Research Staff
Simon Finfer - Director, Critical Care and Trauma Division
Simon Finfer is a Director of the Critical Care and Trauma Division of The George Institute for International Health. He is also an active practicing critical care physician with an appointment as a Senior Staff Specialist in Intensive Care at Royal North Shore Hospital. He is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. He is an Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine at Monash University in Melbourne. Simon is a past-Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group and a member of the Board for the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre in Melbourne. His postgraduate qualifications include Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom, Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Fellowship of the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.
Simon's major research interest is the design and conduct of large scale randomised controlled trials in critical care. Simon is active in forging major international research collaborations that can conduct large scale clinical trials and epidemiological research to improve the treatment of critically ill and injured patients.
John Myburgh - Director, Critical Care and Trauma Division
John Myburgh is a co-Director of the Division of Critical Care and Trauma at The George Institute. He is a conjoint Associate Professor of Medicine and the University of New South Wales and an Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. He is lead clinician for research and senior consultant physician in the Department of Intensive Care Medicine at The St George Hospital, Sydney.
His post-graduate qualifications include a PhD from the University of Adelaide and Fellowship of the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He is a foundation member and current Chairman of the Clinical Trials Group of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society. He is also treasurer, research officer and senior fellowship examiner in the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine.
John has extensive research experience in neurophysiology, catecholamine pharmacology, aspects of traumatic brain injury and intensive care medicine. His current interests are large-scale, multicentred clinical trials in critical care, both within Australasia and internationally. Within the international context, John plans to explore and develop epidemiological and interventional initiatives in critical care and trauma in developing countries directed at improving patient outcomes.
Deborah Blair - Project Manager
Areas of special interest:
- Project Management
- Training and Development
- Equitable access to health care
- Health Promotion
- Diabetes Management
Deborah is a Project Manager in the Critical Care and Trauma Division at The George Institute.
Deborah is a Registered Nurse, with a BA in Anthropology and Women’s Studies. She also has postgraduate qualifications in Health Promotion, Adult Education and Diabetes Management and Education.
After spending a number of years teaching she became involved in health promotion where she managed a number of qualitative research projects, mostly in the area of Sexual Health Education in the context of HIV prevention and with IDUs (injecting drug users).
Stephanie Hollis - Research Fellow
Areas of special interest:
- Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)
- Forensic Traumatic Brain Injury
- Sports Medicine
- Sports injury prevention
- Population-based injury prevention
Stephanie is a Research Fellow in the Critical Care and Trauma Division at The George Institute.
She has a background in forensic traumatic brain injury (TBI), spending three years as Project Manager of the Forensic Head Injury Study and gaining her Masters in Medical Science by research in this field. For the past three years, Stephanie has been coordinating the mTBI study which looks at the management of return-to-play decisions following mild traumatic brain injury and is completing her PhD in this area through the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney.
Paul Middleton - Senior Fellow
Paul Middleton is a Senior Fellow in the Critical Care and Trauma Division of The George Institute for International Health. He is Senior Medical Adviser to the Ambulance Service of NSW, and is also a practicing emergency and medical retrieval physician. He holds appointments as Conjoint Senior Lecturer in both the Clinical School and the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at UNSW, and as Visiting Medical Fellow at the UNSW Biomedical Systems Laboratory. He has been a Clinical Research Fellow in Emergency Medicine at Imperial College, London, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Joseph Epstein institute for Emergency Medicine Research, Melbourne. Paul is a member of the Clinical Trials Subcommittee of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.
His postgraduate qualifications include Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Diploma in Immediate Care of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Fellowship of the College of Emergency Medicine (UK) and Fellowship of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. He is a former Maurice Ellis Scholar in emergency medicine research at the Faculty of Accident and Emergency Medicine, UK.
Paul’s major research interests are in the area of pre-hospital care of critically ill patients, early diagnosis of critical illness, innovative non-invasive cardiovascular monitoring modalities, and trauma system design and function. Paul is intimately involved in the development of a research capacity for the Ambulance Service of NSW, the second largest ambulance service in the world, the construction of the DREAM network, a State-wide infrastructure network of multidisciplinary collaborators in prehospital research programs, and the development of national and international collaborative links in emergency medicine and pre-hospital research.
Colman Taylor - Research Officer
- Health care systems
- Out-of-hospital care
- Population based injury prevention
Areas of special interest:
Colman is a Research Officer in Critical Care and Trauma at The George Institute. He comes from a background of sports science and nutrition. During his time at the institute, Colman has worked on the Managing Return-to-play Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury - mTBI as well as coordinating the SAFE TRIPS (Saline vs Albumin Fluid Evaluation Translation of Research Into Practice Study) study. He has also recently started a PhD entitled ‘The efficacy of helicopter emergency medical services in NSW'.
Naomi Hammond - Research Officer
- Clinical research in Intensive Care
- Trauma care research
- Respiratory care research
- Public Health related research
Areas of special interest:
Naomi is an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development working in a joint appointment between the Critical Care and Trauma Division and Mental Health Division of the George Institute, China.
She is a nursing graduate from Sydney University who has worked in the clinical setting for 7 years. The majority of this time has been in intensive care, which is her main research interest. After completing a Masters of Nursing (Critical Care) at Sydney University she successfully managed the Intensive Care Research Department at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney. Naomi is undertaking a Masters of Public Health at the University of Sydney.
She is currently working on three major research projects within her joint divisional appointment. SAFE TRIPS (Saline vs. Albumin Fluid Evaluation Translation of Research Into Practice Study), the China Trauma Project and SAVE (Sleep Apnoea cardio Vascular Endpoints).
Support Staff
Dijlah Hanna - Administration Assistant to the Critical Care and Trauma Division