Meet Our Team - ASNEN

The ASNEN committee is comprised of leading stroke nurses from across Australia, ensuring the interests of all Australians with stroke are represented.

Simeon Dale

Co-Chairperson

Simeon Dale is a Clinical Research Fellow at the Nursing Research Institute. She has 18 years clinical experience in critical care nursing specialising in Neuroscience and has practiced nursing in three countries. Simeon currently is working with Professor Sandy Middleton on the Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) Australasia Trial. She was the project manager for the QASC Europe project, which supported implementation of the Fever, Hyperglycaemia (sugar) and Swallowing (FeSS) Protocols into 64 hospitals in 17 countries. She is also working on the Stroke Living Guidelines with the Stroke Foundation.

Tanya Frost

Co-Chairperson

Tanya Frost is an Acute Stroke Nurse Consultant with Eastern Health, Victoria. She has been working in stroke care since 2010, where she was instrumental in the development of a stroke service at Latrobe Regional Hospital in Gippsland, Victoria. Since 2013 Tanya has been based at Eastern Health. Her focus has been on better stroke care coordination processes at a busy primary stroke centre. She has since led stroke service redesign projects to coordinate stroke care across the 3 sites of Eastern Health and is subsequently recognised as a consistent leader in the provision hyperacute stroke therapies nationally.

Liz O'Brien

Treasurer

Liz O’Brien is the Stroke Nurse Practitioner at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. Liz has an extensive Neuroscience Nursing background and has a master’s degree in nursing, majoring in Nurse Practitioner studies and was endorsed as a Nurse Practitioner in 2010. She has been active in changes to acute stroke management in NSW and was responsible for the implementation of the stroke unit at RNSH in 1997. Liz has been involved in the Stroke Steering Committee with the Agency for Clinical Innovation in NSW, since its inception in 2002 and was the inaugural co-chair during the development of stroke units in NSW at that time. Liz has interests in acute stroke nursing, TIA Management and the education of upcoming stroke nurses.

Kylie Tastula

Secretary

Kylie Tastula has been recognised for providing an exceptional level of care to patients with stroke and their families, winning the Stroke Foundation and Stroke Society of Australasia 2022 Stroke Care Champion Awards for recognition of her achievements in developing a state-wide Endovascular Clot Retrieval (ECR) and Virtual Reality (VR) module for hyperacute stroke, a peer mentorship program across 23 rural sites in New South Wales. Kylie has worked within the field of neurosciences for the last 20 years both within Australia and internationally. She has worked in neurosciences intensive care units, general trauma intensive care and the ward environment, and has completed a masters degree in Clinical Practice majoring in Neurosciences. Kylie is currently the neurosciences NP at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, a role that has a focus on the quick assessment of neuroscience patients with an emphasis on acute stroke patients.

Haylee Berrill

Committee member

Haylee Berrill is a Stroke Clinical Nurse Consultant since at Gold Coast University Hospital since 2010.
Prior to this Haylee worked as both the Clinical Facilitator and Nurse Unit Manager in Cardiac Catheter Suite.
Haylee has Post Graduate Certificates in Neuroscience Nursing from RMIT and Stroke Management from University of Newcastle. Whilst a project officer with QLD stroke network, Haylee helped developed the QLD stroke pathways – available on the QHEALTH intranet. The Thrombolysis and Endovascular consent forms for QLD. And the Transition to Practice Stroke Module Haylee is a current Member of Qld Stroke Network steering committee and developed the Queensland Stroke Education Teams link for monthly education sessions. Prior to moving to QLD – Haylee worked as a clinical nurse specialist at the stroke and neurology unit at Austin Health.

Bianca Piantedosi

Committee member

Bianca Piantedosi is a Stroke Nurse Consultant and Nurse Practitioner Candidate within the Rural Support Service South Australian Local Health Networks. Bianca facilitates evidenced based practice and oversees a range of programs and initiatives to improve access to health services for people suffering stroke in rural and remote areas. Bianca is certified as a Neurovascular Registered Nurse (NVRN-BC) and has an extensive Neuroscience and Emergency background, holding a master’s degree in Clinical Nursing, Honours degree in Neuroscience and Graduate Diploma in Emergency Care. Bianca works part-time between regional and metropolitan services.

Gil Edmonds

Committee member

Gill Edmonds is the Clinical Nurse Specialist for Acute Stroke at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth Western Australia. Since opening in 2015, Gill has helped to develop stroke services at the hospital including the “Code Stroke” and onsite access to clot retrieval. Gill is a member of the WA Stroke Clinical Advisory Group, is an Advanced Stroke Coordinator (board certified) and has worked in neurosciences for 25 years. Gill’s focus is improving stroke care, educating, and providing support to patients and staff and liaising with regional centres in the south of Western Australia.

Grace Aguila

Committee member

Grace is the inaugural Stroke Clinical Nurse Coordinator at Alice Springs Hospital in Central Australia. She was integral in the development of the Stroke Unit and subsequent accreditation of Alice Springs Hospital as a Stroke Capable Regional Hospital in 2023. With a catchment area of over 1.5million square km and a population comprising approximately 35% Aboriginal people the stroke presentations Grace sees are unique and diverse. Grace thrives on educating and supporting patients and families about stroke, and aims to improve stroke care and patient outcomes not only in Central Australia but other rural and remote areas of Australia. She is also active in stroke education throughout the hospital. Grace has lived and worked in Alice Springs for 5 years, and although relatively new to the world of stroke nursing she has started post graduate studies with the intention to progress into Nurse Practitioner studies. She is also involved in a number of stroke related research projects in Central Australia.

Past Team Members

Sarah Kuhle

Sarah Kuhle is a Stroke Clinical Nurse Consultant and Project Officer for the Queensland state-wide Stroke Clinical Network, and the Queensland Research Coordinator for the University of Newcastle NRHMC funded TACTICS trial. She is a PhD candidate and holds a master’s degree in Stroke Management. Sarah has focused on change implementation within Queensland’s acute stroke services, and participates in national research projects, steering committees and reference groups involved with improving stroke care. Previous bodies of work include development of Queensland’s state-wide stroke unit endorsement process that subsequently distributed over $35 million in additional funding, as well as implementation of state-wide perfusion imaging services.

Skye Coote

Skye is a Stroke Nurse Practitioner and the Nursing Coordinator of the Melbourne Mobile Stroke Unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She holds a master’s degree in Nursing and has an extensive background in both stroke and critical care nursing. She is certified as an Advanced Neurovascular Practitioner (ANVP-BC) and a Neurovascular Registered Nurse (NVRN-BC). She is a member of the Stroke Foundation’s Clinical Council and the Association of Neurovascular Clinicians. Her passion is improving hyperacute stroke care, stroke research and education.

Lizzie Dodd

Lizzie Dodd is a Stroke Nurse Consultant at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, which provides a comprehensive hyper acute stroke service for South Australia including thrombolysis and endovascular treatments. With 1400 acute stroke presentations per year, her primary role is to run the 24-hour Code Stroke Service, provide training and education to the stroke unit staff, information and support to the patients and their families, promote recovery and early discharge planning, data collection, and be involved in the ongoing updating and implementation of the acute stroke management protocols and procedures.

Meet Our Team - ASNEN

Simeon Dale

Co-Chairperson

Tanya Frost

Co-Chairperson

Liz O'Brien

Treasurer

Kylie Tastula

Secretary

Haylee Berrill

Committee member

Bianca Piantedosi

Committee member

Gil Edmonds

Committee member

Grace Aguila

Committee member

Past Team Members

Sarah Kuhle

Skye Coote

Lizzie Dodd

Who We Are

Our History

Our Mission