Greetings from the new College President

Dear ACP members,

Greetings to everyone for the new year. I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas and new year break despite the ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic.

In case you were not aware, in November last year I was elected to the position of president of the College at the completion of Dr Adrian Lim’s fine tenure. Adrian deserves a great deal of credit for his work as president over the last 4 years. Under his stewardship, the College has continued to make significant advances to the field of phlebology in Australia. This is on the back of all the work done by our esteemed past presidents, Prof. Kurosh Parsi, Dr David Jenkins and Dr Paul Thibault.

Despite the difficulties faced with the pandemic in 2020, the college has progressed its work in;

  • Achieving TEQSA recognition for our clinical phlebology training by working with the Australasian College of Dermatology (ACD).
  • Achieving TEQSA recognition and educational status of our ultrasound training by establishing a partnership with the Australasian Society of Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM).
  • Advocating for greater Medicare billing rights for ACP Fellows.
  • Establishing a phlebology advocacy and advancement committee.
  • Improving and modernising our educational offerings.

Much work by the board and executive continues in these areas with the goal of establishing phlebology as a stand-alone specialty in Australia. Many thanks go to those who continue to do the work for the college. I would like to especially note the efforts made by Zivka Nichols (ACP Manager),  Dr Paul Hannah (Censor in Chief and Dean of the College) and Dr Lisa Marks (National Director of Training) who in their roles continue to refine our education programs.

The College has also employed a new Education Officer, Amanda Morris who has extensive experience in the higher education area and who is working with the College in preparing our applications for TEQSA accreditation as well as assisting in the administration of our courses.

The ACP board this year consists of Drs Steve Benson, Paul Dinnen, Joseph Grace, David Huber, Chris Lekich, Lisa Marks, Peter Paraskevas, Kurosh Parsi, Andrew Stirling, and Niloofar Yazdani . We thank the departing board members, Dr Stephania Roberts and Prof. Neil Piller for all their work on the board over the last few years and hope we will continue to receive their input into the future, and welcome recently graduated Fellow, Dr Niloofar Nazdani to the board.

Congratulations to Prof. Kurosh Parsi who was awarded his full Professorship last year. His prolific research and teaching in dermatology and phlebology earned him this most deserving accolade. I’m sure that we will continue to gain much insight into Phlebology from Kurosh’s innovative research.

With regard to the annual scientific meeting, due to the border restrictions in place last year our planned meeting in Auckland was not possible.  Planning is currently underway for a hybrid event his year, most likely to be physically held in Sydney but with online capability so that those who are unable to attend in person can join via video link. Stay tuned for updates from the college.

The College does need Fellows to continue to assist in our training programs. We have trainees at all levels of the program, from basic trainees through to fellowship. If you can provide any assistance in training, please inform Zivka Nichols at the ACP office. The sharing of trainees between separate training centers is encouraged.  

May 2021 treat us all better than 2020.

Kind Regards

Dr Simon Thibault

ACP President