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Dr Jon Fanning

ATH - Associate Professor

Prince Charles Hospital Northside Clinical Unit
Faculty of Medicine
j.fanning@uq.edu.au

Overview

I am a dedicated clinician with 15 years experience in clinical medicine including specialist training in Anaesthesia, Intensive care and Neurology. Passionate about advancing clinical research and advocating for clinician-researchers, I balance research leadership, teaching and mentoring alongside my own research and active medical practice.

My research portfolio is diverse. I am most passionate about harm minimisation (especially neurological injury) in operative and critical care settings.

To achieve this, bringing together expertise from different disciplines is key to innovativce discovery and advancing perioperative medicine and research. To this end, I invest considerable effort in building research capacity through collaboration with national and international research institutions, recruit and supervise senior scientisists, clinician-researchers and top PhD and MPhil students.

Research Impacts

As lead investigator for both perioperative and neurological research within the Critical Care Research Group my contribution has been intellectual, technical and logistical. I have assembled a multidisciplinary team of local and international healthcare, basic science and statistical experts and sourced (as Chief Investigator A or equivalent) over $1M in competitive funding towards this area of research.

Research to date has resulted: 1) improved surgical / anaesthetic risk prediction; 2) improved techniques (procedural and prosthesis related) during cardiac surgery / intervention); 3) novel strategies for analysing brain perfusion and blood flow; and 4) first descriptions of brain signatures using advanced imaging strategies. Direct clinical translation is evidenced by authorship of and citations in major national and international guidelines and expert consensus statements.

Qualifications

  • Fellow of the Aus & NZ College of Anaesthetists
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Science, The University of Queensland

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

  • Novel neuroimaging biomarkers for defending cerebral perfusion during noncardiac surgery

    Master Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • Optimising intraoperative coagulation management for precision vascular surgery

    Overview:

    Vascular clamping, interruption of in-line laminar flow and exposure of blood to artificial surfaces, air and prothrombotic layers of the vascular wall all make vascular surgery one of the most prothrombotic settings in medicine, necessitating anticoagulation to avoid thrombotic burden, morbidity and mortality. Except among patients with known drug allergies, bolus dosing of intravenous unfractionated heparin (UFH) is universally selected as the anticoagulation of choice and is initiated immediately prior to arterial clamping. Precision care is essential to optimise the risk/benefit of its use. However, in practice, heparin use and reversal is a concerningly inexact science. This prospective, observational study has been designed explicitly to provide robust, impartial and industry-free data: (1) to accurately model the the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of UFH boluses and maintenance dosing, and protamine reversal; and, (2) to assess how the anticoagulant effect is monitored with latest iteration viscoelastic haemostatic assay/s (VHA/s), so as to improve the precision of intraoperative care and optimise the risk/benefit balance associated with their use.

    Objectives:

    Aim 1: Accurately model the PK/PD of IV UFH and protamine in vascular surgery to improve the precision of care and optimise the risk/benefit balance associated with anticoagulant use.

    Aim 2: To evaluate the validity of the two-clinically relevant, latest iteration VHA's during heparin use to provide vital information for coagulopathy monitoring and management.

    Study methodology:

    This is a prospective, observational study of 100 patients undergoing elective vascular surgery requiring intraoperative anticoagulation at tertiary hospitals in Brisbane. Serial blood samples will be concurrently measured for drug level, laboratory coagulation panels, TEG6s and ROTEMSigma parameters to allow accurate pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling of intravenous antithrombotics

    Outcomes and significance:

    1. Addresses an area of need: This detailed ‘real-world’ assessment and analysis of heparin dosing and effects will standardise perioperative heparin use to improve the precision of patient management.

    2. Directly influence a sizeable patient population: In 2017, over 2,000 surgeries requiring intravenous heparinisation were performed at TPCH, including 1,000 major vascular/hybrid procedures. As a major surgical hospital, TPCH has an obligation to advance the perioperative care of patients and ensure that best practice are employed to negotiate a safe perioperative period.

    3. Be immediately translatable into improved clinical practice. We will ise these data to formulate precise antithrombotic recommendationsand best practice clinical guidelines.

    4. Reduce the economic and social burdens of preventable surgical complications: the occurrence of potentially-preventable surgical complications is an important health economics burden for health systems and diminishes community confidence in the service provided.

    Funding:

    Funding obtained.

  • Individualised haemodynamic optimisation informed by the lower limit of cerebral autoregulation

    Background:

    Intraoperative hypotension (IOH) reportedly complicates between 35 - 85% of surgeries. Large observational studies demonstrate that even brief mild IOH below a mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) of 65mmHg are associated with perioperative organ ischaemia and injury (e.g., stroke, acute kidney injury, myocardial infarction). Due to its exquisite sensitivity to hypoperfusion and ischaemia the brain is considered the index organ of acceptable MAP threshold. Cerebral autoregulatory mechanisms maintain stable blood flow in the face of perfusion pressure changes reduction and determine the critical threshold below which vessel dilation cannot compensate for reduced MAP. Pre-clinical data show that this lower limit of cerebral autoregulation (LLA) can be measured using novel mathematical analysis and advanced non-invasive optical measurement of cerebral haemodynamics and metabolism with near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Translation and optimization of this to the clinical setting to provide real-time feedback to the anaesthetist and individual optimization of patient blood pressure will be a practice changing development.

    Aims:

    The aim of this study is to translate and optimize a novel measure of the LLA using NIRS in a non-cardiac surgical population to test its feasibility for individualizing MAP targets to prevent IOH and associated morbidity and mortality.

    Study methodology:

    This is a prospective observational study of 100 adult patients undergoing non-cardiothoracic elective surgery under general anaesthesia with invasive arterial monitoring at major tertiary hospitals in Brisbane. In addition to the routine standard of care and monitoring, bilateral NIRS optodes (INVOS, Medtronic) will be attached prior to induction and continuously recorded in a time-stamped manner in conjunction with other routinely monitored physiological parameters.

    Outcomes and Significance of the project:

    This study has the potential to substantially alter how we think about and individualise intraoperative blood pressure management to minimise IOH and associated morbidity and mortality.

    The rich dataset obtained will: i) validate and optimise novel analysis techniques for the determination of LLA; ii) provide one of the largest repositories of data on cerebral autoregulatory limits in the general population undergoing surgery; and iii) determine associations with clinical/biochemical correlates of organ ischaemia. These data will form a platform for clinical guideline development and then be used to train and evaluate a convolutional neural network (CNN) for near real-time automated LLA analysis and ultimately inform the development of a prototype point-of-care cerebral autoregulation monitor.

    Funding:

    Funding obtained.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Featured Publications

Book Chapter

  • Brain injury in cardiopulmonary bypass

    Ramponi, Fabio, Hon, Kay, Seco, Michael, Fanning, Jonathon Paul, Bannon, Paul G., Kritharides, Leonard, Puskas, John D. and Vallely, Michael P. (2023). Brain injury in cardiopulmonary bypass. Cardiopulmonary Bypass. (pp. 659-673) Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-443-18918-0.00043-7

  • List of contributors: volume I

    Adademir, Taylan, Altaş, Özge, Anastasiadis, Kyriakos, Antonitsis, Polychronis, Argiriadou, Helena, Athanasiou, Thanos, Avgerinos, Dimitrios V., Bannon, Paul G., Bates, Michael J., Baysal, Pınar Karaca, Baş, Tolga, Benk, Christoph, Bernabei, Annalisa, Bertolin, Stephanie, Bouchez, Stefaan, Boyd, Walter Doug, Can, Mehmet, Çankaya, Nuray, Carrel, Thierry, Çekmecelioğlu, Davut, Chitwood, W. Randolph, Cibin, Giorgia, Clark, Stephen, Cooper, John R., Coselli, Joseph S., Dan, Yongwook, De Piero, Maria Elena, De Somer, Filip M.J.J., Deliopoulos, Apostolos ... Zamvar, Vipin (2023). List of contributors: volume I. Cardiopulmonary Bypass. (pp. xxxv-xxxix) Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-443-18918-0.00096-6

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Neurological manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019: a comprehensive review

    Fanning, Jonathon, Huth, Samuel, Cho, Sung-Min, Robba, Chiara, Highton, David, Battaglini, Denise, Bellapart-Rubio, Judith, Suen, Jacky, Bassi, Gianluigi Li, Taccone, Fabio, Arora, Rakesh, Whitman, Glenn and Fraser, John (2021). Neurological manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019: a comprehensive review. ANZAN Annual Scientific Meeting 2021, February 2021, 20-21 November 2021. London, United Kingdom: BMJ Group. doi: 10.1136/bmjno-2021-anzan.1

  • Neuron specific enolase and matrix metaloproteinase 9 signal silent brain infarction associated with TAVI

    Fanning, Jonathon P., Hoe, See Louise E., Passmore, Margaret R., Barnett, Adrian G., Obonyo, Nchafatso G., Millar, Jonathan E., Suen, Jacky Y. and Fraser, John F. (2018). Neuron specific enolase and matrix metaloproteinase 9 signal silent brain infarction associated with TAVI. Philadelphia, PA, United States: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

  • Packed red cell age associated with adverse cardiovascular changes in an ovine model of septic shock resuscitation

    Fanning, Jonathon P., Obonyo, Nchafatso G., Tung, John-Paul, Byrne, Liam, Simonova, Gabriela, Diab, Sara, Dunster, Kimble, Passmore, Margaret, Boon, Ai-Ching, Hoe, See Louise, Engkilde-Pedersen, Sanne, Esguerra-Lallen, Arlanna, Fauzi, Hashairi Mohd, Pretti, Pimenta Leticia, Millar, Jonathan, Anstey, Christopher, van Haren, Frank, Cullen, Louise, Suen, Jacky, Shekar, Kiran, Maitland, Kathryn and Fraser, John (2018). Packed red cell age associated with adverse cardiovascular changes in an ovine model of septic shock resuscitation. -, -, 2018. Philadelphia, PA United States: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

  • Topographical distribution of cerebral infarction associated with Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI)

    Fanning, J., Wesley, A., Walters, D., Wong, A. and Fraser, J. (2016). Topographical distribution of cerebral infarction associated with Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI). Annual Conference of the Asia Pacific Stroke Organization (APSO) Combined with Stroke Society of Australasia, Brisbane, Qld, Australia, 14-17 July 2016. Basel, Switzerland: S. Karger. doi: 10.1159/000447732

  • Characterisation of neurological injury in the modern era of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)

    Fanning, J., Walters, D., Wesley, A., Clarke, A., O'Sullivan, C., Strugnell, W. and Fraser, J. (2015). Characterisation of neurological injury in the modern era of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting and the International Society for Heart Research Australasian Section Annual Scientific Meeting, Australia, 13-16 August 2015. Chatswood, NSW Australia: Elsevier . doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2015.06.366

  • Comparison of new brain infarction associated with isolated aortic valve surgeries

    Fanning, Jonathon P., Clarke, Andrew J., Platts, David G., O'Sullivan, Cliona, Walters, Darren L. and Fraser, John F. (2015). Comparison of new brain infarction associated with isolated aortic valve surgeries. Australia and New Zealand Society of Cardio-thoracic Surgeons’ Annual Scientific Meeting, Gold Coast, QLD Australia, 9-12 November 2014. Chatswood, NSW Australia: Elsevier . doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2014.12.041

Other Outputs

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Novel neuroimaging biomarkers for defending cerebral perfusion during noncardiac surgery

    Master Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • Optimising intraoperative coagulation management for precision vascular surgery

    Overview:

    Vascular clamping, interruption of in-line laminar flow and exposure of blood to artificial surfaces, air and prothrombotic layers of the vascular wall all make vascular surgery one of the most prothrombotic settings in medicine, necessitating anticoagulation to avoid thrombotic burden, morbidity and mortality. Except among patients with known drug allergies, bolus dosing of intravenous unfractionated heparin (UFH) is universally selected as the anticoagulation of choice and is initiated immediately prior to arterial clamping. Precision care is essential to optimise the risk/benefit of its use. However, in practice, heparin use and reversal is a concerningly inexact science. This prospective, observational study has been designed explicitly to provide robust, impartial and industry-free data: (1) to accurately model the the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of UFH boluses and maintenance dosing, and protamine reversal; and, (2) to assess how the anticoagulant effect is monitored with latest iteration viscoelastic haemostatic assay/s (VHA/s), so as to improve the precision of intraoperative care and optimise the risk/benefit balance associated with their use.

    Objectives:

    Aim 1: Accurately model the PK/PD of IV UFH and protamine in vascular surgery to improve the precision of care and optimise the risk/benefit balance associated with anticoagulant use.

    Aim 2: To evaluate the validity of the two-clinically relevant, latest iteration VHA's during heparin use to provide vital information for coagulopathy monitoring and management.

    Study methodology:

    This is a prospective, observational study of 100 patients undergoing elective vascular surgery requiring intraoperative anticoagulation at tertiary hospitals in Brisbane. Serial blood samples will be concurrently measured for drug level, laboratory coagulation panels, TEG6s and ROTEMSigma parameters to allow accurate pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling of intravenous antithrombotics

    Outcomes and significance:

    1. Addresses an area of need: This detailed ‘real-world’ assessment and analysis of heparin dosing and effects will standardise perioperative heparin use to improve the precision of patient management.

    2. Directly influence a sizeable patient population: In 2017, over 2,000 surgeries requiring intravenous heparinisation were performed at TPCH, including 1,000 major vascular/hybrid procedures. As a major surgical hospital, TPCH has an obligation to advance the perioperative care of patients and ensure that best practice are employed to negotiate a safe perioperative period.

    3. Be immediately translatable into improved clinical practice. We will ise these data to formulate precise antithrombotic recommendationsand best practice clinical guidelines.

    4. Reduce the economic and social burdens of preventable surgical complications: the occurrence of potentially-preventable surgical complications is an important health economics burden for health systems and diminishes community confidence in the service provided.

    Funding:

    Funding obtained.

  • Individualised haemodynamic optimisation informed by the lower limit of cerebral autoregulation

    Background:

    Intraoperative hypotension (IOH) reportedly complicates between 35 - 85% of surgeries. Large observational studies demonstrate that even brief mild IOH below a mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) of 65mmHg are associated with perioperative organ ischaemia and injury (e.g., stroke, acute kidney injury, myocardial infarction). Due to its exquisite sensitivity to hypoperfusion and ischaemia the brain is considered the index organ of acceptable MAP threshold. Cerebral autoregulatory mechanisms maintain stable blood flow in the face of perfusion pressure changes reduction and determine the critical threshold below which vessel dilation cannot compensate for reduced MAP. Pre-clinical data show that this lower limit of cerebral autoregulation (LLA) can be measured using novel mathematical analysis and advanced non-invasive optical measurement of cerebral haemodynamics and metabolism with near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Translation and optimization of this to the clinical setting to provide real-time feedback to the anaesthetist and individual optimization of patient blood pressure will be a practice changing development.

    Aims:

    The aim of this study is to translate and optimize a novel measure of the LLA using NIRS in a non-cardiac surgical population to test its feasibility for individualizing MAP targets to prevent IOH and associated morbidity and mortality.

    Study methodology:

    This is a prospective observational study of 100 adult patients undergoing non-cardiothoracic elective surgery under general anaesthesia with invasive arterial monitoring at major tertiary hospitals in Brisbane. In addition to the routine standard of care and monitoring, bilateral NIRS optodes (INVOS, Medtronic) will be attached prior to induction and continuously recorded in a time-stamped manner in conjunction with other routinely monitored physiological parameters.

    Outcomes and Significance of the project:

    This study has the potential to substantially alter how we think about and individualise intraoperative blood pressure management to minimise IOH and associated morbidity and mortality.

    The rich dataset obtained will: i) validate and optimise novel analysis techniques for the determination of LLA; ii) provide one of the largest repositories of data on cerebral autoregulatory limits in the general population undergoing surgery; and iii) determine associations with clinical/biochemical correlates of organ ischaemia. These data will form a platform for clinical guideline development and then be used to train and evaluate a convolutional neural network (CNN) for near real-time automated LLA analysis and ultimately inform the development of a prototype point-of-care cerebral autoregulation monitor.

    Funding:

    Funding obtained.

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

operations, anaesthesia, intensive care, neurology, brain

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

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ORCID: 0000-0002-1675-0522

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