Keynote Speakers
Join us in Canberra as the NSC2025 committee proudly welcomes our esteemed keynote speakers! This is an exciting opportunity to immerse yourself in a series of inspiring and innovative presentations that promise to spark your imagination and provoke thought.
Our carefully selected speakers are leaders in their fields, bringing a wealth of knowledge and fresh perspectives. They will share groundbreaking ideas and insights that can pave the way for future advancements and collaborations. Attendees can look forward to engaging discussions that challenge the status quo and inspire new ways of thinking.
This event is not just about listening; it’s about connecting with like-minded individuals and fostering an environment of creativity and collaboration. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this transformative experience. Together, let’s explore the possibilities that lie ahead and shape the future!
Keynote Speakers
Prof Tim Cook
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Trust, UK
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal United Hospitals Bath, Honorary Professor of Anaesthesia University of Bristol, Honorary Professor of Anaesthesia University College London, Director of National Audit Projects
College Advisor on Airway
Prof Cook works in Bath and as a full time District General Hospital consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine.
Prof Cook has been fortunate to have been centrally involved in five Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) National Audit Projects learning from major complications of anaesthesia: as clinical lead for NAP3 and 4 (NAP3 – epidurals/spinal anaesthesia, NAP4 – airway management) and as co-lead and director of the program for NAP5-7 (NAP5 – accidental awareness during general anaesthesia – undoubtedly the most ‘patient facing’ of all NAPs to date – NAP6 – perioperative anaphylaxis and NAP7- perioperative cardiac arrest (published in November 2023). These big projects involve the nation’s anaesthetists and intensivists collaborating to shine a light on patient-centred aspects of anaesthetic practice and safety. They are a form of professional-citizen science and are recognised to have changed the landscape of anaesthesia clinical practice and anaesthesia research engagement, both in the UK and beyond. The projects have all had important lessons for clinical care beyond anaesthesia including in critical care and emergency medicine.
During the COVID-19 pandemic his interests included the differential impact of COVID-19 on healthcare staff, aerosol science and clinician safety, survival from ICU and airway management. These remain important topics to reflect on and understand better in the interpandemic period to ensure we are better prepared next time.
Early in his career his research centred on airway management (particularly supraglottic airways and attempting to learn more about those that do work and ensure that those that didn’t were reported as such) and emergency laparotomy (including early work that contributed to the setting up of NELA in the UK and subsequent local evaluation of bundles of care and outcomes).
Like many colleagues he has an overall interest in improving safety and quality in anaesthesia and intensive care using a bottom-up approach.
Prof Cynthia Wong
University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA
Professor of Anaesthesia
Chair and DEO
Department of Anaesthesia
Prof Wong is a Professor of Anaesthesia, Chair and DEO of the Department of Anaesthesia at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
Prof Wong is an obstetric anaesthesiologist whose research interests revolve around labor analgesia and its effects on the progress of labor and fetal status, epidural labor analgesia, as well as anaesthesia for caesarean delivery and postoperative analgesia. She and her group have published several seminal studies that have changed the practice of obstetric anaesthesia.
Prof Wong is on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Anaesthesia and is an editor of the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia. She has edited several major textbooks, including Chestnut’s Obstetric Anesthesia, Principles and Practice, and has authored multiple book chapters in major anaesthesiology and obstetric textbooks.
Prof Wong is also an active educator, lecturing worldwide. She is currently the Chair of the ABA MOCA Minute Committee. Other interests include malignant hyperthermia; she has served as an MH Hotline consultant for many years. She is currently the President-Elect of the Society for Academic Associations of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine (SAAAPM).
Prof Alicia Dennis
Director of Anaesthesia Research at The Royal Women’s Hospital, Parkville, AU
Prof Dennis is an academic clinician researcher and obstetric anaesthesiologist, based in the Department of Critical Care at University of Melbourne, Deakin University and Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Sunshine Hospital. The key focus of her research program is hemodynamic using echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance and cardiopulmonary exercise testing to determine the physiology of preeclampsia.
Prof Dennis has over 100 publications and mentored and supervised over 80 medical students, anaesthesia and obstetric registrars and fellows, and early career consultants. Prof Dennis has received numerous national and international medals and prizes for her preeclampsia work including the Gilbert Troup Medal on two occasions, the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association of the UK Best Science Award, and the Zuspan Award for “the most outstanding clinical work” from The International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy.
In 2021 she was awarded the President’s Medal from the Australian Society of Anaesthetists for “extraordinary service to the Society” recognizing her ability to collaborate, negotiate, strategize, and advocate for marginalised groups including pregnant patients when she engaged with the Australian Government’s Department of Health.
In 2023 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for her novel unified model of preeclampsia which centrally links the growth and development of the unborn baby to maternal hypertension. She was the highest ranked medical science scholar in Australia and the US for that year. Her preeclampsia work continues at the Brigham and Women’s’ Hospital Boston US where she is a Fulbright professor and research collaborator.
In 2024 Prof Dennis was awarded the Douglas Joseph Professorship from the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists for making “an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the specialty” and to pursue scholarship and research in human anaesthesia.
Prof Professor Edward Mariano
Professor Of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine, USA
Prof Mariano the Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Anaesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and is Chief of the Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Care Service at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.
He has developed techniques and patient care pathways to improve postoperative pain control, patient safety, and other outcomes and has published over 300 articles and book chapters. He has held leadership positions in the California Society of Anaesthesiologists, American Society of Anaesthesiologists, American Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, and multiple journal editorial boards including being an Editor of Anaesthesia.
He is a recipient of the Veterans Health Administration’s John D. Chase Award for Physician Executives Excellence and Distinguished Service Awards from ASRA Pain Medicine and ESRA Spain. Within the U.S.,
Prof Mariano has worked on key national healthcare initiatives including the accreditation of regional anaesthesiology and acute pain medicine fellowships, pain management guidelines, development of quality and cost measures in perioperative care, and the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic.
Acknowledgment of Country
We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of the Canberra region where NSC 2025 will be hosted. The Ngunnawal people have a deep, spiritual connection to the land and are responsible for ensuring it is respected by all that use it.
We commit to respecting the land, people and culture of the Ngunnawal Nation during the conference, and at all times.