Henrietta is originally from Canada and has worked as an intensive care nurse in the USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Henrietta commenced working as a stomal therapist in 2010 and has just completed her Master of Nursing in Clinical Leadership with a focus on wounds and stomas. Henrietta is interested in everything to do with the science of wounds and stomas, and in particular, the breakdown of incisions and the mucocutaneous junction. She can’t wait to be able to travel home to Canada again.

Louise started nursing in 1987 as an enrolled nurse at the Concorde 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 Brisbane public and private hospitals. 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 fundraiser, having raised over $9000 for Bowel Cancer Australia.

Michelle is originally from the South Island of New Zealand. Michelle commenced practice as a stomal therapist at a bayside hospital in Brisbane in 1998 before joining the Sunshine Coast team in 2001. She was lucky enough to return to New Zealand in 2008 for a year to learn about community stomal therapy from the stoma nurses in Otago, giving her a greater understanding of the challenges faced by ostomates on discharge. Her interests include high output stomas and optimising health literacy to improve health outcomes.