Sites: Adelaide, Australia

transparent image to hold imagemap coordinates

Location: Adelaide, Australia

Academic Affiliation: Flinders University

Site Preceptor: Paddy A. Phillips, MD, PhD; Professor and Head of Medicine, Flinders University; Division of Medicine Director, Flinders Medical Centre Repatriation Hospital; Adjunct Professor of Medicine, Duke University

Background: Flinders University is a major, top-ranking Australian university with a high research and clinical profile. Professor Paddy Phillips, selected as the May Reader in Medicine at Oxford, joined Flinders as the Head of Medicine in 1997. He now leads the Residents' Program. Professor Phillips is internationally recognized as an expert in evidence-based medicine and is the Director of the Australian Center for Evidence-based Clinical Practice. Prior to the establishment of the Duke residents' program in Adelaide, Flinders University maintained a clinical trials relationship with the Duke Clinical Research Institute. The residents' program was prompted by Dr. Corey and Professor Phillip's long-standing friendship and has flourished under Professor Phillips' guidance and vision. Dr. Amy Abernethy (Assistant Professor, Duke) stayed in Adelaide for an extended period and now holds an adjunct faculty appointment at Flinders where she assists mentoring Duke residents.

Clinical Opportunities: The 600-bed Flinders Medical Centre includes all of the components of a major tertiary care institution. Flinders and its medical affiliates are responsible for providing the majority of health care for all of southern Adelaide (population 350,000). Some residents also travel to the Darwin affiliate at the Northern Territory Clinical School to study tropical medicine and care for patients with a variety of infectious diseases. Clinical opportunities and assignments are based on the interests of the resident and the appropriate medicolegal regulations. In addition to Flinders, residents are encouraged to spend some time in Alice Springs, home to a rural clinic that treats the Australian indigenous population.

Research: Residents may be assigned to a research project, which would be developed in collaboration with Professor Phillips and clinical and/or research leaders in the relevant area. To date, projects have focused on clinical research in cardiology, infectious diseases, and palliative medicine, as well as some secondary research (systematic review and meta-analysis) in gastroenterology.