

Mike spent more than 40 years in a range of international health areas; communicable disease control (including HIV), maternal and child health and nutrition, and public health in emergency settings. Working for eight years in Thailand, two years in Somalia, and ten years at the CDC in Atlanta, Mike also undertook short projects in more than 30 countries in five continents.

Mike was a founding member of Medecins sans Frontieres Australia, and was also a member of the Global Fund Technical Review Panel, the Board of the Three Diseases Fund for Burma, and the Independent Monitoring Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

After graduating in Microbiology, Andrew entered the health industry initially for the short term, but stayed on for over twenty years, first entering the CSSD field as a technician and then as Manager of two major Adelaide hospital departments including the relocation of the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2017. After further study in Project Management and infection control, he took on a role in the Department for Health and Wellbeing. Committee memberships include SRACA SA and Standards Australia, and Andrew has contributed to a range of national guidelines with the goal of emphasising the importance of reprocessing in infection control.

CSD Regional Manager Sunshine Coast Network

Started my CSD Journey in the early 1990’s in a small regional hospital in rural Victoria.

Moved to Melbourne and started at Linacre Private Hospital in 2001.

In 2013 I applied for the CSD Manager position at the Greenfield site for the Sunshine Coast University Private Hospital. I started in July 2013 and commissioned the CSD.

Over the last 10 years my staff and I developed a paperless quality system, were awarded a Private Hospitals Innovation award and a HESTA award for our Education around flexible scope cleaning.

In 2020 I was given the chance to develop a model for a Hub and Spoke Centralisation for CSD and in 2022 that project went live.

Nicole is a healthcare professional with a strong background in risk management and advancing practice in sterilisation. With over 20 years’ experience, she has scientific knowledge and technical skills to assist healthcare facilities in meeting the highest standards for sterilisation outcomes and in turn protecting patients from infections.

She is passionate and an advocate for the importance of scientific standards in healthcare and works tirelessly to advance the field through research education and application.  Nicole is an active contributor to standards development and is a committee member of Standards Australia HE-023 responsible for AS/NZS 4187 Reprocessing reusable medical devices in health service organisations.  She is also an active member of ISO technical mid technical committee TC198 working groups.

Nicole is committed to ongoing education and training.  Staying up to date with using evidence based strategies to mitigate risk.

Sandra joined Gold Coast Hospital & Health Service in 2017 after many years of nursing and management experience in a variety of roles within acute healthcare settings both in Queensland and in New South Wales. These varied clinical, strategic and operational experiences have enabled Sandra to develop a broad level of understanding and knowledge of the drivers of health service performance and the importance to strive for continued service improvement to enhance patient safety, access to services and greater patient experience. Sandra is known for her clinical strategic vision, strong relationships and inspirational leadership to the division of Surgical & Critical Care by delivering world class safe and quality healthcare.

Maria Ong is the Director of the Devices Vigilance and Policy in the Medical Devices Surveillance Branch at the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). She has been at the Department of Health since 2010 and has held roles in the Office of Health Technology Assessment, regulatory policy and governance and International Engagement and Trade. A pharmaceutical patent examiner and senior policy officer at IP Australia, she was a member of the Australian delegation for several free trade agreements in the IP chapters. Since joining the TGA she has been involved in several medical devices reform projects and the Action Plan for Medical Devices as Director of the Medical Devices Reform Unit.

Karen Vickery is Scientific Director of the Surgical Infection Research Group in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University. She obtained her PhD in 1996 investigating hepatitis B virus (HBV) and developed the method for biocide efficacy testing against HBV for disinfectant registration (Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in TGO#54B). Over the past two decades, she has been at the forefront of research into detecting biofilm associated with medical implants, equipment and environmental surfaces and her research has focused on surgical strategies for preventing biofilm infection of medical implants, treating biofilm infections of chronic wounds and strategies that improve instrument and environmental decontamination. She has been a member of expert advisory committees for the TGA, GENCA, The World Endoscopy Organisation and Standards Australia. She has edited two books, written over 100 journal articles.

Suzanne Zayas-Buil is the Nurse Manager of Sterilisation Services in the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN).

During her nursing career Suzanne has worked in both the public and private sector in acute and non-acute settings.

The majority of Suzanne’s career has been in perioperative services, and she is cognizant of requirements needed to enable the delivery of safe patient care in this setting and in other clinical environments. Suzanne also provides training and education to nursing and sterilisation staff on the reprocessing of reusable medical devices.

Suzanne has been actively involved in the management of Sterilisation Services since late 1997 and in 2010 was appointed as the Department of Health representative on the Australian Standards HE023 committee which has been responsible for the revision of AS/NZS4187 and other standards. 

Suzanne has developed numerous auditing tools to assist departments ascertain the level of compliance with standards and has been proactive in the implementation of quality improvement projects within the organisation. Suzanne holds a Master’s in Nursing and has had the opportunity to present at workshops, seminars, and conferences.

I have worked at the Rockhampton hospital Qld Health since 1998. I have been a Registered nurse since 1997. My clinical area of expertise; is largely Perioperative and reprocessing. Now it is entirely reprocessing. Positions held: Clinical Nurse Perioperative Unit, Acting Clinical Nurse CSD (Central Sterilising Department), now currently I am the Nurse Unit Manager CSD Rockhampton hospital.

Lesley Lewis is a registered nurse with dual sterilization and infection control qualification. Since 2005 Lesley has held responsibility for supporting the sterilization department at 11 public health services in Northeast Victoria. Including help lines, troubleshooting faults, assisting the development of a generic CSSD policy manual, consulting on redevelopment plans, infection control risk management during building works, and conducting external compliance audits. Lesley is a member of the Rural Infection Control Practice group (RICPRAC) and has been a coordinator of the annual RICPRAC AS/NZS4187 compliance audit project since 2007.

Darren Martin is the Central Sterilising Department Manager at Bendigo Health, Victoria, Australia. Having worked in reprocessing for over 20 years and completed many qualifications in sterilisation and infection prevention & control including a Master of Health Practice (Infection Prevention & Control), Darren is passionate about reprocessing reusable medical devices and ensuring high quality health care for patient safety. Darren is a current committee member of the Victorian and Federation Sterilizing Research and Advisory Council of Australia and the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control Member Engagement Committee.

I am now a Senior Sterilising Technician in the Oral Health Service of NT Health, Northern Territory Government. I am responsible for the operational and strategic management of Sterilising services within the oral health territory-wide. I have catered my service in various positions, namely: Acting Manager, Acting Supervisor, Acting Educator, Loan Set coordinator etc., in multiple hospitals before stepping up to this role. In addition, I recently served as a Sterilising Training Coordinator in NT Health, Northern Territory Government. I was required to oversee induction, Onboarding, and continuous learning and development in the Central Sterilising Department of Royal Darwin Palmerston Hospital. During the twelve years of my journey in the Reprocessing industry, I have participated in numerous education and training activities and achieved multiple qualifications. I am equipped me to lead the Central Sterilising Service in both operational and strategic aspects in Australia and New Zealand. In 2022, I qualified as a trainer and assessor by completing Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, which skilled me to understand Australian Vocational Educational Sector and adult education and learning principles. Now I am working toward a Master of Health Service at the University of Technology Sydney.

Robyn is currently the Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) of the Central Sterilizing Departments (CSD) of Gold Coast Hospital Health Service (GSHHS).

The role includes determining the GCHHS compliance with AS/NZS4187 and working with the CSD teams and Reprocessing Reusable Devices (RRD) committee to achieve full compliance.

The role includes developing Procedures, Work instructions, Audits e.g. storage conditions of sterile RMDs in Operating theatres, annual equipment Performance Qualification, and education.

Another aspect role is to ensure   instructions for use of Reusable Medical Devices( RMDs) are complied with in clinical practice utilising a data base for the reprocessing of reusable RMD as per IFU – accessible to all staff.

As member of GCHHS Strategic Consumables & Equipment Approval Committee (SCEAC) Robyn works to ensure new RMDs presented for trial or purchase are compliant with AS/NZS 4187

Career highlights;

Standards experience
Chair of HE-023 – responsible for AS/NZS 4187(December 2010 – November 2015)
Member of ISO committee for packaging
Attended ISO technical meetings Internationally

Professional memberships
1994 – 2005 State and Federal President role for Australian Sterilizing associations –-
Sterilizing Research Advisory Council of Australia
Now a life member of SRACA Qld
Presented conference papers
State, National and International conferences

Education
Inaugural member of Sterilizing Course development and teaching at TAFE 1993 – 2007

Steve is the General Manager at SVA and has worked within the sterilization industry for over 15 years. He has extensive experience in the end-point analysis of reusable medical devices and performance qualification. He has provided consultative services to instrument manufacturers throughout the microbiological planning, auditing and regulatory submission stages and contributed research and presentations to sterilizing industry bodies.