BLISTER MANAGEMENT AND IMPACT ON FIREFIGHTERS
David Burns,
Senior Paramedic & Paramedic Practitioner
LifeAid, Victoria, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Sydney, Australia | January 2025
David Burns, a Senior Paramedic with LifeAid, a private paramedicine company in Victoria and, has a diverse background in healthcare. He began his career as a registered nurse, progressing to critical care nursing specialising in liver transplants and cardiovascular surgery.
After serving on a rescue helicopter crew, he developed a passion for out-of-hospital healthcare, leading him to pursue paramedic training. Subsequently, he specialised in critical care and flight paramedicine, working in several regions in Australia including Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, and in the United Kingdom.
David’s journey in private paramedicine led him to reconnect with Alan Close, the Managing Director of LifeAid. After contributing during the devastating 16-week bushfire period known as “Black Saturday”, David became passionate about community and primary care aspects of paramedicine and joined LifeAid in 2023.
At the Australasian College of Paramedicine International Conference, David presented research focused on the foot care of firefighters during prolonged bushfire campaigns. During the 2019-2020 bushfires, over 10,000 firefighters sought care, with nearly 50% requiring attention for foot-related issues. David emphasised that inadequate foot care could bench firefighters for up to 10 days, diminishing their ability to protect communities and critical infrastructure. Recognising the economic benefits of prioritising firefighter health, David advocates that ensuring their well-being allows communities to recover effectively and enhances safety for all involved in firefighting efforts.
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Investigating the benefits of donor human milk for preterm infants
Together, SAHMRI and Lifeblood are leading a consortium to revolutionise the way human milk, and novel products made from human milk, are used as nutritional and medical interventions to improve health outcomes in vulnerable infants, but with potential application for a diverse range of medical indications.
Currently, babies who are born early preterm – before 32 weeks – are given donor milk when their own mother’s milk is not available or in short supply. Whether donor milk is beneficial for babies born just a few weeks early is unclear, as very little research has been undertaken with these babies.
The GIFT Trial will soon commence as an investigation between SAHMRI, the University of Adelaide, the Red Cross Lifeblood Milk Bank conducted at five sites across three states in Australia.
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Integrated Oral Health Care
Dr Ajesh George is a Professor of Interprofessional Oral Health in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University (WSU) and Honorary Professor in the School of Dentistry at The University of Sydney. He is a dentist with extensive experience in integrated oral health care and is a renowned expert globally in providing oral health training to non-dental professionals and translating oral health guidelines into their practice. Dr George is also the Director and Co-founder of the “Australian Centre for Integration of Oral Health” (ACIOH) which is a leading national research centre led by WSU in collaboration with various partners including universities, health services and professional organisations.
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Tyrosine Kinases in cancer recurrence
Dr Yu Yu leads the Oncology and Gynaecology Research Program at Curtin Medical Research Institute . Dr Yu is also a senior research fellow at Curtin Medical School.
Dr Yu Yu’s laboratory is working on better ways to treat cancers, particularly ovarian cancers which are resistant to conventional chemotherapy. The aims are for better informed treatment choice and reducing unnecessary exposure to ineffective chemotherapy and its potential adverse effects.
