Critical care experience inspires Cusack’s philanthropic gift

The Australian National University (ANU) Medical School has established an endowment fund to support the training of critical-care specialists. The fund was made possible with a donation from a prominent ACT family, David and Elizabeth Cusack, who have both had first-hand experience of critical care. Professor Imogen Mitchell, Deputy Dean of the ANU Medical School, said she was humbled by the Cusack's donation and thrilled to know it would help inspire and support the next generation of critical care specialists. "Without critical care doctors having adequate education, lives can be under serious threat," said Professor Mitchell, who is also an intensive care specialist at The Canberra Hospital. The endowment is supporting the David and Elizabeth Cusack Critical Care Symposium, Beyond the Emergency Department at The Canberra Hospital on Thursday 29 September. The Symposium, hosted by the ACT Critical Care Society, is aimed at inspiring students and junior doctors to become critical care specialists. The endowment fund will also enable the ANU Medical School to award a student prize for the best research paper in critical-care, and provide financial support for students to study overseas in a critical-care discipline.