SPEAKERS

Associate Professor Simon Mitchell

Simon is an anaesthesiologist and diving physician. His diving career has spanned many disciplines including sport, scientific, commercial, and military diving. He remains an avid diver, and uses rebreathers to pursue his interest in deep wrecks and photography.

Simon has devoted much of his career to diving medicine and has treated more than 400 cases of decompression illness. His PhD research addressed embolic brain injury, and he is widely published in the international diving medical literature. He recently co-authored the second edition of "Deeper into Diving" with John Lippmann and co-authored 2 chapters on decompression illness in the most recent edition of Bennett and Elliott. He is a previous Vice President of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (UHMS), and Chairman of the Society's Diving Committee. In 2010 he received the Albert R. Behnke Award, the society's highest award for contributions to diving science. Simon's current research interests include the pathophysiology and treatment of decompression illness and, in particular, the pathophysiology of inner ear decompression illness. He is also interested in the incorporation of CO2 monitoring in closed circuit rebreathers, and the use of checklists to improve safety in the operating room and during diving.