The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) Emerging Nurse Leader (ENL) Program aims to identify and nurture the individuals who will shape our professions’ future. It assists early-career enrolled and registered nurses in developing their leadership skills through unparalleled access to high profile nurse leaders, mentoring, career coaching and professional development opportunities. The program has five stages and is open to final year and undergraduate students and nurses with up to six years’ nursing experience. Over the next five weeks, we will be profiling the 57 exceptional nurses and nursing students who have been selected as ACN ENLs.
Today we are proud to introduce the eleven up-and-coming nurse leaders participating in Stage One, Empowered to Learn. We congratulate all participants on their selection into our prestigious award program and hope you enjoy following their leadership journeys and learning about their paths into the nursing profession and their expectations and accomplishments whilst in the ENL program.
Brian Cheung MACN(Student)
Brian is a third year Bachelor of Nursing student at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle. He works to support students as part of the Notre Dame Nursing Society and serves as the Clinical Practicum Liaison to the School of Nursing and Midwifery, ensuring that the school’s reputation for producing clinically excellent students is upheld.
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Brian has played a role in supporting the Smartcare seminars as a student representative and aims to develop the Nursing Society into a body that can support students during their transition into becoming the state’s newest graduate nurses. Brian is passionate about health informatics and the introduction of new technologies into nursing practice and aims to become a nurse educator in the future. In his spare time, he can be found bouldering walls as a mental and physical workout.
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Ketisha Gill MACN(Student)
Ketisha is a proud Kamilaroi woman studying a dual degree in Nursing and Paramedicine at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. Ketisha is currently in her third year of study and has ambitions to work in rural or remote areas of Australia.
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Ketisha is passionate about Indigenous health and the primary health care sector after volunteering much of her time working with high school students and communities in the Northern Territory.
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Kaarin Goeldner MACN(Student)
Kaarin originally planned to study nursing 30 years ago but decided to follow a circuitous route of careers before becoming a registered nurse. The route took her to Africa as an exchange student, ski resorts in Colorado and various global information technology companies in Sydney, New York and Boston.
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Kaarin then spent a few years as a grazier whilst working on her greatest achievement, motherhood of two children and being a wife to her husband of 25 years, Ernie. She enrolled in a nursing course at Southern Cross University in 2017 and was awarded the QUOTA International prize for community service and distinguished academic results and the New Colombo Scholarship in 2018. For the last three years, she has worked in Pathology and has recently started working in aged care to develop her nursing skills. Kaarin is excited about the opportunities and leadership learning presented by the ENL program.
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Savannah Grudzinski MACN(Student)
Savannah is an undergraduate student at the University of Southern Queensland and loves being involved in university life and ACN. She is Vice-President of the Nursing Society, a student success leader, nursing student ambassador, peer meet-up leader and an assistant in nursing at her local aged care facility.
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Earlier this year, Savannah travelled to Singapore to attend the International Council of Nurses Congress which enlightened her to key global issues and the underlying mechanisms of change in health care. She loves seeking out opportunities to develop both professionally and personally and that is why she is so excited to start her ENL journey with ACN! Savannah has a keen interest in sexual health, public health and research and would love to be a Nurse Practitioner one day.
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Gavin Harm MACN(Student)
Gavin is a mature-aged nursing student who originally hails from South East Queensland. He has worked in rural and remote Queensland, Canada and New Zealand where his roles have mainly revolved around quality and safety, values which are closely aligned with the core principles of nursing.
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While studying full-time, Gavin is learning the basic skills of nursing in the aged care sector. He finds the giving and caring nature of nursing intoxicating. He has a keen interest in intensive care nursing and believes his methodical approach and attention to detail would be well suited to this area of nursing. Gavin is also a cancer connect volunteer with the Queensland Cancer Council where he supports people newly diagnosed with cancer. He is thrilled to be a part of the ENL program and hopes the leadership skills acquired from the program will enable him to be a role model for future nurses.
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Amanda McGregor MACN
Amanda’s nursing career started when she completed a graduate program at a local private hospital. Upon completion of the program, she moved to the Mid North Coast and began a long journey in emergency nursing.
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Throughout her emergency nursing career, Amanda has worked both nationally and internationally and learnt to perform in all areas of the emergency department. She has completed further studies and tutored critical care subjects. In 2016, Amanda decided to venture into practice nursing, which she found an invaluable experience, and thoroughly enjoyed the challenges of working within the community to prevent and manage chronic disease. In 2019, Amanda began studying a Master of Nurse Practitioner course. She lives in regional NSW with her partner, three young children and three dogs. Amanda is looking forward to commencing her journey with ACN and becoming an ENL.
Throughout her emergency nursing career, Amanda has worked both nationally and internationally and learnt to perform in all areas of the emergency department. She has completed further studies and tutored critical care subjects. In 2016, Amanda decided to venture into practice nursing, which she found an invaluable experience, and thoroughly enjoyed the challenges of working within the community to prevent and manage chronic disease. In 2019, Amanda began studying a Master of Nurse Practitioner course. She lives in regional NSW with her partner, three young children and three dogs. Amanda is looking forward to commencing her journey with ACN and becoming an ENL.
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Jakodi Millar MACN(Student)
Jakodi Millar is a second-year nursing student at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle. He is an advocate for the development of leadership, communication, interpersonal skills and networks in nursing and believes these skills are fundamental to the profession.
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Jakodi seeks leadership development opportunities and engages in the Notre Dame Mentor Program, is employed by the university as a Student Ambassador and is the President of the Notre Dame Nursing Society. In 2019 he co-organised the biannual SMARTCare education and networking event with School of Nursing Acting Assistant Dean and Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Dr Ben Hay MACN. The event sold out with 340 guests, had over 30 industry representatives in attendance and presentations from ten high-profile guest speakers. In his spare time, you will find him working his part-time job for YouTube, surfing, jumping rope, and rearranging his calendar to make time for naps where possible.
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Calida Neal MACN(Student)
Calida is a second year nursing student at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). After completing her PhD in Science in 2005, Calida worked in several research positions until 2013, when she headed to Asia to pursue her passion for humanitarian work.
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Spending time in Nepal and Cambodia running health promotion programs ignited a respect and passion for the profession of nursing. At USQ Calida is committed to helping to share that passion as a student ambassador, meet-up leader and secretary of the USQ Nursing Society.
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Emma Reardon MACN(Student)
Emma is studying a Master of Nursing Science at the University of Melbourne, following the completion of a Bachelor of Science (Physiology). Emma was inspired to pursue nursing following health care work experience placements where she saw the incredible impact that nursing care has on patients and their loved ones.
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Emma describes a vision of a future where nurses are empowered to ensure that a holistic health approach is available for all patients and where nurses play a strong leadership role within the Australian health care system. She is passionate about health education and empowerment, particularly in disadvantaged Australian communities.
Throughout her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, Emma volunteered to lead a team of peer university students to design and deliver health education workshops to enable disadvantaged youth to combat preventative health issues prevalent in their communities. These experiences deepened her drive to become a future nursing leader and to address areas of great need within the Australian health system.
Emma is eager to engage with the learning and leadership opportunities that the ENL program offers.
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Domonique Serginson MACN(Student)
Domonique is a second-year nursing student at the Australian Catholic University (Brisbane Campus). After completing high school in 2015, she began pursuing a career in the health sector and applied and was accepted into the competitive Prince Charles Hospital Clinical School for placements throughout her undergraduate degree.
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To date, Domonique has completed several placements in areas such as thoracic medicine, mental health and geriatric orthopaedics. She works on campus as a Peer Assisted Study Session Leader in biology and evidence-based practice in addition to also representing the university as a Student Ambassador. As a student ambassador Domonique attends local secondary schools and tertiary expos providing information and guidance for prospective students of undergraduate health degrees. In addition to this, Domonique is also the president of the Brisbane Nursing Society (BNS). The BNS runs continuing professional development events for students to support and better their experience on campus. Domonique is excited and looking forward to this program and is keen to meet the other ENLs.
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Joshua Thomson MACN(Student)
Josh is a Diploma of Nursing student at Torrens University, Adelaide. He is passionate about patient-centred care that values diversity and inclusion. As technology integrates further into health, Josh is excited to see what this will mean for positive patient outcomes.
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Josh is excited about the ENL program for enrolled nurses and the impact it will have on his future nursing career. When Josh isn’t studying, you can find him with a coffee in his hands walking his dog.
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