ProfessorMichelle Barakat-Johnson

Professor Michelle Barakat-Johnson is an award-winning scholar and internationally respected clinical expert in skin integrity, pressure injuries and complex wound care. With over two decades of experience in clinical and research leadership, she specialises in innovative, evidence-based approaches that improve patient outcomes, enhance clinical practices, and reduce healthcare costs.

Professor Barakat-Johnson works in a joint appointment as the Skin Integrity Lead at Sydney Local Health District (SLHD).Professor Barakat-Johnson collaborates with leading scholars, industry partners and policymakers in Australia and around the world to deliver impactful research programs. Since 2019, she has been Chief Investigator on six competitively-funded Q1 research grants, Lead CI on four with >$9,000,000 secured in funding. She has led multicentre multi-method clinical trials including the recruitment of over 2000 patients and built strategic partnerships with leading scholars and institutions. Her goal is to elevate the University of Sydney as a top five global leader in the field.

Professor Barakat-Johnson completed a PhD Research Program 'Getting to the bottom of hospital-acquired pressure injuries in one local health district'. This used an implementation science framework across four hospitals involving over 1,000 nurses and 1500 patients. Interventions resulted in a 51.4% decrease in hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI) incidence, 71.6% in prevalence and a 23.2% cost reduction (over $827,000 per annum). This research changed NSW state policies and was recognised with multiple awards including the Rita and John Cornforth Medal for Research Excellence (University of Sydney), 'Excellence in Innovation in Research', (NSW Health Nursing and Midwifery Awards), 'National Action Award' (Sax Institute for Research), 'People's Choice Award' at the Research Innovation Symposium held in 2017 and the 'Patient Safety Quality Award' (Sydney Local Health District).

Professor Barakat-Johnson led a research program focused on Incontinence and Associated Dermatitis with research conducted over five local health district regions which delivered a 36% reduction in IAD prevalence (P=0.159), 55% decrease in pressure injuries (PIs), and reduced hospital length of stay from 44 days to 25 days (p=0.029). This research has informed the development of a comprehensive statewide toolkit for effective IAD practice implementation across diverse healthcare settings which is now adopted by the Clinical Excellence Commission.

Recognised for her leadership in digital wound care solutions, Professor Barakat-Johnson co-chaired a working group from 14 Local Health Districts to implement Wound iView; a platform designed for comprehensive wound documentation. She then led a clinical trial testing a wound care app known as Tissue Analytics. The aim of implementing the wound care app was to have a standardised and efficient tool for image capture, automated analysis and to help clinicians monitor and treat wounds effectively. This successful innovation with technology as an enabler to support clinicians and improve patient outcomes was further developed to launch the Nurse-led Wound Care Command Centre 2023. A first in Australia, this centre uses existing virtual hospital infrastructure, cutting-edge digital and virtual solutions supported by wound specialists and an AI wound app. Its remarkable outcomes across all benchmarks include reduced wait times from 13.4 days to 2 hours, significantly improved wound healing (48% average wound size reduction), reduced hospital separations, high patient satisfaction rates (90.5%) and an incredible $1,156,127.63 in cost savings realised in 14 months. In 2024, the Wound Care Command Centre was the winner of the NSW Awards Transforming Patient Care, the NSW Premiers award for Highest Quality Healthcare and the Sydney Local Health District Innovation Award.

Professor Barakat-Johnson has formed the co-badged University of Sydney and SLHD Institute of Tissue Repair. Leveraging her partnerships with the University of Huddersfield in the UK and The Welsh Wound Innovation Centre to understand existing strategies and models, she has secured industry funding with the Institute scheduled to launch in 2024. Key pillars including innovation and real-time implementation, education and global collaboration. She is also designing an APAC wound-care course targeting a wide-range of healthcare sectors ranging from clinical nursing through to aged-care providers. This course is being developed after an extensive needs analysis and is designed to be flexible and adaptable for undergraduate, post graduate and professional development programs.

Professor Barakat-Johnsons' work has impacted policy and guidelines; both locally and globally. She is an advisor for leading international committees focused on skin integrity, pressure injury prevention and wound management. She chairs statewide committees related to wound care and was the invited Chair of the NSW Wound Care and Skin Integrity Working Group for the Single Digital Patient Record (SDPR). She currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Wound Ostomy and Continence and is regularly invited by state, national and international bodies to consult and present on skin integrity, implementation science and pressure injury prevention.