The Professor Merry Lecture
The PDU Prof Merry Lecture was established in 2009 in recognition of Alan Merry's outstanding support of both the PDU Winter Meeting and the ANZCPR (formerly the PDU Research Database). This off-site lecture is held in conjunction with the Friday dinner and briefed to bring a philosophical lens to the world of cardiac surgery.
2022
"Kurt Vonnegut, sunscreen, and the search for objective truth"
David Sidebotham
David Sidebotham is a doctor in the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand.
He is one of the foremost leaders in the anaesthesia and critical care community in Australia and New Zealand and has developed an international reputation with the publication of books on perioperative transoesophageal echocardiography and cardiothoracic critical care.
David has special interests in ECMO and has published widely in the anaesthesia and perfusion literature. He is an avid skier and is pursuing studies in mathematics and quantum mechanics. David is a regular speaker at PDU and has lectured on an eclectic range of topics.
2019
"Physician, Heal Thyself? Work, Wellbeing and Welfare"
Sara Jane Allen
Sara Allen works at Auckland City Hospital as an Intensivist and Cardiothoracic Anaesthetist.
Sarah is the Service Clinical Director for the Department of Cardiothoracic and ORL Anaesthesia and Operating Rooms at Auckland City Hospital, and the Director of Perioperative Echocardiography.
She has interests in echocardiography and mechanical support, and welfare, training and education within intensive care and anaesthesia.
Sara is a founding member and Co-Chair of the College of Intensive Care Medicine Welfare Special Interest Group, and is currently completing a Masters of Medical Education at Cambridge University.
2018: "Surgery Statistics, and Public Policy"; 2015: "Back to the Future"
2012: "More for Less", 2010: "Endings and Beginnings", 2009: "The Ethics of Changing Practice"
Alan Merry
Alan Merry practises anaesthesia and chronic pain management at Auckland City Hospital and is Head of the School of Medicine at the University of Auckland.
He is a former Councillor of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, and Chair of the Board of the NZ Health Quality and Safety Commission. He is on the Board of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists, and of Lifebox, an international charitable initiative to improve standards of surgery and anaesthesia in low-income areas of the world.
His many publications reflect interests in human factors, patient safety and simulation. Alan has been on the faculty of every PDU meeting since 2005.
2017
"Am I really trained to do what I do?"
Tim Jones
Tim Jones is a congenital cardiac surgeon at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and honorary senior lecturer of University of Birmingham.
His interests are the safe conduct and delivery of mechanical circulatory support optimising end organ protection. Working with Department of Health he co-wrote 'Guide to Good Clinical Practice in Clinical Perfusion' a quality management framework for perfusion services. He was member of The Council for The College of Perfusionists in Great Britain and Ireland and sits on their Professional Practice Panel.
He introduced and is director of the ECLS programme at BCH and regularly teaches on national and international ECMO courses. He is a member of the scientific committee of EURO ELSO.
2016
"The Uneasiness of Change"
Rob Baker
Rob Baker is a perfusionist and the Director of the Cardiac Surgery Quality and Outcomes at Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.
Rob was a foundation member of the team to commence Cardiac Surgery and Liver Transplantation at Flinders in 1992. He completed his PhD in 1996 and his Perfusion CCP in 1998.
He has published over 120 papers in both extracorporeal technology and Cardiac Surgery.
He chairs the Australian and New Zealand Collaborative Perfusion Registry, and co-Chairs the multidisciplinary STS/SCA/AmSECT Perfusion Task Force involved in Guideline development. Rob has received 35 Awards including the 2017 John H Gibbon Jr Award.
2014
"The End of the Beginning"
Wayne Pearson
Wayne Pearson was Managing Director of Cellplex Pty Ltd Australia. Wayne was a champion of perfusion education and was a pivotal force in the success of the PDU Winter Meeting and the PDU Collaboration. He passed away in 2015.
From the early 2000s, Wayne regularly attended meetings to better understand perfusion research and patient outcomes—his background being finance and corporate management. In 2004, wanting to put something back into perfusion, he proposed to sponsor a perfusion-focused meeting and Perfusion Downunder was born.
As part of his Professor Merry Lecture, he said “A leader is defined as an individual who motivates and influences others towards the accomplishment of a pre-defined goal.” Indeed Wayne was a great leader. In his own words “Every day, every minute, every moment in life represents the end of the past. More importantly, it heralds the beginning of the future.”
2013
"The Third Man"
Paul Myles
Paul Myles is Head of Alfred Health's and Monash University's Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine.
Paul is the Chair of the Academic Board of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, as well as the current Director of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at the Alfred. In addition, Professor Myles is an Australian NHMRC Practitioner Fellow, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
He has published more than 250 papers, is an editorial consultant for The Lancet and an editor of the British Journal of Anaesthesia. He has received more than $30 million in NHMRC funding. His research interests include large clinical trials in perioperative medicine, and measuring quality of recovery after surgery.
2011
"Accidents are Inevitable"
Tim Willcox
Tim Willcox is a perfusionist at the Greenlane Cardiothoracic unit at Auckland City Hospital and an Honourary senior lecturer at the department of Anaesthesiology at the University of Auckland.
Tim is a life member of the ANZCP, has served as ANZCP President and member of the Australia and New Zealand Board of Perfusion.
Tim has published widely in the perfusion literature and was a founder of Perfusion Downunder
A keen trekker, Tim lives in Auckland, is married with 2 daughters, 2 grandsons, 2 rabbits and 45,000 bees.