Council of
Clinical Advisors
Providing expert guidance, feedback and advocacy to the PiCSA Board and its members.
The Council was put together to
provide expert guidance, feedback and advocacy to the PiCSA Board and its members regarding the development and publishing of profession related clinical guidelines, position statements and any other governance documentation the PiCSA Board aims to publish for the purposes of furthering the Cardiac Physiology profession in Australia.
Council Members are invited Cardiac Physiologists who are peer endorsed and recognised experts in the field of Cardiac Physiology. They have contributed to the development and expansion of the Profession either through education or advocacy activities over the course of their career (either past or present). Council members may or may not be members of PiCSA.
The members of the Council of Clinical Advisors are:
Dr Laila Khan
Dr Laila Khan is a Canberra-based consultant cardiologist and advanced echocardiography specialist at Complete Cardiology, Ramsay Private Hospital, National Capital. She has a particular clinical interest in advanced cardiac imaging, valvular heart disease, structural heart interventions and heart failure.
Dr Khan completed her Advanced Training in Cardiology at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, followed by two advanced echocardiography fellowships, developing expertise in transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography, stress echocardiography, valvular heart disease and structural heart imaging. Her advanced echocardiography training has included experience both in Australia and internationally.
In 2023, Dr Khan won the 14th Echo Hong Kong Young Cardiologists Echo Case Competition, recognising her interest and expertise in cardiovascular imaging. She remains actively involved in medical education, teaching cardiology trainees and cardiac sonographers, and regularly contributes to cardiovascular imaging education and scientific meetings.
In 2026, Dr Khan presented at Sydney Valves and co-authored a case report published in the European Heart Journal – Case Reports highlighting the role of advanced imaging and the Heart Team in mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) in challenging anatomical cases.
Dr Khan is passionate about advancing cardiovascular imaging through education, collaboration and high-quality patient care, with a particular focus on using advanced echocardiography to guide the assessment and management of patients with complex valvular and structural heart disease..
Miriam Norman
Miriam Norman is the Senior Cardiac Device Specialist at Royal Hobart Hospital. Her qualifications include an MSc in Clinical Physiology, Diploma of Medical Ultrasound (Cardiac), and formal certification as a Cardiac Device Specialist by the International Board of Heart Rhythm Examiners (IBHRE), achieving the third-highest score worldwide in the 2012 exam. She is a founding member of the ACCP (a public register of Accredited Clinical Physiologists) and contributed to the CSANZ 2022 position statement on cardiac device management.
Miriam has a strong interest in education and is frequently invited to speak to health professionals about cardiac device issues, including as a keynote speaker at the 2026 NZ CSANZ Annual Scientific Meeting. Her audiences have included Cardiologists, Cardiology Nurses, Clinical Physiologists, Paramedics, Emergency Department staff, Anaesthetists, Palliative Care staff, Radiographers, Mortuary workers and ICU staff.
She is a former Chair and lifetime member of Professionals in Cardiac Sciences Australia (PiCSA) and has worked with the Heart Rhythm Society to develop online educational material for candidates preparing for IBHRE accreditation exams.
Miriam also works part-time as a musician with the Royal Australian Navy and is a recipient of the Prince of Wales Award.
Jason Riley
Jason commenced his initial training in Cardiac Physiology at the Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane in 1995 and gravitated quickly into the fascinating world of Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pacing. In 1999 he moved to London and spent 3 exciting years as the Senior Technician in Pacing/EP at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. Since returning to Brisbane in 2001 Jason has set up 2 companies, Epicentre Medical and CEPIA.
Epicentre Medical is a team of highly skilled cardiac physiologists specialising in electrophysiology and implantable devices. Epicentre Medical provides professional scientific services to hospitals, private cardiology practices and medical device companies in areas such as 2D and 3D mapping and ablation procedures, bradycardia / tachycardia / resynchronisation interventions and follow up, and the management of cardiac device clinics, both in-clinic and remote services.
CEPIA (Cardiac Electrophysiology Institute of Australasia) is an independent government accredited training organisation providing education to medical professionals in the field of cardiac electrophysiology. CEPIA also runs the Australasian Cardiac Devices Conference (ACDC), whose aim is to advance and improve the clinical standards and practice in the field of cardiac devices.
CEPIA also publishes an iTunes app called “PPM Genius – Pacemaker & ICD Companion”, the ultimate device implantation and follow up assistant, developed to assist medical professionals involved in the care of patients with implantable cardiac devices.
Jason is passionate about cardiac electrophysiology and devices, training, education and the improvements in clinical and professional standards.
Tony Forshaw
Tony Forshaw is an echo educator and clinical cardiac sonographer. He has a Masters degree in Cardiac Ultrasound and continues to have a strong ongoing interest in research. Tony passionately enjoys the art of performing echocardiography and is obsessed with improving quality. He has been a sonographer for 25 years, a post-graduate level program coordinator, a vocal campaigner for improving standards of sonographer training and an enthusiastic speaker at conferences on a variety of echo topics. He has also co-authored textbook chapters and contributed video resources to exam preparation courses in advances echo.
Tony is proud to serve on the ASE Board of Directors. Tony is the director of EchoGuru.com, providing online echo education to a global audience.
Sharon Kay
Asc. Professor Sharon Kay is a Cardiac Physiologist, an Assoc. Professor and Program Lead of the BSc/Grd Dip of Cardiac Physiology and Echocardiography at CQU.
She is also a senior lecturer in Echocardiography at University of Sydney Medical Faculty – Northern Clinical School. Sharon’s main interest and research are cardiotoxicity, athletes and structural heart, she performs this at Charles Perkins Centre and the Kolling institute.
Sharon is the founder of Structural Heart Disease Australia and resides on their board, she coordinates 2 symposiums a year which are streamed nationally and internationally for this association.
Sharon’s clinical employment consists of Australia’s first dedicated CardiOncology clinic catering to the North Shore of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital ICU College accredited echo physicians training program (which she wrote and now implements) and various outpatient clinics. She is a national and international invited speaker and regularly designs and implements workshops at these conferences in Echocardiography from novice to advanced techniques.
She qualified in Cardiac Sciences in 1998 from University of Sydney and QUT.
Malcolm Dennis
Malcolm has been a Critical Care Nurse since 1984. He has been involved as an educator for 35 years in hospitals, universities and seminars. Malcolm is currently a Senior Field Technical Expert in Cardiac Rhythm Management with Abbott. He holds a US patent for the first device-based treatment of ventricular tachycardia storm and has developed new techniques in Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy.
Malcolm has written 5 book chapters covering topics of resuscitation, cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac devices and Malcolm has published original contributions on arrhythmia mechanisms and pacing arrhythmias.
Professional Standards Committee
Bianca Coelho
Bianca is the Chief Cardiac Physiologist at MQHealth Cardiology at Macquarie University. She has graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology and a Graduate Diploma in Cardiac Ultrasound from the Australasian Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. Bianca has trained at the Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania where she worked with cardiac devices as well as in cardiac ultrasound.
In addition to her role at Macquarie University, she is a casual academic in Clinical Echocardiography at Central Queensland University. Education and training have been an area of interest for Bianca, she spends her time getting involved in organising education sessions for trainee cardiac physiologists and cardiac registrars at Macquarie University and has also been a guest writer, reviewing the content discussed at cardiac conferences in Melbourne and Sydney.
Mitchell Cowan
Mitchell is the Senior Cardiac Physiologist at Royal North Shore Hospital. He originally graduated with a Bachelor of Exercise Science and Rehabilitation. He performed his Cardiac Physiology training at Royal North Shore Hospital and has completed a Graduate Diploma in Cardiac Electrophysiology with CEPIA and IBHRE certification for Cardiac Devices whilst training at RNSH.
Mitch’s area of interest is in Cardiac Devices and Electrophysiology and is currently training in 3D mapping for EPS and performing IBHRE Electrophysiology certification. Mitch is passionate about educating newer staff and increasing the professional standards of existing Cardiac Physiologists through the development of educational programs and competency assessments for EPS, ECG’s, cardiac devices and supporting research programs.
Sanja Carrick
Sanja is a Senior Cardiac Physiologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) in Brisbane. With a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and a Masters in Clinical Physiology from Griffith University, Sanja started her career in Cardiac Diagnostics in 1999. Sanja has achieved certifications in both Electrophysiology and Cardiac Devices by the International Board of Heart Rhythm Examiners (IBHRE).
Since 2012 Sanja has also been a sessional lecturer at Griffith University for the Diploma in Cardiac Physiology. Education and training have long been an area of interest for Sanja, through her contributions to training, mentoring and education.
More about our organisation
Our Board of Directors
Overseeing key portfolios of business as well as several invaluable subcommittees.
PiCSA's Affiliate Partners
Actively engaging in partnerships to fulfill goals of national education and support of the profession.
Clinical Practice Guidelines
PiCSA's Clinical Practice Guidelines on various forms of testing in the field of Cardiac Physiology.
