Adjunct Professor
Louise Cullen
Faculty of Health,
School of Medicine
Biography
Professor Louise Cullen is Director of Research and Innovation and a Pre-Eminent Staff Specialist in the Emergency and Trauma Centre, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH). A clinical trialist and outcomes researcher in acute disease and cardiac biomarkers, she provides clinical care as an emergency physician in Brisbane and is enthusiastically involved in the translation of research through clinical redesign and innovation. She is an acute disease researcher at the Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation, QUT and the School of Medicine, The University of Queensland. Louise is an international expert in cardiac biomarkers, with membership on international acute cardiac disease committees and an advisory role to industry.Louise’s research focuses on the diagnosis and management of patients presenting to the emergency department with possible acute coronary syndromes, and on strategies that improve efficiency while maintaining patient safety. She has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications, including in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet, and has led state-wide reform of emergency practice across Queensland. Her mantra is that “you do not do research for research’s sake” — translation into changed clinical practice is central to her work. Her research has influenced the European Society of Cardiology (2020) and American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (2021) chest pain guidelines. She co-authored the 2016 National Heart Foundation/Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand guidelines and co-chaired the 2025 revision.
Personal details
Positions
- Principal Research Fellow
Faculty of Health,
School of Medicine
Research field
Public health
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- MBBS (Honours) (University of Queensland)
Professional memberships and associations
Fellow, Australasian College for Emergency Medicine
Fellow, European Society of Cardiology
Faculty Member, Acute Cardiovascular Care Association, European Society of Cardiology
Member, Biomarker Study Group, Acute Cardiovascular Care Association, European Society of Cardiology
Member, Committee on Clinical Applications of Cardiac Bio-Markers (C-CB), International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
Associate Member, Australasian Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine
Member, EMCREG-International Steering Committee
Member, GREAT Association (Global Research on Acute conditions Team)
Teaching
Higher degree research supervision: 5 PhD, 4 Masters and 3 Honours students (completed)
Experience
Guidelines and clinical standards
- Member, Acute Coronary Syndromes Clinical Care Standard Update, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, from 2026
- Co-Chair, 2025 Acute Coronary Syndrome Guidelines, National Heart Foundation of Australia and Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, 2021-2025
- Chair, Chest Pain Working Group, and Steering Committee member, National Heart Foundation Guidelines Update, 2014-2016
- Honorary Consultant, Acute Coronary Syndromes Capability Framework, National Heart Foundation of Australia, 2014-2015
Editorial and peer review
- Editorial Board, Circulation, from 2016
- Editorial Board, Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2021
- Invited Guest Editor, Clinical Chemistry special edition on cardiac biomarkers, 2017
- Editorial Committee, Emergencias, journal of the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine, 2015-2017
- Reviewer for up to fifty articles a year for journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, BMJ and the Medical Journal of Australia, from 2010
- Grant reviewer for Heart Research UK, KU Leuven, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Heart Foundation (New Zealand) and the Queensland Emergency Medicine Research Foundation
Health service leadership and committees
- Chair, Clinical Improvement and Innovation Working Group, and ex-officio member, Queensland Emergency Department Strategic Advisory Panel, 2020-2023
- Professional Lead, PRomoting Value-based care in Emergency Departments (PROV-ED), Queensland Health Clinical Redesign Project, 2019-2023
- Clinical Lead, Accelerated Chest-pain Risk Evaluation (ACRE), Queensland Health Clinical Redesign Project, 2012-2019
- Board Member, Emergency Medicine Foundation, 2014-2015
- Board Member, Queensland Emergency Medicine Research Foundation, 2014-2015
- RBWH Research Council, committee member, 2017-2020
Media and public engagement
- CSANZ Go: Update on the 2025 National Heart Foundation ACS Guidelines, August 2025
- Emergency Medicine Foundation: Interview, June 2025
- Channel 9 News and Metro North Health, November 2023
- EMCrit Podcast: International emergency medicine podcast, February 2020
- Daily Mail Online: New test for detecting heart attacks, September 2019
- Pomegranate Health Podcast Episode 35: Acute Coronary Syndrome Part 1 — Diagnosis, May 2018
- ABC Radio National Health Report: Rethinking cannulation, February 2018
- MJA Podcast Episode 52: Accelerated chest pain protocols (Part 2), September 2017
- Queensland Country Life: New tool helps rural patients with chest pain, September 2017
- Brisbane News: In a heartbeat — cardiac patients reap real-life benefits of doctor's research, March 2016
- QWeekend: Queensland's Best and Brightest 2015, December 2015
- ABC Radio: Rapid assessment of chest pain in the emergency department, March 2015
- Save Your Life Tonight, ABC1: speakers panel, "Heart Beat" episode, January 2014
- ABC TV Queensland and ABC Radio: ACRE project, November 2013
Publications
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/l2.cullen