President

Matt Pepper

Matt served 7 years in the Australian Army before becoming a paramedic.

With over 13 years as a Paramedic across multiple Ambulance services, Matt is a Special Operations/

Intensive Care Paramedic in Sydney.  Matt is a member of the first full time Tactical Paramedic Team in Australia, 

and is the first ever dedicated Tactical Medicine Clinical Training Officer in the country.

With a range of instructional roles he teaches tactical medicine to various government agencies, the ADF and

emergency services.

Matt was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2015 to study tactical medicine and prehospital terrorism response

with various agencies through the USA, UK and Canada.  He was also the Ian O'Rourke Scholarship recipient in

2018, exploring collaboration and interagency cooperation in high threat medical response.

He has a Masters of Philosophy researching the characteristics of the prehospital response to terrorism, is on the 

editorial board of the Journal of High Threat and Austere Medicine, and works for numerous universities as a 

lecturer, tutor and curriculum developer. 

Vice President

Ben T

Ben is in his 16th year of service in the Australian Army where he serves as a medic. During this time, he has worked with some of Australia’s most elite forces and has served on operations in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ben’s professional interests lie in the development of TCCC for military first responders, and the cross over of lessons learnt on the battlefield into the domestic law enforcement spectrum.

Secretary

Lee Dixon

Lee has been serving with NSW Ambulance for over 10 years. Lee has gone on to complete his Intensive Care Paramedic training, Special Operations training and Remote Area Access training, as well as being a member of the Tactical Paramedic Team. 

As well as his role with ATMA and NSW Ambulance, Lee is also an Instructor with TacMed Australia where he provides high quality medical training to various agencies in both Tactical and Remote Area first aid.

Lee has a keen interest in furthering Australia's medical capability in the world of high threat care and bringing Australia in-line with the world leaders in this space, particularly around the confluence of wilderness, austere and tactical medicine.

Treasurer

Ben Grellman

Ben spent his formative years working and adventuring in the Australian wilderness as a guide and technical skills instructor. Ben found a passion for providing medical care in remote areas as a wilderness first responder instructor with The Safety Network.

The natural progression was into ambulance where Ben has worked for Ambulance Victoria and now with ACT Ambulance as an Intensive Care Paramedic. Ben has a Masters Degree in Paramedical Science (Critical Care) and also works as a specialist instructor for Tacmed Australia.

Ben has a keen interest in developing models to deliver high level pre-hospital care to remote and tactical environments.

Board Member

Adam C

Adam has spent 12 years in the Australian Army as a medic, where he currently serves in Special Operations Command.  He has operational and training deployments to South East Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East.  During his time in SOCOMD he has graduated from a foreign special operations medic course, deployed to Afghanistan and was a member of TAG (East). 

Since transferring to the reserve forces he has joined the NSW Ambulance Service where he currently practices as an ALS Paramedic. 

Board Member

Dr. Dan Pronk

Dan completed his medical schooling on an Army scholarship and served the majority of his military career with Special Operations Units, including four tours of Afghanistan and over 100 combat missions where he was awarded the Commendation for Distinguished Service for his conduct in action on his second tour of Afghanistan.

During his military service Dan served as an Australian medical liaison to the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care, as well as representing Australian Special Operations at the NATO Special Operations Forces Medical Expert Panel.

Dan holds a Fellowship with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and is an instructor on the Royal Australian College of Surgeon’s Early Management of Severe Trauma Course.

He currently works as the Deputy Medical Superintendent of a regional hospital in Queensland. He maintains his interest in tactical medicine through involvement with the Army School of Health's Care of the Battlefield Casualty program, as well as acting as Medical Director for TacMed Australia and providing tactical medical consultations for various police and government agencies.

Board Member

Dave H

Dave joined the Queensland Police Service at 23 and was appointed to the elite Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) in 2006 where he has served in roles as a Marksman, Dog Handler, Search and Rescue Coordinator and most recently, the units Medic and Medical Portfolio Manager.

Dave also served in the Australian Army Reserves for 15 years.

Dave has a keen interest in bringing together Police Tactical Group Medics from across Australia and developing standardised training and clinical practice guidelines.

Board Member

Oliver Ellis

Oli currently works for NSW Ambulance as an Intensive Care Paramedic within its Special Operations Team in Sydney. This unit role incorporates austere and prolonged care and encompasses vertical access, structural collapse and disaster assistance both domestically and abroad.

In addition it is the responsible agency for all high threat/ tactical medical support within the state of NSW and Oli, along with a small cohort of dedicated and passionate providers, has been a driving force behind the development of this civilian capability in Australia.

Oli’s influence comes from 6 years as a qualified Commando within an Australian Military Special Operations unit with multiple combat deployments to Afghanistan and the middle east. He is a senior tactical medical instructor and advisor for TacMed Australia and holds a Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedic) that he completed under scholarship at CSU.

Board Member

Ben Davoren

Ben spent 10 years in the Australian Army where he began his service as an infantryman and then transferred to become a Medic. Ben’s passion for medicine developed after he completed a Combat First Aid Course and this led to him becoming a SOCOMD Platoon Medic, where he deployed on combat operations as part of the Special Operations Task Group.

Ben has seen operational service in a multitude of domestic and international operations including Afghanistan, Iraq, Timor-Leste, and the Solomon Islands. Ben’s qualifications include a Diploma of Paramedical Science and Certificate 4 in Training and Assessment. Ben has a passion for tactical and remote area medicine and takes pride in passing on his knowledge and experience and is currently the Business Development Manager at TacMed Australia.