Professor Garry Phillips first spent time in Papua New Guniea (PNG) as a cadet patrol officer or “kiap” at Kikori in the Gulf province during his early 20s. After returning to Australia to study medicine he came back to PNG as an instructor on the country’s first Early Management of Severe Trauma Course in 1993.
Professor Phillips subsequently became the first visiting Professor of Anaesthesia to PNG from 1995 to 2006, supporting the further development of anaesthesia as an emerging specialty and the development of the Anaesthetic Scientific Officer course at the University of Papua New Guinea.