Debra Nestel, PhD, FSSH, is Professor of Simulation Education in Healthcare, Monash University, and Professor of Surgical Education, Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne, Australia. Debra is Editor-in-Chief, BMJ Simulation and Technology-Enhanced Learning (STEL), the journal of the Association for Simulation Practice in Healthcare. She was the founding Editor-in-Chief, Advances in Simulation, the journal of the Society in Europe for Simulation Applied to Medicine (SESAM). She is the Course Director of the Graduate Programs in Clinical Simulation, Monash University. She is program lead for the Graduate Programs in Surgical Education (Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne and Royal Australasian College of Surgeons) and the Graduate Programs in Surgical Science (Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne). Debra leads the national program for simulation educators – NHET-Sim and a virtual network in simulated patient methodology. Debra has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers in health professions education, edited books on simulated patient methodology (2015), healthcare simulation (2018), surgical education (2019) and research methods in healthcare simulation (2019). Debra has won many awards and prizes for her work in simulation including the Australian Awards for University Teaching, the Ray Page Lifetime Contribution to Simulation Award (Simulation Australasia), a presidential citation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and was the first Australia-based fellow of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.
Roles in simulation:
- Course Director, short courses award and non-award courses in simulation, Monash University including the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Simulation
- Graduate student supervisor of various research projects in simulation
- Editor-in-Chief, BMJ STEL
- Past Chair, Research Committee, Society for Simulation in Healthcare
- Past Chair, Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare
- Past Board member, Simulation Australasia
- Past Board member, Society for Simulation in Healthcare
- Founding Editor-in-Chief, Advances in Simulation