Dr Nicola Smith / FRACP MBCHB BHB

(2010 - 2011)

Dr Nicola Smith undertook her Pleural Fellowship in 2010. Upon completion, she returned to New Zealand taking up a position as a Consultant Respiratory Physician at Wellington Hospital and is a Research Associate at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand. In Perth, she developed an interest in thoracic ultrasound and the management of malignant pleural effusion and pleural infection.

Since returning to New Zealand she has established a national training course in thoracic ultrasound and indwelling pleural catheters, and is a contributing author on a textbook on thoracic ultrasound. She has established a regional indwelling pleural catheter service, providing an alternative to talc pleurodesis for patient with malignant pleural effusions and introduced intrapleural TPA/DNase for treatment of empyema. Nicola has recently been awarded a prestigious Health Research Council Emerging Researcher Grant, as well as grants to undertake collaborative research with the SCGH Pleural Unit.