M.B.B.S., F.R.A.C.S.

Associate Professor David McCombe graduated from the University of Melbourne Medical School in 1990. He trained in Plastic Surgery and obtained his fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1999. David completed further training in Hand and Upper Limb surgery with the Victorian Hand Surgery Associates and a Microsurgery research fellowship at the Bernard O’Brien Institute of Microsurgery at St.Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. In 2002, he continued his post graduate training in Paediatric Hand, Peripheral Nerve and Reconstructive Microsurgery at St James University Hospital in Leeds, United Kingdom. David returned to Melbourne and commenced practice in June 2003.

He has Consultant appointments at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. He is the Clinical Lead of the Hand and Microvascular Program in the Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery unit at the Royal Children’s Hospital and has an appointment in University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics. David is actively involved in the clinical research program in the department and is part of the steering committee for the Australian Hand Difference Register – a national database for children with congenital upper limb differences.

Special Interests

Paediatric Hand Surgery, Brachial Plexus Surgery, Reconstructive Microvascular Surgery

Education

• 1990    M.B.B.S. - University of Melbourne 
• 1993    Diploma of Anatomy - Anatomical Society of Australia and New Zealand
• 1995    General Surgery Training - St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne
• 1996-1999   Plastic Surgery Training - Victorian program, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
• 2000    Hand Surgery Fellowship - Victorian Hand Surgery Associates, affiliated with St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne
• 2000    Enrolled in Doctorate of Medicine degree - University of Melbourne
• 2001    Microsurgery Fellowship, Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery - St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne
• 2002    Fellowship - St. James University Hospital, Leeds, UK
  

Academic appointments

• 2003 - 2009 Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne Department of Surgery, St. Vincent’s Hospital
• 2018 - Clinical Associate Professor, University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics, Royal Children’s Hospital
• 2020 - Honorary Fellow, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
  

Hospital appointments

• 2000    Clinical Assistant  Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery Department - St. Vincent's Hospital
• 2001    Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery Department - St.Vincent's Hospital
• 2003    Consultant Plastic Surgeon - Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
  

Societies

• 1999    Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
• 2003    Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons
• 2003    Australian Hand Surgery Society
• 2017    American Society for Surgery of the Hand
• 2021    Paediatric Hand International Society of Surgeons

Committees

• 2003 - 2020    Member, Human Research and ethics Committee, St Vincent's Hospital
• 2006 - 2009    Board of Surgical Research, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
• 2010 - 2014    Board of Australian Hand Surgery Society
• 2013 - 2019    Surgical Supervisor, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, St Vincent's Hospital
• 2016 - 2021    Chairman Education Committee, Australian Hand Surgery Society
• 2021 - 2022   President-Elect, Australian Han Surgery Society