Ruth Blackham serves as Clinical Senior Lecturer in the UWA Medical School's MD Education Unit and Surgical Simulation Fellow at the Clinical Training and Evaluation Centre (CTEC) at the University of Western Australia. She is a Consultant General Surgeon with qualifications including MBBS, MS, FRACS, and FACLM. Previously, she held the position of Senior Lecturer within the UWA Medical School. Her academic career focuses on advancing surgical education and training, particularly through simulation and proficiency-based assessment methodologies. Blackham contributes to course development and facilitation at CTEC, including roles as Diamond Convenor, enhancing clinical skills training for medical professionals.

Her research interests include laparoscopic surgical skills, proficiency-based progression in surgical coursework, revalidation and assessment of surgeons, fertility and obesity, and long-term nutritional complications of obesity surgery. Notable publications encompass her 2024 Doctoral Thesis, 'Technical performance in bariatric surgery: Curriculum development, validation and proficiency rating for Sleeve gastrectomy.' Other key works are 'Bariatric surgery in a public hospital: a 10-year experience' (Aly et al., ANZ Journal of Surgery, 2022), 'Development of an International Standardized Curriculum for Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy Teaching Utilizing Modified Delphi Methodology' (Blackham et al., Obesity Surgery, 2021), and 'Critical aspects in developing curriculum-based assessment for emerging surgical procedures' (editorial, International Journal of Medical Education, 2021). Additional outputs include 'A global survey on the use of the international classification of diseases codes for metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease' (Hepatology International, 2024) and contributions to surgical simulation validation studies. With 19 research outputs, her scholarship supports SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, influencing bariatric surgery training curricula internationally.

Professional Email: ruth.blackham@uwa.edu.au