About Allan

Dr Allan M Cyna is an Australian anaesthetist, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide, researcher and educator internationally recognised for his work in clinical hypnosis, therapeutic communication, pain, nocebo, ethics and informed consent.

His clinical and academic work has explored how communication, expectation, attention, imagination and suggestion can influence patient experience and clinical care. Particular areas of interest include paediatric pain and burns, needle phobia, pregnancy and childbirth, procedural communication and the mitigation or avoidance of nocebo effects.

Following doctoral research examining hypnosis and pain in childbirth, he has developed and taught practical approaches for integrating hypnotic communication into everyday healthcare, including the GREAT and LAURS frameworks and the Lived-in Imagination technique.

He is a former President of the Australian Society of Hypnosis and Course Director for advanced clinical hypnosis training with the South Australian Society of Hypnosis (SASH).

His contributions as a leader, clinician, innovator and educator were recognised with the ANZCA Medal in 2024. His invited teaching has included major anaesthesia, pain, burns and hypnosis meetings nationally and internationally, including a keynote at the AAGBI Winter Scientific Meeting in London in 2011, the Kester Brown Lecture in Sydney in 2019, and keynote teaching at the Australia and New Zealand Burns Association Annual Scientific Meeting in 2021.

He is Editor-in-Chief of both editions of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Communication in Anaesthesia and Critical Care, published in 2010 and 2024.