Emeritus Professor
Gerard Fitzgerald

Biography

Professor Gerry FitzGerald is Professor of Public Health at QUT and discipline Leader of Health Management and Disaster Management. He is co-author of the book, Disaster Health Management: A Primer for Students and Practitioners, Routledge UK. 2016. Professor FitzGerald holds medical specialist medical qualifications in Emergency Medicine and Medical Administration and a Doctor of Medicine for a thesis entitled Emergency Department Triage. His implementation and evaluation of a novel triage system was the basis for the Australasian Triage Scale which has been the cornerstone of ED operations for more than twenty years. Professor FitzGerald was previously the Director of the Emergency Department at Ipswich Hospital where he led the development of a modern emergency department. He was one of the founders of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine serving on the national Council for ten years, four years as national secretary and four years as Editor in Chief of the College journal. He was subsequently Medical Director and then Commissioner of the Queensland Ambulance Service during which period he led the modernisation of the QAS, upgrading of clinical standards, the development of professional paramedics and the national transition of education through vocational and subsequently university education. Prof. FitzGerald served as Chief Health Officer for Queensland for three years and in that role held a number of national leadership positions. Since joining QUT Prof. FitzGerald has led the development of the Master of Health Management program (currently almost 200 students), a Graduate Certificate in Disaster Management and the establishment of the Centre for Emergency and Disaster Management. His principal research focus is on emergency healthcare systems and how they perform under both routine and non-routine pressures.  He has published over 100 peer reviewed articles, a text in Disaster Health Management, eight book chapters and more than 100 conference representations.  He has supervised more than 20 PhD students to completion (currently 14 doctoral students), obtained over $5m in research grants (including three ARC and three NHMRC grants) and is currently Chief Investigator on several grants.