Some of the world's leading medical experts are in Queenstown for the second International Trauma Conference, which begins today and runs until Thursday.
It will cover aspects of trauma medicine through academic sessions, discussion groups and workshops.
The conference will be opened tonight by Associate Prof Gregory Bain, a member of the Australian Hand Surgery Society and former president of the Australian Shoulder and Elbow Society and the South Australian Hand Society.
Associate Prof Tony Pohl, Royal Adelaide Hospital Orthopaedic Trauma director and Assoc Prof at Adelaide University's Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma, will also be speaking.
Prof Pohl has received the Mark Bonnin Prize nine times since 1990; has received the Stephen Cole The Elder Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2001; and in 2008 was awarded the inaugural Derek Frewin Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching.
Among the speakers are two doctors with military experience.
Peter Bautz is an emergency surgeon as well as the trauma and general surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and a trauma surgeon in the Australian Army Reserve.
The South African trauma-trained surgeon specialises in penetrating trauma, damage control surgery, abdominal sepsis and is involved in surgical and operative trauma training.
Craig Jurisevic obtained his medical degree from the University of Adelaide in 1990 and is now a cardiothoracic and trauma surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
He also serves as a trauma surgeon with the 3rd Health Support Battalion, Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, where he has served in East Timor and Afghanistan.
Before that he worked in several other conflict zones, including Albania and Kosovo in 1999 and Israel and Gaza in 1992-93.
Mr Jurisevic described his experiences in Kosovo in a recently published book Blood On My Hands, which will be the subject of his keynote speech on Wednesday night.
