Dr April Armstrong Founder and Director of Business for Doctors
April is a UWA graduate of Medicine and works in General Practice in Western Australia. She is passionate about the business of medicine. She is the founder of the Business for Doctors concept and social media group. April was awarded the WA Telstra Business Woman of the Year 2015 in the start-up category and her rural practice, Collins Street Surgery nominated for the WA Telstra Business Awards 2015.
She has developed strategies and methods in investing and business management. As an owner of two medical practices and numerous investments she brings 25 years of business and investing experience to the team. April actively supports medical students and overseas trained doctors during their transition into the Australia medical system
BFD Executive Team
Dr Lily Virtek
Lily works as a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon in Brisbane with a passion for mentorship and shifting the culture of surgical training. The focus of her practice is to deliver the best clinical care to patients from the first consultation to completion of care.
For the past 3 years, she has been educating graduates of speciality training in practice and business ownership. She embraces the ethos of quality care, ethical practice and being approachable. Her other roles include marketing and sponsorship manager of the Queensland Medical Orchestra, State Coordinator for the Queensland Plastic Surgery Journal Club as well as Vice-chair on the Medical Advisory Board of North West Private Hospital.
Dr Tracey Purnell
Dr Tracey Purnell is a GP Practice owner in Wagga Wagga NSW and a graduate from the University of Queensland having completed her specialist general practice training with The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
She was awarded the Maureen Duke and Marion O’Sullivan award for achieving the highest grade in her Queensland general practice exams.
Tracey has gained further training and experience in Women’s health, pregnancy care, skin cancer medicine and cosmetic medicine.
She is passionate about excellence in health care and is often challenging other health practitioners by insisting there must be a better way. She is warm, friendly and relates to her patients on their level, often using humour to help them feel relaxed.
“My goal for each consultation, each and every day, is for each patient to leave feeling better than when they walked in”
Tracey has been a supportive BFD administration member since early 2017.
Dr Yun Hwang
Dr Yun Hwang, MBBS, FRACP is a neurologist based in Sydney who joined the BFD administration team in September 2017. He is experienced in all aspects of neurology, with a special interest in cognitive and neurodegenerative disorders including dementia and concussion
Currently undertaking PhD at Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, on dementia while concurrently working in private practice. Research interests include improving the diagnosis of neurological disorders and using the latest technology to improve the care as well as the quality of life of patients with illnesses, neurological or otherwise.
Broader interest in healthcare and social systems and how they could be adopted dynamically to address the rapidly evolving demands, population dynamics, workforce changes, advancing technology and relentlessly rising costs all the while aiming for the ideal of universal health coverage.
Casey Going
Casey Going is a former graduate of the University of Queensland and a current intern within Queensland Health. Casey is part of the Queensland Rural Generalist program which aims to increase the number of rural doctors. He is also currently studying his Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Internal Medicine and hopes to one day own his own medical practice. Casey joined the BFD team in 2018 and assists with moderating the Business for Doctors group.
BFD Admin team
Lisa Klingner – BFD Business Manager. Lisa has worked with BFD since its conception, Lisa is responsible for the finance, and day to day Business Management of the BFD group.
BFD Speakers
Ajay Naidu Chennamchetty Admin for the BFD Facebook group and shares a great camaraderie with other admin team members. As a part of the admin team, I have had the opportunity to counsel and guide doctors from time to time and I find this extremely fulfilling. Amazingly, the admin team does function like a well-oiled machine, considering that all of us work full time and volunteer admin work in our spare time.
Outside of BFD, I am an IMG who started working in Medicine in Australia in 2009, having originally graduated from India. I did my GP training in rural North Western NSW in Tamworth and Quirindi. I continued working post FRACGP in the country towns of Quirindi and Werris Creek in NSW. I eventually moved to regional NSW and currently work in Wyong. I am passionate about IMG rights, mentoring medical students, GP registrars and IMG trainees.
Dr George Forgan Smith is a unique GP and medical educator who has built a online worldwide following for his blog and webpage “The Healthy Bear” which addresses health issues within the gay community. He has chosen to service a community of patients that need care delivered in a a culturally appropriate medium and has taken online marketing to an premium level.
He passion for developing easy accessible educational information has him listed as the google number one when searching gay mens health in Australia and has developed methods in marketing and branding medical services that take General Practice to the next level.
His workshop presentation introduce Doctors to the concepts of “niche medicine” that provides a platform for susub-specialityervices that capture patient group that helps differentiate medical services. www.thehealthybear.com
Holly Inglis is a Sydney-based GP. She fellowed early 2017 and has an interested in Women’s Health and Skin Cancer. She works in a mixed billing practice and makes daily use of her BFD MBS course learning for more efficient and effective medical practice. The more efficient billing has given her the confidence to step down her clinical practice one day a week to focus on other things she loves such as obstacle course racing, cats and powder skiing.
Nicolas Materac was raised and educated in France and studied engineering before moving to Australia in 2007. He retrained as secondary school mathematics and engineering sciences teacher and commenced his own business a few years later. Nico has trained, taught and coached thousands of people in the last 25 years, in the fields of martial arts, rock climbing, mathematics, engineering, business, health and weight loss. He is married to an infectious diseases and microbiologist specialist and has numerous friends in the medical field. His passion for helping others and practising what he preaches motivates and inspires people to achieve their goals. Experienced in mindset coaching he is an outstanding asset to the Business for Doctors education team.
Melanie Dale is passionate about improving healthcare outcomes as part of a dedicated team that provide high quality health care to all. She has extensive experience in program development delivery against operational and financial performance targets, strategic planning to facilitate effective management of operational efficiencies and driving patient engagement. Her background in finance translates into General Practice where she plays an important role in budget forecasting and management. After working as a Practice Manager in private practice for many years, Melanie currently works as the Medical Operations Manager for a large multi-site Not for Profit organisation which is highly regarded within the local community.
Elaine Sung is a GP and practice principal of the ever-popular Doctors of South Melbourne. She opened the clinic in 2017 to offer the community a premium practice with a focus on approachable, relationship-oriented healthcare. Before establishing the business, Elaine practised in the inner-east of Melbourne for nine years. She became one of the area’s most in-demand and well-loved GPs, building a loyal patients base.
Elaine graduated from Sydney University in 2003 and completed her fellowship with RACGP in Melbourne during 2009. She has a particular interest in mental health and provides focussed psychological strategies.
Elaine also has a law degree, with her honours thesis for the latter being on medical negligence.
Kathryn Eikenhorst graduated from University of Wollongong in 2011 completing her MBBS as a post-graduate student with an undergraduate degree in Bachelor or Natural and Complimentary Medicine. In 2018 she obtained fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practice. She is a committed rural clinician having worked in rural NSW for eight years and more recently in remote locations practicing skin cancer medicine. She is now undertaking training sub-speciality training in skin cancer medicine and has a passion for preventative medicine and Nutrigenetics.
She was born and raised in Port Macquarie being the youngest sibling to four older brothers. Kathryn has a personal desire to travel and explore new places, enjoys hiking, kayaking, snorkelling and water activities.
In May 2019 Kathryn began travelling with the BFD administration and MBS presentation teams. She had become a valued member who provide administration and event support. She will begin presenting MBS in November 2019.
Young Han is a Certified Practicing Accountant with 10 years’ experience in in providing medical professionals with accounting, young is developing her expertise in understanding practice data and MBS Schedule, Young and works with practice managers and staff to review internal process and establish marketing strategies to run a successful business without sacrificing work and life balance. She will begin presenting the MBS for BFD Education in 2020.
Dr Nick Tellis. Nick a practice owner, supervisor, educator, and blogger with a difference. He promotes comprehensive, professional, and empowering patient centred care and believes sustainability and integrity are essential parts of General Practice.
As Chair of the Southern Regional GP Council and a contributor to Business for Doctors online and off, Nick brings his philosophy to other doctors. In 2017 Nick presented at the BFD17 conference “Business is not a dirty word” and has continued to join the BFD workshops in educating and motivating health professionals in the business of general practice.