Professor Wood has been a burns surgeon and researcher for the past 20 years and is Director of the Burns Service of Western Australia.
She is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Fiona Stanley Hospital (previously at Royal Perth Hospital) and Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, co-founder of the first skin cell laboratory in WA, Winthrop Professor in the School of Surgery at The University of Western Australia, and co-founder of the Fiona Wood Foundation (formerly The McComb Foundation).
Professor Wood’s greatest contribution and enduring legacy is her work pioneering the innovative ‘spray-on skin’ technique (Recell), which greatly reduces permanent scarring in burns victims. Professor Wood patented her method in 1993 and today the technique is used worldwide. In October 2002, Fiona was propelled into the media spotlight when the largest proportion of survivors from the 2002 Bali bombings arrived at Royal Perth Hospital. She led a team working to save 28 patients suffering from between 2 and 92 percent body burns, deadly infections and delayed shock.
Fiona was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2003. In 2005, she won the Western Australia Citizen of the Year award for her contribution to Medicine in the field of burns research. That same year her contribution to burns care was recognised through Australia’s highest accolade when she was named Australian of the Year for 2005.
[December 2018]