A consultant anaesthetist at both Austin and Alfred Health and in private practice, who has led national advocacy for over a decade from Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), her own specialty, the AMA and wider medical profession, to raise awareness of, and mitigate, the health impacts of climate change and environmental degradation – including policy and practice change to address health care’s own impact.

Eugenie was a member of the Chief Medical Officer Advisory Group for the development of Australia’s first National Health and Climate Strategy, and a leading advocate for a National Health, Sustainabiltiy and Climate Unit.

Eugenie is Co-convenor of national Sustainable Health Care for DEA, and her work with DEA and the AMA has resulted in Australia’s medical colleges collaborating to advocate for government action on healthcare sustainability and climate change, including for the Australian healthcare sector to reach net zero emissions by 2040.

Eugenie is Deputy Director of the University's Climate CATCH (Collaborative Action for Transformative Change in Health and Healthcare) Lab, leading its cross faculty sustainable healthcare stream and associated activities within the Melbourne Medical School.

Forbes is an anaesthetist and intensive care physician at Western Health, Melbourne, Australia, and the inaugural Associate Dean Healthcare Sustainability in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at The University of Melbourne.

Forbes is a founder of the study of healthcare environmental sustainability, including life cycle assessment (LCA). Forbes has pioneered international collaboration on research projects, editorials, and sustainability statements with individual colleagues, medical colleges, and high impact journals. Such sustainable healthcare research has led to: environmental and financial savings, and social benefits at the hospital workplace in Australia and internationally. Further, via such research and Forbes’ engagement, this has led to medical colleges and government policy changes to align with more environmentally sustainable practices.

Forbes is the ANZ College of Intensive Care Medicine’s co-lead of our environmental sustainability working party, an active member of  the World Fed. Of Anaesthesiologists’ Sustainability Committee, and serves on the Lancet Commission for Sustainable Healthcare as the clinical care theme co-leader.

Forbes enjoys being involved in research, teaching and education at the hospital, university and beyond. Forbes remains passionate about making seemingly small environmental sustainability changes to how we practice medicine that become magnified through every nations’ hospitals. His love of nature affects everything he does at work, home, and well, anywhere…

Sonia Chanchlani is the  Sustainability, Climate and Health Senior Fellow in the Department of Critical Care, Melbourne Medical School and clinical forensic medical officer at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine..

Sonia’s unique perspective on healthcare includes training in Canada and Ireland, prior to diverse clinical, forensic, and medical administration experiences in hospital and community medicine across Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. She has held leadership roles in medical education, trainee advocacy, digital health, and published research on clinician wellbeing. 

Qualifications include a Masters of Health Management and Public Health, Certified Health Informatician of Australasia (CHIA), Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), and Associate Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (AFRACMA) and is pursuing a Masters of Clinical Forensic Medicine. 

Currently Sonia is a board director for Doctors for the Environment Australia, chairs their Medical Education Committee and sits on their Sustainable Healthcare Special Interest Group. She is passionate about driving systems change across the health sector to achieve social and environmental justice while empowering clinicians and communities.

Dr Jess Davies is an anaesthetist at Austin Health, Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Critical Care and co-founder of the TRA2SH Research Network, empowering others to make real-world changes to reduce the carbon footprint of healthcare.

Jess is starting a PhD to explore how we can implement environmental sustainability into operating theatres, which are one of the highest carbon areas in hospitals. There is already plenty of research about the environmental and financial benefits of reducing, reusing and recycling in operating theatres so she wants to explore how we can actually overcome the barriers to deliver high quality healthcare that doesn’t cost the earth.

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