Celebrating success at the 2026 ANZCA ASM

We congratulate all members of DoCC who were ANZCA ASM invited speakers, award recipients and our Head Of Department, Professor Story for his tenure as College President.

_{From left to right: Professor Story and Dr Selek, Prof Alicia Dennis, Prof Story and Prof Davidson, A/Prof Stuart Marshall, Dr Pat Tan, Dr Steven McGuigan, Dr Lahiru Amaratunger, Dr Je Min Suh.}

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 Prof Dennis in conversation. 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 Laurance Weinberg and Professor David Pilcher.