Dr Karen Hammad is currently the Nursing Adviser for Pacific Community (SPC) where she provides technical and policy advice and support to strengthen Nursing in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Karen is a Registered Nurse with a diverse career in emergency nursing, teaching and research, healthcare consulting, emergency public health response, and international development in Australia, Europe, and Pacific Island Countries. Karen commenced her career at Flinders Medical Centre in South Australia where she developed a passion for emergency Nursing. In 2016 Karen completed a PhD which explored the experiences of emergency nurses and disaster response. With more than 30 peer reviewed publications Karen is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Griffith University in Queensland and Flinders University in South Australia as well as an Adjunct Associate Professor in Emergency Nursing at Fiji National University.