Professor Simon Finfer Recognized in Queen’s Birthday Honors

The GSA congratulates the Executive Committee member Professor Simon Finfer for being awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to intensive care medicine, to medical research and education, and to global health institutes.

On June 8th 2020, the Governor-General announced the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honors List, recognizing 933 Australians.

“This list recognizes a group of outstanding Australians who have made a contribution to their community, to Australia globally or domestically. Their efforts have been noted by their peers, they have been nominated and assessed independently as worthy of recognition”, the Governor-General said.

Besides other roles, Professor Finfer has been in charge of intensive care research at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney for nearly 30 years and he is Director of Intensive Care at the Sydney Adventist Hospital.

In the interview to the Australian broadcaster ABC, Professor Finfer talks about the challenges that COVID-19 has posed to the Australian health system and about the preparedness and effective response of the country to the pandemic.

In The Sydney Morning Herald, Professor Finfer highlights the link between COVID-19 and sepsis. "People who are dying of coronavirus disease in intensive care units are dying of sepsis," he said. "The coronavirus infects the lungs, and in severe cases, leads to sepsis resulting in kidney, liver, and other organs failing."