If you met Fiona Wood professionally you would not be having a good day. As a burns surgeon Fiona's life goal has been to reduce the suffering that she sees everyday.
In her inspirational talk Fiona encourages everyone to strive for excellence. "No point getting up in the morning to be average," she says, "set the bar and strive."
Understanding the drivers to health and wellness and the decisions made individually and collectively underpin the opportunities for improvement in health care. Watch the video below to hear Fiona Wood speak on the challenges we face relating not only to the individual and the health system, but to the whole community.
Pressed for time? Here is a special highlights reel of Fiona's talk.
About the speaker
Winthrop Professor Fiona Wood is a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon specialising in the field of burn care, trauma and scar reconstruction. Fiona is the Director of the WA Burns Service of Western Australia and a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Princess Margaret Hospital and Royal Perth Hospital.
Her research as Chairperson through the Burn Injury Research Unit UWA and the Fiona Wood Foundation is focused on scarless healing.
In bringing basic science to the bedside the aim is to build a unique capacity to facilitate direct research collaborations between researchers and practitioners across basic science, clinical care and clinical outcomes.
The research includes all facets of burn care, from injury prevention to acute care on to long term outcomes undertaken in collaboration with the multidisciplinary burn care teams, is essential to provide a clear evidence-based practice.
Fiona has also been involved in a number of education and disaster response programmes associated with her interest in burns and has presented and published a variety of papers over the years.
In addition, she has been the recipient of the 2003 Australian Medical Association ‘Contribution to Medicine’ Award and an Order of Australia Medal for work with Bali bombing victims. Fiona was named West Australian of the Year for 2004, and was nominated as a National Living Treasure and Australian Citizen of the Year in 2004.
Fiona was again named West Australian of the Year for 2005, and received the honour of being named Australian of the Year in 2005.
Fiona and Marie Stoner, co-founders of Clinical Cell Culture, now Avitamedical, won the 2005 Clunies Ross Award for their contributions to Medical Science in Australia.