Auspire - Australia Day Council of Western Australia.

A paediatric anaesthesia researcher, Professor Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg’s Australian story is like many others. Following her training in Switzerland, Germany-born Britta left Europe with her husband to work Down Under for a year or two – and ended up staying. Since the move in 2006, Australia has offered her family some fantastic opportunities, including building a vibrant, productive, impactful paediatric anaesthesia research program in Perth.

Thanks to the support of Britta’s clinical colleagues and institutions, including the University of Western Australia and Perth Children’s Hospital, along with high-quality research evidence, she and her team have been able to see improvements in safety for children having anaesthesia.

“Paediatric anaesthesia is a high-risk specialty. It is often said to be akin to flying in that the times of highest risk are in the taking off (sending the child off to sleep under anaesthesia) and landing (waking them back up). My research on physiological changes during anaesthesia and management strategies for high-risk groups have made anaesthesia safer for children, particularly during these high-risk periods.”

Britta describes Australia as a land of “opportunity and possibilities” that not only encouraged her to stay, but to contribute in her own way.

“There is an optimism and willingness to try new things and explore new options. The sense of community that we experienced on arriving in Australia was a major reason for our decision to make it our permanent home. I feel a responsibility to make my own positive social impact to contribute to this sense of community. My patient-centred research has grown in recent years to include consumers of all ages, not just as participants, but as true collaborators involved in design and conduct of our studies. This has a positive social impact through empowering consumers and giving them a real voice, as well as improving the quality and translation of research outcomes.”

In November 2024, Britta was recognised for her contribution towards patient-focused care as a WA finalist in the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards, which she explains was an honour that she was able to celebrate with her research team and clinical team “who play major roles in my success”.

Britta’s hard work and inspiring impact continues to be felt at home and further afield, leading onto her aspirations for the future of paediatric anaesthesia research.

“I have been continuing with my research program and starting several new research trials at Perth Children’s Hospital. I have also established some exciting new research collaborations. For example, with a children’s hospital in Sao Paolo, Brazil, which opens up opportunities to conduct research and compare across our two very different health systems and societies.

“I am keen to build further on my team’s capacity in the emerging intersection of medical research and machine learning. We are lucky to have a secure research high performance computing system called MERLIN, kindly supported by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation. MERLIN is physically located in the Perth Children’s Hospital datacentre, and is capable of running and finetuning large language models. I am exploring collaborative projects with UWA computer scientists who are also researchers in The Institute for Paediatric Perioperative Excellence research projects on projects involving MERLIN and machine learning, but perhaps more excitingly, also involving robots!

“I want to continue to lead this world-leading team and ensure that Perth Children’s Hospital and Western Australia continue to punch above their weight in terms of paediatric anaesthesia research, so that we can continue to improve safety and care for children when they need anaesthesia for surgery.”

If you know someone like Britta who is making an extraordinary impact, nominate them for an Australian of the Year Award at australianoftheyear.org.au.