General News
20 June, 2025
Smith contributes to global burns research
Bealiba resident Sue Smith has made a noticeable contribution to shaping global burns care with the recently published Priorities in Global Burns Research.
After being severely burned when she was three years old when she accidentally fell into an open wood fire, Ms Smith has been motivated to use her life story to create positive change surrounding burns awareness.
As a member of the Australian and New Zealand Burns Association (ANZBA) Consumer Advisory Group, Ms Smith was invited to the Global Burns Injury Workshop which included burns survivors and health professionals.
Led by the University of Bristol and facilitated by the James Lind Alliance, the project continues the work of the late Professor Amber Young, who dedicated her work to improving burns care globally.
“Personally, it was an honour and a privilege, for someone from a small little town in Australia to be chosen, it’s very humbling,” Ms Smith said.
“To make a difference in the burns space is very exciting, I feel very passionate about it and very happy to be involved in ANZBA as they give us lots of opportunities to help others.
“To carry on the vision of Amber Young who unfortunately passed away before she could see results was wonderful, she was very passionate about being involved in helping people with burns.”
Ms Smith was one of 28 people from 15 different countries at the workshop discussing the top 10 Priorities in Global Burns Research.
They indicated early burns management, psychological impact, scar treatment, pain and anxiety as well as stigma were the top five.
The findings of the workshop were officially published in the Lancet Global Health last April.
In conjunction with the top 10 burns priorities, Ms Smith was invited alongside four other burns survivors to contribute to an article written by Dr Lise Deguire about the new research.
While much attention is brought to the physical pain, Ms Smith hopes this groundbreaking research will lead to more emotional support for burns survivors.
“The top 10 means future research will focus on issues which are most important to burns survivors, carers and health professionals across the world,” she said.
“After that initial shock of being burnt, when I was in my teenage years, I really struggled with being different from others.
“It impacts your body, soul and spirit, you get a physical burn but it affects you emotionally and somewhere within you you’ve got to rise up at some point.
“No matter what we go through in life, even if something bad happens to us like a burn injury, there’s always hope.
“It changed my life, but I’ve always had a good family and good people around me all my life to help me find my identity. Now it’s my turn to help others.”
The month of June coincides with National Burns Awareness Month, which aims to increase national notoriety around burns prevention and correct first aid treatment.
Following her recent involvement in global research, Ms Smith encourages residents to brush up on burns knowledge and remain safe around the home, firepits, or even motorbikes.
“It’s about starting the conversation locally about the priorities that can affect people globally and what could we do locally to improve the situation here,” she said.
“When I first came here, being in a high fire danger zone increased that anxiety in me, I don’t think I initially coped very well because I hadn’t worked through that area of my fear of burns.
“Now I have strategies to help me and supportive friends and family.
“I’ve been asked a couple of times to share my story at meetings and people come forward and share a story or just say that helped them and that’s fantastic.
“Now we are in National Burns Awareness Month, its just a reminder to people about having those smoke detectors and making sure they do things to protect themselves from potential burns.”