Rate My Professor Dianne Stephens

Professor Dianne Stephens OAM serves as the Foundation Dean of the CDU Menzies School of Medicine in the Faculty of Health at Charles Darwin University, a role she commenced in January 2022. She graduated from the University of Melbourne Medical School in 1988 and completed fellowships in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine. In 1998, she relocated to Darwin as the inaugural Intensive Care Unit specialist in the Northern Territory and Director of the Intensive Care Unit at Royal Darwin Hospital, positions she held until 2016. During this tenure, she transformed the unit into a nationally accredited training and research facility, led the hospital's response to the Bali bombings, served with the Royal Australian Air Force specialist reserves in Iraq, established an organ donation agency, and enhanced patient care across the hospital system.

Professor Stephens spent 2016 on sabbatical in Fiji, teaching intensive care medicine through Fiji National University. Returning in 2017, she assumed the role of Medical Director at the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, leading its academic and research partnerships, including the creation of postgraduate courses in aeromedical retrieval and health emergency preparedness at Charles Darwin University. Her research focuses on sepsis, melioidosis, critical illness, renal disease, outcomes for critically ill Indigenous people, patient and family communication, and disaster medicine. Key publications include 'Meropenem and piperacillin/tazobactam optimised dosing regimens for critically ill patients receiving renal replacement therapy' (2025, Intensive Care Medicine), 'Informing future quarantine practices through the experiences of COVID-19 quarantine facility staff' (2024, Public Health Challenges), 'LEADING DURING A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS' (2024, Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management), and the editorial 'Beyond the intensive care unit: Ensuring the long term health of critically ill Indigenous people' (2023, Medical Journal of Australia). She has contributed to pandemic quarantine guides and delivered public lectures on disaster health responses. Professor Stephens was awarded the Order of Australia Medal.