Emeritus Professor Dr Bill Griggs AM ASM

Book Dr Bill Griggs Keynote Speaker: World Authority on Trauma & Crisis Leadership

Organisations looking to book Dr Bill Griggs keynote speaker for their next leadership event gain one of the world’s foremost authorities on trauma and disaster medicine. As detailed on his Wikipedia profile, Bill spent decades as Director of Trauma Services at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and was made an Emeritus Professor by the University of Adelaide in 2024. In 1994, he saved the life of police officer Derrick McManus, who had been shot 14 times during a siege in the Barossa, an event that later saw Bill featured on the cover of the Adelaide White Pages under the theme “Courageous Australians.” To enquire about his availability, contact our team.

Professor Bill Griggs is a world leader in his field. He’s been on the frontline with trauma patients domestically and overseas for decades.

Professor Griggs has been involved in caring for the victims of many multiple casualty events, including structure collapses, bombings, bus, train and aircraft crashes. He has also been deployed, as either a Royal Australian Air Force Specialist reservist or as a civilian, to manage evacuations and tend to victims in a number of disasters including both the 2002 and 2005 Bali Bombings, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the crash of Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 in Yogyakarta in 2007, the maritime fire explosion at Ashmore Reef in 2009 and the Samoan tsunami in 2009. He is considered a world authority on trauma and disaster medicine.

Based in Adelaide

Book Emeritus Professor Dr Bill Griggs AM ASM Now

In 1989 Professor Griggs invented a surgical instrument and a procedure, now called the “Griggs technique”, to perform percutaneous tracheotomy and make an artificial airway for the critically ill and injured. This technique is used worldwide and was used to help Pope John Paul II in February 2005.

Completed many hundreds of aeromedical retrievals and was Clinical Director of Retrieval Coordination for MedStar – South Australia’s state wide retrieval service.

Professor Griggs is the founder of the Roads2Survival™ community road safety program.

He is a member of the RAAF Specialist Reserve and his list of service is truly amazing.

Recently retired from the following posts

Director, Trauma Service, Royal Adelaide Hospital
Clinical Director, MedStar Emergency Medical Retrieval
State Controller (Health and Medical), SA Health
Director, Air Force Health Reserves, SA/WA

Deployed to the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005
2004 Boxing Day Tsunami
2007 crash of Garuda 737 GA200 in Yogyakarta,
2009 Ashmore Reef SIEV36 explosion/fire,
Lead the SA AusMat medical team the 2009 Samoan tsunami disaster, the Gulf War 1991, Bougainville 1994 and 1998, and East Timor 1999 and 2007

He also has an MBA and speaks on Risk Management Practices as they relate to business.

Major Awards:
2003 – Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
2006 – South Australian Recipient for the “Australian of the Year” Award.
2006 – “Keys to the City”, City of Adelaide.
2009 – Ambulance Service Medal (ASM).
2009 – “South Australian of the Year”.
2010 – Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Adelaide.

Keynote Topics:

Leadership
Team Management
Change Management
Crisis Management

Recognition & Innovation

Bill was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2006 for service to medicine, and holds the Ambulance Service Medal (ASM). In 1989 he invented the “Griggs technique,” a percutaneous tracheotomy procedure now used worldwide in trauma medicine, including on Pope John Paul II in 2005. A founding member of the Australasian Trauma Society, Bill served as its president from 2001 to 2003, and was named South Australian of the Year in 2006. He speaks candidly on the personal cost of a career spent responding to disaster, including his own experience of post-traumatic stress disorder, bringing rare authenticity to his keynotes on crisis leadership and resilience.