Research Staff
John Myburgh - Director, Critical Care and Trauma Division
John Myburgh is Director of the Division of Critical Care and Trauma at The George Institute for International Health. He is a conjoint Professor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales and an Honorary Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University and Honorary Professor at The University of Sydney. 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.
Simon Finfer - Professorial Fellow
Simon Finfer is a Professorial Fellow with 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.
Parisa Glass - Divisional Manager
Parisa Glass is the Divisional Manager with Critical Care and Trauma Division of the George Institute for International Health. She has a PhD in Biomedical Science and a Master Degree in Business Administration. She joined the George Institute in 2008.
She has a background in public health service in NSW having worked as an allied health professional as well as a research manager.
Bette Liu - Senior Research Fellow
Bette Liu is a Senior Research Fellow in the Critical Care and Trauma Division at The George Institute.
She studied medicine and public health at the University of Sydney and has completed a doctorate in epidemiology at the University of Oxford. She has worked as a clinician, public health officer and a clinical epidemiologist. She joined the Critical Care and Trauma Division at the George Institute in 2008. Her interests are the design and analysis of large scale prospective studies and the use of routinely collected health data for epidemiological studies.
Julie French - Senior Project Manager
Julie is Project Manager for the Crystalloid versus Hydroxy-Ethyl Starch Trial (CHEST study) and managed the SAFE study at The George Institute. She is an RN and specialised in Coronary Care and Cardiac Intensive Care nursing in the UK. She has research management experience encompassing cardiology, cardiovascular genetics,critical care and cancer.
Dorrilyn Rajbhandari - Research Fellow
Donna Goldsmith - Research Fellow
Donna has a masters in Nursing. She has worked as an intensive care nurse for over 15 years and managed the research department at the Austin Hospital ICU for ten of those years. During that time she co-ordinated more than 50 sponsored, investigator driven and collaborative research projects. She is a co-author of more than 30 publications and been an invited speaker, winning awards internationally for her work on improving acute health care through the use of medical emergency teams. She is currently employed with the Critical Care and Trauma Division as a Research Fellow on the CHEST study.
Colman Taylor - Research Fellow
Colman is a Research Fellow in Critical Care and Trauma at The George Institute. 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. Colman’s research interests include epidemiology, health systems and health economics. He is currently completing a PhD on the cost and benefit of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in NSW.
Lynsey Willenberg - Research Assistant
Lynsey has a degree in a Bachelor of Human Movement and Health Science at the University of South Australia. She has worked as a research assistant on a government physical activity intervention study with Exercise Physiologists. In 2008, she received a Research Scholarship to study at the Australian National University, researching the effects of heat stress on the ability to work. Lynsey has worked as a tutor in exercise physiology, a project manager for evidence based practice teaching and learning research grant and a research assistant for a PhD study looking at Physical activity patterns in children. She is currently employed with the Critical Care and Trauma Division as a Research Assistant.
Support Staff
Dijlah Hanna - Administration Assistant to the Critical Care and Trauma Division