Professor Bennetts is trained in both Adult and Paediatric Cardiac Surgery. While providing a full range of cardiac surgical services, special interest areas are:
- Complex mitral valve repair, including rheumatic valvular disease
- Off-pump coronary artery grafting
- Adult congenital surgery
- Cardiac surgery in Indigenous Australians
- Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)
- Complex aortic and arch surgery
He was Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Flinders Medical Centre from 2008 to 2023 and is a Director of Adelaide Cardiothoracic. Dr Bennetts returned to Flinders in 2006 as a Cardiothoracic Surgeon after extensive training interstate and overseas, having completed Medical School and starting his surgical training at Flinders. He was also employed by Women’s and Children’s Hospital providing Paediatric Cardiac Surgery services from 2006 to 2023.
As Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery at Flinders University, Dr Bennetts had an extensive involvement in the research program of the Cardiothoracic Department. He made significant contributions to the outcomes of Cardiac Surgery in Indigenous Australians, and promoted and strived for improvement of outcomes in Cardiac Surgery more broadly. He has over 60 peer reviewed research papers, has been an invited speaker regionally and across South East Asia and Europe, and is actively involved in multiple large international trials.
He was President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery (ANZSCTS) in 2021 and 2022, and over the last 10 years he led significant reform on behalf the Society across introduction of Transcatheter Heart Valve therapies and most recently a review of the Medical Benefits Scheme. He sits as a member of multiple Advisory Boards and Government committees across Australia and Internationally.
After returning to Adelaide in 2006, Dr Bennetts participated in over 15 international aid missions to Fiji and Tanzania providing Cardiothoracic surgical services to populations unable to access heart surgery, or to help improve quality of heart surgery in these communities.
In early 2024, Professor Bennetts made the difficult decision to leave Adelaide to take up a position as Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Victorian Heart Hospital and Monash Health, and Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Monash University. He continues to maintain his connection to Adelaide Cardiothoracic and visits Adelaide periodically to provide surgical services.