2026

Jan-Feb

Congratulations to Dr Luke Perry, DoCC PhD student and Anaesthesia Research Lead, Victorian Heart Hospital and A/Prof Lachlan Miles, awarded a $3.7m MRFF grant for the PUMA Trial. PUMA compares commonly used invasive pulmonary artery catheters (PAC) to less invasive and simpler central venous catheters (CVC). Read more...

A/Prof Lachlan Miles was an invited expert, demystifying anaesthesia for listeners of Radio Nova recently. 'Everything you need to know about going under' is entertaining listening and starts at 1:42 minutes. Listen...

We welcome A/Prof Jai Darvall as Academic Coordinator for Graduate Research. Jai is an anaesthetist and intensivist at Royal Melbourne Hospital and completed his PhD at Melbourne. We extend a huge thank you to Prof Adam Deane who has expertly led the graduate research program at DoCC for the past four years.

Professor Kate Leslie AO FAHMS enjoyed catching up with the 2025 recipient of the Kate Leslie Research Award, Emma Sin, over morning tea in Parkville this week. Emma was awarded the highest mark for her Thesis titled "The Treasure in the Trash: Uncovering Medical Supply Loss in Victorian Healthcare". Emma was supervised by Prof Forbes McGain, Dr Martin Nguyen and Ms Catherine O’Shea.

Mar-Apr

Congratulations to Dr Michelle Chong, awarded the 2026 ANZCA Melbourne Emerging Researcher Scholarship ($25,000). The scholarship will support Dr Chong's PhD project “Phrenic nerve sparing nerve blocks for shoulder joint analgesia - Cadaveric evaluation of a novel combination of suprascapular, axillary and lateral pectoral nerve blocks (SAXI-Pec)”.

Congratulations to Dr Earlene Silvapulle, the recipient of the 2026 ANZCA Melbourne Emerging Anaesthesia Researcher Award ($15,000) to support her project “Secondary Prevention Therapy for Postoperative Myocardial Injury After Noncardiac Surgery (SPECTRE) feasibility trial.” Dr Silvapulle is an anaesthetist at Royal Melbourne Hospital and a PhD candidate in the Department of Critical Care.

May-Jun

It's been such an honour to have Professor David Story, our Head of Department, serving as President of ANZCA for the past two years. While we will welcome the extra time he will now be able to spend on campus, we thank Prof Story for the many hours and trips to Canberra, advocating for anaesthetists, perioperative medicine, and safety and quality of care for patients. Watch Prof Story and incoming President Selek reflect on their handover of leadership.

Professor Alicia Dennis, DoCC Executive member, was the ANZCA Australasian Visitor and Douglas Joseph Professor at this year's meeting. Professor Dennis presented on "The CSAR model of preeclampsia – from curiosity to consolidation" as well as "Critical Emergencies in Obstetric Anaesthesia" and "Inequity, Silence and Truth".
Watch the ANZCA ASM interview with Prof Dennis

Not one but two DoCC members were awarded the Robert Orton Medal at the 2026 ANZCA ASM. The medal is the highest honour bestowed by ANZCA, recognising distinguished service to anaesthesia, perioperative medicine, and/or pain medicine. Congratulations to Professor Andrew Davidson, DoCC Executive member, presented with his medal by Professor Story. Read more...

We are also thrilled that Professor Stuart Marshall, DoCC staff member and Research Committee member was awarded the Robert Orton Medal for his outstanding contribution to anaesthesia and perioperative medicine. A/Professor Marshall developed our Human Factors in Critical Care subject, which he delivers to students annually.

Congratulations to Dr Patrick Tan, awarded the 2026 Gilbert Brown Prize for the best contribution to the free research paper session at the ANZCA Annual Scientific Meeting. Dr Tan recently submitted his PhD and presented "High flow nasal oxygen versus face mask oxygen for pre-oxygenation of pregnant patients with high body mass index - a randomised controlled crossover non-inferiority study". We also congratulate Dr Julia Dubowitz for her presentation.

The W John Russell ANZCA Research Award (for a study in anaethestic engineering, education, or patient safety) was awarded to Dr Steven McGuigan, St Vincent's Melbourne, for his project “Identifying EEG biomarkers that predict postoperative delirium in older adults undergoing anaesthesia and surgery”.

We congratulate Dr Lahiru Amaratunge, awarded the Steuart Henderson Award for excellence and outstanding contributions, scholarship, and mentorship to medical education in the fields of anaesthesia and/or pain medicine. Dr Amaratunge sits on our Curriculum Committee and has made a huge contribution to renewing anaesthesia content for the MD students.

Dr Je Min Suh was the winner of the Open Science Prize for "Leukocytosis and Outcomes in Older ICU Patients After Ischemic Stroke: A Binational Multicenter Cohort Study". Dr Suh has recently enrolled in a PhD in our department, supervised by Professor Laurence Weinberg and Professor David Pilcher.