A/Prof Mark Dennis

Chief Investigator, PRECARE

Mark is a Cardiologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital specialising in acute heart failure, mechanical circulatory support and cardiac MRI.  Mark has an extensive research background having been awarded multiple NHMRC grants, including one for the EVIDENCE trial, a recently completed randomised controlled trial examining expedited vs standard care for refractory cardiac arrest.  Mark is currently leading a team looking at the use of mechanical circulatory support during cardiac arrest and cardiac failure. This focusses on patient selection, prognostication and appropriate system design to support patients with cardiovascular failure.  Mark’s work in this area of medicine continues to drive system improvement and patient care in the cardiac arrest population.  Mark has developed the research protocol for PRECARE and is overseeing the research project.

Brian Burns, Chief Investigator, PRECARE

Emergency Physician, Prehospital and Retrieval Medicine specialist for more than 15 years. Trauma Consultant at RNSH. I believe we will only push the dial in resuscitation outcomes through innovation, research and close attention to marginal gains. Clinician Researcher. Areas of research: cardiac arrest, trauma bleeding and resuscitation. Clinical professor, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Macquarie University and University of Sydney. 

Katie Ellis

I’ve been a paramedic for 19 years, currently I work as a Critical Care Paramedic with the Road Retrieval Team in Sydney. Being a part of the PRECARE trial is an amazing and humbling opportunity. Learning the ins and outs of ECMO perfusion and applying that logistically in the prehospital environment has been one of the best learning curves of my career. Being a part of this trial has challenged me clinically and operationally and I’m grateful for every moment we get to push the boundaries and challenge the norms, maybe even pioneering something that will make a difference to a life in the future.

Chris Wilkinson

I’ve been in the ASNSW 42yrs and within Aeromedical for 32 years. My flying career spanned 26 years and I now perform Road Retrievals. I’ve always been at the forefront of Critical Care in Prehospital medicine and firmly believe that ECPR is the next game changer as defibrillation was all those years ago. That’s why I wanted to be part of it and also to challenge myself clinically and professionally.

Cliff Reid

Over the last 21 years I have worked as a specialist in emergency medicine, intensive care, and prehospital & retrieval medicine. I have worked for six adult and/or prehospital & retrieval medicine organisations in three countries and have now been with NSW Ambulance for 16 years, where I have been privileged to help advance training and clinical care within the aeromedical service.

I’m thrilled to be part of the PRECARE team, not only to investigate the potential of prehospital ECPR, but also to work with the whole of the Ambulance Service to see how together we can advance the science of cardiac arrest care in general. There is so much we can do to develop a patient-centric approach to cardiac arrest and peri-arrest critical care. At NSW Ambulance we are well placed to embrace this challenge. Let’s go!

Neil Ballard

FACEM. Postgraduate year 33, prehospital year 26 – primarily in NSW, but with a few years working in prehospital systems in QLD and the UK.
So much of what we do best in emergency medicine and prehospital & retrieval medicine is starting resuscitation where the patient needs it, regardless of where they are in or out of hospital. Prehospital ECPR epitomises this – for a huge proportion of Sydney, this is the only way to access this potentially life-saving therapy. Working with motivated, skilled friends and colleagues to deliver this is a both challenging and rewarding.
Away from work, life is best spent with family in the ocean or the snow.

Ian Ferguson

I’m an emergency medicine and retrieval specialist with a research interest. I’m always keen to investigate new therapies, and to avoid care that doesn’t add meaningful value to patients. PRECARE is an exciting study, allowing us to investigate the use of pre-hospital ECMO, as well as trying to find ways to improve outcomes for all patients suffering treatable cardiac arrests.

Malcolm Lau

22 Years experience with NSW Ambulance. I’ve taken advantage of lots of opportunities working as an ICP, ECP, as part of the Special Operations, Education, & Clinical Systems teams over the years.

As I was applying to become an ‘Ambo’. A good friend & experienced paramedic told my mother that I was joining at an exciting time with lots of changes. I thinks prehospital ECPR builds on that for me. I’ve been lucky to see so much innovation in the prehospital arena. I’m excited to be part of another one which sees us, as a multidisciplinary team, successfully bring ECPR to the patient wherever they are located.

I think a random fact about me is that I can be a bit random & disorganised away from work. Which relies on me to use structured approaches to my practice. It drives my wife mad.

Chris Partyka

Emergency Physician working in Prehospital & Retrieval Medicine for 9 years.

The introduction of prehospital eCPR provides our patients with equity of access to a life-saving intervention that they otherwise would not have received.

It has been a privilege to be involved in this project which has been both clinically challenging but professionally rewarding.

Paul Forrest

Site Principle investigator: RPA

Paul Forrest is head of cardiothoracic anaesthesia and perfusion at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He has been involved in ECMO support for more than 30 years, including the development of the NSW ECMO Retrieval Service and the first Sydney trial of ECMO for refractory cardiac arrest.