Prof Dianne Stephens OAM graduated from University of Melbourne Medical School in 1988, completed Fellowships in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine and moved to Darwin in 1998 as the first ICU Specialist in the Northern Territory and inaugural Director of Royal Darwin Hospital Intensive Care Unit.  As Director of ICU at RDH from 1998 to 2016, Prof Stephens provided leadership in best practice clinical care for the critically ill of the Northern Territory, built a research program, started an organ donation agency and contributed passionately to improving patient care throughout the hospital system. Her research interests include sepsis, melioidosis, critical illness, renal disease, Indigenous critical illness outcomes, communicating well with patients and families, and disaster medicine. In 2016 she took her family to live in Fiji for a sabbatical year teaching ICU medicine through Fiji National University and returned to Darwin in 2017 into the role of Medical Director of the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) drawing on her disaster medicine experience with the Bali Bombings, deployment into Iraq with the RAAF and working through Cyclone Winston in Fiji. Prof Stephens held NT Health leadership roles during the COVID 19 pandemic and now leads the academic and research partnerships portfolio for the NCCTRC including the development of postgraduate courses in aeromedical retrieval and health emergency preparedness and response at Charles Darwin University. In January 2022 Prof Stephens commenced in the role of Foundation Dean of the CDU Menzies School of Medicine.