Michele C Balas joined The Ohio State University College of Nursing in June, 2013. Prior, she held an appointment as an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a former John A. Hartford Foundation Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Predoctoral Scholar and Post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Balas’ research career focuses on developing and testing interventions aimed at improving the cognitive, functional, and quality of life outcomes of critically ill older adults. She has extensive experience forming, leading and working with interprofessional teams in both clinical practice and practice-based research and recently co-led a study supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative.

Brian Cuthbertson is Chief of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Professor in the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is also an Honorary Professor of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Aberdeen and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the George Institute of Global Health in Sydney. His research interests include improving outcomes from critical illness and major surgery. He has over 125 peer-reviewed publications and $17million of research grants as well as playing a leading role in a number of key clinical guidelines.

Dr E Wesley Ely, MD, MPH is a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Associate Director of Aging Research for the TN-Valley VA GRECC, with subspecialty training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and a particular passion for care of older critically ill patients. His research has focused on improving the care and outcomes of critically ill patients with sepsis and respiratory failure, with special emphasis on the problems facing older patients in the ICU (e.g., weaning from mechanical ventilation, delirium and cognitive impairment in the ICU, neuropsychological deficits post ICU care, and quality of death in the ICU). Dr Ely has over 300 peer reviewed articles. As the founder of the Vanderbilt ICU Delirium and Cognitive Impairment Study Group, he currently serves as the principal investigator for ongoing clinical trials in sedation and delirium and post-ICU cognitive impairment. Dr Ely designs and leads a team of investigators in conducting both large cohort studies and randomized controlled clinical trials seeking both better understanding and management of critically ill patients in the ICU. He has recently had other reflective writing publications in the Wall Street Journal and in medical journals including JAMA and the Annals of Internal Medicine. He has been awarded membership into the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) medical honor society, the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the Association of American Physicians (AAP).

Professor Reade is an intensivist / anaesthetist and clinician scientist in the Australian Defence Force, seconded to the University of Queensland and the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital to lead a program of research relevant to military trauma medicine and to guide the implementation of modern trauma care into ADF practice. In his military clinical role, he holds the rank of Colonel and is the Director of Clinical Services of the Australian Regular Army’s only field hospital. He has completed eight overseas operational deployments since commissioning as an Army officer in 1989, most recently to Iraq in 2015 and 2016. Professor Reade’s Oxford DPhil examined the molecular pathogenesis of septic shock, while his postdoctoral research fellowship focussed on clinical trials and large observational datasets. His current research interests are fluid resuscitation and coagulopathy in trauma, the effects of blood transfusion (including large clinical trials of cryopreserved blood products and tranexamic acid), and the management of delirium. He recently completed the 15-hospital DahLIA trial assessing dexmedetomidine treatment for agitated delirium in the ICU. He holds or contributes to research grants totalling >A$12M, has published >100 peer-reviewed papers and has delivered >140 lectures at national and international conferences.

Shehabi is a Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University and Program Medical Director Critical Care Services, Monash Health in Melbourne. Professor Intensive Care Medicine, Clinical School of Medicine, The University of New South Wales in Sydney - Australia. Professor Shehabi research interest focus on ICU sedation, delirium, biomarkers of sepsis and acute kidney injury. He is the Chief Investigator of the Sedation Practice in Intensive Care Evaluation (SPICE) Program with focus on Early Goal Directed Sedation.

Leonie Weisbrodt has worked in Critical Care since registering as a nurse in 1986. She completed her Master of Nursing (Hons) with a thesis titled “Exploring daily sedation interruption in ventilated patients: A pilot, double-blind randomised controlled trial” in 2008 and has an ongoing interest in the promotion of comfort and safety in mechanically ventilated patients. Leonie is the National Vice President of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses and is a reviewer for their journal, Australian Critical Care.