About Us

Thoracic and Pulmonary Hypertension Physician

Dr. John Feenstra is a highly experienced Thoracic and Pulmonary Hypertension Physician. He serves as the Director of the Wesley Pulmonary Hypertension Unit, a world-class facility dedicated to comprehensive care for patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Dr. Feenstra also leads pulmonary hypertension care within the Queensland Lung Transplant Service at the Prince Charles Hospital. As the current President of the Pulmonary Hypertension Society of Australia and New Zealand (PHSANZ), he plays a pivotal role in advancing the field across the region.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Feenstra is deeply involved in education and research. He holds the position of Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and is an Honorary Fellow at the Wesley Research Institute. At the Institute, he leads the pulmonary hypertension research program, overseeing groundbreaking clinical trials and studies to improve patient outcomes.

Dr. Feenstra's dedication to teaching, research, and patient care underscores his commitment to advancing the understanding and treatment of pulmonary hypertension.

Prof. Robert Weintraub is a paediatric cardiologist at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. He trained in cardiology at the Royal Children's Hospital, Harefield Hospital in the UK, and the USCD Medical Center in San Diego.

Prof. Weintraub has been the lead clinical for the pulmonary hypertension and the cardiac transplant programmes since 1992.

Prof. Edmund Lau is Senior Staff Specialist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he co-directs the Pulmonary Hypertension Service. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of Sydney and has been Director of the PHSANZ Registry since 2017.

The PHSANZ registry has been pivotal to understanding and improving the care of pulmonary hypertension patients in Australia and New Zealand. He has an active research program on pulmonary hypertension including clinical trials of new pharmacotherapies. He has published more than 100 manuscripts on the pulmonary circulation.

Dr. Melanie Lavender has been the lead consultant for the WA Pulmonary Hypertension service since 2011, now located at Fiona Stanley Hospital.

She graduated from the University of Bristol in 2000 and completed specialist respiratory and general medical training in the UK, before undertaking a lung transplant fellowship in WA in 2009.

The full-time clinical position in the Advanced Lung Disease Unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital includes speciality practice in the fields of PAH, lung transplantation, ILD and a range of other advanced lung diseases. She has been Principal Investigator for multiple sponsored clinical trials in PAH and is co-director of the PHSANZ Pulmonary Hypertension Registry.

A/Prof. Claire Ellender BSc MBBS FRACP PhD is a respiratory and sleep physician at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.

A/Prof. Ellender is a clinician researcher, who co-runs the Metro South pulmonary hypertension service. This service is run by respiratory physician Dr. Gregory Keir, cardiology Dr. Dariusz Korczyk and pulmonary hypertension nurse Ms Judy Ross.

Susanna Proudman is Director of the Rheumatology Unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, in Adelaide, Australia. She trained in rheumatology in Australia and at Leeds General Infirmary, UK. She is a past board member and current member of the Australian Rheumatology Association and was the Medical Director of Arthritis Australia for 9 years until 2023. She is an inaugural board member of the Pulmonary Hypertension Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Her research interests include the burden of disease associated with scleroderma and early detection of scleroderma-related pulmonary arterial hypertension. As the inaugural Chair of the Australian Scleroderma Interest Group, she established the Australian Scleroderma Cohort Study and has multiple collaborations with national and international experts in scleroderma.

She is also interested in best practice management of early rheumatoid arthritis with an emphasis on treat-to-target therapy and outcome prediction. Her research is underpinned by multiple longitudinal observational cohorts with data and bio-sample collection and add-on studies embedded in the clinic.

Dr. Tanya McWilliams is a Pulmonologist at Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand specialising in Lung, Transplant, Pulmonary Hypertension and the management of end stage lung disease. Dr. McWilliams leads the national service for the surgical management of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).

Dr. McWilliams graduated from Auckland Medical School and, after completing her FRACP in Respiratory Medicine, undertook a fellowship at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, in Lung Transplant, before joining the Respiratory Medicine service at Green Lane and Auckland City Hospitals as a Respiratory and Lung Transplant Physician. In 2008, she was awarded a PhD through Monash University.

Auckland City Hospital is the National Lung Transplant and tertiary referral center for the medical and surgical management Pulmonary Hypertension in Aotearoa New Zealand.