Dr Nathan Wong

Our latest Alfred registrar on rotation from the Alfred Hospital is Dr. Nathan Wong. Nate completed his Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery at Monash University in 2018 and finished his physician training at the Alfred, during which he completed a Masters of Public Health through Newcastle University. He is currently an Advanced Trainee in General and Acute Care Medicine, and will undertake his first year of Cardiology Advanced Training in Geelong in 2024. Nate is interested in all aspects of cardiac care; from managing acutely ill inpatients to minimising cardiovascular risk within a clinic setting. He is particularly enjoying the hands-on experience of scanning with the echo techs and the pearls of wisdom provided by Dr Soward.

Having recently taken up bouldering in his free time, Nate’s biggest disappointment on arriving in Mildura was its absence of rock-climbing gyms! Instead, he’s spent most of his free time at Sip or Fossey’s and makes sure to get down to the driving range on his afternoons off.

Dr Vijayatubini Vijayarajan

Vijaya completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide and is currently completing her final year of Master of Philosophy with University of Sydney. The title of her thesis is “ Demographics, Morbidity and Mortality Outcomes of Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices”. Her career began at the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network in South Australia and she underwent Basic Physician Training at Illawara Shoalhaven Local Health Network in New South Wales. She is currently a first year General Medicine Advanced Trainee with an interest in cardiology.

Vijaya enjoys all aspects of cardiology and ensures that her patients are managed in a holistic manner. She has special interest in ischaemic heart disease and believes in prevention and aggressive risk factor management is the cornerstone of the treatment of ischaemic heart disease. 

Outside of work, Vijaya enjoys exploring the towns and vineyards around Mildura. She loves the relaxed lifestyle and is greatly appreciative of the welcoming residents in Mildura who have made her feel at home.

Dr Nicky Evans

Nicky completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Monash University then moved to Adelaide to complete her Doctor of Medicine at Flinders University.

She worked at Eastern Health for four years and is now in her first year of Advanced Training in General and Acute Care Medicine at Alfred Health.  

Nicky is enjoying managing patients with a variety of heart problems and improving her skills in echocardiography and ECGs. 

Her favourite thing to do in Mildura was running along the Murray, but now that the path has flooded she is sticking to the gym! She loves the relaxed lifestyle and friendly people here. 

Dr Ashlea Low

Our latest registrar on rotation from the Alfred is Ashlea Low.

Ashlea completed her Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne and MBBS at Deakin University.

She started her career as a junior doctor in Ballarat and Eastern Health and is currently a first year General Medicine Advanced Trainee.

She is enjoying all aspects of her work as a cardiology registrar especially echocardiography and is now undertaking a Graduate Diploma of Clinical Ultrasound.

Outside of work, Ashlea enjoys swimming and hiking and is looking forward to exploring the national parks around Mildura. 

Dr Riley Batchelor

Riley is our current registrar on secondment from The Alfred Hospital. He completed his MBBS with honours at Monash University in 2016, went on to complete Basic Physician Training at Alfred Health. Riley’s interests include all aspects of General Cardiology, with interests that extend to Stroke Neurology. He has worked previously at Mildura Base Hospital as a medical registrar and is hoping to return to Mildura as a cardiologist on completion of his specialty training.

Riley is involved in clinical education and teaches medical students on a twice-weekly basis. Outside of work, he has been enjoying the fresh air here in Mildura and runs on along the Murray. Over the weekends he has been enjoying having a hit at the driving range and the local golf courses. He is a passionate Collingwood supporter, but has been a little disheartened by their performance this year!

Dr Sylvia Ye

Sylvia completed her undergraduate training in Biomedicine at The University of Melbourne before undertaking an MBBS at Deakin University.

After working a year in Shepparton, she completed her Basic Physician Training at Eastern Health. She is now an Advanced Trainee in General and Acute Care Medicine and is hoping to combine this in the future with Cardiology training to provide holistic cardiovascular care.

Outside of work, Sylvia enjoys reading, hiking and looking after her 30+ indoor plants. She is a miserable cook so is looking forward to sampling all of the restaurants she has been recommended in Mildura.

Dr Adrian Chee

Our newest registrar on rotation from Alfred Health is Dr Adrian Chee. The Advanced Physician training position is a six month rotation based at Mildura Cardiology in conjunction with the Mildura Base Hospital.

Adrian completed his Basic Physician Training at Monash and Alfred Health, and is currently an Advanced Trainee in General and Acute Care Medicine, which he hopes to combine with Haematology training. Adrian has previously worked in Mildura several times as a medical registrar, and hopes to return to practice here once he has completed his specialty training. He is also interested in clinical education, and is involved in teaching at both a medical student and junior doctor level.

Outside of work, Adrian has been working on upskilling his culinary skills, as well as having taken up pilates during the COVID lockdown. He highly enjoys the food scene in Mildura and hopes that he can visit Trentham again before he has to leave!”

Cardiac and Specialist Centre

As Mildura continues to grow, so does Mildura Cardiology.

The need for further expansion has made it necessary for Mildura Cardiology to relocate its Cardiac & Specialist Centre to 238 13th street Mildura, previously located in the Mildura Health Private Hospital building.

The new centre is located four doors down from the main clinic at 230 13th street.

This centre provides an outpatient echocardiography service for both adult and paediatric patients. This includes both urgent and non urgent outpatient appointments and a daily inpatient hospital service covering both Mildura Base Hospital and Mildura Health Private Hospital.

This busy centre employs five echocardiographers and two reception staff.

Visiting specialists include a Paediatric Cardiologist, a Respiratory & Sleep Physician and a Haematologist.

 

 

Dr Dana Forcey

Our newest registrar on rotation from Alfred Health is Dr Dana Forcey. Dana completed both her undergraduate training in Immunology and Pathology, and her MD at The University of Melbourne. Her Basic Physician Training was completed at Alfred Health and the Central Australian Health Service – Alice Springs. She is currently an Advanced Trainee in General and Acute Care Medicine, which she hopes to combine with Nephrology training and she is particularly interested in Indigenous Renal Health.

Dana is enjoying all aspects of General Cardiology at Mildura Cardiology, especially ECG reporting and transthoracic echocardiography. She hopes these skills will be useful to her practice in the remote and rural settings in which she hopes to work in future. She enjoys working with the team at Mildura Cardiology and Mildura Base Hospital.

Outside of work, Dana enjoys hiking and landscape photography. During the coronarvirus lockdown she has inherited a sourdough starter from Carly (assistant practice manager), and is enjoying competing with Carly and Dr Soward in the pursuit of baking the perfect sourdough bread!

Graduate Diplomas in Cardiac Ultrasound

HOME is where the heart is for two local nurses-turned-echocardiographers.

After completing their Bachelor of Nursing degrees two years ago, Kirsten Newman and Jessica Goodman decided to take their medical education one step further and complete a Graduate Diploma in Cardiac Ultrasound, a two-year course run through the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

The girls received their qualifications recently, essentially “doubling the staff levels” at their workplace, Mildura Cardiology.

Chief echocardiographer Lisa Zweck said the course undertaken by Ms Newman and Ms Goodman is “notorious for having students drop out or fail due to the high level of skills involved”.

“Not only is it very academically difficult requiring physics, anatomy, physiology, and mathematical equations, but the physical skills required to perform the procedure is extremely difficult,” Ms Zweck said.

“This has been an outstanding achievement for the girls and now has basically doubled our staff levels,

“They are local girls and it is wonderful that they have retrained in such a specialised area to help service our rural community.”

Ms Goodman and Ms Newman said while their training was “intense,” they were now looking forward to embarking on their new career.

“I always knew I wanted to work in healthcare, starting with working as a personal carer, then nursing and leading in to echocardiography seemed like a very natural progression for me,” Ms Goodman said.

“I really think you can have a rewarding and successful career right here in Mildura, our workplace has been so supportive.”

The road to echocardiology looked very different for Ms Newman, who decided to take a turn to the medical profession after hairdressing for seven years.

“I was a qualified hairdresser when I started studying nursing … I never thought I’d do a post grad, let alone a degree,” she said.

“I did it because I just thought it was amazing, I had almost finished my nursing degree and thought I’d give it a go — and I’m so glad I did.”

Both girls agree that having access to “hands on learning” through their workplace was key to their success.

“You’re actually not allowed to do the course with out the hands on training, so we were really lucky to have Mildura Cardiology take us on and support us though that,” Ms Goodman said.

“The wonderful thing about echocardiology is that it’s continually changing and improving – you’re learning new things all the time… it’s constantly evolving, and that’s a very exciting thing to be a part of.”

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