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While Rob may not be your actual paper teacher or supervisor, he is responsible for the overall operation of the aviation medicine courses. If your question is specific to a particular paper, you may wish to contact the relevant paper tutor. Otherwise please contact Rob for a response to your questions or requests.

 Dr David Powell has spent almost his entire career working in aviation: intially eight years as a medical officer with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, as Base Medical Officer and then as Officer Commanding Aviation Medicine; a period with the Pacific Air Ambulance; and several years as Chief Medical Officer of Air New Zealand. He has lectured in aviation medicine with Otago since 1997.

David is a Specialist Occupational Physician, a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, member of various international aviation medical bodies including the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine, the Medical Advisory Group of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Airlines Medical Directors Association, and the International Airline Medical Advisory Council. He has lectured extensively and internationally on aircrew fatigue and a range of other aviation medical topics. David holds commercial pilots licences for both helicopters and aeroplanes.

The Course Director for the Aviation Medicine Courses is Dr Pooshan Navathe who has spent almost his entire career working in aviation. Initially twenty two years as a medical officer with the Indian Air Force, during which he saw exposure to operational and clinical aerospace medicine, and also became an Associate Professor in Aviation Medicine at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Bangalore.  After leaving the Air Force, Pooshan worked for several years as Senior Medical Officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Air New Zealand. He recently commenced work as the Senior Medical Officer (Aviation Health) at the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia. He has been a Clinical Senior Lecturer in aviation medicine with Otago since 2006.
Pooshan is a Specialist Occupational Physician, and an active Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, where, as a member of the teaching and learning committee, he is involved with education of occupational medicine trainees. He is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, and a member of the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine, where he also sits on the scientific committee (with Rob Griffiths).  He has written and lectured extensively and internationally on spatial disorientation and a range of other aviation medical topics, and has an impressive list of scientific publications to his credit. Pooshan has over 1000 hrs of cockpit time in military aircraft, holds a glider pilot license, and is training towards a helicopter license.

Dr Tim Rumball is an Occupational Physician living in Christchurch, New Zealand. He works in a group practice with 3 other Occupational Physicians, and currently has an embedded role within a number of companies and receives regular referrals from other agencies. He has previously worked in a wide variety of industries including the military, aviation, health-care, steel-smelting, food manufacture, and electricity generation. He also has qualifications in Travel and Tropical Medicine (Gorgas Institute, Peru), Aviation Medicine, and Economics. He is married to a fellow Occupational Physician, and his life is dominated by Sam (5) and Georgia (3). 

Dr Sarah Aldington also teaches in the aviation medicine programme. She is an Aviation Medical Officer with Air New Zealand. She initially trained as a physician, obtaining a PhD in Respiratory Medicine before obtaining her pilot’s licence and catching “the bug”!! She completed a Masters degree in Aviation Medicine and continues to fly light aircraft recreationally. Her work at Air New Zealand encompasses a variety of Aviation and Occupational Medical issues. She is also Secretary of the Aviation Medical Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Dr Geoff Tothill is the Course Director for Aeromedical Retrieval and Transport. He is an Aviation Physician with a background in Emergency Medicine. He qualified from Guys Hospital in London in 1988 and worked in a range of trauma related surgical and Intensive Care environments including a period as a Reader in Neurosurgery at the Royal London Hospital where he became interested in Aeromedical transfer as a result of exposure to the newly created London HEMS.  This developed into a specific interest in the transfer of trauma patients. He has extensive experience in patient retrieval, having personally moved over 1200 patients by air in a wide variety of aircraft (both fixed wing and rotary) and land ambulances over the last 14 years.

Dr Tothill is currently the Chief Medical Officer at FirstAssist Services Ltd (a UK based Healthcare and Assistance provider) where he oversees the escorted transfer of some 1500 patients a year as well as heading the Clinical Governance team.   A vocal exponent of the development of Aeromedical Retrieval as a specialist discipline he was appointed as the Course Director for the Aeromedical Retrieval and Transfer papers in July 2008. In addition he is a permanent faculty member of the CCAT course (Clinical Considerations in Aviation Transfer) which is held annually at the University of Surrey, UK and lectures for the In Flight Nursing Association and on the Diploma of Travel Medicine course in Glasgow and Aviation Medicine in London.

Currently in his second year as chair of the UK's Assistance Services Medical Directors Forum he is coordinating the drafting of guidelines for the admission of patients following long haul repatriation to Intensive Care Units in the UK and working to engender cooperation between NHS bodies and Assistance and Air Ambulance Providers. He has a wider interest in the provision of civilian mass casualty evacuation platforms and their deployment at times of natural and man made disaster.

Dr Jeff Stephenson graduated from the University of Sydney, Australia in 1987.  He completed stints working at Palm Island in Far North Queensland and also for the Royal Flying Doctor Service at Mt Isa.  He was in General Practice in Townsville for three years before commencing work for the RAAF. For the last eight years he has performed the role of Senior Medical Officer at RAAF Base Richmond. He has Operational experience within Australia and overseas, including AME operations in East Timor, the Sydney Olympics, Banda Aceh Sumatra and the Bali Bombings. He is assisting Geoff Tothill with teaching on the Aeromedical Retrieval and Transport programme.

Jeff was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in January 2008 for his service on Defence Operations and is currently the Director of Medical Services at RAAF Richmond.  He has completed a Diploma in Aeromedical Retrieval and a Masters in Aviation Medicine at the University of Otago.

Jeff’s special interests are in Crew Resource Management for aeromedical staff, aviation physiology and decompression illness.  He is an instructor on the RAAF Aeromedical Evacuation course, where he teaches aviation physiology and clinical aspects of AME.  In addition, he is an instructor on survival exercises conducted for downed AME crew.

Karyn Hathaway is an experienced critical care and flight nurse based in Wellington, New Zealand. She is currently a Clinical Charge Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Wellington Hospital and Senior Flight Nurse for the Intensive Care Flight Retrieval Service. Karyn has completed postgraduate education in acute and critical care specialities and is the final stages of her Masters of Health Science (AeroRT) at Otago University.

Karyn has been flying critically ill and injured patients for over eight years and has moved hundreds of patients in both rotary and fixed wing aircraft. She is the Vice Chairperson of the New Zealand Flight Nurses Association and is actively involved with developing practice and operational standards, and education for flight nurses. She is the course coordinator for the New Zealand Flight Nurses Course (NZFNA) and has a particular interest in advancing the practice and education of flight nurses and paramedics.

Administrative Aspects

Enrolment Aspects

Katherine Harris is the Programme Manager for all occupational and aviation medicine courses.

She is responsible for making sure that you are properly enrolled, that you receive your relevant course information, and that your personal details for email and teleconferences are correct. The Programme Manager is responsible for the day to day course administration and should be notified of any change in your address or contact information, or significant absences.

The actual administration of the enrolment process is managed by the Otago University Registry in Dunedin.

General information on enrolment is available from here.

General information about the university of Otago is available on the University web page.

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