Associate Professor David Brewster is the Director of Academic Programs in the Department of Medicine, Central Clinical School at Monash University, and a practicing anaesthetist.

Prior to this, Associate Professor Brewster was working at Cabrini Health as the Deputy Director of Intensive Care and the Head of ICU Research. He was also the Clinical Dean (Director of Academic Programs) for the Cabrini-Monash University Clinical School.  

David has had significant experience in developing and implementing medical education. Most notably, David was the author of the "BEYOND BASIC: Airway management” textbook and course (which has been taught in over 20 countries). He has held a variety of undergraduate teaching roles for the medical school at Monash University since 2006, culminating with his appointment as the clinical dean at Cabrini by the Central Clinical School in 2017. 

He is a strong advocate for student well-being and has published in the MJA on improving collegiality through kindness in the workplace. 

Associate Professor Brewster is an internationally recognised researcher and expert on airway management in both intensive care and anaesthesia. He is both an executive board member and clinical council member for the Safe Airway Society of Australia and New Zealand, and a member of “The Airway Leads” committee for The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA). Associate Professor Brewster was the National lead for Australia and NZ for the INTUBE study which was recently published in JAMA and funded by a grant from the ESICM in Europe. In 2020, Associate Professor Brewster was the lead author of the national  guidelines for airway management for COVID-19 patients. The consensus statement was published in the MJA and has already had over 300 citations in under 12 months. 

David is a world renowned researcher in airway medicine in both intensive care medicine and anaesthesia. He is on the clinical council and board for the Safe Airway Society for Australia and New Zealand (since 2017), on the international advisory group to the Project for Universal Airway Management (since 2018) and on the Difficult Airway Task Force for The Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (USA) (since 2021).
David was the first author on the national guidelines for airway management of patients with COVID-19 for Australia and New Zealand, one of the most cited papers of the MJA in the past 5 years. Other notable achievements have included the landmark INTUBE paper in JAMA, the
largest multi-centred study on intubation in the critically ill in published in 2021. His local research into airway practices in Australia has helped to change training requirements of CICM in regards to airway management. David has also been invited to write multiple editorials in large international Q1 journals. He has had over 70 research publications.

2017-2023 (ongoing) - Clinical Dean
Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health
Sciences, Monash University

2013-2016 - Lecturer
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University

2013 - Clinical Supervisor / Problem-Based Learning Course Facilitator
Southern Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Monash University

2006-2012 - Clinical Bedside & Problem-Based Learning Tutor
Southern Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health
Sciences, Monash University