Associate Professor Penelope Burns
Areas of expertise
- Primary Health Care 111717
- Human Impacts Of Climate Change And Human Adaptation 410103
Research interests
Disaster health management
Role of General Practitioners in disasters
Health consequences of disasters
Management of animals in disasters
Human Factors in Road Tunnel Evacuations
Infection prevention and control in General Practice during pandemics
Biography
Dr Penelope Burns is a General Practitioner with a range of experience in both national and international General Practice and primary care settings.
Dr Burns currently works in General Practice at the Northern Beaches Hospital Medical Centre where she is involved in clinical care; in The Dee Why Respiratory Clinic where she is involved with management of respiratory conditions and COVID-19 surveillance; and in numerous activities related to disaster and pandemic management.
Dr Burns has a number of interests, most notably in the role of GPs in disasters and pandemics. She is undertaking a PhD on the Capacities and Contributions of General Practitioners in Disaster Systems at the Australian National University.
Dr Burns’ current appointments include:
- World Association for Disaster & Emergency Medicine (WADEM)Foundation Co-chair Primary Care Special Interest Group
- WADEM member, and previous Chair, Oceania Chapter
- instructor Major Incident Medical Management Support (MIMMS) for Medical Command
- Instructor EMERGO Train System of disaster exercises
- Scientific Advisory Group National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance (NCIRS)
- National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Panel
- National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce Primary & Chronic Care Panel
- National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Paediatric & Adolescent Care Panel
- Sydney North Health Network member Climate Change Strategy committee
- Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) COVID-19 Working Group
Current RACGP roles include:
- Australian Government National Immunisation Committee
- Expert Reference Group for the Australian Partnership (for) Preparedness Research on InfectiouS (disease) Emergencies (APPRISE)
- RACGP COVID Working Group member
- RACGP Mental Health Expert Working Group member
- Chair of the NSW & ACT RACGP GP Disaster Management Committee
- NSW & ACT RACGP Disaster Response Representative
- GP Disaster Advisory Committee Southern NSW member
- Deputy Chair of the RACGP Disaster Management Special Interest Group
- RACGP Expert Committee Practice Management and Technology
- RACGP Business Sustainability Working Group
- NSW&ACT RACGP Faculty Board – North Sydney and Beaches representative
- Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Disaster Subcommittee
- NSW Rural Doctors Network Natural Disaster and Emergency Response Stakeholder Group
- Consultation Reference Group for a Phoenix Australia initiative, the Digital Training Platform in Disaster Mental Health
- Black Dog Institute (BDI) Bush Fire Support Service Advisory Committee
Researcher's projects
In progress:
PhD: The Capacity and Contributions of General Practioners in Disaster Systems
Publications
- Veasey, L, Broom, A, Kenny, K et al. 2021, 'Entanglements of affect, space, and evidence in pandemic healthcare: An analysis of Australian healthcare workers’ experiences of COVID-19', Health & Place: An International Journal, vol. 72, no. 2021.
- Sotomayor Castillo, C, Nahidi, S, Li, C et al. 2021, 'General practitioners’ knowledge, preparedness, and experiences of managing COVID-19 in Australia', Infection, Disease & Health, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 166-172.
- Burns, P, Watson, K & McCourt , E 2020, 'Injecting primary care into disaster health management', Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 15-16.
- Burns, P & Manderson, K 2020, Building GP capacity in times of disaster, pp. online.
- Burns, P, Douglas, K, Hu, W et al. 2020, 'General practitioners' in the field: A qualitative study of general practitioners' experiences in disaster healthcare', Australian Journal of General Practice, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 132-139.
- Cuthbertson, J, Stewart, C, Lyon, A et al. 2020, 'Health Impacts of Volcanic Activity in Oceania', Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 574-578.
- Burns, P, Douglas, K & Hu, W 2019, 'Primary care in disasters: opportunity to address a hidden burden of health care', Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 210, no. 7, pp. 297-299.
- Burns, P & Delaney, P 2019, 'Emeritus Professor Beverley Raphael AM, MB?BS, MD, FRANZCP, FRCPsych, Hon MD, FASSA', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 210, no. 4, pp. 157-.
- Burns, P, Sutton, B & Leggat, P 2017, 'Complex events', in Gerry FitzGerald, Mike Tarrant, Peter Aitken and Marie Fredriksen (ed.), Disaster Health Management: A Primer for Students and Practitioners, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, United Kingdom, pp. 282-296pp.
- Burns, P, Douglas, K, Raphael, B et al. 2017, 'When Disaster Strikes what is the Role of the Local Primary Healthcare Doctor?', Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, vol. 32, no. Supplement 1 , pp. 70-71.
- Burns, P, Aitken, P & Raphael, B 2015, 'Where are general practitioners when disaster strikes?', Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 202, no. 7, pp. 356-358.
- Taylor, M, Burns, P, Lynch, E et al. 2015, 'The preparedness and evacuation behaviour of pet owners in emergencies and natural disasters', Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 30, no. 2.
- Raphael, B & Burns, P 2014, 'Opinion: Children in disasters: the way forward', Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. Volume 29, , no. No. 1, January 2014, pp. 6-7.
- Burns, P, Watson, K & McCourt , E 2011, 'Mental Health response for World Health Day: the Sydney experience', Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 26, no. 4.
