RMSANZ Board of Directors
The current board of directors as of the AGM held in 2023
Prof Steven Faux AM
President
Professor Steven Faux was the establishing Director of the St Vincent’s Hospital’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in 2000 and is the current director of Pain Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. He is a Conjoint Professor of Medicine at the University of NSW and the University of Notre Dame. Professor Faux has led NSW Health’s rehabilitation Community of Practice in COVID19. He is on the management committee of the Australian Stroke Registry, the Clinical Council of the National Stroke Foundation and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has served on the board of the RMSANZ for over 4 years, and is the scientific lead of the ISPRM Congress in Sydney 2024
A/Prof Zoe Adey-Wakeling
Immediate Past President
Associate Professor Zoe Adey-Wakeling is a senior consultant in rehabilitation medicine and Head of Unit, Rehabilitation within the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. Zoe holds Level D academic Status with the Flinders University of South Australia, and works within the MD program in addition to her clinical and management roles. A/Prof Adey-Wakeling completed her FAFRM in 2011, and her PhD in 2016. She has additional qualifications as an Associate Fellow of RACMA, and has completed the AICD company directors course.
A/Prof Adey-Wakeling has been a member of the RSMANZ Board since 2018, and was President from 2021-2023. She sits on the Board Governance, Finance and Scientific Committees.
Dr Richard Seemann
Vice President
I am a Consultant to the Auckland service of ABI Rehabilitation New Zealand Ltd, where I have worked for 25 years. ABI is Aotearoa’s largest specialist brain injury and neuro-rehabilitation service.
I have been a fellow of AFRM since 1995 and have been an office bearer in the NZ branch on several occasions since 1995, including the roles of chair, treasurer, secretary, and committee member. I am currently the Chair again, and President elect of AFRM, taking office as President of AFRM in 2025.
I qualified as FRACP (geriatric medicine) in 1989, and as chair of the Aotearoa/NZ AFRM, am also a representative on the Aotearoa Committee of RACP.
Outside of medicine I have a busy family life, and enjoy walking, racket sports, language learning and guitar.
Dr Ben Chen
Treasurer
Receiving his FAFRM in 2007, he started in Gold Coast Health as a staff specialist in rehabilitation at the time of unprecedented (and continuing) growth and service demands.
Being somewhat accommodating in nature, he has both unwittingly and deliberately been implicated in various attempts to make the system better, some more successful than others. These included the commissioning and decommissioning of a stand-alone rehabilitation and interim care facility (Carrara Health Centre), involvement in Community as well as Residential Transition Care Program, establishment of Falls and balance as well as Cognitive Disorders Clinics, participation in various administrative and professional committees (and finding himself useful in some and not-so-much in others.
Dr Kelly Dungey
Board Member
Dr Kelly Dungey BSocSc(Psyc), MBA, MIB, MBBS, CIME, FAFRM is Medical Director Rehabilitation at Gold Coast Health, Queensland. In addition to serving on the RMSANZ Board of Directors she is a member of the Queensland AFRM Branch Committee and the Co-Chair of the Queensland Rehabilitation Clinical Network. Prior to medicine she worked in business administration and has continued this area of interest by commencing the pathway towards an Associate Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators. She is passionate about neurorehabilitation, specifically acquired brain injuries, and seeks to progress the field of Rehabilitation Medicine through research and the development of new models of care.
Dr Sumitha Gounden
Board Member
Dr Sumitha Gounden, Rehabilitation Medical Head of Department, Orange Health Service, Clinical Lecturer, Sydney University Medical School of Rural Health and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Rural Medicine, Charles Stuart University.
Sumitha is on the Board of Directors of the Rehabilitation Medical Society Australia New Zealand (RMSANZ) and is the Chair of Disaster Rehabilitation (DR) Special Interest Group, Secretary of the Pain and Musculoskeletal Special Interest Group and Secretary of the Amputee Special Interest Group under the auspices of RMSANZ.
Since 2017, Dr Gounden has been providing international tele-rehabilitation service to a subacute spinal rehabilitation centre in rural India. Her passion is to collaborate with neighbouring Pacific Island nations and improve rehabilitation access and build capacity. Through DR SIG she is currently collaborating with a Fijian Rehabilitation Physician and has planned to run yearly rehabilitation education workshops in Fiji.
Sumitha enjoys education and runs various education workshops including yearly musculoskeletal workshops for AFRM trainees and spasticity workshops in Orange. She also runs a highly successful yearly winter blood donation campaign called “Red Love” across the Western New South Wales region.
Prof Fary Khan AM
Board Member
Professor Fary Khan AM, MBBS, MD, FAFRM (RACP) Professor Fary Khan is the Director of Rehabilitation at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Victoria, Australia. She was elected as the Vice Chair of the International Society of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM) at their Annual Scientific Congress in Lisbon, Portugal on July 2022. She was inducted into the US National Academy of Medicine, and she was also awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for outstanding contribution to Rehabilitation Medicine and disability in 2022. She is the current Inaugural Academic Fellow on the Board of the Australian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (AFRM), Royal Australian College of Physicians (RACP), and Elected Board Member of the Rehabilitation Medicine Society of Australia & New Zealand (RMSANZ). She is the Australian Representative (AFRM) for the Asia-Oceania Society of Neuro-Rehabilitation and current elected vice president of the society. She is an Executive member of various national and international committees including the WHO-ISPRM Liaison Committee, the UN-ISPRM Liaison Committee, the Women’s Health Task Force, the Cancer Rehabilitation Network ISPRM, ISPRM Disaster Rehabilitation Committee and ClinFIT Taskforce, RMSANZ Disaster Rehabilitation-SIG, and others. She is also sub editor for Rehabilitation for the Cochrane Collaboration in Milan; and the section editor for the new 7th Edition of Delisa: Principles of Rehabilitation Medicine.
Dr Gaj Panagoda
Board Member
Dr Panagoda has held senior medical positions in the public sector and Indigenous community-controlled system.
He has a diverse clinical background as a paediatric rehabilitation physician and general paediatrician in remote and urban Australia.
As the CEO of Xstitch Health, a not-for-profit organisation focused on advancing innovative and integrated models of care, he takes a holistic approach to health. His private practice, Superkid Rehab, works closely with community organisations to maximise efficiency. Dr Panagoda also holds a Master of Business Administration, where he delved into the application of concepts like governance, strategy and future trends in the context of healthcare. He has a passion for aligning rehabilitation medicine with the evolving needs of society and health professionals.
Vacant Position
Board Member
Dr Brian Zeman
Board Member
I am an Australian medical graduate, One of first four graduates of Australian College of Rehabilitation Medicine which was precursor to the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. I was the first Rehabilitation Medicine to get NASQ recognition for ACRM so that our qualifications were recognised as a specialist. I was involved in negotiations with the RACP to be a Faculty with goal that we could charge physician consultation rates for Medicare. I have supervised large numbers of registrars now specialists and have been a faculty examiner over many years. I have been a member of RMSANZ since its inception. I have worked with Prof George Burniston as medical student, Dr Brad Norington as registrar and with Dr Garry Pearce as specialist. I have been involved in rehabilitation of amputees, adult developmental disability, vocational rehabilitation, musculoskeletal and trauma as well as geriatric patients. I have particular interests in Neurorehabilitation and Severe Burns Injury rehabilitation. Currently staff specialist at Ryde and Royal North Shore Hospitals in NSW but also involved in private and medicolegal work.
Mr John Lemon
Company Secretary
John Lemon (BA, LLB (Hons), GDipAppFin (Finsia), Grad.Dip.AppCorpGov, MAICD) is a qualified and former practising solicitor, initially in a large Australian law firm and then in several in-house roles. He works as a contract company secretary, providing company secretary services to various small and medium-sized enterprises.
We wish to thank the following members for founding our society
Dr Saul Geffen Queensland Director Dr Kong Goh Queensland Director
Dr Michael Chou Victoria Director Dr Jurriaan De Groot New Zealand Interim Board Member
Dr Alex Ganora New South Wales President Dr Peter Harradine New South Wales Treasurer
Dr Peter Anastassiadis South Australia Director Dr Peshotan (Pesi) Katrak New South Wales Interim Board Member
Dr Clive Sun New South Wales Director Dr Lee Laycock New South Wales Vice President