NACOS Committee
A/Prof Samantha Hocking
Associate Professor Samantha Hocking - President
Associate Professor Samantha Hocking is an Endocrinologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and a Clinical Academic at the University of Sydney.
Samantha graduated from Sydney University with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1999. She undertook her training in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. In 2005 she became a fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (Endocrinology) and completed a Masters degree in Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology). Samantha joined the Diabetes Research Program at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in 2005 to undertake her PhD during which she investigated the metabolic differences between visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue depots, and how accumulation of the former is related to insulin resistance.
In 2017 Samantha returned to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney as a clinician and researcher. Samantha’s main research interest is precision medicine – exploring how personalized medicine can both predict, prevent and improve the management of metabolic disease, particularly diabetes. In addition, she is working with fellow researchers at The Boden Institute and the CPC-RPA Clinic on projects in obesity, bariatric surgery, metabolic syndrome and diabetes and liver disease.
Professor John Dixon
Professor John Dixon - Vice President
Professor John Dixon MBBS, PhD, FRACGP, FRCP Edin,Head of Clinical Obesity Research, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne
Adjunct Professor, School of Primary Health Care, Monash University, Melbourne
Adjunct Professor, Iverson Health Innovations Institute, Swinburne University, Melbourne
An experienced clinician, John is known globally for his breadth of clinical research into obesity and its comorbid conditions as well as weight loss treatments and their effects on health. He rates in the top researchers worldwide in the fields of obesity; weight loss; morbid obesity; and bariatric surgery (expertscape.com) and has over 250 original research, review and guideline publications.
John is focused on seeing findings translated into clinical practice and on patient advocacy for the obese. Involved in a wide range of organizations here and internationally, he is Co Editor in Chief of Current Obesity Reports, an Associate Editor of Clinical Obesity, Obesity Surgery and SOARD, and is on 4 other editorial boards.
Dr Evan Atlantis
Dr Evan Atlantis - Secretary
My qualifications include a BAppSc (Exercise and Sport Science) in 2002 and PhD in 2005 (fast-tracked), both at The University of Sydney. My current appointment is Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University.
I am known globally for my breadth of clinical research expertise in obesity and related chronic diseases, as well as my most recent focus, clinical obesity services and treatments. As the founding President of the National Association of Clinical Obesity Services (NACOS), the first collective of clinical obesity services in Australia, I am at the forefront of developing strategies to improve access and standards in clinical obesity services in Australia’s health system.
I have over 65 publications (over 40 as first author including two monographs) mostly in top-ranked journals that have received over 3,800 citations. My current teaching is focused on postgraduate education and supervision (PhD students and health care professionals).
Link to Western Sydney University Staff Profile
Dr Nic Kormas
Dr Nic Kormas - Treasurer
Dr Nic Kormas is a Senior Staff Specialist Endocrinologist at Camden, Campbelltown & Concord Repatriation General Hospitals. He initiated and is the Head of The Metabolic Rehabilitation Programs (Diabetes, Fatty Liver & Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome), which are intensive interdisciplinary programs managing adults with severe obesity and obesity related diseases.
He has experience in integrating programs run by non-government organisations with public hospital run programs. Examples include the HEAL Program run by Medicare Locals.
He is the Coordinator of the Sydney Local Hospital District Publically Funded Bariatric Surgery Program, the largest program in NSW, from its initiation in 2009 to date.
Dr Shirley Alexander
Dr Shirley Alexander - Member
Dr Shirley Alexander – MB.ChB, MRCPCH, FRACP, MPH.
Dr Shirley Alexander has practiced as a paediatrician in the UK and Australia for over 20 years. Over the past 10 years she has been working as Staff Specialist and is the Head of Weight Management Services (WMS) and Children’s Hospital Institute of Sports Medicine (CHISM) at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead (CHW). The WMS a multidisciplinary team helping children and adolescents who have obesity, and their families develop healthier lifestyle habits. Shirley is currently a committee member for ANZOS (Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society) and has been working closely with the Ministry of Health implementing strategies developed over the years whilst Tackling Childhood Obesity was a Premier’s Priority.
In addition Shirley has a strong focus in medical education with appointments through the University of Notre Dame, Clinical Lead in Paediatrics for the Sydney Medical School (Auburn), and as Director of Prevocational Education and Training at CHW. She completed a Masters in Public Health at the University in Sydney in 2011. Shirley has published broadly on topics in relation to childhood obesity and medical education, and has presented at conferences locally, nationally and internationally.
Dr Deborah Inman
Dr Deborah Inman - Member
Dr Deborah Inman is a Respiratory and Sleep Physician who completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the Flinders University in 2006. She received her Fellowship from The Royal Australian College of Physicians in 2017 and completed Sleep fellowship in 2018.
Deborah has a strong interest in Obesity Medicine and has worked as a staff specialist at Canberra Health Services Obesity Management Service since 2018. The Obesity Management Service is public medically led multidisciplinary service which also provides perioperative support for public funded bariatric surgery in the ACT. Deborah took on the director Role in 2022 and enjoys working within the multidisciplinary team. Deborah additionally works as a staff specialist in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at the Canberra Hospital.
Dr Terri-Lynne South
Terri-Lynne South Member
Dr Terri-Lynne is the current chair of the RACGP SIG OM (Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Special Interest Group in Obesity Medicine), in addition to being a GP representative on several other professional associations and advisory bodies for obesity and diabetes concerns.
Her passion is advocacy, education, and individual health advice.
Dr Teresa Girolamo
Dr Teresa Girolamo - Member
Dr Teresa Girolamo is a General Practitioner who completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide in 1994. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP), and has been working in clinical general practice since 1997 both in Australia and overseas.
Teresa has extensive experience in the area of obesity management and has worked as part of a multi-disciplinary bariatric team since 2008.
She is a member of the RACGP Obesity Management Network.
Teresa is also the director and co-founder of a GP led weight management clinic based in Adelaide. Her clinic utilises evidence-based medical and surgical options to provide patients with an individualised management plan.
Dr Alex Craven
Alex Craven - Member
Dr Alex Craven (MBBS, FRACS) is a proud father of two, husband of one, and general surgeon specialising in obesity and upper gastrointestinal surgery. He works in the public obesity surgery service at Austin Health in Melbourne and privately through Darebin Weight Loss Surgery.
He studied medicine at University of Queensland, trained in general surgery through the Austin and Northern Hospitals, and completed dedicated post-fellowship training in obesity surgery and upper gastrointestinal surgery.
Alex is passionate about the treatment of obesity and improving access to effective treatment – especially in the public healthcare system. He has a special interest in quality and process improvement and in education to challenge stigma and misinformation around obesity and its treatments. He is excited to watch the maturation of obesity treatment into a multimodal, disease-based specialty.
He can be found at Austin Health or dralexcraven.com.au
Dr Gaurav Puri
Dr Gaurav Puri - Member
Dr Gaurav Puri is an Endocrinologist, Bariatrician and the Clinical Director of Logan Endocrinology And Diabetes Services (LEADS) at Logan & Beaudesert Hospitals. Gaurav is also the current Chair of Queensland Statewide Diabetes Clinical Network as well as Clinical Lead GIRFT Diabetes Queensland at Clinical Excellence Quesensland. He graduated in 2003 and has since worked in various health services including NHS and WA health. He has called Queensland his home state since 2016.
Gaurav is very passionate about health equity, sustainability and building system capacity by establishing integrated models of patient centred care delivery with a primary intent of co-designing services with the help of the consumers, for the consumers and by the consumers. Gaurav is a Primary Investigator for multiple clinical trials in the field of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. And to further validate this passion, Gaurav completed Master of Health Leadership & Management from UNSW.
Nationally, he has contributed significantly towards the development of the recently published Australian National Diabetes Strategy 2021-2031, and he also led the award-winning VOICeD program for Clinical Excellence Queensland.
Catherine Smith
Catherine Smith - Nurse Practitioner
Catherine has been working in bariatric services for more than 10 yrs in both medical and surgical services. Since her endorsement as a Nurse Practitioner in 2012, Catherine has developed a Nurse Practitioner clinic that provides weight loss healthcare.
As a Nurse practitioner, she has continually grown her skills in bariatric service provision by attending education and training in Australia and internationally. Catherine was the 1st Australian Nurse Practitioner to complete the Horizon Mentoring Program and the AANP Clinical Advanced Bootcamp: Immediate Certificate of Obesity Management Fundamentals. She is supporting the growth of nursing and nurse practitioners’ knowledge in bariatric and obesity at the undergraduate level, postgraduate level and at nursing and healthcare conferences/ workshops. Catherine continues to mentor nurse practitioners, nurse navigators and other nurses in providing bariatric services for Australians with obesity.
Catherine operates a Nurse Practitioner weight loss clinic, WHY Clinic, with other Nurse Practitioners providing weight loss to more than 600 clients face-to-face or via Telehealth. Access to health, including weight loss services, has been a critical strategy for developing this Clinic and its services.
Catherine is a nursing leader with representation as a board member of the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners, a past committee member in state perioperative committees, a current The Obesity Collective leadership team member, and now a Fellow of the Australian College Operating Room Nurses.
As a skilled Perioperative Nurse Surgical Assistant, she works as a surgical assistant in Bariatric, general, gynaecology and obstetrics surgery, including as a trained Robot assistant.
Nurses and Nurse Practitioners are key healthcare professionals to influence the future of bariatric services due to their skills, numbers and the “nurse-patients” relationship. A key feature of nursing models of care is patient-centred care which significantly supports the health care of patients with obesity.
Ray Kelly
Ray Kelly
Ray Kelly is a proud Kamilaroi man and one of Australia’s leading health professionals, with over 32 years’ experience in the health and sports industries. He is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist and with a Master of Teaching (PDHPE) and a Bachelor of Research where he focused on the reversal of type 2 diabetes in the Indigenous community. Ray is currently completing his Doctor of Philosophy in Analysis of the factors contributing to successful reversal of T2DM through lifestyle change by Indigenous people in Australia at the University of Melbourne’s School of Medicine.
Within the fitness industry, he has had a great deal of success in the area of weight loss. He was employed as a trainer in the first 2 seasons of The Biggest Loser Australia, where he was given 1 contestant each year. He achieved a perfect record with both contestants winning the competition in consecutive years. He has also written 2 books on weight loss, titled “Winners Do What Losers Don’t” (New Holland, 2008), and “Full Plate, Less Weight” (New Holland, 2014). He has also had input into many publications.
Mr Kelly is award winning Exercise Physiologist, more recently winning the ESSA Exercise Physiologist of the Year (2019). He holds numerous advisory positions and teaching positions including as the Chairperson of the Indigenous Advisory Committee for the Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations (ACADI), the Expert Reference Group for the Australian Diabetes Educators Association, National Advisory Group for Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA), NSW Indigenous Projects Officer (ESSA), and the Advisory Group for the Diabetes and Endocrine Network (Agency for Clinical Innovation). He also provides guest lectures at several universities across Australia.
In October 13th, 2021 he co-hosted Australia’s Health Revolution with Dr Michael Mosley, which one of the most successful shows for SBS, averaging over 500,000 viewers each episode. In the 3-part series Ray presented the research on remission of type 2 diabetes and supported 8 Australians as they turned their health around.
Ray’s passion is Indigenous chronic disease and this led him to develop the Too Deadly for Diabetes is a lifestyle program. It is provided primarily through Aboriginal medical services in rural and remote NSW. Mr Kelly engages with the local Indigenous community and health care providers to identify obstacles and design strategies. This hasImage removed by sender.Ray Parliament_DSF1704 (1).jpg proven effective with each location witnessing a major improvement in clinical outcomes. An independent study was completed on the program in Western Sydney where participants achieved an average weight loss of 7.5kg and a reduction in HbA1c of 1.7%. In his program in Coonamble, patients have lost over 2,200kg in total in the first 2 years of the program.
In particular, the Too Deadly for Diabetes program is provided in many areas where the health outcomes for those with type 2 diabetes is often poor. This leads to an increasing number of patients suffering from complications with their feet, kidneys, eyes and cardiovascular system. As participants often improve their food intake, increase physical activity and reduce HbA1c, the previous issues around the co-morbidities are significantly reduced.
Louis Elvin-Walsh
Louise Elvin-Walsh (Dietitian Nutritionist)
Louise is an Accredited Practising Dietitian who has a professional background in project management, business management and analytics, and software deployment. She is a Clinical Dietitian at Metro South Health and has a private practice, Adept Nutrition Care. She is co-author of several articles published in journals such as Transplantation Journal; Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation; Journal of Hepatology; Clinical Nutrition; Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology and Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (lead author). She is also a co-author of Dietitians Australia Small Business Manual, Fifth Edition.
Louise has worked for various Metro South Health Hospital and Health Services including the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Community Chronic Disease and Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Hospital (QEII). Her current roles include Geriatric Evaluation and Management Hospital in the Home, QEII General medical wards and Outpatient Orthopaedic Weight Loss and Nutrition Support clinics. In her private practice, Louise enjoys practising dietetics across a range of clinical areas.
Louise’s areas of special interest include bariatric surgery and gastrointestinal diseases, and she is Convenor of the Bariatric Surgery Interest Group Leadership Committee. She is also a working party member contributing a voice for Dietetics to the the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare. Louise has recently joined the committee of the National Association of Clinical Obesity Services, to represent Dietetics nationally.