Melbourne’s Alfred Health has finally secured a permanent replacement to head up its cystic fibrosis service after the high-profile departure of Professor John Wilson a year ago.
Conjoint Professor Peter Wark confirmed he would step into the role of The Alfred Hospital’s director of CF services from next month, significantly scaling back his work in the NSW Hunter region at the same time.
Currently a senior staff specialist in respiratory and sleep medicine at John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, and a conjoint professor with the University of Newcastle, Professor Wark is already a leading figure in CF care nationally, having been centre director of the major CF clinic in Northern NSW for a decade.
Professor Wark said the move to Melbourne would enable him to expand on that work, with Alfred Health’s CF service being among the country’s biggest and most sophisticated.
Professor Peter Wark
Additionally, Professor Wark said he would be appointed Conjoint Professor at Monash University, where he hoped to expand on his ability to run larger practice-based clinical trials in lung disease.
“It is an exciting time, thanks to the improved outcomes we are seeing with CFTR modulators and things like that,” he told the limbic.
“CF care is undergoing a lot of changes and is probably moving towards more of an outpatient model of care and a wellness model of management as opposed to one of just putting out fires in severe acute disease.”
This transition it was not dissimilar to the revolution in HIV care two decades ago in terms of the change in patient management, Professor Wark added.
“There will still be people with very significant lung disease, but increasingly the focus is moving towards an outpatient model of care. So what are the teams going to look like? How do you deliver that? We’ll need to figure that out.”
The move comes just over 12 months after Professor John Wilson publicly declared he was resigning from the role in protest at staff burnout and deteriorating conditions.
In a speech at the 2022 RACP Congress in Melbourne, he also warned of grave concerns over staff wellbeing across Victoria’s public hospitals, claiming standards were being compromised due to inadequate resourcing.
“This decision came out of frustration,” said Professor Wilson, who was the outgoing RACP president at the time.
“I love my patients and I love my team and don’t wish to move away from that, however we have been asked to commit to levels of care that we are unable to achieve.
“I held my breath for as long as I could but I’m sorry, someone had to make a stand.”
Professor Wark said he had been in brief contact with his predecessor, who was now contracted as a director at big four consulting firm Deloitte, according to his LinkedIn.
Nevertheless, he said he was excited for the new role.
“There is a lot to be excited about. It’s going to be a great platform for research in particular and it should afford opportunities to move towards some larger, real-world clinical trials.”
“I’m certainly looking to focus on areas like airway infection which is a long-term interest in, as well as bronchiectasis, which is not necessarily CF-related, but I think the models of care which we have in CF could be adapted to those other disease processes.
He stressed he would maintain links with the Hunter New England area continuing some clinical trials, as well as Indigenous rural outreach and a smaller role at the University of Newcastle.