Dr Hayley Letson

Dr Letson is a Senior Research Fellow in the Heart and Trauma Research Laboratory at JCU’S College of Medicine and Dentistry.

She is blazing a trail in the medical research field developing a treatment that could save the lives of people who suffer traumatic injuries.

Dr Letson joined the Heart and Trauma Research Laboratory in 2008, where she undertook a PHD under the mentorship of Dr Geoffrey Dobson to develop a smallvolume solution called ALM, named after its three components: adenosine, lidocaine and magnesium. The solution is for resuscitation of patients suffering traumatic injury and major blood loss, and acts like a ‘pharmacological tourniquet’ to reduce bleeding, while also protecting the brain and other organs and ensuring sufficient oxygen supply.

This achievement garnered Dr Letson and Dr Dobson worldwide recognition and earned Dr Letson the Young Investigator Award for three consecutive years at the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Science Symposium. Dr Letson was also awarded the QLD Young Tall Poppy Science Award. Dr Letson continues to work with the US Military to translate ALM resuscitation fluid into the field, with current work evaluating the treatment for traumatic brain injury and burns. Dr Letson is also passionate about the applications for ALM therapy in prehospital civilian environments, especially in rural and remote areas. She and Prof Dobson are working with Dr Clinton Gibbs from Retrieval Services Queensland towards a trial of ALM therapy for patients injured in remote areas.