Vale Professor Rinaldo Bellomo AO

It is with deep sorrow that the Department of Critical Care announces the passing of Professor Rinaldo Bellomo AO.

Pictured: Professor Rinaldo Bellomo

Rinaldo was a Professor of Intensive Care Medicine in the Department of Critical Care at the University of Melbourne, Honorary Fellow at the Florey, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University, Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at The University of NSW, and Honorary Professorial Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney.

Over the last thirty-five years, Rinaldo became one of the world’s leading intensive care medicine researchers and thinkers. At the time of his death, he had the remarkable SCOPUS statistics of 1,845 publications, 150,000 citations, and a h-index of 165. Much of this was with extensive national and international collaborations notably through the Australia and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group, where he was the founding Chair.

Rinaldo was passionate about supporting early and mid-career researchers both within and beyond Australia. He was a supervisor, mentor, and sponsor to his many Graduate Researchers and innumerable emerging researchers in both clinical and discovery science.

Rinaldo was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2018 for distinguished service to intensive care medicine as a biomedical scientist and researcher, through infrastructure and systems development to manage the critically ill, and as an author.

As a person, Rinaldo had endless energy and enthusiasm for new ideas and determination to implement sound evidence. He had a great sense of humour and all who knew him would recall references to Machiavelli or Dante, which were part of his contribution to his final meeting of the Department of Critical Care Executive. He was an opinion leader who many would turn to, including hospital leaders. Often “What does Rinaldo think?” was heard for a critical decision requiring sound judgement.

Rinaldo was a highly regarded clinician at the Austin Hospital, where he worked for many years until his death. More recently, he also worked at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. His work has and will continue to improve the outcomes for millions of critically ill patients worldwide.

The Department of Critical Care extends their condolences to Rinaldo's family, particularly his wife Debbie and daughter Hilary, and his friends and colleagues at this difficult time.

Professor Rinaldo Bellomo's Memorial

Ary Serpa Neto, Paul Young, In memory of Professor Rinaldo Bellomo: A giant of intensive care medicine, Critical Care and Resuscitation, Volume 27, Issue 2, 2025, doi.org/10.1016/j.ccrj.2025.100110.