Anaesthesia Associates is formed by a growing number of specialist anaesthetists who, while practising as individual specialists, have formed a co-operative association for the provision of services to their patients. They are all highly trained and experienced specialists with diverse special interests and who have practices at hospitals throughout the Sydney area.

Dr Michael Levitt, M.B., B.S.(Syd.,) FFARACS, FANZCA

Dr Michael Levitt, M.B., B.S.(Syd.,) FFARACS, FANZCA has practised as a Specialist Anaesthetist since gaining his fellowship in 1982, following training at Westmead and Prince Henry Hospitals in Sydney.

He was a Visiting Consultant Anaesthetist at Westmead Hospital from 1995 to December 2006 and currently has appointments at The Hills Private, Westmead Private, Castle Hill Day Surgery and Minchinbury Community Hospitals as well as privileges at Mater Private, North Shore Private and Prince of Wales Private Hospitals.

Dr Levitt was Chairman of the Department of Anaesthetics at The Hills Private Hospital from 1992 to 1996. He is currently Immediate Past Chairman of the NSW Branch of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) and remains on the NSW Committee of Management of ASA.  Dr Levitt is also on the Review Panel of the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) as a nominee of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

Dr Levitt's special interests include Obstetric Anaesthesia, The Management of Difficult Airways, Fibre-optic Intubation, Practice Management, Negotiation and Mediation, and Medico-Legal issues. He also has an active medico-legal practice. Dr Levitt is a member of The Australian Society of Anaesthetists, the Australian Medical Association and The Medico-Legal Society of NSW. Dr Levitt is also currently Chairman of Anaesthesia Associates.

Contact Dr Levitt at mlevitt@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr Reg Cammack, M.B., B.S., FFARACS, FANZCA

Dr Reg Cammack MB, BS, FFARACS, FANZCA qualified as a Specialist Anaesthetist in 1982 after training at both Westmead Hospital and Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. Since then he has been in full-time private practice with a Public Hospital appointment as Visiting Medical Officer (VMO) at Concord Hospital. For 12 of those years, he was also a VMO at Mt Druitt Hospital and for nearly 2 years was VMO at Hawkesbury District Hospital. His private hospital appointments include The Hills Private, Minchinbury Community, Nepean Private and Westmead Private. He is currently Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee at Minchinbury Community Hospital. He was a foundation member of Anaesthesia Associates.

Over the years, he has enjoyed a strong involvement in medical politics, currently being NSW Chairman of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) and is a Director and on the Federal Council of the ASA as a result of his State Chairmanship.

Dr Cammack is a Member of the Federal Economics Advisory Committee of the ASA and, as a nominee of the Federal ASA Executive, a Member of the Health Economics and Financing Committee of the Australian Medical Association's Federal Council.

Contact Dr Cammack at rcammack@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr Geoffrey Symonds, M.B, B.S. (Syd. Univ), FFARACS, FANZCA

Has practised as a specialist anaesthetist since 1982 following anaesthetic training based on Sydney Hospital with rotations to Crown Street Women’s Hospital, Royal Alexandria Hospital for Children, and Kings College Hospital, London. He was Senior Registrar at Westmead Hospital 1982. Dr Symonds is presently Senior Visiting Medical Officer at Mt Druitt Hospital, with appointments to the Hills Private Hospital, Westmead Private Hospital, and Castle Hill Day Surgery.

Dr Symonds was previously Chairman of the Department of Anaesthetics at Charles Wentworth Private Hospital, and Clinical Supervisor of Registrar Training at Mt Druitt Hospital. He has a varied anaesthetic practice with special interests in Anaesthesia for Day Surgery. Dr Symonds is a member of the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Society of Anaesthetists.

Contact Dr Symonds at gsymonds@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr Amarjit Sandhu, M.B., Ch.B., FFARACS, FANZCA

Was born in Tanzania (nee Tanganyika) in 1951. He lived in Tanzania, India & England before migrating to Australia in 1977. Dr Sandhu graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1974 with his medical qualifications, he commenced residency in Liverpool (UK) in 1975 . He worked as a trainee anaesthetist in Auburn, Liverpool (in Sydney) & Lidcombe hospitals from 1978.

Appointed to an Anaesthetic Registrar position at the newly opened Westmead Hospital in 1979 &1980, he passed the Faculty of Anaesthetists final examination in November 1980 & became registered as a specialist anaesthetist in February 1981. Continuing to practise as a specialist anaesthetist in western Sydney, he is currently a visiting specialist anaesthetist at The Nepean Private Hospital, Westmead Private Hospital & Minchinbury Community Hospital as well as other private hospitals in the area.

Dr Sandhu has an ongoing special interest in and enjoys working with children and adolescents, with much of his week being spent providing anaesthesia services for E.N.T. and Dental operating lists. His other particular expertise is in the field of anaesthesia for urological surgery. These patients are mostly elderly which provides him a different perspective in anaesthesia care.

Contact Dr Sandhu at asandhu@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr. Murray Selig, M.B., ChB., FFARCS, FFARCSI, FFARACS, FANZCA

Is a Specialist Anaesthetist with a wide range of practice. Specialty training began in New Zealand in 1965 in Wellington Hospital and in 1967 a tour of Duty was performed in South Vietnam with the New Zealand Surgical Team in Qui Nhon. In 1968 training continued as a Registrar and later as Senior Registrar at St. Georges Hospital London. In 1970 after having gained the FFARCSI and FFARCS, a locum position of Director of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care was held in Stavanger Norway and a year later moved to Vasteras & Uppsala in Sweden. At the end of 1971 on Joining the RAAF a move was made to Sydney where the military service involved Anaesthesia and Aero-medical Evacuation where the Rank of Group Captain was achieved.

In 1974 Dr Selig was appointed Director of Intensive Care at Lidcombe Hospital. He later transferred as a Specialist in Intensive Care to Royal North Shore Hospital Sydney. A significant involvement with the NSW Ambulance Service followed with 12 years spent training Paramedic Ambulance Officers as Principal Medical Officer to the Service. With 22 years of service to the RAAF, Dr Selig was awarded the RFD and Bar. Current Practice is now full time Anaesthesia as a VMO Specialist Anaesthetist at Hawkesbury Hospital (where he is currently Chairman of the Medical Staff Council), Nepean Hospital, The Hills Private Hospital, 3RAAF Hospital, Sydney Southwest Private Hospital, Nepean Private Hospital and Westmead Private Hospital.  Dr Selig is also a member of the NSW Committee of Management of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists.

Contact Dr Selig at mselig@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr Helen Leggett, M.B.,B.S., FANZCA

Dr Leggett initially qualified as a Registered Nurse at Royal Newcastle Hospital in 1985, completing an Intensive Care Certificate in 1987. Accepted for medical training at The University of Sydney in 1989, she obtained her medical qualification in 1995. Dr Leggett did her post-graduate training at Westmead Hospital, continuing specialist training in Anaesthesia at Westmead, Nepean and Westmead Children’s Hospitals and being admitted to Fellowship of The Australian & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists in 2003.

Dr Leggett is currently the Chair of the Department of Anaesthesia at The Hills Private Hospital. She has clinical interests in anaesthesia for dental, ophthalmic and general surgery with a particular interest in facilitating improved anaesthetic outcome for day only surgery patients. She has appointments as a visiting specialist anaesthetist at Hawkesbury Hospital, The Hills Private Hospital and other hospitals throughout the Sydney area.

Contact Dr Leggett at hleggett@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr Peter Donahue, M.B., CHB., DA , FRCA, FANZCA

Dr. Donahue attended university at the University of Liverpool School of Medicine in the United Kingdom, graduating in 1982. He undertook basic Anaesthetic specialist training in Leicester and advanced specialist training in Oxford. During this time he held the position of Visiting Assistant Professor in Anesthesiology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, USA for a period of two years. He also spent time undertaking humanitarian aid work in Sarajevo during the Balkans War.

Dr. Donahue traveled to Sydney in 1995 intending to spend a year in Australia prior to settling into a Consultant position in the U.K. but he never left Australia. He moved from Sydney to Brisbane in 1997 where he worked in public and private practice predominantly in Brisbane.

Dr Donahue has now returned to Sydney, where he is accredited to work in a number of public and private hospitals across metropolitan Sydney. His practice expertise covers a wide range of surgical specialties and also covers treatment of acute pain. He offers a management program for post operative and non-operative acute pain problems at the Hills Private Hospital that your Surgeon or Anaesthetist can refer you to. Dr. Donahue is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. He is now an Australian citizen, has a passion for Aussie rules football but still hopes England will win the Ashes in his lifetime.

Contact Dr Donahue at pdonahue@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr Siva Navaratnam, M.B., B.S. FFARACS, FANZCA

Dr Navaratnam graduated in Medicine from the University of Mysore in India. Moving to Australia, he completed his training in Anaesthesia at Concord Hospital in Sydney, gaining his FFARACS in 1985 and being awarded the FANZCA in 1992.

Dr Navaratnam was the winner of the prestigious Gilbert Brown Prize and the Boots Young Investigator Award during his anaesthetic training. He is the co-author of several clinical publications on Life Support and Resuscitation published by The Australian Resuscitation Council.

Dr Navaratnam has an appointment with the Royal Australian Air Force as a Specialist Anaesthetist, and also works at many private hospitals in the inner-west and south-western areas of Sydney.

His special interests include acute care and resuscitation, obstetric anaesthesia, day surgery anaesthesia and anaesthesia for cosmetic surgery. His aim is always to provide his patients a safe, pain-free anaesthetic with a minimum of side-effects.

Contact Dr Navaratnam at snavaratnam@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr Gianpeiro Traini, M.B.,B.S. (Syd.), FANZCA.

Dr Traini completed his medical training at The University of Sydney, graduating in 1994. His subsequent specialist anaesthetic training took place at Westmead Hospital, with rotations through Nepean, Auburn, Mt.Druitt and Westmead Children’s Hospitals. He is a Fellow of The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

Dr Traini has a diverse anaesthetic practice, with a special interest in obstetric anaesthesia. He also has an interest in improvement of post-operative pain control, and is currently undertaking research in this area. Dr Traini is a visiting specialist anaesthetist at Blacktown Hospital, and has appointments at The Hills Private Hospital, Nepean Private Hospital and other hospitals in the Sydney region. He also works regularly at other hospitals in the Sydney area. Dr Traini is a member of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists and the Australian Medical Association.

Contact Dr Traini at jtraini@hillsgroup.com.au

Dr Robert Newland BSc(Med) MB BS FANZCA

Dr Newland graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1997, having completed degrees in Science, Medicine and Surgery. He then went on to commence specialist anaesthetic training at Westmead hospital. During this period he had rotations to Nepean, Tamworth, Hornsby and Westmead Children's Hospitals and completed courses in The Early Management of Severe Trauma (EMST) and disaster management.

Dr Newland was awarded his FANZCA in 2006.
His current hospital appointments include Nepean Public, Nepean Private, Hills Private and Hawkesbury Hospitals.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Anaesthetists as well as a member of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists.
Dr Newland's areas of special interest include obstetric anaesthesia, airway management, ENT anaesthesia and orthopaedic anaesthesia.

Contact Dr Newland at rnewland@hillsgroup.com.au  

Dr Shrina Begg, MB BS FANZCA

Dr Shrina Begg completed her undergraduate training at the University of NSW. She subsequently completed her anaesthetic training in Canberra, as well as at Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick and Sydney Childrens' Hospital. Dr Begg has a special interest in paediatric anaesthesia.

She describes herself as a "workaholic" and also loves teaching anaesthetic registrars for their post-graduate exams, thus far achieving great success.

Dr Begg's professional interests include the welfare of anaesthetists, aboriginal health and regional anaesthesia. Away from work, her favourite pastimes include fine dining with friends, wine appreciation and sailing.

Contact Dr Begg at sbegg@hillsgroup.com.au