Professor Rob Baker

Academic Status

College of Medicine and Public Health

+61 8 84042015
place Flinders Medical Centre
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Rob is Director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Quality and Outcomes Unit and Clinical Perfusion Department at Flinders Medical Centre. Rob has worked locally, nationally and internationally to achieve better outcomes for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Rob's dedicated work, and that of his department, has been recognised both nationally and internationally.

Qualifications

1986 B (Med) Sci (Hons), University of Adelaide, South Australia
1996 Doctor of Philosophy, Flinders University of South Australia - Thesis Title: 'Sphincter of Oddi activity - An invitro study in the Australian Brush-tailed Possum"
1998 Certified Clinical Perfusionist (CCP), Australian Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion

Honours, awards and grants

1. "John H Gibbon, Jr Award" American Society of Extracorpreal Technology, 2017

2. “President’s Award” American Society of Extracorporeal Cardiovascular Perfusion, 2014

3. “Inaugural Presidential Award”, Australian and New Zealand College of Perfusion, 2013

4. “Section Poster Award”, International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Prague, June 2013

5. “Award of Excellence”, American Society of Extracorporeal Cardiovascular Perfusion, 2013

6. “Fellowship Award”, Awarded for Most Outstanding Scientific Paper, American Society of Extracorporeal Cardiovascular Perfusion, 2013

7. “JECT Research Article Award” American Society of Extracorporeal Technology, 2011

8. “JECT Case Report Award” American Society of Extracorporeal Technology, 2011

9. “President’s Award” American Society of Extracorporeal Cardiovascular Perfusion, 2010

10. “Fellowship in Cardiovascular Perfusion”, Awarded for Most Outstanding Scientific Paper, American Society of Extracorporeal Cardiovascular Perfusion, 2010

11. “Perfusion Unit of the Year 2008”, Awarded to Flinders Medical Centre, Australian and New Zealand College of Perfusion, 2008

12. “Best Paper Award” Awarded for Best Paper presented at the 2nd Asian Preventative Cardiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation Conference, 2008. (co-author).

13. “Terumo Award 2007”, Awarded for the Best Scientific paper presented at the 24th Meeting of the Australasian Society of Cardiovascular Perfusion, 2007. Co-author.

14. “Reviewer”, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 2007 – Current

15. Recognition Award (2006) of contribution to the Key West Outcomes Meeting

16. “Terumo Award 2006”, Awarded for the Best Scientific paper presented at the 23rd Meeting of the Australasian Society of Cardiovascular Perfusion, 2006. Co-author.

Key responsibilities

Director of the Perfusion Services at Flinders Medical Centre supporting Cardiac Surgery, ECMO (Extracorporeal Circulatory Membrane Oxygenation), Organ Retrieval and the South Australian Liver Transplant program.

Director of the Cardiac Surgery Quality and Outcomes Department

Academic supervisor for graduate and postgraduate studies.

Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Collaborative Perfusion Registry

Member of the Steering and Research Committee of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons National Database.

President of the Australian and New Zealand College of Perfusionists (ANZCP)

Supervisory interests
Cardiac disease
Cardiovascular and internal medicine
Clinical care
Clinical decision making and case based reasoning
Clinical pathways for co-morbid depression
Health service, public policy, equity and access
Healthcare, quality improvement
Neurological rehabilitation
Pharmacological interventions on cardiovascular function
Quality control systems
Rehabilitation
Higher degree by research supervision
Current
Principal supervisor: Registry, data management, cardiac surgery (1)
Completion
Principal supervisor: emboli, neuropsychology, cardiac surgery (1), neuropsychology, cardiac surgery, mood (1)
Associate supervisor: Magnetic resonance imaging, cardiac surgery, aortic valve replacement, Percutaneous aortic valve replacement (1), ischemic preconditioning, cardioplegia, cardiac surgery (1), neuropsychology, cardiac surgery, mood, coronary graft surgery (1), Cardiac surgery (1), Acute kidney injury, micro RNA, biomarkers, cardiac surgery - Associate (1)
Higher degree by research student achievements
Phil Tully

Frank Dalziel Prize for Best Thesis in Psychology - JUN 2011

Phil Tully

NHMRC Postgraduate Fellowship - JAN 2013

Interests
  • Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery/Cardiovascular Perfusion