Professor Sally McCarthy MBBS FACEM MBA FIFEM is an emergency physician at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, and Director ED South East Regional Hospital Bega, NSW. Having been Director ED at tertiary and smaller hospitals, in 2011 she established the Emergency Care Institute at the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation. This body linked all 186 EDs, stakeholders and consumers in NSW in an emergency care network for the first time, providing leadership and advocacy, an open access website with peer reviewed point of care clinical tools used in EDs worldwide, education, research and innovation, and substantially reduced serious incidents in NSW ED.

She is a past president of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, and Chairs the ACEM National Program under which education, specialist supervision and support for ACEM certificate and diploma training is undertaken in more than 400 regional, rural and remote EDs. In 2017, she was awarded the ACEM Medal, the College’s highest honour. Other ACEM activities include examiner, elected member of the Council of Advocacy, Practice and Partnerships and Chair of the Standards and Endorsements Committee; and member of other ACEM committees and working groups.

She has a track record over many years of leadership and advocacy to improve emergency and health care, with roles including Australian Prime Minister’s Crystal Methamphetamine (Ice) Taskforce member, Chair of the Emergency Medicine Foundation a national research funder, Chair of the Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine Clinical Committee for the MBS review Taskforce, member of the NSW Mental Health Priority Task Force, Suicide Australia reference group member, and many others. She has had a long commitment to IFEM as Board member, past Chair Specialty Implementation Committee and member of other committees, working groups and taskforces; and commitment to international EM, visiting hospitals in many nations and delivering education with local colleagues, working in SE Asia, and fostering support for the advancement of EM. She has a significant research publication and funding record, and is a passionate advocate for equity in all aspects of emergency care.