The Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence at UWA
Improving perioperative care for children worldwide
About us
The Institute was established in 2023 and is a collaborative Centre hosted by the UWA Medical School.
The Institute encompasses clinicians and researchers from various divisions within the UWA Medical School: Emergency Medicine, Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Paediatrics and Surgery and several other UWA Schools including; School of Psychological Science, School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Physics Mathematics and Computing, School of Allied Health and School of Human Sciences.
The Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence works to improve perioperative care for children through world-class, patient-centred, high-quality, multidisciplinary research. We work professionally, ethically and with integrity through all stages of the clinical research journey, to continuously drive improvements in safety and quality of care, and implement innovative and pragmatic solutions to common problems experienced by children having surgery along the perioperative pathway.
What we do
The Institute works collaboratively to design, conduct, report and implement research findings at the clinical level.
The Institute has 16 world-class research programs which encompass all specialities along the perioperative pathway: Allergy and Immunology, Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Burns, Data and Statistics, Haematology, Oncology and Neuro-oncology, Infectious Diseases, Medicinal Formulation and Pharmacokinetics, Medical Imaging, Neonatology, Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Paediatric Surgery and Urology, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Psychology & Human Factors, Respiratory Physiology and Medicine and Sleep Science.
Consumers and community members add value to health and medical research and our research programs work together through our Consumer Reference Panel to provide a community perspective on the research activities across The Institute.
You can find research outputs for the Institute here.
The Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence members
The Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence is a collaborative UWA Centre and members work professionally, collaboratively, ethically and with integrity in all aspects of our work.
Professor Britta Regli-von Ungern Sternberg is the inaugural Director and Professor Lee Yong Lim is the inaugural Deputy Director.
Each research program within The Institute has a dedicated program lead/s:
Program Leads
- Allergy and Immunology: Kristina Rueter and Michaela Lucas
- Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine: David Sommerfield and Neil Hauser
- Burns: Fiona Wood
- Data and Statistics: Nazim Khan and Daisy Evans
- Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery: Phil Sale and Shyan Vijayasekaran
- Haematology, Oncology and Neuro-oncology: Rishi Kotecha and Nick Gottardo, Deputy lead; Raelene Endersby
- Infectious Diseases: Asha Bowen
- Medicinal Formulation and Pharmacokinetics: Okhee Yoo and Connie Locher
- Medical Imaging: Derek Roebuck
- Neonatology: Tobias Strunk and Dimple Goel
- Paediatric Surgery and Urology: Naeem Samnakay and Parshotam Gera
- Paediatric Emergency Medicine: Meredith Borland
- Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: David Gillett
- Psychology: David Preece and Vance Locke
- Respiratory Physiology and Medicine: Peter Noble, Deputy lead; Will Ditcham
- Sleep Science: Jen Walsh and Kathleen Maddison
See full list of the Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence team members
In the news
Professor Michaela Lucas inducted into 2025 WA Womens Hall of Fame
The Institute congratulates Professor Michaela Lucas, co-lead for Allergy and Immunology, on her induction into the 2025 WA Women’s Hall of Fame. A clinician-scientist at Perth Children’s Hospital and Sir Charles Gairdiner Hospital, she is also a Clinical Professor at the University of Western Australia, leading the Immunology and Transplant laboratory. Professor Lucas is recognized for her contributions to the WA community and the Allergy and Immunology field, serving as Director of the National Allergy Council and past president of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. Her recent research focuses on the health impacts of plastics.
Institute Director Britta wins Life Scientist of the Year award at the 2024 Prime Ministers Prize Awards
Institute Director Professor Britta Ungern-Sternberg was the winner of the prestigious 2024 Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year, at the Prime Ministers Prizes for Science this year. Congratulations to Britta on this achievement, which recognised her life-changing research into reducing risks associated with anaesthesia for children, to make surgery and recovery safer. Britta extended her thanks to her wonderful research team, clinical colleagues, Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence members, the children and their families who participate in or help shape her research as consumer advisors, and her collaborators all around the globe for making this award possible.
Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence gets a new AI computing cluster at PCH called MERLIN
A new powerful computer providing a secure, private AI platform has been acquired by the University of Western Australia’s Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence, PCH’s Anaesthesia Research Team, and the UWA School of Physics, Maths and Computing. The computer, called MERLIN, is located at the Perth Children’s Hospital site and funded by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation. The MERLIN research team is headed by Professor Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg, Director of the Institute of Paediatric Perioperative Excellence and The Anaesthesia Research Team at PCH joined by Daisy Evans, Harry Smallbone and Thomas Drake-Brockman from the Data and Statistics Institute program.
The UWA Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence at the 2024 Perth Children’s Hospital Symposium
The Institute members and students presented 18 outstanding posters and some fantastic talks at the Perth Children’s Hospital Symposium, showcasing cutting-edge research in paediatric perioperative care;
• Harry & Thomas unveiled the new MERLIN supercomputing cluster at PCH and healthcare AI
• Natalie presented on inhaled adrenaline delivery during anesthesia
• Dimple shared insights into neurodevelopmental impairment in children with Robin Sequence
• Neil discussed improving safety for children with asthma undergoing general anaesthesia
• Asha talked about the SNAP-PY platform for staphylococcus aureus research
Huge congratulations to all members for showcasing their groundbreaking work and advancing paediatric perioperative care!