Meet the Coastal Pathology Team - Here to Serve You
Dr. Joe Gatto (FRCPA)
Dr Joe Gatto is a native Queenslander who has been on the Sunshine Coast since 1996. He completed his medical training at the University of Queensland in 1987 (graduating with first class honours). After time as an intern/house officer and then in general practice he trained in Pathology at major Brisbane teaching hospitals, gaining admission to the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) in 1996. He then worked as an employed Consultant pathologist in private practice before joining with Dr Tim McNamara to establish the Sunshine Coast’s only independent pathology practice in 2005. Joe's professional interests include all routine chemical and haematologic pathology as well as gastrointestinal and dermatopathology. He is married to Jacinta and has 2 sons Alex and Isaac, and enjoys cycling, reading and playing the guitar in his leisure time.
The Team
Coastal Pathology employs a friendly, dedicated and professional team of people who are committed to service excellence. They include Roxanne Rennie, Office Manager; Glen Hopper, Histopathology; Erika Powter, Cytology; Kara Scott, Collections and Sandie Safton, Clinical Pathology - as well as numerous other laboratory, office, courier and collection staff.
Dr. Tim McNamara (FRCPA)
Dr Tim McNamara is an adopted Queenslander (ex-Melburnian) who graduated from medical school at the University of Melbourne in 1985. His clinical experience included time as an intern and resident medical officer before training in Pathology in Geelong and Newcastle. After a year as Staff Specialist in Tamworth he moved to Nambour Hospital (1996) where he has been director of Clinical Pathology services. He still works in Pathology Queensland on a part time basis, with the other time working in partnership with Dr Joe Gatto at Coastal Pathology. As an assessor for NATA and an examiner for the RCPA he has a deep and abiding interest in quality and accreditation in pathology. He is married to Megan and has 2 children, Ben and Caitlin. His personal interests include aviation (holds a private pilot’s licence), surf lifesaving and computers in medicine (holds a Graduate Diploma in Computing).
Things You Should Know About Us
We founded Coastal Pathology in 2005, because we are committed to providing a local service to the Sunshine Coast’s medical community of the highest quality, wherein accurate, timely and informative results and advice is paramount, rather than shareholder driven concerns for ever increasing profits.
Having commenced as a boutique histopathology service, we have since added cytology (2007) and general clinical pathology (haematology, microbiology and chemical pathology) in 2008. The range of tests we offer locally covers 90-95% of requests you are likely to make. Even our large corporate competitors refer many of their tests to laboratories in Brisbane, Sydney etc. Tests we don’t do are referred to Pathology Queensland and/or Mater Pathology, and this provides a seamless referral service for your patients (we collect all samples required) and you (all results delivered as per usual).
Both of us are trained and accredited in all of the major pathology disciplines. Together, we have a combined experience of >20 years in both public and private Sunshine Coast pathology practice. We offer a “one-stop shop” consultative service, and are comfortable in answering all your questions about your patient’s pathology investigations. Unlike our local competitors, we are happy to talk to you about an abnormal neutrophil count, an usual chemical profile, an uncommon urinary bacterial isolate, etc, rather than having to speak to one (or more) persons you don’t know located in a distant centralised laboratory.
