Our Team
The NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service comprises donation specialist medical and nursing staff. The highly skilled team of organ and tissue donation specialists support the family and donation process and provide education to the community and clinicians.
NSW OTDS staff also includes the donor family support coordinators, education coordinators, communications and media staff, and administrative support.
General Manager – Caroline Curtin
Meet Caroline Curtin
Our new General Manager comes with a wealth of leadership experience in health and was most recently Chief Customer Officer at Healthdirect Australia. There Caroline was an integral part of the organisation’s highly successful pandemic response and lead teams across strategy, digital content, privacy, analytics, marketing and communications – at a time of rapidly changing national policy and consumer needs.
Caroline has delivered many high profile strategic, policy and operational initiatives for State, Commonwealth, and Non Government Health Agencies.
Complex health system change, primary care policy, employee empowerment and gentle change management are her forte.
Welcome aboard, Caroline!
Co-State Medical Director – Associate Professor Elena Cavazzoni
Dr Elena Cavazzoni is a Staff Specialist working in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney. She completed her medical degree and PhD at the University of Sheffield and trained as a paediatrician in London. In 2005 she moved to Brisbane, where she began her training in paediatric critical care and in 2010 she became a Fellow of the College of Intensive Care Medicine.
Elena’s interests are in organ and tissue donation (family donation communications, utilisation of non-standard donors, paediatric organ donation), transplantation medicine, transfusion medicine, neurocritical care and palliative care.
Co-State Medical Director – Dr Michael O'Leary
Dr Michael O'Leary is a Senior Staff Specialist in the Intensive Care Service, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and a Visiting Medical Officer in Intensive Care at St George Private Hospital, Sydney.
He is a past President of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society.
Michael has had a longstanding interest in organ donation and transplantation that commenced in the early days of his intensive care training in Cambridge, UK, with involvement in the liver transplantation program. He represented St George Hospital, Sydney, on the National Organ Donation Collaborative and was a member of the NSW State Liaison Committee for Organ Donation from 1999 to 2009.
Director of Nursing and Clinical Services – Juliana Celcer
Juliana Celcer oversees the NSW network of donation specialist nurses and coordinators as well as the Donor Family Support Service. As part of the Executive team, she provides leadership and direction to support best clinical practice and improvements in organ donation.
Juliana has extensive experience in intensive care, clinical governance and senior health management. She has a keen interest in organ donation and transplantation and was an executive sponsor during the National Organ Donation Collaborative.
NSW Clinical Manager – Nicola Seifert
Nicola has more than 20 years’ experience working in the Organ and Tissue Donation sector and critical care.
She coordinates the management of the statewide clinical activity of the NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service. She also provides leadership to the broader NSW network.
Nicola is passionate about end-of-life care and honoured to be able to help patients to fulfill their wishes at this stage of their lives.
NSW Tissue Bank Manager – Sharn Dowsett
Sharn brings to the NSW Tissue Bank 12 years’ of Forensic Medicine experience in positions ranging from Post Mortem Technician to Operations Manager.
As the Manager of the NSW Tissue Bank, he is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the tissue bank as well as ensuring that the Bank complies with current Good Manufacturing Practice. Sharn has a passion for policy review, redesign and process improvement.
Manager, Clinical Governance and Quality – Vanessa Terpos
Vanessa is a highly experienced Senior Specialist in Quality Assurance.
As the Manager, Clinical Governance and Quality at NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service, she is responsible for implementing and maintaining the clinical governance framework for the OTDS. She ensures that the NSW Tissue Bank complies with current Good Manufacturing Practice standards, and maintains their listings on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.
Manager, Corporate, Stakeholders and Community – Vicki Harding
With over twenty years of experience in building businesses, non-profit organisations and community change projects, Vicki leads teams to achieve meaningful goals. Vicki brings experience in local council community development, the community legal sector, diversity education and strategic business and marketing communications to OTDS. Vicki's mission is to use her expertise and experience to help raise awareness about organ and tissue donation so that donation rates increase, and everyone who needs a life-saving transplant receives one.
Procurement and Production Team Leader – Alexandra Viglianti
Alexandra, a scientist with a background in Anatomy and Prosection, joined the NSW Tissue Bank in 2020. She facilitates tissue retrieval across NSW and oversees the development of safe and effective tissue grafts for transplant. Alexandra is deeply passionate about translating the generous gift of donation into life-enhancing opportunities for recipients.
Tissue Donor Coordination Team Leader, NSW Tissue Bank – Pierre Georges
Pierre Georges is the Coordination Team Leader at the NSW Tissue Bank. He has studied and worked at Sydney/Sydney Eye Hospital for over 25 years and has a passion for science and medicine. Pierre provides clinical leadership to the staff at the NSW Tissue Bank through tissue donor identification and consent, donor family support and tissue distribution for lifechanging transplantation. Pierre is involved in leading research projects related to tissue donation and transplantation. He also represents the NSW Tissue Bank at state and national industry groups.