AHSRI is deeply saddened to announce the death of staff member David Webster.
Dave died suddenly on 5 December at the age of 43. He is survived by his wife Sara, and young son Eduardo.
Dave was IT manager of the Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI) and a UOW alumnus, completing a Bachelor of Computer Science in 1999, and a Graduate Certificate in Health Services Research in 2013. Dave started working at UOW in 1997, spending three years in the School of Psychology. He left to work as an IT consultant, before re-joining UOW in 2012 based at AHSRI. He worked across many areas of the university, including Faculty of Business and Law, IMTS, School of Nursing, and Early Start. He built strong networks with UOW research partners from external agencies such as Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, NSW Pathology, Sonic Health and IRT.
Dave had technical expertise in a range of development technologies, administration of servers, web servers and database servers. He was interested in strategic directions for IT applications and infrastructure and the ethical storage and use of sensitive health data. He was a highly valued member of the UOW Research Data Management working group and the AHSRI IT and Data Science working group. Dave was instrumental in the establishment of the Illawarra Health Information Platform, and developed technical solutions for patient outcome measurement across health facilities throughout Australia and internationally.
Dave left a lasting impression on everyone he worked with. He had a remarkable intellect, developing a deep understanding of any area he worked on. Dave had an ability to simplify and explain highly technical topics to make them understandable. He was passionate about his work and enjoyed his interactions with colleagues from IT and health backgrounds.
Dave was a lovely person, generous, smart, warm and vibrant. He will be sorely missed by his many colleagues and friends from across the university.