A/Prof Nicola Dean has always been commited to learning from her patients and embedding their wisdom into the development of services.   She is driven to providing empowering and equitable healthcare which is grounded in sound research-derived evidence.

Nicola qualified in Medicine in 1993 in Leeds, UK with an intercalated year in public health as a medical student having a significant influence on Nicola's work. She gained her FRCS(Eng) prior to moving to Australia.

Since migrating to Australia in 1998, Nicola completed a PhD relating to outcomes of post-mastectomy breast reconstruction (2001, University of Adelaide), and following completion of specialist training as a plastic surgeon (FRACS(Plas) 2007), set up a dedicated post-mastectomy breast reconstruction service.

Nicola holds a full-time position as a plastic surgeon at Flinders Medical  Centre, delivering evidence-based care to public-sector patients. She has held leadership positions as the President of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (2021 - 2023), International Representative on the Board of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2021/2) and on the editorial boards of the Oxford Textbook of Plastic Surgery, ANZ Journal of Surgery and the Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery. Nicola also chaired the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinical Committee of the MBS Review (2017 - 2019).

The themes of A/Prof Dean's research are the intersections of plastic and reconstructive surgery, patient-reported outcomes and clinical effectiveness.  An intercalated year in public health  had a significant influence on Nicola's work. 

Understanding outcomes of post-mastectomy breast reconstruction has been a major theme, with supervision of PhDs on Determinants of Breast Reconstruction Outcome (Dr Jia Miin Yip), Breast Reconstruction in Women with a High BMI (Dr Eugene Koh) and The Role of Autologous Fat Grafting in Breast Reconstruction (Dr Ben Howes). 

Supervising Dr Kyra Sierakowski in a PhD on measuring outcomes of hand surgery saw the development of a new high quality PROM - the HAND-Q with which clinicians can now have a much more detailed understanding of how hand surgery impacts their patients.

The health outcomes of breast reduction surgery for women with large, heavy breasts has been another major area for research. Women seeking this surgery often have their problems trivialised and healthcare funding is sometimes questioned. The PhD of Dr Tamara Crittenden on this topic provided strong evidence that women with macromastia suffer significant pain and functional impairment that is relieved by the surgery they request.  This information has assisted in reinforcing Commonwealth and State policy that breast reduction should be a funded procedure.

Another area where evidence for clinical effectiveness was lacking was for repair of established rectus diastasis (abdominal muscle split) following childbirth. The PhD of Dr Siobhan Fitzpatrick on Rectus Diastasis of Parity has shown conclusively that around one quarter have both a significant split of the abdominal muscles and disabling symptoms 12 months after giving birth and that surgery can be very effective.  This research work paralleled a change in Commonwealth healthcare funding policy to reinstate funding for women to have this sort of surgery.

Since 2022 a major focus of Nicola's work has been the health disadvantage experienced by people living with gender incongruence (trans people).  Along with Dr Kelsey Ireland she published a systematic review on the evidence for health benefit of gender affirming medical care in adults and was a co-author in the international field test of the GENDER-Q, a new PROM for trans individuals. She has brought together a new research group for research on the experience and outcomes of gender affirming surgery with a team including A/Prof Courtney Ryder, Dr Jia Miin Yip, Hester Lacey, Tamsin Anspach, Varo, Tracy Smart, Zac Cannell, Laura Sourdin and Phillipa van Essen. The strong lived-experience component of the group will ensure that the research will focus on the priorities of trans people themselves. Dr Hester Lacey is performing her PhD in gender affirming surgery, its experiences and outcomes.

• Feb 2016 Kyra Sierakowski - FMC Clinicians Trust Fund Scholarship
• Nov 2013 Dr Ben Howes - FMC Clinicians Trust Fund Scholarship

• The Role of Autologous Fat Grafting in Breast Reconstruction (1)

• Determinants of outcome in post-mastectomy breast reconstruction (1)