معرفی
Professor Michelle Barakat-Johnson is a full-time Professor of Wound Care and Skin Integrity at the University of Sydney’s Sydney Nursing School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, and concurrently serves as Skin Integrity Lead for Sydney Local Health District. Over two decades she has built an internationally recognised program that translates evidence into policy and practice, securing more than AUD 9 million in competitive grants since 2019 and leading multi-centre trials enrolling >2,000 patients.
Education & qualifications:
- PhD research program: “Getting to the bottom of hospital-acquired pressure injuries in one local health district” – University of Sydney (implementation-science thesis spanning four hospitals, >1,000 nurses & 1,500 patients).
Research focus:
Her work integrates implementation science, health economics and digital innovation to drive measurable reductions in pressure injuries, incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) and chronic wounds. Key strands include:
- Large-scale translational trials (HAPI & IMBED programs) that achieved 51% drop in pressure-injury incidence and 36% reduction in IAD prevalence across health districts.
- AI-enabled wound tools: led validation of Tissue Analytics app and creation of the first Australian Nurse-led Wound Care Command Centre, cutting patient wait-times from 13 days to 2 hours and saving >$1.1 M in 14 months.
- State-wide policy impact: toolkit adopted by NSW Clinical Excellence Commission; chairs NSW Wound Care & Skin Integrity Working Group for the Single Digital Patient Record.
Scientific awards & honours:
- Federal Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazer 2025
- European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel Early Investigator Award 2024
- NSW Premier’s Award – Highest Quality Healthcare 2024 (Wound Care Command Centre)
- University of Sydney Alumni Graduate Medal for Research Excellence 2020
- Rita & John Cornforth Medal for Research Excellence
- NSW Health Nursing & Midwifery Excellence in Innovation Award 2019
Grants & funding leadership:
- Chief Investigator on six competitively funded Q1 grants since 2019; Lead CI on four.
- 2025 FMH Start-up Scheme; 2024 NHMRC Partnership Project “ENABLE” (digital wound model of care); 2023 MRFF “VATICAN”; 2022 MRFF Rapid Applied Research Translation; 2019 TRGS “IMBED”.
Teaching & supervision:
She currently supervises two HDR students investigating digital wound-care models and virtual care in aged settings, and leads coursework development for a flexible APAC wound-care program targeting undergraduate, postgraduate and professional-development sectors.
