Board

Dr Elizabeth Moore is the President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) from May 2023 to May 2025.

Dr Elizabeth Moore was born in Malaya, educated in England and Australia, completing her undergraduate medical degree at the University of Adelaide before attaining Fellowship of the RANZCP in 1990. She has special interests in codesign and governance of mental health services as well as the social and cultural determinants of health and wellbeing and their influence through a systems thinking lens.

Dr Moore has worked in both public and private hospital and community settings, holding clinical and administrative positions in psychiatry in South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia and is the inaugural ACT Coordinator-General of the Office of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Dr Moore has been active in RANZCP activities for many years, including most recently as the Chair of the Western Australian Branch Committee (May 2015-October 2018). In this role, Dr Moore was a member of the Members Advisory Council and the Australian Branch and New Zealand National Committee Chairs Forum and established the WA Section of Leadership and Management. Dr Moore also completed a full six year term of the Corporate Governance and Risk Committee (2013-2019) and has been a member of the Committee for Continuing Medical Education and the Committee for Examinations. Dr Moore’s earlier representation included the WA Branch Representative on General Council (2009-2013), as well as educational activities through examining and sitting on assessment and examination sub-committees.

Dr Moore initially joined the Board in May 2019 as a Casual Vacancy Director for a 12-month term and was elected to the Board in June 2020. Dr Moore was elected to the role of President-Elect of the RANZCP from May 2021 – May 2023, during which time she chaired the Members’ Advisory Council and Audit Committee. Dr Moore assumed the role of President of the RANZCP in May 2023 for a two-year term.

Dr Moore can be contacted via president@ranzcp.org

Dr Astha Tomar is the President-Elect of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). Her term as President-Elect began on 31 May 2023 and will conclude in May 2025 when she assumes the role as President until May 2027. She is Head of Youth Mental Health Services at Peninsula Health in Victoria and also works in private practice.

Dr Tomar completed MBBS in Delhi, India before moving to Aotearoa New Zealand and joined the RANZCP. She completed most of her training in Tauranga and Hamilton, New Zealand. Dr Tomar’s journey in Australia began in a Community Forensics team in Perth and she obtained Fellowship in Melbourne. She worked full-time in private practice for many years and continues to work there in a small capacity. Dr Tomar has now worked in the public system for many years, providing clinical care, governance, and leadership at team and service levels.

Before assuming the role of President-Elect, 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, actively engaging with consumers, carers, and representing organizations, health departments, the Ministers’ Offices and related policy and decision-makers. She has been a member of a number of Victorian and Australian Government Committees including; the Mental Health Ministerial Advisory Committee, Mental Health Workforce Safety and Wellbeing Committee and, the Clinical Advisory Group, Evaluation of Better Access through the MBS initiative.

Dr Tomar has been deeply engaged with the College as a member of the Membership Engagement Committee, Gender Equity Working Group, Victorian Branch Racism Awareness Working Group and Members’ Advisory Council.

Dr Tomar is a passionate advocate for resource parity for MH in all settings- metropolitan, regional/ rural, public/ private sectors, at state and federal level across Australia and New Zealand. She believes an engaged membership base is essential to success of an organisation and in College playing a pivotal role in ensuring adequacy in the number and quality of psychiatrist specialists and sub-specialists to meet the needs of the communities.

She consistently strives for strong individual as well as system level leadership to promote diversity, inclusion, and equity in workplaces as well as broader communities, whether related to gender, sexuality, or culture, ensuring respect and fair opportunities for all.

Dr Tomar can be contacted via president-elect.ranzcp@ranzcp.org and astha.tomar@ranzcp.org.

Professor Neeraj Gill is a psychiatrist at Gold Coast Health and professor and clinical lead for mental health at the School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast. He is a member of the Queensland Mental Health Review Tribunal.

Neeraj completed his MBBS from Govt. Medical College Patiala, India and MD (Psychiatry) from Govt. Medical College, Amritsar, India. He worked as Senior Resident, at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore, before moving to Australia in 2002. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists since 2006.

He worked as the Clinical/Medical Director of district mental health services at Toowoomba and then Gold Coast from 2010 to 2017. He worked as Consultant to the Queensland Mental Health Commission in 2015 and acted as the Chief Psychiatrist of Queensland in 2017 and 2018. He is the secretary of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Section on Psychiatry, Law and Ethics.

In 2019, he served as the psychiatrist member of the Independent Health Advice Panel (the so-called Medevac Panel), appointed by the Department of Home Affairs, Australian Government.

Neeraj has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, based on his doctoral thesis on 'human rights of people with mental disabilities'. He has published many academic papers on human rights, mental health law and Aboriginal social and emotional wellbeing.

Prof Gill is the Chair of the Finance Committee and member of the Members’ Advisory Council, Audit Committee and Practice, Policy and Partnerships Committee.

Dr Mark Lawrence completed his medical training 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) and proudly the 9th Māori fellow.

Mark was the chair of Te Kaunihera from 2012 to 2015. He also completed three terms on the written sub-committee. He has been involved in multiple advisory groups including Māori health workforce development, Māori health scholarships and Māori leadership role at Tauranga district health board. For the last five years, he has served as the elected chair of the New Zealand National Committee (Tu te Akaaka Roa).

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 also 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. 

Dr Lawrence was appointed as a Casual Vacancy Board Director to the RANZCP Board in May 2021 for twelve months.

Dr Lawrence is the Chair of the Membership Engagement Committee and member of the Members’ Advisory Council and the Corporate, Governance and Risk Committee.

Dr Lawrence can be contacted via mark.lawrence@ranzcp.org 

Dr Sue Mackersey is a graduate of the University of Otago Medical School and completed Fellowship training in Australia in 1994. Dr Mackersey’s work experience has been in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, public and private practice, metropolitan and rural settings and across a range of sub specialities. In the twelve years since moving back to Aotearoa New Zealand from Melbourne, she has been based in Tauranga and has been Clinical Director and Director of Area Mental Health Services for the Bay of Plenty and Hauora Tairawhiti.

Dr Mackersey has served three terms on the RANZCP Finance Committee and is a member of the investment subcommittee and Aotearoa NZ branch committee. She has supported development of education and research and been active in training as a supervisor and examiner. In 2017 she convened the Aotearoa NZ RANZCP conference.

Dr Mackersey participates in a broad range of leadership and governance activities. In recent years her clinical focus has been in the field of addictions, adolescent and maternal mental health. She has a research interest interest in psychosocial response and recovery from disaster and rural health.

Dr Mackersey is the Chair of the Practice, Policy and Partnerships Committee and member of the Members’ Advisory Council and Audit Committee.

Dr Nick O’Connor graduated in medicine at Sydney University in 1981 and became a Fellow of the College in 1987. Dr O’Connor also has a Masters in Medicine (Psychotherapy), a Masters in Health Administration, is a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of NSW Health Education and Training Institute.

Dr O’Connor is Clinical Lead, Mental Health Patient Safety Program, NSW Clinical Excellence Commission.

His recent clinical roles include senior staff specialist psychiatrist in the Emergency Department and Psychiatric Emergency Care Centre (PECC) and Clinical Director at Royal North Shore Hospital and Council appointed psychiatrist assessing medical practitioners for the New South Wales Medical Council.

Dr O’Connor’s other roles have included:  Chair of the RANZCP Section of Leadership and Management, Chair of the Board of the NSW Mental Health Association, Chair Governing Council Higher Education NSW Health Education and Training Institute and Co-Chair of the Mental Health Network of the NSW Agency of Clinical Innovation.

Dr O’Connor’s areas of interest include: management and leadership of mental health services, clinical and corporate governance, quality improvement and patient safety, general adult psychiatry, and management of people with borderline personality disorder. He has worked on a number of College committees from the 1990s.

Dr Nick O'Connor joined the Board in May 2017 as a Casual Board Director for a 12-month term and was elected for a further two years in 2018.

Associate Professor Melanie Turner is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who trained and lives in South Australia. Mel has worked in both public and private practice. Her research interests led her to completing a PhD at the University of Adelaide in perinatal psychiatry which increased her interest in teaching and service improvement.

In 2015 Mel began her Practitioner Member role on the South Australian Board of the Medical Board of Australia and currently works on their notification and registration committees. Mel also works in the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist in the role of Psychiatrist for Investigations and Inspections. This role is focused on helping the teams and practitioners look after mental health consumers in SA, in particular to advocate for and provide best quality care. In 2022, Mel was appointed the inaugural presiding member of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board of South Australia.

Mel enjoys teaching and has ongoing clinical interests in psychopharmacology as well as neurodevelopmental disorders. Mel is a member of the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioural Paediatric Society of Australia (NBPSA) and has been a part of the developmental of guidelines of psychotropic medications in children, NDIS advocacy and in Autism treatment discussions.

Mel has previously been on the RANZCP SA Branch Committee and spent 5 years on the RANZCP exam committee. In that time, she was Deputy Chair of the Scholarly Project Committee as well as member of the OSCE and Written Cases committees. Mel teaches both medical students at the University of Adelaide and registrars. In 2008, Mel won the RANZCP Connell Werry Prize for her research on perinatal psychiatry and in 2009 was awarded a New Investigator Grant for her NICU parent research. In 2010 she was also awarded the Pfizer Congress Presentation Award, for the best oral presentation made by a trainee or recent Fellow at Congress in the category of new research.

Dr Ava Carter is dual qualified in Dentistry and Medicine, receiving her training at Griffith University and the Australian National University respectively.  She is currently a Consultation Liaison Advanced Trainee, the Senior Psychiatric Registrar with Canberra Health Services, and Chair of the Social and Scientific Engagement Committee (SSEC) in the ACT Branch.

Dr Carter has extensive experience in accreditation, governance and risk management from her various commitments with the Canberra Regional Medical Education Council, as well as a ministerial appointed member of the Accreditation Committee. Her commitment to junior doctor advocacy and education has been a guiding principle in her career since serving as academic supervisor and lecturer of dental students at Griffith University. She currently supervises and examines for the Australian National University Medical School and is further keenly engaged in JMO and junior psychiatric registrar teaching in the greater Canberra community.

Dr Carter’s academic interests are widespread and include for example dental fear/anxiety and its origins, a topic which she has published extensively in, palliative care psychiatry, and psycho-oncology. A special interest of hers is the adaption of supportive psychotherapy in various diagnostic and therapeutic settings as part of the CL toolkit. Additionally, recent and current work has focused on chronic/orofacial pain and its interface with mental health and quality of life, as well as operational management and its potential application within a psychiatric context to improve patient outcome while balancing staff workloads.

 Dr Carter is a strong proponent of carer collaboration and the value of the therapeutic alliance within health care. She has received several awards for her work in this area, including the Mary Potter Award at Calvary Health Care and the Lived Experience Award with the RANZCP.

 Dr Carter was appointed by the Board as the Appointed Director, Trainee, for a one year term from 31 May 2023.

Dr Carter can be contacted via ava.carter@ranzcp.org