About Us

The Australasian Stroke Academy is a not-for-profit organisation composed of a diverse group of physicians who practice stroke medicine with the focus on the development and delivery of education in stroke medicine to the expert group and wider community.

meet the clinical council

Professor Bernard Yan

Councillor

Professor Bernard Yan is an Academic Professor (salaried) of Neurology at the University of Melbourne. He is the immediate Ex-President of the Stroke Society of Australasia which is the foremost society which links all stroke researchers of Australasia. He is a practicing clinical Neurologist and Endovascular Neurointerventionist in Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia. His major research interest is in large clinical trials especially on the topic of acute endovascular clot retrieval (thrombectomy). Bernard Yan’s 316 academic papers include 1 (as co-first author) published in Lancet, 1 (as co-corresponding) published in JAMA and 5 (as co-author) published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In particular, the Lancet paper (Endovascular thrombectomy versus standard bridging thrombolytic with endovascular thrombectomy within 4.5 h of stroke onset) showed that bridging therapy was associated with better outcomes. This has effected significant change in stroke treatment guidelines worldwide.

A/Professor Andrew Lee

Councillor

A/Prof. Andrew Lee is a stroke trained neurologist and is currently the Regional Director of Stroke Medicine, Adelaide Health Service, Southern Cluster based at Flinders Medical Centre. He completed his medical training at the University of Adelaide, and both an Internal Medicine and Neurology residency at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He continued on to a Stroke Research Fellowship in the Department of Cerebrovascular Neurology, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Hospital under the mentorship of Professor Argye Hillis. He received a Masters of Public Health from the Bloombergs School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University with a capstone project on the management of TIA. On returning to Adelaide he was awarded a NHMRC ? NICS Fellowship to research more efficient ways of implementing thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke. He has authored more than 20 articles on stroke related topics and has an interest in retinovascular disorders as well as perfusing imaging and amyloid angiopathy. He is the current chair of the Australian Stroke Unit Network and chairs the education and workforce committee of the Australian Stroke Coalition.

Professor Mark Parsons

Councillor

Mark Parsons is an internationally recognised leader in Stroke Research and is a national leader in Stroke and Neurology clinical service and education. He holds the Royal Melbourne Hospital Professorial Chair of Neurology, Melbourne Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, and is the new Director of the Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is an Honorary Professorial Fellow, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. He is also an Honorary Professor at Fudan University, Shanghai.

Prof Parsons is the immediate past president of the Stroke Society of Australasia and has chaired the Australasian Stroke Trials Network. He has recently been elected to the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists (ANZAN) Council. He has served on steering committees for >10 major stroke clinical trials, including leadership of the pioneering phase II and phase III clinical trials of tenecteplase. Previously he has been the Director, Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury, University of Newcastle, Member; Hunter Medical Research Institute Board (Area Health Service Representative), Professor of Medicine (Neurology), Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle and Director, Acute Stroke Service, John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle.

Professor Henry Ma

Councillor

Professor Henry Ma is the Director of the Neurology Department and Head of Stroke Unit at Monash Health. He is a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine (Southern Clinical School) of Monash University. His PhD is on “Imaging the Penumbra in Acute Stroke” at the University of Melbourne. His special research interests are in the imaging of the ischaemic penumbra and acute stroke clinical trials. He has published many papers on these topics and has recently completed and presented the result of the EXTEND clinical trial, a multicentred thrombolysis trial in extended time window in acute ischemic stroke. He has also commenced the first amniotic epithelial stem cell for acute ischemic stroke trial in Australia (I-ACT). He is currently the Co-Chair of Australasia Stroke Trial Network. He and Professor Mark Parsons have recently won the bid to host the 2021 Joint Asia Pacific Stroke Organisation / Stroke Society of Australasia scientific Conference in Melbourne. He also has extensive research collaboration in Asia pacific region.

Clinical A/Prof Darshan Ghia

Councillor

Clinical A/Prof Ghia is a consultant neurologist whose speciality interests include stroke and cerebrovascular diseases. He is a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia. He is a member of the WA Stroke Council Advisory Group and the WA Telestroke Project Control Board. He is the co-chair of the AuSCR Research Task Group Committee. He is a committee member of the Australian Stroke Trials Network.

Dr Ghia undertook his specialist neurology training in Melbourne at Monash Medical Centre and Box Hill Hospital. Further fellowship and sub-specialty training in stroke and interventional neurology in Sydney at Liverpool and Royal North Shore Hospitals followed before he moved to Perth. Dr Ghia has a public appointment at Fiona Stanley Hospital. He is the inaugural head of the stroke unit and is principal investigator for a number of research trials.

Dr Yohanna Kusuma

Councillor

Dr Yohanna Kusuma is a stroke neurologist with special interest in neuroimaging and neurosonology. She completed her PhD at Deakin University (2022). Her administrative duties include Councillor in the Asia Pacific Stroke Organization, Asia Stroke Advisory Panel, Asia Southeast Neurological Association Education Academy. She co-supervises PhD and Honours students. She organises neurosonology and neuroimaging conferences and workshops across the Asia Pacific region. She is certified in Neurosonology (WFN-NSRG) and Registered Physicians in Neurovascular Interpretation (ASN-USA).

Dr. Anna Holwell

Councillor

Dr. Anna Holwell is a Specialist General Physician at Alice Springs Hospital. A graduate of The University of Melbourne, she completed her specialty training at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. Anna has lived and worked in Alice Springs for nine years and, as a rural physician practices true general medicine. Her clinical interests include stroke neurology, cardiology and chronic disease management. She has a particular interest in Indigenous Health, the cultural impact of chronic disease and providing culturally safe health care.

Anna is passionate about improving healthcare access to rural and remote populations and ensuring that a patient’s postcode doesn’t limit or affect their access to life saving treatments.

Anna has been instrumental in improving stroke care in Central Australia; in conjunction with the SA Telestroke Service Anna has established Acute Stroke Pathways at Alice Springs Hospital. This has resulted in some of the most remote populations of Australia accessing stroke thrombolysis and interstate transfers to neurointerventional services.

Anna is a member of the Australian Stroke Alliance, and represents the Northern Territory within the alliance’s Champion Network. Anna is also involved in a number of clinical research projects.

Dr Anna Balabanski

Councillor

Dr Anna Balabanski is a neurologist and stroke physician working as a clinician-academic at Alfred Health and the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Victoria, Australia. She is the Deputy Director of Neurology at Alfred Health. Having completed a PhD in the epidemiology of stroke in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, she is now a postdoctoral research fellow with the Australian Stroke Alliance at the University of Melbourne. She has a particular interest in improving stroke service provision, including hyperacute and prehospital stroke care, to regional and remote communities across Australia.

Professor Stephen Davis

Patron

Professor Stephen Davis is the inaugural Professor of Translational Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne. He is based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) where he is the Director of Neurosciences and Continuing Care, Director of Neurology and Director of the Melbourne Brain Centre (MBC) at the RMH. The MBC at RMH is funded a Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) grant from the NHMRC. He is the current President of the World Stroke Organization and Co-Chair of the World Stroke Academy. He is the immediate past-President of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists (ANZAN) and a past-President of the Stroke Society of Australasia. He was the first Co-chair of the Australasian Stroke Trials network and has extensive experience in stroke trials. He is the Co-Chair, with Geoffrey Donnan, of Neuroscience Trials Australia (NTA). He is a Consulting Editor for Stroke and on a number of other editorial boards. He has been a trustee of the RMH Neuroscience Foundation since its formation in 1992. He was given the M.J. Eadie Award in 2004 by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists for career achievements in neuroscience research and the Victorian Health Minister?s Award in 2008 for outstanding individual achievement, in the Victorian Public Healthcare awards. He was the 2011 recipient of the William Feinberg Award from the American Stroke Association for excellence in clinical stroke research. He was the 2011 recipient of the Bethlehem Griffiths Research Foundation medal. In 2012, he has been given the E Graeme Robertson award by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists for career achievements for Neuroscience. He is the joint recipient of a current NHMRC program grant in stroke and the Principal Investigator of the NHMRC grant in Clinical Research Excellence at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He has co-authored 3 books, numerous book chapters, and over 340 peer-reviewed papers

The Academy’s vision is to establish itself as a facilitator of quality stroke care through the promotion of stroke physician education which empowers and equip the physicians to serve the community better.

The Academy promotes collaboration, transparency and a collegial atmosphere among all stroke physicians.

Mission
Statement

The Academy’s aim is to provide continuing medical education via its annual scientific and education meeting, educational modules, collaboration with various stroke organisations both national and international and through the promotion of research.

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academy

The Australasian Stroke Academy (ASA) is a professional organization dedicated to advancing the field of stroke care through education, research, and advocacy.

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