About Us
Meet our Team
Meet Our Lead Educators
Based in Western Australia, our team is made up of local, experienced cardiac sonographers, physicians and cardiologists with a track record of excellence in teaching.
Our experienced educators provide participants with the opportunity to improve their Cardiac Point-of-Care Ultrasound (PoCUS) skills with hands-on practice on a variety of patients.
Sam Burgoyne
Sam Burgoyne is the Lead Facilitator at Perth Cardiac PoCUS. She has been working in the field of Cardiac Physiology since 2004 and has worked in both the public and private sectors, throughout Australia and overseas. She is involved in various teaching positions including facilitating cardiac point-of-care workshops at Perth Cardiac Pocus, EMUGs (Emergency Medicine Ultrasound Group) and RACGP (Royal Australian College of General Practitioners).
Sam is employed by SouthWest Cardiovascular in WA as a Senior Cardiac Sonographer, covering outpatients, and the private and public inpatients, and the College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM) as a Sonographer Educator and Focussed Cardiac Ultrasound Assessor in Bunbury ICU. She is a current board member of PiCSA (Professionals in Cardiac Sciences Australia) and an education committee member of CSANZ (The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand). She has previously worked as a Cardiac Sonographer at Vancouver General Hospital, a Clinical Cardiac Applications Specialist for Lifehealthcare, a Notre Dame University “cardiac anatomy with ultrasound” Tutor, and a Secondary Science and Maths teacher.
Sam’s main professional interest lies in improving patient outcomes through quality, evidence-based professional development. She was recently nominated for the 2023 ASUM Awards of Excellence – Educator of the Year, and 2023 ASA Awards of Excellence – Tutor/Clinical Supervisor of the Year Award.
Dr Stefan Buchholz, MBBS, MD(Hons), MRCP (UK), FRACP, FCSANZ
Dr Stefan Buchholz is a senior clinical cardiologist and specialist in cardiac diagnostic imaging. Stefan completed rotations in general medicine in NSW and Queensland before undertaking advanced cardiology training at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, followed by a high-volume cardiac imaging fellowship with Professor Michael Feneley at St Vincent’s Hospital and St Vincent’s Clinic in Sydney.
He has extensive experience in advanced echocardiographic techniques including using perflutren echo contrast, 3D/4D, stress and speckletracking / strain imaging. He gained further expertise in CT coronary angiography at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA.
With a keen interest in teaching, Stefan held the position of salaried Associate Professor (course coordinator) for MBBS year 6 students with the James Cook University School of Medicine between 2012 and 2015.
Stefan is a peer reviewer for several medical journals and has himself authored/co-authored over 40 published scientific papers and journal abstracts; international recognition of his work is reflected in close to 400 citations. Beyond a commitment to evidence-based health care, research and teaching, his particular clinical interests are in heart failure, cardiomyopathy, valvular heart disease and cardiovascular risk assessment.
Dr Avadhesh Saraswat
Dr Avadhesh Saraswat is an interventional cardiologist and an expert in assessment and management of chest pain, coronary angiography, and stenting. He graduated from Bond University in Queensland and completed his medical training at Gold Coast University Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital to qualify as a Cardiologist.
Dr Saraswat then moved to Perth to undergo his interventional cardiology fellowship at Royal Perth Hospital first then going to Toronto, Canada at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
He is extensively trained in all aspects of cardiac catheterisation, coronary physiology assessment, intracoronary imaging and percutaneous coronary intervention.
Dr Saraswat is a passionate advocate for cardiac research and education. Outside of work, he enjoys a good coffee, going on hikes with his family and enjoying the outdoors.
Rachel Schreiber-Wood
Rachel Schreiber-Wood is a senior cardiac sonographer at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Perth Children’s Hospital. Rachel is passionate about echocardiography, teaching cardiac ultrasound skills to trainees and educating in the field of cardiac ultrasound.
Rachel has worked in tertiary hospitals for the past ten years with experience in acute hospital settings including emergency departments, ICU and theatre/cardiac cath labs. With cardiac ultrasound qualification since 2005, and teaching qualification from Murdoch University since 2011, Rachel is eager to impart her ultrasound experience and knowledge to others, including sonography students, trainee doctors and consultants training in ultrasound.
Rachel has been involved in educating doctors in Point of Care Ultrasound since 2018.
Diane Bruce
After graduating with a Bachelor of Science from Flinders University in Adelaide, Dianne completed her echocardiography training at the Alfred Heart Centre and Epworth Hospitals in Melbourne. During her time in Melbourne, Dianne was involved in organising and presenting at education events for ACTIV (Association of Cardiac Technology in Victoria). She has also presented at national conferences including CSANZ, ASA and ASUM conferences.
Dianne also spent some years working as a clinical applications specialist for Philips where she gained much experience in teaching ultrasound machine knowledge to purchasers. Upon moving to Perth Dianne made a career change and trained in paediatric echocardiography and is currently employed as a senior paediatric sonographer at the Perth Childrens Hospital.
Dianne enjoys being involved in outreach programs both locally and overseas. She has travelled to Samoa, Tonga and Myanmar; and has been involved in numerous RHD research projects throughout remote Australia. Dianne has witnessed the growth of POCUS in many clinical areas (ICU, ED, heart failure etc). With ever advancing digital imaging capabilities, cloud-based storage/transmission, and the increasing use of AI she is very interested to see what the future holds for cardiac ultrasound.
Troy Pearce
Troy Pearce is a qualified cardiac sonographer with ASAR (Australia Sonographer Accreditation Registry) who has worked in diagnostic cardiac imaging for more than 10 years. He performs echocardiograms in cardiac care units, intensive care units, general medical wards and emergency departments out of a variety of public and private hospitals around Western Australia.
Troy’s experience with teaching began at Western Cardiology mentoring junior sonographers before taking a supervising role for student sonographers undertaking their practical work from Central Queensland University.
He has also tutored CQU students at the Perth campus from complete beginners to final year students. The passion for teaching cardiac ultrasound was extended at PCP with Sam, as Troy came on as a facilitator for doctors wanting to be accredited with point of care cardiac ultrasound.
He continues to foster his understanding of cardiac physiology by being a member of PiCSA (Professionals in Cardiac Sciences Australia) and ASE (American Society of Echocardiography). Troy also is currently undertaking a Master’s in Cardiac Ultrasound through the University of South Australia, exploring more sensitive markers for cardiac surgery timing in mitral valve disease.
Shae Cromb
Shae commenced a career in Cardiology in 2006 after completing a Bachelor of Human Movement and Exercise Science at the University of Western Australia. With a desire for further knowledge and professional development, it was not long before she began an echocardiography traineeship, completing a Diploma of Medical Ultrasonography (Cardiac) in 2009. During her formative years as an echocardiographer, she also became proficient in vascular sonography, and continued performing this unique dual role for 7 years before deciding to transition to academia.
Shae began her career as an Academic Lecturer in Echocardiography and Cardiac Physiology at CQUniversity in 2019, and is proudly involved in the development of future echocardiographers. Shae is currently completing a Master of Educational Neuroscience to gain specialised neuroscientific knowledge on how to enhance professional educational practice. In addition to her role at CQUniversity, Shae continues to maintain clinical relevancy by working part time as a senior echocardiographer at a private Cardiology practice in Perth.
Performing a tuition role at Perth Cardiac Pocus allows Shae to combine her passion for both echocardiography and education.
What Our Course Participants Have To Say
Educators were knowledgeable and supportive. I definitely benefited hugely from these workshops and have already applied the knowledge to my current practice.
Would definitely recommend to colleagues.
