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The College is delighted to announce the appointment of FACEM Dr Rebecca Day, FACEM Associate Professor Melinda Truesdale and community representative Ms Jacqui Gibson-Roos to the ACEM Board, effective immediately.

The appointments of Rebecca, Melinda and Jacqui to the ACEM Board are exciting, President Dr Simon Judkins says.

‘I’m very pleased that we have moved ACEM – through changes at Board level – to a position that much better reflects who we are.’

The appointments follow more than a year of work by the College to understand potential barriers to positions on the Board and to undertake changes to remove those barriers.

‘In June more than 900 Fellows voted on two special resolutions. More than 95 per cent supported the appointment of two FACEMs from the general Fellowship to the Board; and more than 84 per cent supported the appointment of a Community Representative.

‘We are proud to see the culmination of that work’, Simon says. Of which one aspect was the convening of the Board Nominations Committee that reviewed each Expression of Interest for the FACEM general member positions and made recommendations on appointment to the ACEM Board.

Rebecca was ‘stoked’ to discover her appointment this week. The Northern Territory Regional Censor has held many roles across the College, which currently include DEMT, Faculty Board member and WBA/TPR Panel member.

‘To say that I am absolutely stoked to be appointed to the ACEM Board would be a huge understatement.

‘The fact that ACEM has taken such positive steps to address governance diversity issues is a real turning point for the College, and I am so excited and privileged to be part of this change.’

Rebecca works in Darwin and hopes to use her experience working in remote areas to help inform strategic priorities around workforce, particularly retaining an appropriately skilled emergency medical workforce in remote areas.

Melinda has been heavily involved in College activities since becoming a FACEM, with diverse experience in ultrasound, retrieval medicine, quality and patient safety, education and accreditation.

In that time she has visited many emergency departments across Australasia and has worked in rural, urban and metropolitan settings.

‘I thought this was a quite natural progression and leadership opportunity. I’m very pleased that I will be able to contribute in this capacity for the College and that I add gender diversity to the Board.’

Jacqui was the College’s inaugural community representative – with the Curriculum Review Project – in 2011.

She is pleased to have been appointed to the Board and has broad community-based experience to offer insight to its work and deliberations.

‘I think the collaboration with the wider community, in particular health consumers, is really important to improve patient safety, care and outcomes.’

Jacqui is currently a Community Member on the Victorian Mental Health Tribunal.

‘I think the tribunal work gives me particular insight into the experience of patients in emergency departments and the challenges and opportunities we might have pursuing solutions to their care, both in emergency departments and in the wider health system.’

These appointments take immediate effect, with Rebecca, Melinda and Jacqui effectively filling ‘casual vacancies’ until the start of their respective two-year term at November’s AGM.

ACEM Board effective 26 August 2019