Professor Simon Finfer, Professorial Fellow in the Critical Care and Trauma Division at The George Institute, has been appointed an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia (General Division) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list announced today.

Critical care physician Professor Finfer has been working with The George Institute for 20 years and during that time has led transformational studies in critically ill patients to reduce mortality and shed light on one of the world’s most serious silent killers – sepsis.

His work has been instrumental in demonstrating that really robust, high-quality randomised controlled trials could be done in the critical care population and lead to improved mortality.

Working with The George Institute Principal Directors, Robyn Norton and Stephen MacMahon, Simon and others designed and conducted the SAFE study, recognised as the world’s first intensive care unit (ICU) mega-trial, demonstrating clearly that robust, high-quality research could be done in ICUs and benefit critically ill patients.

The success of that trial led to numerous other guideline-changing ICU studies until Simon found himself coming full circle to focus on a condition about which he had led pioneering research many years earlier as a founding member of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group (ANZICS CTG).

His 2003 study of the epidemiology of sepsis in Australia and New Zealand showed that this life-threatening condition was one of the major issues that needed to be tackled if ICU mortality rates were to be reduced. So began his special interest in not only reducing mortality from sepsis but also raising awareness of the condition both in our region and on the global stage.

In 2015 Professor Finfer established the Australian Sepsis Network (ASN), a national association working across jurisdictions, and with sepsis clinical champions and survivors. In early 2018, the ASN, which is hosted at The George Institute, released the ‘Stopping Sepsis National Action Plan’, which was developed in collaboration with policy, clinical, academic, research and survivor stakeholders and form the basis of national efforts to reduce the national burden of sepsis.

Also in 2015, Professor Finfer co-chaired an international meeting of sepsis experts to develop a path to reduce the global burden of sepsis. This meeting initiated a collaboration that led to the first truly global assessment of the burden of sepsis culminating in the publication of an authoritative report in The Lancet in January 2020.

In October 2018, Simon led efforts to establish the Asia Pacific Sepsis Alliance leading the Bangkok Declaration – a call to action for a regional alliance to reduce the burden of sepsis in the Asia Pacific. This followed the 2017 WHO resolution that made sepsis a global health priority. He is a member of the executive committee of the Global Sepsis Alliance, which initiated the push for the WHO resolution.

In 2019, Australian Government committed $1.5m to enable The George institute and The Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Healthcare to address the burden of sepsis through the development of treatment guidelines for health professionals and public awareness initiatives.

The values we believe in guide our work at The George Institute. We oppose discrimination of any kind.

We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and against the unjust treatment towards any marginalised group.

Solidarity is key to challenging injustice. We all must get comfortable having uncomfortable conversations. Racism is an insidious disease that no one is immune to and we each have a role in being a part of the cure.

As an Australian founded and headquartered organisation we must reflect upon Australia’s history and ongoing racism towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody there have been over 432 deaths in custody of First Nations Peoples within Australia. Now more than ever we must acknowledge this injustice and take meaningful steps to reconcile systemic racism.  

The George Institute heeds the words of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as expressed within the Uluru Statement from the Heart, “It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.”

As we come to the end of the annual Reconciliation Week in Australia, we must remember that true reconciliation means committing to ongoing reflection, ongoing listening and ongoing action. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

The George Institute has announced a new trial to test whether common blood pressure medications reduce the duration and severity of lung failure due to COVID-19 will be supported by government funding.

The CLARITY trial, led by Associate Professor Meg Jardine from The George Institute for Global Health and UNSW Medicine, will receive $1.4 million from the Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

The group of blood pressure medications – angiotensin receptor blockers or ARBs - have been in clinical use for over 30 years, are well-understood, and widely available at low cost. They protect against lung injury in animal studies, including injury from viruses like the COVID-19 virus, although the effect in humans is not known.

A/Prof Jardine said that if the trial shows they are beneficial, the results could be widely implemented into clinical care almost immediately.

“The threat of COVID-19 outbreaks will remain with us for some time. Repurposed medications that can lessen the duration and severity of COVID-19 disease will provide some relief whilst vaccines are being developed,” she said.

The nation’s medical researchers, including those at The George Institute, have been mobilising rapidly to attempt to lessen the human cost of COVID-19.

“This virus is a huge concern for consumers, particularly for people already living with health conditions,” commented David Morgan, the lead consumer representative on the study team.

“Engaging with patients and consumer representatives throughout the whole process will help optimise research outcomes, and is possible, even in urgent situations such as this one,” he said.

The trial, also supported by The Institute’s Professors Christine Jenkins, Simon Finfer and Vivekanand Jha, Dr Sradha Kotwal, Associate Professor Gian Luca Di Tanna and Carinna Hockham, will commence this month.