At Highlands Healthcare, we focus on improving the long-term health of our patients.
At Highlands Healthcare we want the absolute best outcomes and experience for you. We strongly believe in patient choice and autonomy, ensuring we fully inform patients about options and risks, while helping guide you to a decision that respects your lived experience. Our team believe strongly in giving patients a chance to have their story heard, while supporting patients in making their own decisions about their healthcare.
Our Team
Dr Sean Heinz
Obstetrician, Gynaecologist and Advanced Laparoscopic Surgeon
Sean finished his medical degree at the University of Notre Dame in Sydney and completed his fellowship with the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RANZCOG).
He completed a minimally invasive surgical fellowship with the Australasian Gynaecological Endoscopy & Surgery Society (AGES) and a Masters of Advanced Gynaecological Surgery at Western Sydney University.
Sean is an Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney. He teaches training obstetrician and gynaecologists as well as medical students. Sean also works with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Doctors Assisting in South Pacific Islands (DAISI) with recent time spent in Kenya, PNG, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands.
As a doctor who has spent time in high acuity and low-resource settings, he has a calm and reassuring presence which shapes all aspects of the care he provides for women across various stages of their lives. Based in Sale Street, he also has appointments at Ramsay Surgical Centre Orange, Dudley Private Hospital and Orange Base Hospital.
Dr Dhivya Thangavel
Obstetrician, Gynaecologist and Advanced Laparoscopic Surgeon
Dhivya gained her specialist qualifications through the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) and the Australasian Gynaecological Endoscopy & Surgery Society (AGES).
She completed her medical degree at the University of Newcastle, underwent core training in Westmead Hospital, the busiest birthing unit in the state of New South Wales followed by subsequent advanced training in urogynaecology research in Townsville, QLD and an AGES accredited advanced gynaecological laparoscopy fellowship in Blacktown, NSW.
She is also involved with medical student and registrar teaching and is a Lecturer at Western Sydney University. In 2021 she was a recipient of the Avant Foundation’s Early Career Research Program Grant for her research on prevention of recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in postmenopausal women. She completed a Masters in Surgery (Advanced Gynaecological Surgery) at Western Sydney University in 2023.
Dhivya is especially interested in health provision in low-resource settings and is committed to women in rural and developing communities. She is involved with Doctors Assisting In the South Pacific Islands with regular aid trips to the Solomon Islands.
She utilises her experience and training in obstetrics and gynaecology to pursue her interests in highrisk obstetrics, gynaecological laparoscopy, and pelvic floor disorders. She is a caring and skilled clinician and strongly believes in shared decision-making.
Dhivya is a VMO Obstetrician & Gynaecologist at Orange Health Service, Dudley Private Hospital and Ramsay Surgical Centre. Dhivya sees both obstetric and gynaecology patients privately at Highlands Healthcare.
Dr Monica Rikard-Bell
Obstetrician and Gynaecologist
Monica completed her medical degree at The University of Notre Dame Fremantle and obtained her fellowship with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG).
Her Obstetrics and Gynaecology training was undertaken at Orange Health Service and Westmead Hospital, Sydney.
Monica has a special interest in fertility and has completed a Masters of Human Reproduction and Genetics at Sydney University. Prior to medicine, Monica worked as an Embryologist with Genea.
Monica is a clinical lecturer for Sydney University and is involved in teaching medical students and Obstetric & Gynaecology registrar trainees.
Monica was raised in Regional NSW and has a passion for women’s health and rural medicine.
Dr Sam Roberts
ENT | Head & Neck Surgeon
Sam initially fell in love with surgery due to the way in which a patient can be cured so quickly.
Sam spent his childhood growing up in rural and remote NSW. Before high school he lived in Collarenebri, Lightning Ridge, Rouchel and Bendemeer.
When he approached high school age his parents moved to a sheep and cattle farm between Walcha and Uralla in the Northern Tablelands. He went to school in Armidale before completing his Bachelor of Medicine at the University of Newcastle, NSW.
Sam initially fell in love with surgery due to the way in which a patient can be cured so quickly. He developed a passion for ENT, Head & Neck Surgery because of its challenging complexity, high volume of paediatric patients and the variety in its day to day practice. The incredibly poor access to the speciality outside of major capital cities gave Sam the drive to work towards being accepted onto the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons training scheme, which he commenced in 2016.
During his surgical training Sam worked at several high volume ENT, Head and Neck surgical units in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. He also gained extensive experience in Paediatric ENT Surgery, completing rotations at Westmead Children’s Hospital, Sydney Children’s Hospital and John Hunter Children’s Hospital.
Sam was fortunate enough to undertake outreach work in remote communities in the Kimberly region of Western Australia and Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. In 2018 Sam also realised a life long dream of travelling to work in the challenging field of ‘tropical surgery’ as a surgical registrar in Katete, Eastern Zambia, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sam was awarded his Fellowship by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2021. Following the completion of his surgical training, Sam was selected to undertake an International Fellowship in Advanced Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in Alberta, Canada.
Sam is thrilled he is now able to locate permanently to Orange, NSW with his young family.
Sam consults locally in Orange and is able to provide surgical care at Orange Health Service and Dudley Private Hospital. For the minority of patients whose surgery is of high complexity, Sam can provide surgical care at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney.
Emily Sutherland
Physiotherapist
Emily Sutherland completed her Bachelor of Physiotherapy at Australian Catholic University in Sydney.
Emily worked at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney before moving to Orange where she works in private practice. Emily is passionate about providing accessible and destigmatised quality care for women, with advanced training in management of pelvic floor dysfunction.
Emily can support you to optimise your pelvic floor function throughout your gynaecological or pregnancy journey.
Libby Morgan
Midwife
Cassie Neilsen
Practice Manager
Sustainable Practices
Running a stainable business is important to us. These are just a few of the ways Highlands Healthcare are implementing sustainable practices:
- Solar panels provide the majority of our electricity, with the main business hours being during the daylight.
- Wherever possible we use electronic communication with patients. Using email to provide forms to be completed electronically.
- Wherever possible correspondence with other businesses is by email or fax from computer.
- We have recyclables bins throughout the practice for staff use.
- Where paper is used it is then recycled using a secure document destruction company.
- Paper that can be re-used without breaching confidentiality is used as scrap paper for office use.
- Correspondence between staff is by electronic notes.
- All data is backed-up to a secure cloud services to reduce paper consumption.
- Printer cartridges are recycled locally.
- Unused or out of stock medical supplies are used for training purposes by practitioners.
- Medical supplies are ordered in bulk to reduce wastage of packaging, and delivery services.
