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 (QASC) Europe project, which is looking at implementing protocols to manage Fever, Hyperglycaemia and Swallowing dysfunction follow stroke. She was the trial manager on the NHRMC funded trials, the Triage, Treatment and Transfer of patients with stroke in emergency departments and the Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) trial. She is also working on the Stroke Living Guidelines with the Stroke Foundation.

Liz O'Brien

Co-Chairperson

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.

Tanya Frost

Secretary

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.

Sarah Kuhle

Treasurer

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

Committee Member

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

Committee Member

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.

Carolyn Harrison

Committee Member

As the Stroke clinical nurse consultant at Launceston General Hospital, Carolyn has worked at the unit since it opened in the early 2000s. As a born and bred Tasmanian, Carolyn was in the last nursing cohort to train at the Launceston General Hospital before converting entirely to university-based training. Her 34th anniversary of a career in nursing passed in February this year, and Carolyn has attained an Advanced Diploma in Management and a Graduate Certificate in Neurological Nursing along with many career accomplishments, too numerous to mention.

Gill 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. Prior to this she worked in neurology services at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital for 16 years. Gill is a member of the WA Stroke Clinical Advisory Group and part of the organising committee for the 2021 annual conference of the Stoke Society of Australasia. Gill completed her hospital-based nurse training in the Isle of Man before starting a career in neurosciences in England, she moved to Perth in 1999. 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.

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, working as a Clinical Nurse within the Royal Adelaide Emergency Department where she works as an ED and trauma nurse whilst providing stroke service training to ED staff as part of a clinical stroke portfolio.

Kylie Tastula

Committee Member

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, as well as being the lead nurse for the inaugural NSW Stroke Ambulance Model of Care development. Kylie has worked within the field of neurosciences for the last 15 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 CNC 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.

Meet Our Team - ASNEN

Simeon Dale

Co-Chairperson

Liz O'Brien

Co-Chairperson

Tanya Frost

Secretary

Sarah Kuhle

Treasurer

Skye Coote

Committee Member

Lizzie Dodd

Committee Member

Carolyn Harrison

Committee Member

Gill Edmonds

Committee Member

Bianca Piantedosi

Committee Member

Kylie Tastula

Committee Member

Who We Are

Our History

Our Mission