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Civilian Trauma Research Helping Save Lives on the Battlefield
When the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is deployed internationally on peacekeeping, defensive, or natural disaster missions; the Medical Corps takes with it expertise in trauma research, care and resuscitation honed in the operating theatres and wards of Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH).
RBWH Foundation donors have played a key role providing seed funding for this Defencerelated research since 2013, soon after the first Australian Defence Force (ADF) Chair of Military Surgery and Medicine, Professor Michael Reade, was appointed and based at RBWH.
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In his dual role as a RBWH Senior Staff Specialist lntensivist, Professor Reade leads a research program of medicine and surgery, which incorporates civilian trauma care into ADF practice.
“We know that the
lessons that we’ve learned in the civilian trauma system in Queensland, translate just as well to military medicine,” said Prof. Reade. Prof. Reade’s research focuses on two main questions: how to stop people bleeding excessively after major trauma such as civilian car accidents or battlefield gunfire; and how to better deliver trauma care.
Although aspects of the research span national and international sites at a cost of millions of dollars, Prof. Reade says many projects begin with RBWH Foundation funding.
Foundation grants, he says, allow junior researchers to develop a track record in their field and enable experienced researchers to validate new research questions.
“It helps us get some preliminary data to then go to the National Health Medical Research Council (NHMRC) or the Medical Research Futures Fund with a credible question.”
“We can leverage that early information into a plausible research proposal.”
The generosity of donors to medical research, he said, was appreciated by all researchers on many different levels.
Prof Michael Reade, ADF Chair of Military Surgery and Medicine RBWH Senior Staff Specialist lntensivist
