Rate My Professor Ross Freebairn

Dr. Ross Freebairn, holding qualifications BHB, MBChB, Dip Obs, FRCPE, FANZCA, and FCICM, serves as Associate Dean for the Hawke's Bay Campus in the Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Division at the University of Otago. In his clinical role, he is an Intensive Care Consultant at Hawke’s Bay Hospital in Hastings, New Zealand. Freebairn also holds leadership positions as Medical Director for New Zealand Air Ambulance Services, Adjunct Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Past President of the College of Intensive Care Medicine, and President of the Asia Pacific Association of Critical Care Medicine. Appointed Associate Dean since June 2016 at the University of Otago Wellington, he contributes significantly to medical education. Additionally, as a member of the BASIC steering group, he facilitates critical care courses internationally in regions such as New Zealand, Australia, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific, and Europe.

Freebairn's academic interests center on critical care medicine, encompassing mechanical ventilation strategies, oxygen therapy protocols, fever management in sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and hemodynamic management in septic shock. His influential publications demonstrate substantial impact in the field. Prominent works include co-authorship on "Conservative Oxygen Therapy during Mechanical Ventilation in the Intensive Care Unit" published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2020, "Acetaminophen for Fever in Critically Ill Patients with Suspected Infection" in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015, "Incidence of hypotension according to the discontinuation order of vasopressor and sedative in septic shock" in Critical Care in 2019, "Weaning in ARDS" as a chapter in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in 2017, and "Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for ARDS Due to 2009 Influenza A(H1N1)" in JAMA in 2010. Further contributions feature "Conservative oxygen therapy for mechanically ventilated adults with COVID-19" in Intensive Care Medicine in 2020, "Metabolic acidosis in anaesthesia and critical care" in BJA Education in 2024, and involvement in guidelines for "the management of tracheal intubation in critically ill adults" in the British Journal of Anaesthesia in 2018. These publications have shaped evidence-based practices in intensive care units worldwide.