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Clinical Directors
Sara Tayeh and Jessica Underwood completed their training as Clinical Cardiovascular Perfusionists here in Australia. Their experience in clinical perfusion includes full initiation, conduct and cessation of cardiopulmonary bypass during open heart, minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery, hemodynamic monitoring, hemoconcentration of circulating blood volume, maintenance of hyper- and hypo- thermia, as well as deep hypothermic circulatory arrest techniques and support of patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). They each have experience in novel perfusion technologies such as, intra-peritoneal chemotherapy lavage treatment, intra-aortic balloon pump counter pulsation, auto-transfusion for cardiac, orthopaedic, cosmetic, and obstetric surgery and inter-hospital patient retrieval and transport.
Sara and Jessica have worked at three of the largest public hospitals in Victoria, as well as five of the major private hospitals offering cardiac surgery. Due to this wide spread experience, Sara and Jessica have a broad scope of knowledge and have worked with many of the pre-eminent cardiac surgeons in Melbourne.
Both Directors have experience with ISO9001 systems and the development of safety protocols for cardiovascular perfusion, incident reporting and risk management, as well as clinical experience in ISO9001 accredited perfusion safety monitoring systems and circuit designs. Sara and Jessica are also engaged in cardiac surgical audits and morbidity and mortality reviews.
Furthermore, Sara and Jessica have been heavily involved in multiple perfusion research projects.
SARA TAYEH
BBms, BPham, G.Dip.CardTech, MBA, CCP, FANZCP
Before becoming a Perfusionist Sara completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and a Bachelor of Pharmacy with honours. Sara followed this with a Graduate Diploma of Cardiac Technology and Master of Business Administration.
In addition to this, Sara has a very strong research background and has presented both nationally and internationally. Most recently Sara has completed a project on ‘The analysis of phthalates in perfusion cannula’ where she collaborated with experts from RMIT University in the development of a highly significant paper that has been submitted to a leading medical journal for publication. Sara subsequently presented this work at the ANZCP Annual Scientific Meeting and received the prestigious ‘Medtronic Scientific Encouragement Award’ for her work. Sara is now expanding upon this body of work with her current research titled ‘Are phalates in cardiopulmonary bypass cannulas the cause of ‘new’ atrial fibrillation in cardiac patients?’.
Sara is also involved in the research and development of novel medical devices and is responsible for the education and training of cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anaethetists and nurses on novel cardiothoracic devices.
JESSICA UNDERWOOD
BBns, MS (Perfusion), MBA, CCP, FANZCP
Prior to commencing her training in perfusion, Jessica completed a Bachelor of Behavioural Neuroscience, followed by a Master of Science in Cardiovascular Perfusion and a Master of Business Administration. Jessica has also dedicated several years to the National Adult and Paediatric Heart-Lung Transplant Service at The Alfred Hospital, including involvement in the novel XVIVO donor organ perfusion program. Furthermore, Jessica has extensive proficiency in the use of the latest perfusion equipment. More specifically, the newly released Quantum Heart Lung Machines, as well as a variety of Ventricular Assist Devices, including temporary RVADs, LVADs, BiVADs and durable devices such as, HeartMate II, HeartMate 3 and Heartware. Moreover, during her time spent at The Alfred Hospital she has also gained experience in complex procedures, including but not limited to her participation in The Alfred Hospital’s National PTE Program which provides pulmonary thrombo-endarterectomies for patients suffering from chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Jessica has also enjoyed donating her skills and expertise to the adult and paediatric community of Suva where she travelled with a cardiothoracic team from Australia, as part of a medical mission, to provide adult and paediatric cardiac surgical procedures to approximately 70 patients. Most recently, Jessica co-authored a specialist chapter for the textbook 'Cardiopulmonary Bypass 3rd Ed’, in collaboration with Cambridge University.