Michael Fink

Associate Professor Michael Fink is a hepato-pancreato-biliary and liver transplant surgeon practising at Austin Hospital and Warringal Private Hospital in Melbourne. He serves as Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, Austin Health precinct, Melbourne Medical School, within the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Fink earned his MBBS from the University of Melbourne from 1982 to 1987 and obtained Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1997. He completed post-fellowship training in upper gastrointestinal, hepato-pancreato-biliary, liver, pancreas, and kidney transplantation between 1997 and 2000 at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK, and Westmead Hospital in Sydney. His clinical practice includes laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia repair, liver resection, and surgery of the bile ducts and pancreas.

Fink's research specializations centre on liver transplantation, encompassing optimisation of donation after cardiac death donors, ex vivo perfusion of liver grafts, waiting list mortality risk, organ allocation, post-transplant mortality risk, and complications. He has contributed to key publications including 'Different knots, same outcome: evaluating the role of surgical technique on biliary anastomotic strictures after liver transplantation', 'Outcomes of contemporary management of gangrenous and non-gangrenous acute cholecystitis', 'Risk Indices in Deceased-donor Organ Allocation for Transplantation: review from an Australian perspective', and 'Safety and effectiveness of umbilical hernia repair in patients with cirrhosis'. With approximately 1,700 citations, his scholarship impacts transplantation practices. Fink holds prominent appointments such as Chair of the Clinical Examination Committee and Transplantation Section of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Chair of the General Surgeons Australia Transplant Training Committee, Co-chair of the Doctor of Medicine Assessment Committee at the University of Melbourne, Fellowship Examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and Member of the Transplant Liaison Reference Group of the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority. He actively participates in teaching and assessment of medical students and surgical trainees.