Board

Dr Astha Tomar is the President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

With qualifications including FRANZCP, MBBS, AFRACMA, and GAICD, Dr Tomar's professional journey spans various countries including India, New Zealand and Australia in leadership roles, clinical appointments with significant contributions to mental health governance and system development. She has a strong commitment to mental health advocacy and stays a passionate supporter of equity, diversity and inclusion.

Before assuming the role of President-Elect in 2023, Dr Tomar was the Chair of the Victorian Branch Committee and leveraged this opportunity to reposition the College as a critical stakeholder at the State level. Dr Tomar has been deeply engaged with the College as a previous member of the Membership Engagement Committee, Gender Equity Working Group, Victorian Branch Racism Awareness Working Group and Members’ Advisory Council (MAC). Whilst President-Elect, Dr Tomar chaired the MAC, Psychiatry Interest Forum (PIF) Advisory Group, and the Awards and Recognition Committee.

Dr Tomar assumed the role of President of the RANZCP in May 2025 for a two-year term until May 2027.

Dr Astha Tomar can be contacted via president@ranzcp.org

Dr Angelo Virgona has been a psychiatrist since 1990 and has straddled many clinical and administrative roles across settings in a peripatetic career from inner city, outer metropolitan, rural, private, public.

Dr Virgona ran city and rural mental health services and was involved in establishing and running various types of public sector units, two private psychiatric units, Headspace site, and mental health access lines. He has also been in private practice, one way or another (general psychiatry, psychotherapy and medico-legal practice, mainly) since 1990 and a member of various NSW Health committees over the years.

Dr Virgona was a medical superintendent of Ramsay Clinic Macarthur in Campbelltown for 10 years. He is interested in mental health policy, generally. He deplores the current state of mental health funding and service delivery and is interested in exploring innovative models to improve same, including better coordination of the private/public interface. His specific interest is in improving access to psychotherapy services for those with trauma-related disorders.

Dr Virgona was a past Chair of NSW Branch of RANZCP, having served in this role for 6 years, and a member of the Members Advisory Council and Branch Chairs Forum. He has previously been a member of the Committee for Continuing Professional Development and Telehealth Advisory Steering Group.

Dr Virgona was originally elected to the Board in May 2024 and elected to President-Elect in 2025. His term as President-Elect began on 7 May 2025 and will conclude in May 2027 when he assumes the role as President until May 2029.

Dr Atchison is an Adelaide based private psychiatrist who works with a clinical focus on trauma and military psychiatry. She provides civil medicolegal reports as a treating psychiatrist and as an expert. Dr Atchison owns her practice at Hawthorn in Adelaide and works alongside other psychiatrists there.

Dr Atchison has a long involvement with the RANZCP, initially on committees for training and as an examiner. She was the SA Branch chair for six years. She has been a member of the Adult Faculty committee and currently supports the Adult Certificate trainees in Adelaide. As a Director of Advance Training, Dr Atchison participates in the SA Psychiatry Branch Training Committee and the Australian Government Funded Training Programs Committee.

Dr Atchison has been a strong advocate for private practice within the College and has chaired the Section of Private Practice Psychiatry for some years. She has represented private practice psychiatry on the Membership Engagement Committee and the Members Advisory Council. Dr Atchison has also supported the College’s work through participating on working groups that considered the College’s response to climate and sustainability and the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review, and in 2022 supported College advocacy for an accessible, affordable and equitable telehealth system.

Dr Atchison was elected to the Board in May 2024 for a two-year term and re-elected in May 2026 for a further two-year term.

Professor Megan Galbally is a clinical and academic leader with over two decades of leadership, clinical, research, and governance experience whose qualifications include FRANZCP, MBBS, MPM, AFRACMA, and PhD. 

Professor Galbally is the current Program Medical Director of the Mental Health Program at Monash Health, leading Victoria’s largest mental health service delivering services across the lifespan. She is also the Professor/Director of the Centre for Women’s and Children’s Mental Health at Monash University, a research centre where she leads internationally-regarded research in perinatal psychiatry. She has over 150 peer reviewed publications, led over $10million in grants as chief investigator and has supervised and continues to supervise PhD students.

Her previous role was the Medical Director of Women’s Health, Mental Health and Genetics at King Edward Memorial Hospital in WA and Professor of Psychiatry. In this role she oversaw a range of statewide services as well as undertook teaching and research in her academic role. 

Megan was a Board Member for the International Marce Society and is currently a Board Member for Women’s and Infant Research Foundation.

Within RANZCP, Megan has twice been a member of Victorian Branch Committee, Chair of WA Branch and led the purchase and fit out of new branch premises. She was also Chair of the Gender Equity Working Group that developed the first Gender Equity Action Plan for RANZCP, has been a member of the Academic Steering Committee, and Chair of the Bi-national Section of Perinatal and Infant Psychiatry from 2017-2024. Megan is the 2026 recipient of the RANZCP Margaret Tobin Award for leadership in psychiatry.

Professor Galbally was elected to the Board in May 2026 for a two-year term.

Dr Mark Lawrence completed his medical training in Aotearoa New Zealand at the University of Otago school of medicine before receiving his fellowship in 2009. He has whakapapa (genealogical) links to Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri and Ngā Puhi iwi (tribes). He works as a Consultant Psychiatrist in the Bay of Plenty, Tauranga. He is an adult psychiatrist working within an integrated model of care with both Kaupapa Māori (Māori Model of care) and mainstream services at Tauranga public hospital.

He is a recipient of the Henry Rongomau Bennett Memorial Scholarship (in memory of the first Māori Psychiatrist), the inaugural recipient of the RANZCP Pirika Taonga (recognising noteworthy contributions in Māori mental health and addiction in Aotearoa New Zealand), and proudly the 9th Māori RANZCP Fellow.

Mark has been involved in multiple advisory groups including Māori health workforce development, Māori health scholarships and Māori leadership role at Tauranga Hospital, as well as being an Executive for Toi Mata Hauora (Association of Salaried Medical Specialists). His interest includes Māori mental health development, teaching, advocacy, and policy development. He has a particular interest in improving structures and systems to achieve equity.

Mark is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland School of Medicine teaching and examining the undergraduate students in psychiatry. He is also an Affiliate member for the University of Otago school of Medicine, Wellington campus.

Mark was the chair of the RANZCP’s Te Kaunihera from 2012 to 2015 and completed three terms on the written sub-committee. He was appointed as a Casual Vacancy Board Director to the RANZCP Board in May 2021 for twelve months. Prior to his, he served as the elected chair of the Tū Te Akaaka Roa for five years.

Mark has served two terms on the Board, having initially been elected in May 2022. Mark was re-elected in May 2026 for a further and final two-year term until May 2028.

Professor Dan Lubman AM is Executive Clinical Director of Turning Point at Eastern Health, Director of the Monash Addiction Research Centre at Monash University, and Professor of Addiction Studies and Services at Monash University, where he leads interdisciplinary programs spanning clinical care, research, workforce development and policy translation.

Professor Lubman has held numerous leadership roles within the RANZCP, including serving as Chair of the Faculty of Addiction Psychiatry from 2006 to 2017, where he led the development of addiction psychiatry training and contributed to national policy, education and guideline development. He has also contributed to multiple national and international advisory committees and professional bodies in addiction and mental health.

In recognition of his contributions to psychiatry and addiction research, Professor Lubman has received a number of national and international awards, including the RANZCP Senior Research Award and the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs Senior Scientist Award, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to medical research, education and policy in addiction.

Professor Lubman has published over 600 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, with his research spanning addiction neuroscience, clinical trials, health services research and population-level data systems. His work focuses on improving early intervention, reducing stigma and strengthening health system responses to addiction, including the development of innovative treatment models and national surveillance systems to inform policy and practice.

Professor Lubman was elected to the Board in May 2026 for a two-year term.

Georgia is a Stage 3 trainee based in Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand. She completed a BSc at the University of Otago before moving to Australia and completing an MD at the University of Melbourne. Georgia worked as a junior doctor in regional Victoria for two years before returning to New Zealand and starting psychiatry training. Having grown up in regional New Zealand and always worked in regional areas, Georgia has a commitment to rural and regional health and healthcare provision, and she intends to become a general psychiatrist and continue to work regionally.

At MidCentral Health, Georgia is the Chief Registrar for psychiatry and a member of the Clinical Ethics Advisory Group, as well as being involved in House Officer and medical student teaching.

Prior to her appointment to the Board, Georgia was the Chair of the Bi-national Committee for Trainees at RANZCP for two years, having previously been a New Zealand Jurisdictional Representative. Alongside these roles, Georgia has been on the Education Committee, Members' Advisory Council, Trainees' Advisory Council, the New Fellowship Program Taskforce, the EPA Working Group, Tu Te Akaaka Roa, the New Zealand Training Committee and the Committee for Educational Evaluation, Monitoring and Reporting.

Georgia was appointed by the Board as the Appointed Director, Trainee, for a one-year term from May 2026 to May 2027.

Professor Shuichi Suetani is Senior Psychiatrist at the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH), the largest Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation in Australia.

Alongside his psychiatry training, Shuichi completed a PhD exploring the epidemiological relationships between physical activity and mental disorders. He has more than 100 peer reviewed publications, several book chapters, and over 100 professional presentations.

Shuichi currently sits on the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Psychiatry and previously held the roles of Associate Editor for the ANZJP and deputy editor for Australasian Psychiatry.

Shuichi was the co convenor for the RANZCP Congress 2025 on the Gold Coast and has contributed to a range of roles within the RANZCP, including the Diploma of Psychiatry Curriculum Authorship Steering Group, the Committee for Educational Evaluation, Monitoring and Reporting, the Written Exam Question Writing Team, and the Trainees Representative Committee. 

Professor Shuichi Suetani was elected to the Board in May 2026 for a two-year term.