Evidence Week 08 Keynote Speakers, Presenters and Panelists
Denise O'Connor:
Denise O’Connor joined the Australasian Cochrane Centre in 2003 as Lecturer in Systematic Review Methodology. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University and project manages a NHMRC-funded cluster randomised controlled trial designed to investigate the effectiveness of an implementation strategy to increase use of evidence-based guidelines in allied health (the ALIGN trial). She is editor with the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Review Group, an active Cochrane review author and investigator on several research projects concerned with evidence implementation. Her research and teaching interests include systematic review methodology, evidence-based practice, implementation science (knowledge translation), mixed methods research and measurement of health outcomes. Denise holds a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of South Australia.
Jo Tropea:
Jo Tropea has a clinical background in physiotherapy and in December 2004 joined the Clinical Epidemiology and Health Service Evaluation Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital. To date, her work with the unit includes the development of national evidence based documents such as the delirium guidelines, and the Measurement for Improvement Toolkit. Earlier this year she worked on the Identification of Clinical indicators for the Council of Australian Governments Long Stay Older Patients initiative - work commissioned by the Victorian Department of Human Services.
Andrea Bramley:
Andrea Bramley is currently Senior Dietitian in General Medicine at Royal Melbourne Hospital. She graduated with a Master of Nutrition and Dietetics from Deakin University and has worked as a clinical Dietitian, community Dietitian and in public health both in Australia and in the UK. She has a special interest in research, nutrition support, nutrition screening and health services management. She is currently a Clinical Teacher for Deakin University and has a large role in student supervision and training. Recently, at RMH, she has been involved in the Improving Care for Older People project, developing a nutrition toolkit with evidence based, practical strategies for improving the nutrition care of older people. The Division of Medicine has decided to pilot one of the strategies outlined in the toolkit, Protected Mealtimes.
Kirstie Galbraith:
Kirstie Galbraith is the Senior Pharmacist, Research & Education at RMH, and Clinical Senior lecturer at The Victorian College of Pharmacy, Monash University. She coordinates the Master of Clinical Pharmacy program at Monash which includes a semester long unit in Evidence Based Practice. She runs a program for newly graduated pharmacists at RMH, which includes aspects of EBP.
Peter Greenberg:
Peter Greenberg trained at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and at the University of Melbourne Department of Medicine. He was a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) post-graduate scholar, Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) Overseas Fellow, Gordon-Taylor scholar, Research Fellow and Honorary Registrar in the Endocrine Unit at the Royal Post-Graduate Medical School in London. Positions at RMH since 1974 include: Physician to Outpatients, Physician (General Medicine, Endocrine Unit, HIV/Aids Service, Infectious Disease Service, Bone & Mineral Service), Chairman General Medical Service, Head General Medical Unit, Director General Medical Services [Western Health Care Network], Chairman General Medical Services [North Western Health] and Clinical Director, General Medical Services. Currently, he is Head of a general medical unit and Project Director, Evidence Based Practice, Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Evaluation Unit. He was appointed Senior Associate, University of Melbourne Department of Medicine, RMH in 1974, Principal Fellow in1999, and Associate Professor, School of Population Health in 2005.
Heather Buchan:
Buchan is an advisor to the NHMRC on clinical guidelines. Prior to this she was Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute of Clinical Studies, Australia’s national agency for closing gaps between evidence and practice in health care. She trained in New Zealand as a medical practitioner specialising in public health and has worked in New Zealand, the UK and Australia. She undertook post-graduate studies in epidemiology as part of a Nuffield Medical Fellowship at Oxford University before returning to New Zealand to take up a post as Chief Medical Officer for the Otago Area Health Board. In 1994, she came to Australia and worked in the public health and acute health areas of the Victorian Department of Human Services, before moving to the newly established National Institute of Clinical Studies in 2001.
Ilana Ackerman:
Ilana Ackerman is an experienced physiotherapist who currently works as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Rheumatic Diseases, a joint venture between the Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne and Arthritis Victoria. Ilana’s PhD research focused on the wellbeing of people waiting for joint replacement surgery and she has recently been awarded an NHMRC Public Health postdoctoral fellowship to investigate the impact of severe hip and knee osteoarthritis on the lives of Australians and barriers to accessing treatments such as joint replacement.
Terence Harrison:
Terence Harrison is the Clinical Librarian at RMH and webmaster of the Evidence Direct site. He studied Education at Leeds University and Information Management (Grad. Dip.) at RMIT. He has previously sourced a Knowledge Management system at the National Institute for Clinical Studies; took charge of Indexing at the Australian Council for Educational Research; and worked for a number of years as Medical Librarian for the NHS in the UK. He has had a diverse career and has worked in commercial web design and investigative journalism, has lectured in Professional Writing, and spent ten years in advertising. He is also a novelist, and in his London years organised rock concerts by groups such as UB40 and Chumbawamba. He is a former member of the National Union of Journalists, the Institute of IT Training, and the Society of Editors (all UK).
Caroline Brand:
Caroline Brand completed her MBBS at Monash University and worked at Prince Henry’s Hospital, Melbourne, from 1979 to 1982. She moved to Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1983 where she completed advanced training as a Physician specialising in Rheumatology in1984. In 1985 she commenced private practice as a Rheumatologist and was appointed as a Visiting Medical Officer to the Rheumatology Unit where she continued working until the end of 2007. In 1988 she Completed a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) at Melbourne University and subsequently completed a master Public health (Monash University). During the latter degree she developed an interest in Health Services Research focussing on quality and safety. In 2002, she commenced working with the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Health Services Evaluation Unit at Melbourne Health, later taking over as Director in 2004. Caroline was appointed Associate Professor, Centre for Research Excellence in Patient Safety, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, Monash University in 2007 and Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Melbourne University in 2008. She has been a member of the Victorian Quality Council since 2005 and has been actively engaged in the local (president 2006-8) and National Australian Rheumatology Association (Chair professional affairs 2001-3, Chair, Quality & safety Committee 2004-8), the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Chair Quality & Safety Committee 2006-) and has participated in various other governance and policy committees at Melbourne Health, and for State and National Government Initiatives.
Alan Gijsbers:
Sally Green:
Sally Green joined the Australasian Cochrane Centre in 1999 and became Director in 2002. She is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine from Monash University, in addition to her clinical qualifications in physiotherapy.
Sally is an active Cochrane review author with the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group. Her research interests include systematic review methodology (updating reviews and the management of continuous data), clinical trials of interventions for musculoskeletal disorders, implementation strategies, and the appropriate assessment of health outcomes. She is a member of the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group, co-convenes the Collaboration's Quality Advisory Group and Handbook Advisory Group, and is co-editor of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.
James King:
James King trained in obstetrics and gynaecology in London and Dublin, and sub-specialty training in maternal/fetal medicine in Vancouver, and perinatal epidemiology in Oxford. He is a member of the Royal Women’s Hospital’s Department of Perinatal Medicine, and chairs the RWH Research Review Committee. He is a contributor to several systematic reviews in the Cochrane Collaboration pregnancy and childbirth database.
Meg Morris:
Professor Meg Morris is the Head of School of Physiotherapy at The University Melbourne, she is an internationally-renowned expert in physiotherapy, movement rehabilitation and optimizing therapy outcomes, particularly relating to patients with musculoskeletal and neurological impairments and disabilities. Her research interests are in the area of human movement and motor control, predictors and rehabilitation of injuries and injury prevention and management. Her research has shed light on optimal methods to prevent and rehabilitate workplace injuries, as well as improving gait, balance and movement in people with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke. She is best known for her seminal studies on how the brain controls movement and how physiotherapists and other health professionals can prevent injuries and enhance therapy outcomes by using evidence based practice. Her research has influenced patient safety policies and rehabilitation practice world wide. She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists, has chaired many committees for the NHMRC and other organizations and is a registered physiotherapist.
Christine Walker:
Christine Walker is Executive Officer of the Chronic Illness Alliance Inc., a peak body representing some forty consumer and advocacy organisations for people with chronic illness. The aim of the Alliance is to build a better focus in health policy and health services for all people with chronic illness. The Alliance achieves this through research and educational activities, often in cooperation with universities. Current and recent research activities include a NHMRC-funded randomised controlled trial of diabetes self-management; qualitative research on the impact of epilepsy; a survey of people with epilepsy. Christine was an editor of the book ‘Chronic Illness: new perspectives and new directions’ published by Tertiary Press in 2003. She has written and researched extensively on self-management in chronic diseases as well as consumer participation in health services. Christine completed a PhD thesis in 1995, which explored the growth of government intervention in the hospital system in Victoria. She is a member of the Board of Management of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria. She is a member of the Community Quality Use of Medicines Working Group of the National Prescribing Service. She is also an Associate of the Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Diabetes at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne.
Jacques Joubert:
Jacques Joubert is a clinical neurologist and academic neuroscientist with a lifelong interest in neurology and public health. He was Professor and Head, Department of Neurology, University of Southern Africa from 1983 to 1993, publishing 43 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He also developed the first stroke service for black South Africans linking acute hospital-based care in a large teaching hospital to subacute and community care in the corresponding rural area. On moving to Australia, he worked in both the public and private hospital systems and from 1995-2001 was Director of the first private stroke unit in Australia at Epworth Hospital. During this time he expanded the concept of care shared between hospital and primary care settings for secondary risk prevention for stroke. This attracted a Commonwealth grant for integrated care, extended into a service project, and has formed the basis for international collaboration with French, Canadian, Singaporean and Chinese centers.
Kathryn Field:
Kathryn Field is a medical oncologist, currently working as a medical oncology research fellow at RMH with BioGrid Australia. She graduated from Melbourne University in 1999 and then worked at a number of hospitals including St Vincent’s Hospital, Geelong, the Western Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She completed her medical oncology training in 2007. She is currently undertaking an MD through Melbourne University, working in clinical research, in particular with respect to bowel cancer and brain tumours.
Peter Morley:
Peter Morley is the Intensive care Specialist at RMH. He has more than 15 years involvement in the evidence evaluation process, including undertaking evidence work for the National Health & Medical Research Council, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and the Australian Resuscitation Council. He has represented the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, and has been a member of the Australian Resuscitation Council since 1990. Via both organisations, he has been involved in the development of international evidence based guidelines. More recently he was appointed ILCOR Evidence Evaluation Expert for the 2010 science evaluation process.
Russell Gruen:
Russell Gruen is Associate Professor of Surgery at The University of Melbourne and a trauma and general surgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. After graduating from The University of Melbourne, Russell trained in general surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia and then in trauma surgery and surgical critical care at Harborview Medical Centre in Seattle, USA. From 1999-2002 Russell completed a PhD in health services research with a study on the delivery of surgical services to remote Aboriginal communities, during which he lived in a remote community in the Northern Territory. He was subsequently a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and a Fellow in Medical Ethics at Harvard University in Boston, USA in 2002-3. His current research interests include surgical critical care, trauma systems development, systematic reviews and knowledge transfer, and medical professionalism. He is an editor of the Cochrane Collaboration Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group, and director of its Australian satellite. In 2007, he established the Global Evidence Mapping (GEM) Initiative to bring together a network of people and organisations to develop more innovative methods of characterising and contextualising research. GEM evidence maps address broad clinical areas such as traumatic brain injury, and convey what research exists, its strengths, weaknesses and gaps, and its relevance to different users in a range of contexts and settings. Russell's work on professional ethics and service delivery and organization have been published in leading journals such as the Lancet, JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine. In 2007, he was awarded a Career Development Award by The National Health & Medical Research Council. Russell and his wife Theresa have two boys Spencer and Kody. Outside work and family, his main interests are Australian Rules Football and playing bass guitar in a soul/funk band called the Seven Day Fools.
Fary Khan:
Fary Khan is a neurological rehabilitation physician at the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She completed her specialist training with the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine - Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 2000. Since then she has worked in various neurological rehabilitation units across Victoria, Australia. Her areas of special interest are: Rehabilitation in Chronic neurological disorders especially Multiple sclerosis, Women’s health and Outcome measurement in rehabilitation. She submitted her Doctoral thesis at the Department of Medicine at the University of Melbourne in February 2008. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Department of Epidemiology, Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne since 2003. She is the Australian-Pacific representative for the International Classification of Disability, Health and Functioning (ICF) - for neurological rehabilitation - World Health Organization since 2005. She is an executive member Advisory Committee on Australian and International Disability Data (ACAIDD) for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Canberra Australia. In addition, she is an Executive Committee Member of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine Committees: the International Classification of Disability, Health and Functioning (ICF) - Australian ICF group; International Committee for Scientific Collaboration; the Research and Development in Rehabilitation Medicine committee and Neurological Rehabilitation Special Interest Group committee .
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