Departmental Media Releases

National Medical Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority Appointed

Dr Gerry O’Callaghan has been appointed the inaugural National Medical Director of the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority.

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27 February 2009

The Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority, Ms Karen Murphy, today announced the appointment of Dr Gerry O’Callaghan as the inaugural National Medical Director of the Authority.

The National Medical Director’s role is to lead the medical and clinical development of the Authority and work with all stakeholders to achieve a nationally consistent, best-practice approach to organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

A key responsibility for the National Medical Director over the coming months will be to oversee the establishment of a national network of clinical specialists and other staff in hospitals who are dedicated to organ and tissue donation activity. States and territories have commenced recruitment to these roles.

Dr O’Callaghan is a Senior Consultant, Intensive Care Medicine, at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide. He is also chair of the Advisory Group to the NHMRC National Organ Donation Collaborative, a member of the ANZICS Brain Death and Organ Donation Committee, was a member of the National Clinical Taskforce on Organ and Tissue Donation (2007-08), and was a member of the NHMRC Working Party on Ethical Guidelines on Organ and Tissue Donation for Transplantation. In addition, Dr O’Callaghan was recently appointed to the Advisory Council to the CEO of the Authority and will take a leave of absence from his position on the Advisory Council for the term of his position of National Medical Director.

Dr O’Callaghan graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland following which he undertook post-graduate training in anaesthesia in Ireland and the UK. He subsequently trained in Intensive Care Medicine in Australia, gaining fellowship of the Joint Faculty in 1997. Dr. O’Callaghan became interested in the challenges of facilitating organ donation and the interface with transplantation medicine while working in the Institute of Liver Studies, Kings College Hospital, London.

“Dr O'Callaghan is a respected voice in the sector and is well placed to take on this leading role with the Authority,’ Ms Murphy said. “I look forward to working with him to deliver important reforms that will improve Australians’ access to life-saving and transforming transplants.”


Media contact: Kay McNiece 0412 132 585
27 February 2009.