Macquarie University | Tertiary Education

Meet the speakers

Dr Charlotte Officer

Dr Charlotte Officer is a current Junior Registrar in Emergency Medicine at Westmead Hospital. She was awarded Resident of the Year in 2024 and is currently at the commencement of her Emergency Medicine traineeship. Charlotte graduated from the MQ Doctor of Medicine in 2022, having completed both her psychology training and undergraduate medical qualifications (through the Bachelor of Clinical Science) at Macquarie University. She has a passion for medical & simulation-based education - currently undertaking teaching roles with the MQ MD and Westmead Simulation Program.

Alexander Antonelli

Alexander Antonelli is second-year student in the Macquarie MD. Before starting his medical studies, he earned an honours degree in medical science, with a research focus on brain cancer. Alexander is passionate about patient-centred care, and the Macquarie MD has given him invaluable firsthand experience in theatres, clinics, and hospital wards.

Professor Vincent Lam

Professor Vincent Lam, Course Director of Macquarie MD and Professor of Surgery at Macquarie University, graduated in medicine from the University of Sydney. His general surgical training was undertaken in Sydney, followed by two years of post-fellowship training in hepatobiliary, pancreatic and transplant surgery at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, and Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. As the first graduate of the Doctorate of Clinical Surgery at the University of Sydney, his thesis was titled ‘Extending the frontiers of surgical resection of colorectal liver metastases’. He is a consultant hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon at Macquarie University Hospital and Westmead Hospital, and treasurer at the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Hepatic, Pancreatic and Biliary Association. His previous leadership roles include Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Sydney; president of the Australian Chinese Medical Association; and vice-chair of the Medical Staff Council, Westmead Hospital.

Associate Professor Janani Mahadeva

Associate Professor Janani Mahadeva, a graduate of the University of Sydney and a fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, joined MQ Health in 2017 after two years of basic physician training at the Royal North Shore Hospital. Actively involved in the Macquarie MD, she serves as the Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) Lead, where she convenes the Clinical Practice unit for first-year students and supervises medical students rotating through her practice. Associate Professor Mahadeva is involved in research on learning health systems and various aspects of primary care. She enjoys all aspects of general practice, and her special interests are chronic disease management, paediatrics and mental health. She also leads the Quality Improvement initiative within MQ Health General Practice to improve patient outcomes. 

Professor Verity Pacey

Professor Verity Pacey is the Associate Dean of Curriculum and Learning (Graduate Health Education) in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences at Macquarie University. In this role, she provides leadership across the faculty’s breadth of graduate health courses, including the Macquarie MD. Her previous leadership roles at Macquarie University include Course Director of the Doctor of Physiotherapy and Head of the Department of Health Sciences. Professor Pacey is a senior fellow of Advance HE (Higher Education Academy) and the 2021 recipient of an Australian Award for University Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (Team Award). She is an experienced clinical and academic physiotherapist. Her teaching and research focus on the diagnosis and management of rare and complex conditions in paediatrics. Her educational scholarship explores pain science education of health professional students and practitioners, curriculum innovation and the work-readiness of graduates.