Stephen Stick

Areas for research expertise: Research Interests; Paediatric respiratory disease; Cystic fibrosis; Respiratory epithelium; Lung structure-function relation; Health service delivery models

Dr Stick is a career clinician and clinical researcher and holds a National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) Practitioner Fellowship. Dr Stick is a member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Research and Education Subcommittee, the NHMRC Scholarships Committee and the NHMRC Grant Review Panel. He is also a member of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), Pediatric Program Committee, Joint ATS/European Respiratory Society (ERS) Task Force on Infant Lung Function and USCF Foundation Data Safety Monitoring Committee.

In 2007, Dr Stick was appointed Clinical Lead of the Health Department of Western Australia, Respiratory Health Network, responsible for the translation of evidenced based models of care into state-wide health policy. Since 2005, he has been the Principal Investigator for the Australian Respiratory Early Surveillance Team for Cystic Fibrosis (AREST CF). AREST CF has developed a unique early surveillance program that has focussed attention on early manifestations of CF lung disease and has contributed to a paradigm shift from an approach based on amelioration of respiratory disease to one focussed on prevention of bronchiectasis, the major cause of morbidity/mortality in CF.

In July 2010, a collaboration between centres in Perth and Melbourne to investigate early childhood lung disease that Dr Stick lead was designated as a NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence. Dr Stick is also principal investigator for the 1st intervention trial to prevent bronchiectasis in newborns diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (COMBAT CF).