PASSPORT People: Meet A/Prof Elliot Long – Clinical Lead
Emergency Physician, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (Australia); Clinician-researcher at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; and Beekeeper!
A/Prof Elliot Long is an emergency physician at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne and clinician-researcher at Murdoch Children's Research Institute, with an academic appointment at The University of Melbourne. Originally from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Canada, he moved to Australia as a young adult and after a brief stint as a critical care fellow in Vancouver, settled in Melbourne. A love of clinical work and teaching led naturally into research: "I have become involved in clinical research because of the many questions in critical care that need answers."
Meeting children, parents and families affected by sepsis has been one of the most formative parts of Elliot's work. "It has really opened my eyes to the broader impact and human cost of sepsis," he says. Hearing those stories shaped the scope of PASSPORT, which was designed to cover all aspects of sepsis care from hospitalisation through to recovery and rehabilitation.
Working in a well-resourced health system, Elliot sees early recognition as one of the most pressing challenges — sepsis is hardest to detect precisely when catching it early matters most. Once recognised, he is particularly motivated to find the best supportive treatments for children with sepsis. In the longer term, his ambition is precision medicine that targets the immune response in each individual patient.
Elliot's vision for PASSPORT is straightforward: to reduce the global burden of sepsis in children.
"To me, it is important to keep the focus on children and the impact of sepsis on their lives. I would like PASSPORT to be open and inclusive of anyone with a good research question, no matter what their background or experience. I would particularly like to foster emerging researchers and build capacity for high-quality research in under-resourced settings. This will help answer research questions in places where sepsis has the greatest impact on children and families."
Away from the hospital, Elliot is rarely sitting still. "I love the outdoors. I get out trail running, cycling, or hiking whenever I can. I am a big fan of active holidays, to the disappointment of my children. We recently hiked the Haute Route through the French and Swiss Alps — what an epic adventure!" He also keeps bees — a hobby his father introduced him to as a boy and one he's happily returned to as an adult. "I find bees fascinating both in terms of their social structure and their role in the natural world." And when he does sit down? "My favourite movie genre is coming of age, and it is not uncommon for me to shed a few tears. My family are my rock and source of inspiration and I am very proud of who they are."
Elliot in his earlier beekeeping days
A young Elliot picking blueberries in Canada
And a favourite saying?
“Slightly cheesy, but I go back to the saying 'stay true' time and time again. To me, this means being honest with myself, sticking to my values, and not shying away from challenging circumstances or hard work.”
