Affiliated Doctors

Dr Priya brings with her a wealth of hospital medicine experience in chronic pain, mental health including anxiety and PTSD, neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis, cancer and palliative care, which has fuelled her passion for cannabis medicine to be able to help those patients that are looking for a more natural alternative. Dr Priya is an Authorised Prescriber for many cannabis medicine products. Dr Priya is happy to accept Saturday afternoon appointments for patients preferring weekend review, please call the Heyday clinic on (07) 3186 2113 to inquire and book your weekend time-slot’

Dr Jim Connell loves getting to know his patients and is a friendly and compassionate doctor.  He has experience across all areas of medicine and is passionate about personalised care.  Dr Jim’s knowledge of conventional and complementary medicine allows him to incorporate elements of each in a safe and effective manner.

Dr Jim has specialised knowledge in the area of cannabis medicine, utilising this complex plant medicine for several years now.  He is dedicated to ongoing education, staying up to date with the rapid developments in the cannabis medicine space as well as currently undertaking a fellowship in nutritional and environmental medicine.

As well as self education, Dr Jim is dedicated to educating fellow practitioners by helping them improve their understanding of this new and powerful tool.

Dr Jim was affected by his late mother’s pancreatic cancer treatment journey and has a strong desire to craft the best quality cannabis medicines for his patients while making cannabis medicines more accessible to patients across Australia.

Dr Jim holds the following roles and certifications:

• Former President of Society of Cannabis Clinicians Australian Chapter
• Healer Certification (Cannabis Education through Dr Sulak)
• Member of the Australasian College of Environmental and Nutritional Medicine (enrolled fellowship program)

His interest in medicinal cannabis stems from the movement and acceptance of it’s properties in the United States and around the world. He was looking for alternative treatments for several conditions whose management became quite stagnant and frustrating.

After Government legislation in 2016 which allowed GP’s to prescribe cannabis, Matty began to educate himself on the history of cannabis, the cannabis plant, and the endocannabinoid system.

When he’s not caring for patients you can find Matty riding his mountain bike or spending time with his family in a serene outdoor environment.

Dr. Shami is passionate about the holistic approach to healthcare. She has seen patients transform their health beliefs by managing their stress levels, eating a whole food diet, managing nutrient deficiencies, supporting their gut health, exercising more, and addressing their inner needs in life. This results in long-term, sustainable results.

She soon realised that this requires a team approach. So, she found like-minded practitioners to join Usawa and has never looked back. She works with a dietitian, counsellor and hypnotherapist, yoga therapist, and mindset coach. The practitioners work together to help the patient achieve their health goals.

Dr. Shami practises what she preaches! She meditates daily, plays the piano, practises yoga, is a mountaineer, a traveller, and is involved in charity work in her spare time.

Areas of interest: Gut Symptoms e.g. bloating, constipation, IBS, Mental health e.g. Anxiety and Depression, Weight gain, Female Hormones e.g. Endometriosis and PCOS, Thyroid disorders.

Dr Shamistra Barathan is currently the Vice President of ACNEM.

She loves to foster self-empowerment in a space of non-judgement; to help folks come home to themselves and move beyond shame and illness into possibility.  Dr Cristina is also a certified sex and pleasure coach.

Key areas of interest:

Embodiment, Medicinal Cannabis,  Gut health, fatigue, nutritional approaches to mental health, autism and ADHD, bio-identical hormones, menopause, andropause, remediating environmental toxicity, adrenal and thyroid health, stress management, nutritional supplements (including intramuscular and intravenous vitamins and compounded formulas for adults and children)

She is trauma-informed and is LBGQIT+ friendly.

In particular, Dr Rothfield incorporates the use of cannabis based medicines into her therapeutic practice for indications such as chronic pain, insomnia, anxiety, PTSD, cancer pain and inflammatory disorders. 

Dr Rothfield has over 35 years of medical experience with a heavy focus on chronic pain and mood disorders.

Her areas of special interests include preventative health, women’s health, travel medicine, sports medicine, fertility medicine and mental health.

Tamara then went on to undertake general practice training and became a fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

She is experienced in women’s health and has a certificate in Sexual and Reproductive Health with Family Planning Victoria. She is also an antenatal shared-care provider with the Mercy Hospital for Women and a member of the Australian Menopause Society. She is also an examiner for the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Tamara believes that good health lays the foundation to a good life and loves sharing her knowledge and skills with clients.

Dr. Steve’s passion and calling is Cannabinoid medicine. He is one of the leading Authorised Prescribers in the State and is experienced in treating the full range of indications in all age groups. He is an active Cannabis educator and holds the position of Medical Director for Cannaponics Ltd.

After working as an intern at Fremantle Hospital he moved overseas, working in trauma and emergency medicine in Cork, Ireland, and then in Bristol and Cornwall in the UK. He then embarked on many diverse medical and travel experiences ranging from working with the Royal Australian Flying Doctor’s service in the Northern Territory with Indigenous communities to spending time ‘working’ in the Caribbean.

After nearly ten years of emergency work and travel between Ireland, Perth and Melbourne, Dr Jay spent a number of years in Fitzroy and Collingwood.  He worked with the North Yarra Community Health Centre with a focus on complex social issues, refugee health and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

Jay soon swapped flat whites for fat rights and moved to the Surfcoast where he commenced collecting and restoring surfboards, chasing waves and reading daily swell charts. He joined the Karuna Maya Medicine team in Jan Juc in 2011. Aside from a passion for surfing and snowboarding Dr Jay has dedicated much of his life to the world of skateboarding doing everything from riding boards, consulting on skate park designs and writing articles on health and safety for ‘Australian Skateboarding Magazine.’

Jay has an immense interest and passion for medicine. “I value the importance of continuity in care and strive to see my patients on a regular basis as needed.  I value the development of a doctor patient relationship.  I believe in preventative medicine, and a holistic approach to health care in general.”

Dr Jay also has interests in providing advice in areas of travel medicine, mental health, men’s health and sports medicine. He has recently completed a qualification with the Australian Medical Acupuncture College.  His interest in Cannabinoid Medicine arose in response to a community need for alternative pain relief and medication without the debilitating side effects of ‘conventional’ medicines.  A lifelong interest and advocate of herbal and traditional medicine enabled him to now focus on medicinal cannabis as a viable and effective solution to issues such as pain, symptoms of cancer and its treatment, insomnia, anxiety and neurological disorders.  Diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease in 2009, he found the personal health benefits of Medicinal Cannabis too beneficial not to share while he is still able.

In 2021 he launched The Coastal Cannabis Clinic to specialise and focus on quality and personalised Cannabinoid Medicine to his Surfcoast community and beyond.

Throughout my medical career I have trained and worked as an Integrative / holistic doctor, in Youth mental health through HeadSpace, as well as Drug and Alcohol Medicine.

I believe there is growing evidence that supports medicinal cannabis’ ability to help patients where other pharmaceuticals have failed, and will encourage new patients to join clinical trials to help grow the evidence.

I also see a strong need to support our rural and regional colleagues and their patients provide a flexible attentive service to allow them to access medicinal cannabis.

Although I cannot guarantee that initial consultations will lead to prescriptions, I can assure you that any advice given will take into patient’s holistic circumstances, as well as the medical recommendations.

Dr Shu approaches her patients with kindness, compassion and holistic care. She has broad interests within medicinal cannabis including managing chronic pain, mental health, women’s health, neurodegenerative and seizure disorders and autism spectrum disorders. She is very passionate about helping patients undergoing cancer treatment or experiencing cancer-related symptoms, as well as managing symptoms in palliative care.

To date, Dr Shu has managed over 500 patients and their journey with medicinal cannabis. She is an Authorised Prescriber and has also made over 600 TGA Special Access Scheme (SAS) applications to access medications. Dr Shu is a member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians (SSC) and Society of Cannabis Clinicians Australian Chapter (SSCAC). She is also completing her multidisciplinary Fellowship with the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM).
Outside of medicine, Dr Shu adopts a healthy and holistic lifestyle, and enjoys spending time with her partner Paul and two Italian Greyhounds Vino and Ava.

In addition Olga practices cannabinoid based medicine, with a treatment option of medicinal cannabis* as second-line treatment, for appropriate and eligible clients who have experienced a chronic illness for over 3 months and not responded to conventional treatments. Olga is available to listen without judgement, assess your condition and treatment options, and determine the most effective management strategy for your ongoing health challenge

Dr Felix believes strongly in treating every patient from a perspective of compassion and non-judgement, and seeks to give every patient the time, care, and attention they require. He is also passionate about medical cannabis education, recently joining the team at Medihuanna, Australia’s leading medical cannabis education platform.

When not seeing patients or working to further the cause of medical cannabis in Australia, Felix can be found creating art, making music, and walking in the Dandenong Ranges.