About Echosolutions
With the ever increasing demands within our busy healthcare environment, Echosolutions understands the need for increased support for our health professionals.
Claire Heffernan
PostGradDipCardiac(Ultrasound)
Claire is a seasoned healthcare professional with a multifaceted career spanning nursing, cardiac sonography, and more recently clinical informatics. On immigrating to New Zealand in 2004 she started her journey as an intensive care coronary care nurse before embarking on her cardiac ultrasound traineeship at Nelson hospital. In 2013 she completed her postgraduate diploma in cardiac ultrasound graduating with distinction from Queensland University of Technology.
Claire is driven by a commitment to improving healthcare quality, transitioning into the role of a clinical informatics specialist for Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora in 2023. Based locally, she also works within a national informatics multidisciplinary team. In this capacity, she leverages her extensive clinical experience to optimise healthcare delivery systems. Claire's work focuses on integrating informatics solutions to enhance patient outcomes, streamline workflows, and support evidence-based practice. She is currently advancing her knowledge in this domain through her postgrad studies in digital health at the University of Auckland.
A fervent advocate for education and continuous learning, Claire has been involved in providing training and supporting workforce needs within New Zealand. She has sat on the steering group for the development of the first ever cardiac ultrasound training course in New Zealand and has also sat as co-chair of the Cardiac Society of New Zealand Imaging Working Group.
Claire's dedication to improving systems and fostering a culture of continuous quality improvement underscores her belief in the transformative power of technology and education in healthcare. Her combined career of cardiac sonographer and clinical informatics specialist is a testament to her unwavering commitment and passion to continually elevate standards of care and innovation.
Dr. Kerryanne Johnson
(MBChB, FRACP, FCANZ)
Kerryanne Johnson graduated from Dundee University in the UK before relocating to Auckland where she completed her Cardiology advanced training. Kerry gained her imaging expertise at Leeds University Hospitals in the UK, specialising in advanced echocardiography, Cardiac CT and Cardiac MRI.
Having previously worked as a consultant cardiologist in the Nelson (2017-2023) she now works as a consultant cardiologist in Te Manawa Taki.
Kerry is passionate about quality and strives to improve cardiac care across Aotearoa. She currently sits on the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) NZ branch executive committee and is the imaging working group chair. She also sits on the CSANZ Quality standards committee.
She sits on Te Manawa Taki regional leadership group and chairs the echo work stream and is also part of the NZ national cardiac network.
Kerry also has a keen interest in training and serves on the Royal Australasian College of Physician (RACP), NZ Cardiology advanced training subcommittee, and was chair from 2021 to 2023 and has been a CORE advanced instructor, teaching resuscitation since 2014. She has also provided echo training workshops as part of Echosolutions for cardiology and sonographer trainees.