| Program |
| Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Introduction: 6:00pm – 6:05pm AEDT Acknowledgement of country: Dr Kate Martin, President, ANZAST. Welcome, introductions and housekeeping: Dr Martin Jarmin, Education Committee Chair, ANZAST. Keynote Presentation: 6:05pm – 6:40pm AEDT Dr Tom Bowles Panel Discussion: 6:40pm – 6:55pm AEDT Dr Jacques Marnewick and Dr Merwe Hartslief Close: 6:55pm AEDT Supported by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons CLICK HERE TO REGISTER |
Keynote address: Dr Tom Bowles
I grew up in a small town in country Victoria, where I completed all of my schooling before moving to Melbourne and residing at Queens college in 1992 to commence medicine. Upon completing internship I ventured west, commencing surgical training in 2000. I returned to Victoria for a year at Geelong as the “rural fellow” before returning to Royal Perth as the Trauma Fellow in 2006.
At the end of 2006 I commenced work in Albany, the major hospital for WA’s Great Southern region where I’m still based. My clinical work also takes me to Esperance 1 week in 4, which is 500km further east. For the last 10 years I have also held the position of the Director of surgery for WA Country Health Service, providing governance and advice for the 22 surgical sites spread across country WA.
I remain committed to education, I continue to direct and teach on EMST courses, having also been the WA representative at committee level. I have served as a college examiner and more recently as an examiner for the surgical stream of ACRRM. At a college level I have chaired the Rural Surgical Section and served as the WA State Chair. I’m also heavily involved in the Provincial Surgeons Association having served as the treasurer for 20 years. This year I have joined the GSA board.
Outside of medicine I remain involved in surf life saving and the local football (sponsor and umpire). My 3 kids are all grown up so my wife and I parent 2 needy ridgebacks so are not quite empty nesters yet.
Panellist: Dr Jacques Marnewick
Jacques Marnewick is an Aotearoa New Zealand-based general surgeon, having attained his RACS fellowship in 2016. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Cape Town and after working in South Africa for 3 years, he relocated to New Zealand. He was appointed as a Consultant Surgeon and Trauma Medical Director at Tauranga Hospital in the Bay of Plenty in 2019 and in the TMD role, he oversees two hospitals, serving a population of around 250 000. This population includes both urban and very rural areas. Admissions have reached 2000 patients annually, with approximately 12% of these being “majors.” Tertiary care is provided by multiple referral centres, including Waikato Hospital, Hamilton (Neurosurgery and Cardio-thoracic surgery,) Middlemore Hospital, Auckland (spinal cord trauma and Burns) and Paediatric Trauma (Starship Hospital, Auckland.)
As he is often at the mercy of said referral centres, as well as the prevailing weather conditions, he is ideally placed to chair a discussion on regional trauma and the challenges it faces in Australasia.
Panellist: Dr Merwe Hartslief
Dr Hartslief was born and completed his medical (1997) and surgical (2006) training in South Africa at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein. He worked as a private general surgeon in Klerksdorp for 6 years before immigrating to Australia in December 2011. He has worked as a fulltime public consultant general surgeon at the Cairns Hospital ever since and has a special interest in regional and remote surgery, as well as medicine in austere environments. He enjoys true general surgery and tries to stay up to date with a wide spectrum of general surgical procedures.
He has a passion for trauma surgery and has served on the faculty of various surgical and trauma courses around the country and abroad, such as ETM (Emergency Trauma Management), ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support), DSTC (Definitive Surgical Trauma Care), SSRF (Surgical Stabilisation of Rib Fractures), ASSET (Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma) and ASE (Anatomy of Surgical Exposure).
Dr Hartslief also serves part time as a general surgeon in the ADF Army Reserves, working mostly with the Army Field Hospital and Forward Surgical Team. In this capacity he is also an instructor for the NATO Special Operations Surgical Team Development Course, run by the University of Cork, Ireland.