RANZCP ACT Branch Conference 2027

Professor Siskind trained as a psychiatrist in Australia and the United States. He works clinically as a psychiatrist in Brisbane, Australia with people with treatment refractory schizophrenia.

His research interests include treatment refractory schizophrenia, clozapine and the physical health comorbidities associated with schizophrenia.

He has over 300 publications AU$60million in competitive research grants, with over AU$7 million as CIA.

Professor Pai is a psychiatrist with more than three decades of experience across academic, clinical, and research settings. He is the Secretary of the World Psychiatric Association Education Section and a member of its Schizophrenia, Primary Care, and Lifestyle Psychiatry sections. He has served as Foundation Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, and at Nitte University in India. He has also contributed to several RANZCP committees, including the Faculty of Adult Psychiatry, Military and Veterans’ Psychiatry Section, Substantial Comparability Pathway, and Mentorship Program. As a clinician, he continues to practise in both public and private psychiatry. His training includes general education, health services research and development, and medical education, and he has served as Principal Investigator for several FDA psychopharmacology trials. His neuroscience research focuses on antipsychotic-related side effects, and he has published widely in clinical pharmacology. He has authored more than 210 publications, delivered over 200 presentations at national and international conferences, and served on editorial and reviewer boards for several psychiatric journals. A strong advocate for overseas-trained doctors, he has helped train Specialist International Medical Graduates in psychiatry, supported the AMC Workplace-Based Assessment pathway for International Medical Graduates, and contributed to the establishment of the Australasian Psychiatrists of Indian Origin and the Illawarra Indian Doctors Association. He continues to serve as visiting faculty at three universities in India and has contributed to postgraduate curriculum development and training at Fiji National University.

Denise completed her medical training in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and her psychiatry training in Newcastle and Manchester. She completed the MRCPsych in 1993 and her CCST in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 1995. Having worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist (CAMHS) in the NHS, she had a sabbatical in Australia with her family in 2002-2003 where she worked at The Kids Hospital Westmead. During this time she also completed a pathway to obtain the FRANZCP.

On returning to the UK, she worked as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in the NHS, and was also the Director of Training for the Northern Deanery of Post Graduate Medical Training. She and her family returned to Australia in 2007. Denise has worked mainly in the ACT including as Clinical Director for CAMHS (2009 – 2016), and Chief Psychiatrist for the ACT (2018 - 2021, and as the Director of Clinical Services for Mental Health Justice Health and Alcohol and Drug Services. Between 2016 – 2018 Denise was the Chief Psychiatrist in the Northern Territory. During this time and until 2024 she was also the independent chair of the Clinical Governance and Professional Practice Committee of Territory Families in eth NT – an independent body overseeing some of the extensive reform agenda that grew out of the Royal Commission into Child Protection and Youth Detention in the NT.

Denise continues to have an active role in training and education. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at ANU, the Director of Advanced Training for CAMHS in ACT, has previously been the Chair of the ACT Branch Training Committee, and has longstanding involvement with the Substantial Comparability Pathway to Fellowship of which she has been Chair for the last 5 years. She takes a lead role in training supervisors and assessors on that pathway. She is also the current Chair of the ACT Branch of the RANZCP.

Her professional interests include service and staff development, and she is committed to the development of high-quality accessible services. She maintains an active role as a child and adolescent psychiatrist and is keen to ensure that services support psychiatrists to work at the top of their scope of practice, and have a voice in how services develop.

Denise enjoys time out walking – including with Casey – a semi-retired Delta Therapy dog!

Professor Andrew Teodorczuk is a consultant old age psychiatrist at The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH) in Brisbane, holding adjunct professor positions at the University of Queensland (UQ) and Queensland University of Technology. Currently President of the Australasian Delirium Association, Prof Teodorczuk joined the RANZCP as Executive Dean of Education in February 2026.

Raised in the UK, Prof Teodorczuk was an honorary senior lecturer at Newcastle University and consultant psychiatrist at Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Mental Health Trust. In Australia since 2016, he has held senior leadership roles including Deputy Head of School (Learning and Teaching) at the School of Medicine, Griffith University, MD Program Convenor at the Medical School, UQ and Director Medical Education at Metro North Mental Health. As Director of Clinical Training for PCH he implemented the new AMC National Framework for Prevocational medical training.

Publishing over 120 peer-reviewed publications, Prof Teodorczuk has received numerous teaching and research awards.