Executive Committee
Louise Walker - Queensland
AASTN President
Louise started nursing in 1987 as an enrolled nurse at the Concord Repatriation Hospital in New South Wales. There she met Heather Hill (life member AASTN) who inspired her to become a stomal therapist. After completing her degree, Louise commenced practice as a stoma nurse in 2008, working in several public and private hospitals in Brisbane. She has held many positions on the Queensland and National AASTN committees and counts the highlight of her career (so far) as visiting the Cleveland Clinic to work with a team of 25 stoma nurses. She is an avid bowel cancer fund raiser, having raised over $9000 for Bowel Cancer Australia.
(07) 3182 4563
Stomal Therapy/Wound Management Clinical Nurse Consultant
QE II Jubilee Hospital
Coopers Plains, Queensland
Carolyn Atkin - Victoria
AASTN Vice President
Carolyn commenced practice as a stomal therapy nurse in 2005 and has worked across public and private hospitals, spending the last 12 years working in an oncology specific setting. Her interests include pelvic exenteration surgery, cancer survivorship and low anterior resection syndrome.
(03) 8559 7475
Stomal Therapy/Wound Management
Clinical Nurse Consultant
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Parkville, Victoria.
Tess Bonde - Tasmania
AASTN Treasurer
Tess completed the Stomal Therapy Graduate Certificate in 2014. She has practiced in both hospital and community-based positions in Hobart. Her interests include community outreach services and complex complication management.
(03) 6208 0500
The District Nurses
Moonah, Tasmania
Kelly Vickers - South Australia
AASTN Secretary
Vicki Patton New South Wales
Editor -The Journal of Stomal Therapy Australia
Vicki completed her Graduate Certificate of Stomal Therapy through the College of Nursing in 1999. Her interests include pelvic floor, anterior resection syndrome and fistula management.
Michelle Carr - Queensland
Chairperson AASTN E+PD Committee
AASTN Website coordinator
Michelle commenced practice as a stomal therapy nurse in 1998. She has worked in both hospital and community-based positions in Queensland and New Zealand. Her interests include high output stomas and optimising health literacy to improve health outcomes.
(07) 5202 8715
Wound Management/Stomal Therapy Nurse Practitioner
Sunshine Coast University Hospital
Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Amy Hunter-South Australia
AASTN Committee member # 2
Stomal Therapy Nurse
Royal Adelaide Hospital
Monica Marshall - Queensland
AASTN Committee member # 3
Monica’s background is in general surgical nursing and she has always had an interest in wound management. She began working with the Wound management/Stomal therapy department at Toowoomba Hospital in 2015 and completed her Graduate Certificate in Stomaltherapy (ACN) in 2016. Monica’s professional interests are high output stomas and improving the management of chronic lower limb wounds.
(07) 4616 6000
Stomal Therapy Nurse
Toowoomba Hospital
Robyn Simcock - Western Australia
Membership Coodinator
Robyn has been working alongside the AASTN Executive Committee since 2002 in an administrative role. She manages membership and answers queries. Her interests are anything that involves being outside, camping and seeing new places, playing Nan & hanging with her family.
0417 627 970
Jane Kulas - New South Wales
AASTN Public Officer
Jane completed the Stomal Therapy Course at St. Andrews Hospital Adelaide in 1995 and worked at Home Support Services as a stomal therapy nurse in the Hospital in the Home program until 2005. She made a sea change to Lennox’s head in northern New South Wales in 2006 working for NSW Health in Community. Recently she commenced in a new role as Clinical Nurse Specialist in Stoma and Complex Wound Management in the Clarence Valley encompassing Grafton Base and Maclean Hospitals. She is passionate about making a difference for patients with a stoma and supporting them post-discharge and educating nurses in complex wound management.
(02) 6640 2222 | 0459 943 062
Stomal therapy Clinical Nurse Specialist
Grafton Base Hospital
184 Arthur St
Grafton NSW 2460
Sharon Boxall - Western Australia
AASTN Representative for World Council of Enterostomal Therapists
Sharon is a community stomal therapy nurse currently working in Rural Services in the Silver Chain Group in Western Australia. She is a PhD candidate at Curtin University investigating skin characteristics related to chronic venous insufficiency. Sharon’s professional interests include lower leg wounds and wound care capacity building in developing nations. Since 2012, she has been a volunteer stomal therapy educator in numerous programs in Africa and more recently in Mauritius.
0427 763 844
Clinical Nurse Consultant
Silver Chain Group
WA and Notham Regional Hospital