Our team
Prof David Reutens MBBS, MD, FRACP, FAHMS
Director
Emeritus Prof David Reutens is the Director of the RBWH Comprehensive Epilepsy Program since its formation in 2015.
Following his neurology training in Australia, he undertook further training at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square London, and fellowships in epilepsy at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne and at the Montreal Neurological Hospital. He has been a consultant neurologist in the Epilepsy programs at the Austin Hospital and the Montreal Neurological Hospital.
Prior to his appointment at RBWH in 2008, he was the Director of Neurology at Monash Health. He has held professorial positions at McGill University, the University of Melbourne, and Monash University. He was the Foundation Professor of Experimental Neurology and the Director of the Centre for Advanced Imaging at The University of Queensland from 2008-2023. His wide-ranging research into epilepsy includes studies of how seizures begin, antiepileptogenic therapies, seizure prediction and new imaging techniques for epilepsy.
MBBS, FRACP
Epilepsy specialist
Associate Professor Cecilie Lander is an epilepsy specialist who has worked at RBWH for 40 years. She obtained her medical degree at the University of Queensland then completed specialist neurology training at the RBWH, the Austin Hospital in Melbourne and at the University College Hospital, London.
Commencing work as a consultant neurologist at RBWH in 1979, she established an antenatal clinic for women with epilepsy which continues to serve patients who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy. In the 2000s, she set up the first dedicated multidisciplinary team to evaluate patients for epilepsy surgery and supervised the early epilepsy surgery RBWH program. Throughout this period she also maintained a busy private neurology practice.
Her research interests are in the neuropharmacology and the effects of anti-seizure medications in pregnancy. She has a close relationship with the epilepsy support organisations, contributing to their educational material and symposia, as well as teaching and mentoring neurology trainees throughout her career.
MBBS, FRACGP, FRACP, PhD, GradCertDiagnosticGenomics, FAES, FANZAN
Epilepsy specialist
Associate Professor Lata Vadlamudi is an epilepsy specialist in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and a senior staff specialist in Neurology at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
She obtained her medical degree from the University of Queensland and completed physician training in the field of Neurology. Further specialized training in epilepsy was undertaken in Melbourne, Sydney and the Mayo Clinic, USA. Her PhD was obtained from the University of Melbourne.
She has been at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital since 2012, where she co-supervises a Women and Epilepsy clinic and a neuro-genetics clinic. She has a strong background in research and is the Brain, Neurology and Mental health Theme Lead at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research.
Clinical interests include management of women with epilepsy and integrating genomics into clinical care. She has ongoing research projects to generate new knowledge to improve outcomes with people with epilepsy.
MBBS, PhD, FRACP
Epilepsy Specialist
Dr Xiaohua Chen works as an epilepsy specialist in the comprehensive epilepsy program and a full-time staff specialist in Neurology at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital. She obtained her undergraduate medical qualification at the Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Sciences in China and was awarded a PhD in brain structure and neuroimaging from the University of New South Wales in Sydney in 2008. Undertaking physician and neurology training in Westmead Hospital and St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, she completed further subspecialty training in epilepsy with fellowships at Westmead Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital. Her areas of interest include neuroimaging and stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) for the presurgical evaluation of drug-refractory focal epilepsy.
Dr. Chen is extensively involved in education, running a weekly EEG teaching session to neurology fellows and trainees, and supervising the neurology advanced trainees at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. She participates in ANZAN and ASEPA epilepsy and EEG teaching courses.
MBBS, BA, FRACP
Epilepsy Specialist
Dr Alice-Ann Sullivan works in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program as an epilepsy specialist. She obtained her medical degree in 1989 from The University of Queensland and in 2001 completed physician training in the field of neurology, spending a year at the University of Michigan Medical Centre in Ann Arbor Michigan USA as part of her training.
Dr Sullivan has worked at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital since 2006. Her main achievement at the RBWH has been the establishment of a first seizure pathway for the rapid assessment for patients referred from the emergency department and the community who have experienced their first seizure. Her interests include first seizure education and management and liaison of epilepsy specialist care with primary care. The first seizure clinic team currently collaborates with other Australian research teams into the optimum management of newly diagnosed epilepsy.
BAppSc, MBBS, FRACP
Epilepsy Specialist
Dr Stephen Walsh works in the RBWH Comprehensive Epilepsy Program as an epilepsy specialist. He obtained his medical degree in 2010 from the University of Queensland and completed specialist training in neurology in Queensland, including an epilepsy fellowship at the RBWH in 2019. His clinical interests are in advanced epilepsy monitoring and ICU EEG.
BMSc, MBBS, FRACP
Epilepsy Specialist
Dr John Phamnguyen is a neurologist and subspecialist epileptologist working with the RBWH Comprehensive Epilepsy program. He completed subspecialist training through an epilepsy fellowship at Westmead Hospital where he obtained extensive experience in pre-surgical multimodal neuroimaging techniques (MRI/PET/SPECT), invasive intracranial EEG evaluation (SEEG), and accreditation as an ANZAN Level 3 clinical neurophysiology supervisor in EEG.
Dr Phamnguyen is completing a PhD through the Centre for Advanced Imaging at The University of Queensland, focusing his research on understanding the pathophysiology of tonic-clonic seizures using functional MRI neuroimaging techniques and video-EEG electroclinical evaluation. He aims to uncover the mechanistic underpinnings behind why some epilepsy patients develop tonic-clonic seizures, the most severe form of seizures and greatest risk factor for SUDEP.
Dr Phamnguyen has clinical interests in the pre-surgical epilepsy evaluation, including advanced multimodal neuroimaging and invasive intracranial EEG evaluation for drug refractory patients.
B.Sci, MBBS
Epilepsy Specialist
Dr Dan Truong works in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program as an epilepsy specialist and is a staff specialist in the Neurology department at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
He obtained his medical degree from the University of Queensland and completed physician training in the field of Neurology. Further specialised training was undertaken during his epilepsy fellowship at RBWH, where he obtained experience in complex epilepsy management as well as Level 3 EEG accreditation.
He has a wide range of clinical interests within the fields of epilepsy and general neurology and is keenly involved in the training of junior doctors.
Melisa Hamidon
MB BCh BAO FRACP
Epilepsy Specialist
Dr Melisa Hamidon is a neurologist with expertise in epilepsy who joined the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program in 2024. She obtained her medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 2011, and completed neurology training in south east Queensland at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and Mater Hospital. Further specialised training in epilepsy was undertaken at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in 2023. As well, she holds a staff specialist position at the Prince Charles Hospital and is a senior lecturer with the University of Queensland.
BSc, MBBS, FRACGP
GP with Special interest in Epilepsy
Dr Rebecca Kerr works in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program as a General Practitioner with a special interest (GPSI) in Epilepsy. She obtained her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree in 2004 from University of Queensland and in 2008 she completed her training to become a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP). Further training in epilepsy was undertaken through her work at RBWH.
Dr Kerr has been at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital since 2018, working as part of the first seizure pathway team, assessing patients who have had possible first seizures. Her interests are in assisting with early diagnosis, patient education, and providing education to other primary care doctors about seizures and epilepsy.
BSc, BA, MBBS FRANZCP
Neuropsychiatrist
Dr Chris Randall works in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program as a neuropsychiatrist with a special interest in epilepsy. He obtained his medical degree in 2003 from The University of Queensland before obtaining his fellowship with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists with a focus on the link between the mind and the body.
Dr Randall is passionate about treating the mental health concerns of persons with neurological conditions, including advancing the care of functional neurological symptoms, anxiety and trauma. He supervises psychiatry trainees in neuropsychiatry, general hospital psychiatry and psychotherapy.
He finds great satisfaction in working in a multidisciplinary team to enhance the bio-psycho-social care of persons with epilepsy.
BSc(Hons), MSc, PhD
Neuropsychologist
Having worked in neurosciences and rehabilitation services across different hospitals in Queensland since 2010, Dr Ada Lo joined the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital as a full-time clinical neuropsychologist in 2017 and has had an active role in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program since 2019. She is involved in the surgical work-up evaluation process and in the support of patients post-operatively.
Ada completed her Bachelor and Master degrees in Psychology at the University of Auckland in 2006, and in 2011 she was awarded a PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology at the University of Queensland. She is an adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Queensland and supervises post-graduate students on clinical placements. Her research interests include cognitive and psychosocial sequalae following surgery.
DPsych (Clin & Neuro), MAPS, FCCN, FCCLP
Clinical Neuropsychologist
Dr Thompson is employed as the clinical neuropsychologist for the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program. In 2010 she was awarded her Doctor of Psychology (Clinical Psychology & Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Queensland).
Dr Thompson joined the RBWH Comprehensive Epilepsy Program in 2015. She uses her expertise to assess brain function in people with epilepsy. Trained as a clinical psychologist as well as a neuropsychologist, she is committed to developing integrated, goal-orientated psychological care for patients to help them improve their quality of life.
Dr Thompson is an active researcher, completing a PhD through the University of Queensland investigating the assessment and characterisation of memory symptoms experienced by people with epilepsy. She is also interested in social cognition and the identification, prediction and rehabilitation of neuropsychological deficits following epilepsy surgery. She holds an academic title as an adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Queensland and regularly hosts post-graduate trainees on clinical placements.
BHSc(Nutr&Diet), MPhil.
Advanced Dietitian
Emma works in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program as a Dietitian
She obtained her Bachelor of Health Science in Nutrition and Dietetics in 2001 from Queensland University of Technology. She has worked at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital since 2011. Previous experience includes roles at the Princess Alexandra and Ipswich Hospitals in Queensland, and St George’s and Kings College Hospitals in England.
She obtained her MPhil in 2010 from University of Southern Queensland. Her interests with relation to epilepsy are on ketogenic diets and how this can be me made a more accessible as an additional therapy for drug resistant epilepsy.
RN
Clinical Nurse Consultant
Angela Spencer is the clinical nurse consultant for the RBWH Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and has been working at the RBWH since 2016. She obtained her initial nursing qualifications from the Mater Hospital program. Her postgraduate training included placements in a variety of paediatric speciality clinical settings including neurosurgery.
From 2008, she was the clinical nurse in the Mater Children’s Neurosciences unit working in the field of complex and refractory epilepsy, providing care and coordination of services to families dealing with epilepsy. Since taking on the role of CNC in Epilepsy at the RBWH, she has coordinated the weekly multidisciplinary team meetings and developed programs for the flow of patients through the surgical process. She has developed educational materials for women with epilepsy and patients undergoing surgical evaluation as well as coordinating the education of RBWH neurology nurses in epilepsy and seizure management.
Angela is currently studying a Bachelor of Psychological Sciences degree at Swinburne University.
Epilepsy nurse
Charmaine Groom is a Clinical Nurse for the RBWH Comprehensive Epilepsy Service and has been working at the RBWH since 2000. She did most of her nursing training at the old Royal Infirmary Edinburgh. Once qualified, Charmaine worked at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh within the Department of Neuroscience for 6 years.
From 2000, she has worked on the Neurology and Stroke ward at the RBWH caring for patients and their families with a wide variety of neurological conditions. Since joining the RBWH Comprehensive Epilepsy Service as a Clinical Nurse, she has assisted in the care of patients who have undergone epilepsy surgery and complex epilepsy patients. She also helped coordinate education workshops for neurology nurses and more recently nursing staff throughout the RBWH.
BA, RN, Grad Dip Clin Epi.
Research Nurse
Kimberley Irwin is the clinical trial manager for the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
Kimberley obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne before training as a registered nurse at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
After working for several years in clinical nursing roles, Kimberley began work as a research nurse in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. Whilst working in her role at Monash University, Kimberley obtained a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Epidemiology from Monash University.
Kimberley commenced work in her current role in the epilepsy service at the RBWH in 2013. Over the last decade the clinical trial program has greatly expanded. The team now includes 2 additional study coordinators. The Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at RBWH attracts multi-centre trials of new medications and devices to treat epilepsy, expanding potential treatment options for patients.
BHB, MBCHB, FRACS
Neurosurgeon
Dr. Norman Ma works in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program as an epilepsy neurosurgeon and is staff specialist in the Neurosurgery Department at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Ma completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Auckland. He obtained his neurosurgical qualifications after training in Brisbane, Melbourne, Auckland and Christchurch. Further training followed in in two postgraduate fellowship posts, the first a paediatric neurosurgery fellowship at the Mater Children’s Hospital Brisbane, and then a fellowship in functional neurosurgery for movement disorders, pain and epilepsy in Bristol, United Kingdom. Here he acquired skills in techniques of stereo EEG epilepsy surgery, as well as experience in deep brain stimulation and neurosurgical robotics.
Dr. Ma has a longstanding interest in teaching and research. He has extensive research collaborations with the University of Queensland and QUT.
FRACS MBBS MPhil BSc
Neurosurgeon
Dr Michael Colditz is a neurosurgeon who contributes to the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program with SEEG, neuromodulation and resective surgery. He also practices neuro-oncology, DBS, and cranial and spinal neurosurgery.
Michael graduated Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Queensland and completed specialist neurosurgery training in Queensland finishing at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and completed a post-fellowship year at Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada, followed by St Vincent’s Hospital and the Austin Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, in functional and epilepsy neurosurgery. Michael is currently a staff specialist neurosurgeon and the supervisor of neurosurgery training at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Queensland. Michael graduated with a neuroscience masters from the Queensland Brain Institute, and actively contributes to translational clinical research and organisations.
Dr Jason Papacostas is a consultant neurosurgeon at the RBWH. He also practices at Mater Private Hospital Brisbane and is a member of Brisbane Clinical Neurosciences Centre. He is a graduate of the University of Queensland and underwent advanced training in neurosurgery in Australia.
He undertook further subspecialty training in paediatric neurosurgery in Brisbane before travelling to North America to undertake fellowships in epilepsy surgery and endoscopic skull base surgery at Foothills Hospital in Canada. Dr Papacostas’ special interest areas include minimally invasive skull base surgery, awake cranial neurosurgery and epilepsy surgery.
He also specialises in minimally invasive spinal surgery. Dr Papacostas has an interest in teaching and research and is a member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Neurosurgical Society of Australasia.
Our Neurophysiology team
The neurophysiology team under the direction of Mr Fred Tremayne provide neurophysiology services to the RBWH Comprehensive Epilepsy Program. They perform over 2000 routine outpatients EEGs a year (routine, sleep deprived and ambulatory) and manage more than 100 video EEG inpatients annually, including ictal SPECT studies.
Fred Tremayne is the Director of Neurophysiology and oversees 6 other full-time neurophysiology scientists. He trained at Barts and The London NHS Trust and then the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (Queens Square), obtaining skills in pre-surgical evaluation video telemetry EEG at the Sir Jules Thorn telemetry unit. The team undergo constant education and training in advanced EEG skills and other areas of Neurophysiology.
The RBWH neurophysiology service have been instrumental in developing Queensland Health standards and guidelines in neurophysiology and has fostered clinical neurophysiology placements within the department with students of UQ, QUT, Griffith University, Southern Cross University and Central Queensland University.
Our Nuclear Medicine Imaging specialists
Nuclear medicine imaging specialists, Dr. William Fong, Dr. Kevin Lee and Dr. Patrina Campbell, attend the weekly Epilepsy multidisciplinary meeting and provide opinions of imaging for pre-surgical evaluation. Dr. William Fong is the Director of the Department of Nuclear medicine at RBWH. The department hosts the Queensland PET Centre as well as the RBWH’s Radiopharmaceutical Centre of Excellence (Q-TRaCE).
The radiopharmaceutical laboratory produces novel tracers for brain imaging to help diagnose and treat neurological conditions. The centre also currently provides the largest nuclear medicine therapy centre in Queensland for treating cancer and other conditions.
Our Neuroradiologists
Prof Alan Coulthard is Professor of Neuroradiology at the University of Queensland and is Director of Research for the Department of Medical Imaging. Dr Andrew Groundwater and Dr Jane Bursle are experienced radiologists with strong interests in epilepsy and neuroimaging. They each attend the weekly Epilepsy Multidisciplinary Team Meeting, providing expert neuroradiological opinion on imaging of epilepsy patients, and reviewing patient scans in the context of clinical, EEG and nuclear medicine imaging findings.
The RBWH Department of Medical Imaging has two state of the art 3T MRI scanners, providing structural imaging as well as clinical functional MRI for pre surgical evaluation. The RBWH neuroradiology group is active in research and collaborates with researchers from the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, as well as the Centre for Advanced Imaging, UQ.
Contact us
Location: Level 7, Ned Hanlon Building
Phone: (07) 3646 3111
Fax: 07) 3647 62632
Open: Monday-Friday 7.30am-4.30pm
Need help outside hours?
For non-urgent medical issues call 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) or visit your GP.
In an emergency call 000.
Refer a patient
To refer a patient to this service, view the Epilepsy referral guideline.
For an existing referral call 1300 364 938.