Doctor Penelope Burns

Penny Burns is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of General Practice and has worked for over 20 years in urban and rural general practice; most recently in inner Sydney general practice. She has worked in disaster medicine at UWS over the last 4 years.

Reflecting her interests, Penny has appointments as the Deputy Chair of the newly formed RACGP Disaster Management Special Interest Group; as a member of the NSW Mental Health Disaster Advisory Committee; and on the steering committee of the Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma Loss and Grief Network. 

Penny has a wide range of teaching and research interests predominantly based around the role of primary care in disaster medicine; innovation in online blended learning and teaching in postgraduate education; human factors in tunnel evacuations (in collaboration with the Sydney Harbour Tunnel Authority); the effect of animal ownership on human safety in disasters; evaluation of the first cohort of UWS graduates assessing their perceptions of the contribution of the UWS medical course to their current work and to their career choices; and in undergraduate medical student teaching. 

Penny is particularly interested in the use of technology to improve outcomes in learning. In her recent role as GP Fellow with the Disaster Response and Resilience Research Group at the University of Western Sydney, she coordinated the development of the Surveillance and Disaster Planning Unit in the Masters of Public Health since its inception in 2009. This included providing staff training and course development, with ongoing evaluation and revision of the course, from face-to-face delivery, to full online delivery and assessment. There has been increasing use of e-learning with development of the course and it is currently delivered and assessed fully online, with the final assessment delivered as an online disaster which students manage in groups as it rolls out over several days. Evaluation of the course by students has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic and positive.

Penny graduated from the University of Newcastle in the second cohort in 1984 and undertook three years training in paediatrics at the Sydney Children’s Hospital, before deciding on general practice. She has worked extensively in general practice in Australia and in Papua New Guinea. She has also worked in hospital medicine in Columbia and the USA. In Australia she has worked with the Royal Flying Doctor Service based in Cairns; in Aboriginal Medical Services in Redfern and in Yarrabah Northern Queensland; and in Family Planning in Queensland and NSW. In PNG she has worked as a GP in private practice, in Port Moresby General Hospital and in remote district hospitals and clinics.

Research / Teaching Expertise:

Role of Primary Care in Disaster Management

Innovative Blended Learning in Disaster Education

Teaching in Medical Education

Children and Family Health

Human Factors in the Safety of Built Tunnel Environments

Effect of Animal Management on Humans in Disasters

Disaster Management in Papua New Guinea

This information has been contributed by Doctor Burns.