IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Please see the bottom of this page for the steps we are taking to ensure your safety in this practice

Sydney North Neurology and Neurophysiology is your comprehensive neurological consultation, neurophysiological and medical botulinum toxin service. We have 8 neurologists, each with varied interests including headache (severe headache and migraine clinic), neuromuscular conditions, movement disorders (eg. Parkinsons disease), epilepsy, multiple sclerosis/neuroimmunology, neurogenetics, hyperhidrosis and general medicine. All are skilled neurophysiologists in nerve conduction/EMG and/or EEG. Our team includes administrative support staff, a neurophysiology technician, and a trainee neurology registrar/fellow. 

Associate Professor Karl Ng | Specialist neurologist and Neurophysiologist | Sydney

MBBS (Hons 1), FRCP, FRACP, FANZAN, CCT Clinical Neurophysiology (UK), PhD

Conjoint Associate Professor  – Sydney Medical School, the University of Sydney

Director  – Sydney North Neurology & Neurophysiology

Consultant Neurologist and Senior Staff Specialist  – Director Neurophysiology, Royal North Shore Hospital, NSLHD

Specialties: Injection therapy for chronic migraine/excessive sweating/movement disorders, nerve conduction/EMG and EEG, peripheral neuromuscular disorders and multiple sclerosis. Director – Headache Clinic, Hyperhidrosis Clinic (SNNN)

Dr Karl Ng is a conjoint associate professor at the Northern Precinct of Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney. He completed his medical degree with first class honours at the University of New South Wales, and attained accreditation in Neurology from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He has undertaken 3 years post-fellowship training in Clinical Neurophysiology at the prestigious National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, University College London culminating in accreditation of a second specialty in the UK in this area. He has completed a doctoral thesis in peripheral axonal excitability in peripheral and central neurological disorders including multiple sclerosis. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London) and Royal Australasian College of Physicians, board director of the charitable Brain Foundation, NSW representative of the Australian and New Zealand Headache Society, and member of the International Hyperhidrosis Society. He is active in the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists as councillor and committee member of the Clinical Neurophysiology interest group. Dr Ng is Director of SNNN, Head of the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology at Royal North Shore Hospital, has organised specialty training conferences in neurophysiology for the Australian association, and speaks at international meetings. He has over a hundred publications in high-end international peer reviewed journals, is an invited reviewer for these learned societies, and is Acting Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Neurology Open and Neurology Subeditor of the Internal Medicine Journal.

Associate Professor Kishore Kumar | Specialist neurologist and neurogeneticist | Sydney

MBBS, FRACP, PhD

Conjoint Associate Professor –University of NSW

Consultant Neurologist and Staff Specialist  – Concord Repatriation General Hospital, SLHD

Specialties: General neurology, Parkinson disease, dystonia, neurogenetics inherited neurological disorders

Dr Kishore Kumar completed his medical degree at the University of Adelaide, and attained accreditation in Neurology from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He undertook a Neuromuscular Fellowship at the Royal North Shore Hospital and was trained in neurogenetics, nerve conduction studies and electromyography. He was awarded the P.K. Thomas Clinical Fellowship to the Royal Free Hospital, London, United Kingdom, by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists. He has a PhD in neurogenetics with work completed at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Sydney University and the University of Lubeck, Germany. He has over a hundred journal publications, and is first author of a book entitled ‘Neurogenetics’ from the ‘What Do I Do Now’ series (Oxford University Press). He has presented at many national and international meetings. He is an invited reviewer for several international journals, and on the editorial board of the journal Movement Disorders. Dr Kumar is continuing his research as a NHMRC Early Career Fellow, conducts research including long read sequencing genetic studies at the Garvan Insitute of Medical Research, and has been appointed a staff specialist at the Concord Repatriation General Hospital.

Dr Robert Boland-Freitas | Specialist and general neurologist | Sydney

BSc (Med), MBBS, FRACP, PhD

Consultant Neurologist and Staff Specialist  – Blacktown Hospital, WSLHD

Specialties: General neurology, headache, myopathy including muscular dystrophies, neurophysiology, injection therapy

Dr. Robert Boland-Freitas completed his medical degree at the University of New South Wales, and attained accreditation in Neurology from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He undertook a Neurophysiology Fellowship at the Royal North Shore Hospital, where he trained in nerve conduction studies and electromyography. He has completed PhD studies under the supervision of A/Prof. Ng (University of Sydney) researching muscle diseases using novel neurophysiological methods, with a focus on the myotonic dystrophy. For this work, he was nominated for the Peter Bancroft Prize. Dr. Boland-Freitas has been appointed as a staff specialist Neurologist at Blacktown Hospital.

Dr James Lee | Specialist and general neurologist | Sydney

BSc (Med), MBBS (Hons 1), FRACP, PhD

Clinical Senior Lecturer  – Sydney Medical School, the University of Sydney

Consultant Neurologist and Staff Specialist  – Royal North Shore Hospital, NSLHD

Specialties: General neurology, epilepsy, myopathies including inflammatory myopathy, neurophysiology, injection therapy

Dr James Lee graduated in medicine with 1st Class Honours. He has trained at the Royal North Shore Hospital in general neurology and neurophysiology. He is a scholar of the University of Sydney and Australian Government Research Training Program and a Doctor of Philosophy with postgraduate studies on nerve and muscle excitability in myopathic disorders, specifically inclusion body and inflammatory myopathy, and has several publications in this area. He also has an interest in epilepsy, holding a specialty clinic in this area both in private and public settings. Dr Lee also received the Peter Bancroft prize. Dr Lee is a Staff Specialist at Royal North Shore Hospital. James is fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin.

Dr Tania Farrar | Specialist neurologist and epileptologist | Sydney

MBBS, FRACP

Consultant Neurologist and Staff Specialist – Royal North Shore and Westmead Hospitals, NSLHD/WSLHD

Specialties: Epilepsy, seizure disorders and EEG

Dr Tania Farrar is a clinical lecturer for the University of Notre Dame, School of Medicine, Sydney and a tutor in Neurology for the University of Sydney. She completed her medical degree at the University of Notre Dame and attained accreditation in Neurology from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She undertook an Epilepsy Fellowship at Westmead Hospital and was trained in complex epilepsy assessment and management, surgical epilepsy evaluation as well as cranial and intracranial EEG monitoring. She has presented her research in Australia as well as overseas and has been 1st author on publications including articles on the assessment of patients with seizures. Dr Farrar is undertaking further study and research as a PhD candidate on the role of ketogenic diet therapy in refractory epilepsy.

Dr Ruaridh Cameron Smail | Specialist and general neurologist | Sydney

MA (Oxon), MBBS, MRCP, FRACP, MPhil

Consultant Neurologist and Staff Specialist – Royal North Shore (locum), NSLHD

Specialties: General neurology, headache, movement disorders, MS and stroke, neurophysiology, injection therapy

Dr Ruaridh Cameron Smail is a UK medical graduate. He achieved a first-class honours degree in Neurosciences from Oxford University, before completing his medical degree at University College London and is an associate clinical lecturer with Sydney Medical School. Ruaridh has a Masters of Philosophy from the University of Sydney studying both sporadic and monogenic forms of hemiplegic migraine, as well as the effect of therapies like CGRP antagonists, using novel nerve excitability techniques. He has undertaken fellowships in neurophysiology and stroke, and has locumed as consultant at Royal North Shore Hospital where he was involved in neurophysiology and neuroimmunology specialty clinics. He is interested in seeing general neurology cases, headache, movement disorders, multiple sclerosis/neuroimmunology and stroke.

Dr Jonathan Baird-Gunning | Specialist neurologist and general physician | Sydney

MB ChB, BSc MedSci (Hons), PGDip(TransMed), FRACP

Consultant Neurologist, Staff Specialist and Visiting Medical Officer – Northern Beaches and Blacktown Hospital, NSLHD/WSLHD

Dr Jonathan Baird-Gunning is dual accredited as a general physician and neurologist. He has 2 hospital appointments and is clinical associate lecturer with the ANU. With a diploma in translational medicine through the University of Edinburgh, he is undertaking a Masters in Public Health. Being additionally a generalist, he is ideally placed to assess patients with multiple co-morbidities, or those that do not fit easily into a sub-specialism.

Dr Mitchell Lycett | Specialist and general neurologist | Sydney

BSc (Adv.), MBBS, FRACP

Consultant Neurologist, Visiting Medical Officer – John Hunter Hospital, HNELHD

Specialties: General neurology, neuromuscular, neurophysiology, MS, injection therapy

Dr Mitchell Lycett has completed further neurophysiology fellowship training at Royal North Shore Hospital, obtaining skills in nerve conduction studies, electromyography, electroencephalography and botulinum toxin therapies. He is completing a Masters of Philosophy by research, investigating the muscle excitability properties of patients with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy, under the supervision of A/Prof Karl Ng at the University of Sydney, and has previously conducted research in MS. Dr Lycett is also a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sydney and a Visiting Medical Officer at John Hunter Hospital..

Dr Emily Cheung | Neurophysiology fellow | Sydney

MBBS, MPhil

Fellow in Clinical Neurophysiology – Royal North Shore Hospital, NSLHD

Dr Emily Cheung is a final year trainee in neurology subspecialising in clinical neurophysiology and neuroimmunology. She has completed a Masters of Philosophy studying nerve excitability in multiple sclerosis, exploring questions posed by A/Prof Ng’s original thesis work in the peripheral nerves of paitents with MS.

Past joint SNNN/RNSH neurophysiology fellows :

Mid 2007 to mid 2008   Susanne Winter

2009   Kishore Kumar, PhD (USyd)

2010   Christina Liang, PhD (USyd)

2011   Karen Sank

2012   Roula Ghaoui, PhD (USyd)

2013   Jessica Hafner

2014   Jessica Hafner – discontinued Mar 2014

2015   Robert Boland-Freitas, PhD (Peter Bancroft prize, USyd)

2016   James Lee, PhD (Peter Bancroft prize, USyd)

2019   Ruaridh Cameron Smail, MPhil (USyd)

2021   Jordan Weastell

2022   (no trainee)

2023   Mitchell Lycett, MPhil candidate (USyd)

2024   Emily Cheung, MPhil (USyd)

2025   Shuo (Sunny) Xi

Associate staff

• Ms Gosia Kern, Practice Manager and Secretary
• Ms Emily Huszczo, Practice Receptionist and Secretary
• Ms Sasha Bilanovsky, Practice Receptionist and Secretary
• Ms Amy Waters Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Clin Neurophys), EEG Scientist
• Ms Jess McGinty Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Clin Neurophys), Bachelor Psychology, EEG Scientist

**COVID-19 precautions**

These are challenging times, and at SNNN, we want to reassure our patients that we are doing all we can to ensure our practice is a safe environment.

This includes: – All our staff are fully vaccinated – Telehealth (video or phone) consultations using very easy to use high-speed platforms, compatible with computers, hand-held devices (Apple and Android). This means you can have your consultation from virtually anywhere – Regular disinfection and cleaning of all areas – Appropriate social distancing measures in the waiting area with restricted accompanying members – Negative pressure consulting room, with on-site Telehealth to the doctor to minimise the face-to-face interaction phase

We understand your concerns, so please call the practice if you are uncertain if you should attend for any reason.

Research and training

See here for more information

Associations:

University of Sydney | The Royal Australasian College of Physicians | Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists | Royal College of Physicians | Australian and New Zealand Headache Society | International Hyperhidrosis Society | The Brain Foundation | NSW Government Health

Contact our practice for help here: 02 8287 1900