The Team

We at Centre For Occupational And Environmental Medicine (COEM) have a very strong emphasis on working as a team.  No one of us knows everything, and we all have different skill sets.  Our strength is in our working together to meet your needs.

We are all approachable and encourage you to ring and talk to us or Email us with your problems.
 

Administration

Mary

Mary joined COEM in 2009, coming from a retail and customer service background.  Mary enjoys working with people, focusing on building relationships – to better understand our client’s wants and needs.  Mary strongly believes that good communication and positive experiences not only creates a pleasant work environment but is the best way to understand and meet your needs.

Michele

Michele has a background in the service industry and in administration in a variety of roles before joining COEM in 2006.  Michele’s previous experience in the service industry comes out in her special interest in helping our customers find the answers to their questions.  Michele is a strong facilitator and focuses on ensuring that out customers’ expectations are being met.
 

Management

Lisa

Lisa joined COEM in 2000, having worked as an Occupational Therapist in a wide range of areas. Before coming to COEM Lisa worked for a Rehabilitation Provider assisting injured workers return to work in a safe and appropriate way.  As the Practice Manger, Lisa is responsible for the day to day operations of COEM, including proof reading reports and supervising quality control.  The combination of her professional skills and industry experience gives Lisa a unique skill set to help you not only solve your problem, but to help you ask the right question.

Ross

Ross is the founder and Medical Director of COEM.  He comes from a diverse background of General Practice, Military and Aviation Medicine, Ergonomics and Occupational Medicine.  Ross is a generalist Occupational Medicine specialist, with special interests in compensation medicine, ergonomics, aviation medicine and research.  Reflecting this background, Ross applies a strong academic and systems approach to the practice of occupational medicine.  
 

Physicians

What is an Occupational Physician?
Occupational Physicians are highly trained specialists in Occupational Medicine who provide a wide range of services relating to the health of both patients and employers.  The specialty of Occupational Medicine focuses on the inter-relationships between the Worker, their workplace, their work practice.  The specialty encompasses prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, and deals with health issues of the individual worker, populations of workers, their interaction with their environment and the “health” of the employing organization.  Occupational Physicians consider medical issues within the wider context of their psycho-social, industrial, motivational framework.

What makes an Occupational Physician special?

• A unique combination of knowledge, training and skills distinguishes Occupational Physicians from other medical practitioners and general practitioners.  They are:
• Broadly educated to deal with the entire range of the patient’s medical problems as they relate to their employment
  Exposed to a wide range of work-sites and work-environments and trained to assess these in terms of their potential effects on an individual worker
• Thorough, logical and scientific in their approach to providing expert diagnoses
• Able to advise on the best management strategy for the injured worker
• pecialists in the management of work-related disability
• Able to care for patients within their work and social environment, not just within the medical model
• Highly skilled in clinical decision-making and cost effective management of injured workers and sickness absence.

COEM Occupational Physicians

Dr Ross Mills [MBChB BSc DIH PGDAvMed FRNZCGP FAFOEM (RACP) FAADEP CIME CEDIR]

Dr Mills graduated in medicine in 1982 and briefly worked as a General Practitioner before enlisting in the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1987.  He initially worked as a medical officer in the RNZAF Environmental Medicine Unit (which was also provided the RNZAF’s Aviation Medicine services).  Both in this position, and in his subsequent posting as a Airbase Senior Medical Officer he was heavily involved both in Aviation Medicine and in general Occupational Health.  In 1992 he left the RNZAF to take up private practice in occupational medicine in Australia (gaining his occupational medicine fellowship in the same year).  After working in primary care and corporate health in Sydney, he moved to Wollongong in 1995, from where he has since practiced as a consultant Occupational Physician in Sydney and Rural New South Wales.

Since 1994 he has worked part-time as a medical officer with the Australian Army, and is currently a LTCOL in the standby Reserve.

In addition to the above, he has worked as a part-time Senior Staff Specialist for the area health service (Hospital) providing occupational medicine services to employees, and working with a multi-disciplinary pain management clinic.

His current practice involves him receiving referrals for patient management from general practitioners and employers, referrals for second opinions from employers, rehabilitation providers and insurance companies, and referrals for Independent Medical Examinations on behalf of insurance companies and legal firms.  Dr Mills performs worksite visits, private & public sector educational sessions, training and file reviews.  Examples of civilian industries where he has performed site visits include underground coal mines, coke ovens, Steel Mills, Transport companies, Supermarkets and Office workers.

His particular areas of interest include: low back pain, occupational upper limb conditions, musculoskeletal injuries, ergonomics, workers compensation systems, sickness absence management, medico-legal medicine, military medicine, aviation medicine and research.  Dr Mills is currently undertaking a PhD (Health Informatics) with Wollongong University analysing Factors Associated with Prolonged RTW after Lodging a Workers Compensation Claim.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery – Otago University, 1982
• Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry) – Otago University, 1978
• Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (FRNZCGP), 1990
• Diploma of Industrial Health (DIH) – Otago University, 1992
• Diploma of Aviation Medicine (PGDAvMed) – Otago University, 1992
• Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational & Environmental Medicine (FAFOEM), Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) – 1992
• Certified by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME) – 1999
• Fellow of the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians (AADEP) – 1999
• AADEP Certificate in the Evaluation of Disability Impairment Rating (CEDIR) – 2004
• Member Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia - 2007

 

Appointments

• Appeals Panel Member & Approved Medical Specialist (Impairment Assessment and Dispute Resolution), Workers Compensation Commission, NSW
• NSW Work Cover Authority Injury Management Consultant & Designated Medical Examiner
• Senior Clinical Lecturer, Graduate School of Medicine, Wollongong University
• Medical Examiner CASA (Civil Aviation), Australia
• VIC Work Cover appointed Independent Medical Examiner
• Work Cover, Tasmania, Board Impairment Assessor
• Medical Review Officer: MROCC United States of America

Dr. Andrew Keller [MBBS, FRACGP, FAFOEM, MAM, MHA, JP]

Dr Keller has a broad clinical experience in occupational health and primary care. Since 1991 he has worked in emergency medicine, general practice, remote corporate health and injury management. He has extensive international experience including the United Kingdom, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Mexico, Belize and Antarctica.

Areas of special interest include primary care, tropical medicine and vaccinations, aviation evacuation, diving medicine, maritime health, drug and alcohol programs, and injury management consultation. Andrew has experience with task assessments, work place safety audits, and emergency protocol planning for medical contingencies or remote sites.

Qualifications

• MBBS 1991, FRACGP 1995
• Advanced Hyperbaric Medical Officer and Commercial Dive Medical Examiner 1998
• Masters in Aerospace Medicine 2003
• Maters in Health Administration 2003
• AMSA Medical Inspector of Seamen 2003
• New Zealand CAA Medical Examiner 2004
• WorkCover NSW Approved Injury Management Consultant 2005
• Occupational Physician FAFOEM 2007

Appointments

• NSW WorkCover Authority Injury Management Consultant
• NSW WorkCover Authority Permanent Impairment Assessor
• South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society: Commercial Dive Medical Examiner
• Designated Aviation Medical Examiner: Australia, New Zealand, Brunei
• Medical Review Officer: MROCC United States of America