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Trauma specialist is South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n of the Year

Associate Professor Bill Griggs AM ASM is the 2009 South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n of the Year.
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Engineering graduate Julian O'Shea is the 2009 Young South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n of the Year.
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Saturday, 21 November 2009

Associate Professor AM ASM has been announced as the 2009 recipient of the prestigious .

The award was presented by His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AC CSC RANR at a dinner held at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre last night.

Dr Griggs is an Associate Professor in the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide's () and is Director of at the (RAH).

A passionate South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n, he has dedicated his life to helping others through aeromedical retrievals and trauma research.

Dr Griggs graduated in medicine from the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide in 1981. He joined the consultant staff of the RAH and assumed his current position as the Director of Trauma Services in 1995.

He has a strong interest in safety and injury prevention and is the founder of the community road safety program. He is the State Controller (Health and Medical) for disasters within .

He is perhaps best known for his work in disasters, having been deployed to manage evacuations and victim care for the Bali bombings, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and most recently, has headed up the medical team in the Samoan disaster.

Dr Griggs has completed hundreds of aeromedical retrievals within the State and has been instrumental in the establishment of - South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥'s new retrieval service - where he is the Director of Retrieval Coordination.

Dr Griggs was recently recognised with an Ambulance Service Medal in the 2009 Queens Birthday honours and was made a Member of the Order of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ in 2003 for services to medicine, particularly in trauma, emergency and intensive care management and education.

He has also worked as an Ambulance Service Medical officer for since the early 1990s, having previously spent 15 years as a volunteer ambulance officer.

The author of more than 60 publications, he has lectured widely and is an Associate Professor at both the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide and . He is a volunteer Medical Officer with and a Group Captain with the as well as the current Director of Air Force Health Reserves for South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥.

In 1989 Dr Griggs invented a surgical instrument and associated medical procedure known as the "Griggs technique" which is now used worldwide to help thousands of patients each year. He has just completed a at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide.

"I was born in South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ and have lived here for the majority of my life. I am extremely proud of all South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n achievements. In my field as in other fields, we often seem to punch above our weight; it fills me with pride to be a member of the South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n family," Dr Griggs said.

Meanwhile, ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide engineering graduate Julian O'Shea has been named Young South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n of the Year.

Julian is a young leader within the engineering profession, the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Defence Force and the wider community as an active volunteer.

He completed a (Information Technology & Telecommunication) with Honours at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide in 2005, followed by a Masters in Engineering Science from the . He is currently completing an MBA at the .

His professional expertise has seen him represent ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ at international conferences, serve as an officer in the , and he currently represents young engineers on the national board of the .

Julian manages the West Head Gunnery Range in Flinders, Victoria, a 15-acre live-fire training facility associated with , the navy's premier training facility.

Late last year he was an ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n delegate to the World Engineers Convention in Brazil. He has received the South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Achievement Award and the 2009 Advertiser in the Serving ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ category, presented to service personnel who showed extraordinary courage and devotion to duty under extreme circumstances.

Supported by the and run by Advantage SA (formerly known as ), the South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n of the Year Awards celebrate and profile individuals or organisations that have a consistent record of excellence and outstanding achievement while contributing and further developing the State.

On Thursday night, the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide's Professor Rob Norman was named the winner of both the Health and Science categories of the 2009 South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n of the Year Awards, while Adelaide music graduate Timothy Sexton won in the Arts category. To see details of that announcement, .

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