CLINICAL RESEARCH IN EMERGENCY MEDICINE
Professor Daniel Fatovich, Emergency physician and clinical researcher
Royal Perth Hospital Emergency Department &
Head of the Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine (CCREM)
Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research &
Clinical Professor, UWA Medical School, Emergency Medicine
University of Western Australia, Western Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Perth, Australia | September 2025
Professor Daniel Fatovich is a senior emergency physician and clinical researcher at Royal Perth Hospital Emergency Department (ED), with over 30 years’ experience in the design and conduct of clinical research in Emergency Medicine. He is also Head of the Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine (CCREM) within the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research.
He is Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Western Australia; Director of Research for East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS), providing strategic advice and leadership; Board Member of the Royal Perth Hospital Research Foundation; Chair of the EMHS Research Advisory Committee.
Professor Fatovich was an inaugural executive member of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) Research Committee (2019-2024) and the Clinical Trials Network (2018-2024) and has received over $33m in competitive grant funding.
In 2020 and 2023, he was Ministerial adviser for the passage of the Guardianship and Administration (Medical Research) Act Western Australia. In 2017-18, he was deputy chair of the WA Methamphetamine Taskforce. He is chief investigator for the Emerging Drugs Network of Australia (EDNA), which he describes as the most fabulous project of his career. This is best exemplified by a famous quote from Victor Hugo: there is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come. EDNA is a national toxico-surveillance system for detecting illicit, emerging and novel psychoactive substances, in presentations to sentinel Emergency Departments. In 2024, EDNA won a WA Health Excellence Award for Excellence in Research and Innovation, and the 2024 UWA Vice-Chancellor’s Award in Research Impact and Innovation.
Expertscape ranks him in the top 1% globally for expertise in Emergency Medicine. He loves to challenge doctors to think, and to think differently.
Source: Supplied
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Role of Community Paramedicine in Non-Emergency Presentations
Dr Robbie King is a Lecturer in paramedicine and researcher at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) Brisbane. He also continues to provide clinical care as a registered paramedic for community members served by a jurisdictional ambulance service. Dr King has gained significant experience working in an advanced practice, community paramedic style role, holding expert clinical insight into the nuances of paramedic-led community-based healthcare for non-emergency presentations. This often involves adopting a biopsychosocial approach, rather than following the biomedical model more associated with emergency medicine and paramedic culture.
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Targeting chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer patients
Dr Alex Cole, from the Centenary Institute’s Centre for Biomedical AI, is now leading the research focused on developing a new treatment to counteract a protein called follistatin (FST), known for making ovarian cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy.
By employing cutting-edge molecular biology and directed evolution techniques, the project aims to create nanobodies—small, precise molecules—that can block FST. If successful, these nanobodies could enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy and improve ovarian cancer treatment rates.
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Environmental exposure to function of lung epithelial stem cell biology
Dr Clare Weeden has recently commenced as a Laboratory Head at WEHI in 2025, supported by the CSL Centenary Fellowship.
Dr Weeden specialises in lung epithelial cell biology in the context of homeostasis, inflammation, and lung cancer, particularly in people who don’t smoke. Her work endeavours to understand how past environmental exposures shape the responses of lung cells and the molecular mechanisms underlying this cellular recall, with the aim to develop novel early detection strategies for lung disease.
