Fiona Wood

Last updated

Fiona Wood
AO FAHMS
Professor Fiona Wood - 2012 Imagine Cup Announcement (5692389134).jpg
Wood speaking at the Microsoft Australia Imagine Cup 2012 announcement in Sydney
Born
Fiona Melanie Wood

(1958-02-02) 2 February 1958 (age 66)
Yorkshire, England
NationalityAustralian
Occupation Plastic surgeon
Known forSpray-on skin
SpouseTony Kierath

Fiona Melanie Wood (born 2 February 1958) is an Australian plastic surgeon and burns specialist working in Perth, Western Australia. She is the director of the Royal Perth Hospital burns unit and the Western Australia Burns Service, and developed spray-on skin in collaboration with Marie Stoner. In addition, Wood is also a clinical professor with the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia and director of the Fiona Wood Foundation (formerly the McComb Research Foundation). [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Wood was born in Yorkshire, England, on 2 February 1958, the third of four children. Her father Geoff was a miner and her mother Elsie was a physical education teacher. Growing up in relative poverty, Wood's parents pushed their children to get a better education – with her mother transferring to a Quaker school to improve the children's educational opportunities. Wood attended Ackworth School near Pontefract, West Yorkshire. She was athletic as a child and hoped for a career as an Olympic sprinter. In 1978, she was one of twelve women admitted to the St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London, graduating from there with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1981. [2] [3] [4]

Career and research

Wood worked at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital and then at Queen Victoria Hospital before marrying Western Australian born surgeon Tony Kierath and migrating to Perth with their first two children in 1987. She completed her training in plastic surgery between having four more children. In 1991, Wood became the first female plastic surgeon in Western Australia. In 1993, Wood began working with medical scientist Marie Stoner on tissue engineering. They focused on a particularly painful pain point – burn treatments. Through their work, Wood and Stoner were able to greatly decrease skin culturing time and greatly reduce permanent scarring in burns victims. [1] [4]

In October 2002, Wood 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 who had between 2 and 92 per cent body burns, deadly infections and delayed shock. [5]

She was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2003. [6] She was named Australian of the Year [7] for 2005 by Australian Prime Minister John Howard at a ceremony in Canberra to mark Australia Day.

In March 2007, following the crash landing of Garuda Indonesia Flight 200, Wood travelled to Yogyakarta, to assist in the emergency medical response for burn patients. [8]

In 2006, she attracted criticism for publicly endorsing the drug brand Nurofen. The profits from this endorsement went to the McComb Foundation, of which she was the chairwoman. The Australian Medical Association subsequently advised doctors against "endorsement of therapeutic goods". Wood later said of the endorsement that she "would not explore it again because I believe the negative perception outweighs the gain … I believe it was a mistake for me personally". [9]

In 2022, she released her biography, Under her Skin by Sue Williams, with her share of proceeds from the book going to the Fiona Wood Foundation. [10] [11]

Spray-on skin

Wood has become well known for her patented invention of spray-on skin for burn patients, a treatment which is being continually developed. Where previous techniques of skin culturing required 21 days to produce enough cells to cover major burns, Wood has reduced the period to five days. This reduction hinged on the types of skin harvested; Wood focused her efforts on thinner skin which took less time for enzyme solutions to penetrate. Through research, she found that scarring is greatly reduced if replacement skin could be provided – within 10 days. This is because closing the wound quickly greatly decreases the chance of infection one of the greatest causes of severe scarring. As a burns specialist the Holy Grail for Wood is "scarless woundless healing". [3] [5] [12]

Wood started a company now called Avita Medical to commercialise the procedure. Her business came about after a schoolteacher arrived at Royal Perth Hospital in 1992 with petrol burns to 90% of his body. Wood turned to the emerging US-invented technology of cultured skin to save his life, working nights in a laboratory along with scientist Marie Stoner. The two women began to explore tissue engineering. They moved from growing skin sheets to spraying skin cells; earning a worldwide reputation as pioneers in their field. The company started operating in 1993 and now cultures small biopsies into bigger volumes of skin cell suspensions in as few as five days. This service is used by surgeons in Sydney, Auckland and Birmingham. Cells can be delivered via aircraft and ready for use the next day in many cases. Royalties from licensing will be ploughed back into a research fund, named the McComb Foundation. [13]

As well as receiving much praise from both her own patients and the media, she also attracted controversy among other burns surgeons because spray-on skin had not yet been subjected to clinical trials. [14] [15] A clinical trial was planned in 2005 at Queen Victoria Hospital, England. [16]

In 2009, Wood’s company Avita Medical received US$1.45 million from the United States Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine to expedite one of the company’s key product offerings, the ReCell kit. [17]

Awards and honours

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mastectomy</span> Surgical removal of one or both breasts

Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation as a preventive measure. Alternatively, some women can choose to have a wide local excision, also known as a lumpectomy, an operation in which a small volume of breast tissue containing the tumor and a surrounding margin of healthy tissue is removed to conserve the breast. Both mastectomy and lumpectomy are referred to as "local therapies" for breast cancer, targeting the area of the tumor, as opposed to systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or immunotherapy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic surgery</span> Medical surgical specialty

Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction, or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery covers a wide range of specialties, including craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns. This category of surgery focuses on restoring a body part or improving its function. In contrast, cosmetic surgery focuses solely on improving the physical appearance of the body. A comprehensive definition of plastic surgery has never been established, because it has no distinct anatomical object and thus overlaps with practically all other surgical specialties. An essential feature of plastic surgery is that it involves the treatment of conditions that require or may require tissue relocation skills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona Stanley</span> Australian epidemiologist

Fiona Juliet Stanley is an Australian epidemiologist noted for her public health work, her research into child and maternal health as well as birth disorders such as cerebral palsy. Stanley is the patron of the Telethon Kids Institute and a distinguished professorial fellow in the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia. From 1990 to December 2011 she was the founding director of Telethon Kids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archibald McIndoe</span> New Zealand plastic surgeon (1900–1960)

Sir Archibald Hector McIndoe was a New Zealand plastic surgeon who worked for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He improved the treatment and rehabilitation of badly burned aircrew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph E. Murray</span> American plastic surgeon (1919–2012)

Joseph Edward Murray was an American plastic surgeon who is known as the "father of transplantation" for major milestones in the field of transplantation, including performing the first successful human kidney transplant, defining brain death, the organization of the first international conference on human kidney transplants and founding of the National Kidney Registry, the forerunner of the current United Network Of Organ Sharing (UNOS). By 2013, more than one million patients are estimated to have benefitted from organ transplantation around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face transplant</span> Medical procedure to replace a persons face using donor tissue

A face transplant is a medical procedure to replace all or part of a person's face using tissue from a donor. Part of a field called "Vascularized Composite Tissue Allotransplantation" (VCA) it involves the transplantation of facial skin, the nasal structure, the nose, the lips, the muscles of facial movement used for expression, the nerves that provide sensation, and, potentially, the bones that support the face. The recipient of a face transplant will take life-long medications to suppress the immune system and fight off rejection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital</span> Hospital in Perth, Western Australia

Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) is a teaching hospital in Nedlands, Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Perth Hospital</span> Hospital in Perth, Western Australia

Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) is a 450-bed adult and teaching hospital located on the northeastern edge of the central business district of Perth, Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Victoria Hospital</span> Hospital in East Grinstead

The Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH), located in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England is the specialist reconstructive surgery centre for the south east of England, and also provides services at clinics across the region. It has become world-famous for its pioneering burns and plastic surgery. The hospital was named after Queen Victoria. It is managed by the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Thomas's Hospital Medical School</span> London medical school

St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London was one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK. The school was absorbed to form part of GKT School of Medical Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spray-on skin</span> Skin culturing treatment for burn or other skin damage victims

Spray-on skin is a skin culturing treatment for burn, or other skin damage victims. It involves taking small samples of the patient's skin and spraying them on the wound.

Maria Siemionow is a Polish transplant surgeon and scientist. She is known for leading a team of eight surgeons through the first near-total face transplant performed in the United States at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008. The patient, Connie Culp, a 45-year-old woman from a small town in Ohio, was exceedingly disfigured by a close range shotgun blast in 2004. The procedure took 22 hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artificial skin</span> Material to regenerate or replace skin

Artificial skin is a collagen scaffold that induces regeneration of skin in mammals such as humans. The term was used in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe a new treatment for massive burns. It was later discovered that treatment of deep skin wounds in adult animals and humans with this scaffold induces regeneration of the dermis. It has been developed commercially under the name Integra and is used in massively burned patients, during plastic surgery of the skin, and in treatment of chronic skin wounds.

Avita Medical is a clinical and commercial company developing and marketing a range of respiratory and regenerative products. The first regenerative medicine product brought to the market by Avita Medical was ReCell spray-on skin for the treatment of burns. The two latest products are ReNovaCell, for Aesthetics and Plastic applications including skin trauma, and ReGenerCell for the treatment of chronic wounds. The Avita Medical regenerative product range is currently marketed in Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA) and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Burns Wallace</span> Scottish plastic surgeon

Alexander Burns Wallace (1906–1974) was a Scottish plastic surgeon. He was a founding member and president (1951) of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons, and the first editor of the British Journal of Plastic Surgery. In authorship he appears as A. B. Wallace.

Amber-Jade Sanderson is an Australian Labor Party politician who is the member for Morley in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Western Australia. Since 21 December 2021, she has been Minister for Health and Minister for Mental health. From 19 March 2021 to 21 December 2021, she was Minister for Environment, Minister for Climate Action and Minister for Commerce. She rose to prominence when she chaired the Joint Select Committee on End of Life Choices. From 22 May 2013 to 5 February 2017, she was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, for the East Metropolitan Region.

Martha M. MacGuffie (1924–2011) was the first woman reconstructive and plastic surgeon to graduate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, in 1949. She was also the first woman surgeon to serve on the staff of a major suburban hospital, at Nyack Hospital in Nyack, New York. Macguffie helped establish the burns unit there and developed a water bed to reduce pain experienced by burn patients. During her 50-year medical career, MacGuffie treated over 50,000 patients. In 2003, the journal P&S published by the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia named her to their list of 15 "P&S Graduates who Helped Change the World". She died on March 7, 2011.

Noshir Hormasji Antia was an Indian plastic surgeon and social worker, known for his pioneering contributions to the treatment and rehabilitation of people afflicted with leprosy. He was the founder of three notable non governmental organizations, Foundation for Research in Community Health (FRCH), Foundation for Medical Research (FMR) and the National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped (NASEOH), all working in the field of rehabilitation of patients, cured or otherwise. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Western Australia School of Medicine</span> Medical school in Western Australia

The University of Western Australia Medical School is the medical school of The University of Western Australia, located in Perth, Western Australia. Established in 1957, it is the oldest medical school in Western Australia, with over 6000 alumni. Well known for its research and clinical teaching, the medical school is ranked 8th in the world and 1st in Australia by the 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities in clinical medicine. The medical school is affiliated with various teaching hospitals in Perth such as Royal Perth Hospital and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. The medical school is also heavily affiliated with the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre and its various research institutes. The school has prominent researchers and clinicians amongst its faculty and alumni, including Nobel Prize laureates Barry Marshall and Robin Warren ; recipients of the Australian of the Year award Fiona Stanley and Fiona Wood; and cancer researcher Richard Pestell. The school has produced 11 Rhodes Scholars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mollie Lentaigne</span> British artist and Red Cross nurse (1920–2024)

Mary Evelyn Lentaigne was a British medical artist and Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse who worked at the Queen Victoria Hospital, England, during the Second World War. She is known for the drawings she made there of the surgical procedures of New Zealand plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe who was working on injured servicemen. Around 300 of her drawings are held by the East Grinstead Museum where they form the Mollie Lentaigne Collection.

References

  1. 1 2 "Fiona Wood". Fiona Wood Foundation. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Fiona Wood". Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  3. 1 2 Leser, David (November 2005). "Thank God for Fiona" (PDF). The Australian Women's Weekly . Vol. 75, no. 11. pp. 54–60. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. 1 2 Standish, Ann (2014). "Wood, Fiona". The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. ISBN   978-0-7340-4873-8. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Australian of the Year: 2005 Award". National Australia Day Council. Archived from the original on 20 November 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  6. ↑ Science World 3 Third Edition 2006/ second reprint
  7. ↑ Lewis, Wendy (2010). Australians of the Year. Pier 9 Press. ISBN   978-1-74196-809-5.
  8. ↑ Cohen, David (17 March 2007). "The skilled hands that will soothe a painful recovery". The Age . p. 8. Retrieved 12 April 2023. Burns specialist Fiona Wood, whose team treated the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings, flew to Indonesia to see the survivors and their burns.
  9. ↑ Nader, Carol (5 December 2006). "Top doctor rues advertising drug for children". The Age . Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  10. ↑ Fleming, Katherine (2 October 2022). "Under Her Skin: new biography of Professor Fiona Wood shows private side of a reluctant public figure". The Sunday Times . Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  11. ↑ Williams, Sue (2022). Under Her Skin:The life and work of Professor Fiona Wood AM, National Living Treasure. Allen & Unwin. ISBN   9781761066917.
  12. ↑ Swan, Norman; Wood, Fiona (2008). "Dr Fiona Wood, plastic surgeon". Australian Academy of Science . Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  13. ↑ "Spray on Skin". Biotechnology Innovation. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  14. ↑ Dennis, C (July 2005). "Spray-on skin: hard graft". Nature. 436 (7048): 166–7. Bibcode:2005Natur.436..166D. doi: 10.1038/436166a . PMID   16015298. S2CID   2694478.
  15. ↑ "Jury still out over 'spray-on skin'". The Age . 28 January 2005. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  16. ↑ "Spray-on cells treat severe burns". BBC News . 5 September 2005. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  17. ↑ Greenblat, Eli (27 May 2009). "Avita boosted by US affirmation". The Age . Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  18. ↑ "Dr Fiona Wood, Australia's most trusted person... again". National Australia Day Council. 16 July 2010. Archived from the original on 19 April 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  19. ↑ "2004 Winners". Western Australian of the Year Hall of Fame. Celebrate WA. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  20. ↑ "Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences" (PDF). Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. June 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  21. ↑ "Winthrop Professor Fiona Melanie Wood AM". Australian Honours Search Facility. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.