Associate Investigators
The CRE also involves 10 associate investigators from a range of institutions.
Associate Professor Caroline Brand
Associate Professor (Honorary), Melbourne EpiCentre, University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health,
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Monash University
Dr Caroline Brand is a rheumatologist and health services researcher. Her research interests are focused on improving care for people with osteoarthritis and other conditions through development and evaluation of innovative care models and on epidemiological research using routinely collected hospital data and data linkage.
Contact details:
Ph: + 61 3 9822 6972
Email: caroline.brand@monash.edu/caroline.brand@mh.org.au
Website: http://www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/staff/academic/brand.html
Associate Professor Lyndal Trevena
Primary Health Care
Public Health, School of Public Health
The University of Sydney
As a key member of CeMPED and an active general practitioner, Dr Trevena's main research interest is the application of evidence in general practice, particularly in evidence-based clinical decision-making. She continues to develop and evaluate a number of decision tools and clinical practice guidelines which assist clinicians and patients to individualise population-level research into practice. Much of this work has been in cancer and other disease prevention. She is particularly interested in preventive primary care strategies in disadvantaged groups & has worked with homeless people low literacy groups and more recently in low income country settings.
Contact details:
Ph: +61 2 9351 7788
Email: lyndal.trevena@sydney.edu.au
Website: http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/people/academics/profiles/lyndal.trevena.php
Professor Andrew Forbes
Head, Research Methodology Division
Monash University
Professor Forbes received his PhD in Statistics from Cornell University, USA in 1990, with his thesis involving methodological issues in matched case- control studies. Following this, he worked at Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, USA until 1991 as a postdoctoral fellow, gaining experience in methodology, design and analyses of clinical trials, and consultation with clinicians. He joined Monash University in January 1992, and heads the Biostatistics Unit, which consists of 10 staff. He has research interests in development of analytical methods for interrupted time series designs, the application of causal modelling principles to practical problems, and latent variable methods.
Contact details:
Ph: +61 3 9903 0580
Email: Andrew.Forbes@monash.edu
Website: http://www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/staff/academic/forbes.html
Ms Ainslie Cahill
Chief Executive Officer
Arthritis Australia
Ainslie Cahill is CEO of Arthritis Australia. This national peak organisation has made significant investments in musculoskeletal research; awareness & education; and health consumer advocacy for more than 30 years. As well as being a strong and effective health consumer advocate, Ainslie has had a distinguished senior management career in publishing, film & television and vocational education. She has fulfilled several terms on the Consumers Health Forum Board (2008-2014), including four years as Deputy Chair, and currently serves on The Life Saving Drugs Program Review Reference Group; Clinical Trials Advisory Committee; and Comcare Health Benefits of Work Advisory Group.
Contact details:
Ph: +61 2 9518 4441
Email: ACahill@arthritisaustralia.com.au
Website: http://www.arthritisaustralia.com.au/index.php/about-us.html
Dr Stephen Bunker
Clinical Research Advisor
Medibank
Dr Stephen Bunker is Medibank’s Clinical Research Consultant, where he provides evidence-based input and advice in relation to Medibank’s policy and purchasing decisions. Dr Bunker worked for many years as a clinical nurse specialist in cardiology and prior to that, in mental health. He was Manager of the National Heart Foundation’s Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention program for 16 years. Dr Bunker has a strong interest in health research and evaluation and has worked as a Senior Research Fellow on Public Health and Health Services Research projects in the areas of diabetes prevention, chronic disease risk factor prevalence and depression and heart disease
Contact details:
Ph: + 61 3 8622 5538
Mr Luke Lawler
CEO and Scientific Director
Prima Health Solutions Pty Ltd (Prima)
Luke holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Post Graduate Diploma in Education. He is the CEO and Scientific Director of Prima Health Solutions. Prima is an ISO 9001:2008 accredited healthcare organisation that has specialised in the research, development and ‘real world’ implementation of obesity related chronic disease management treatment guidelines for over 10 years. The remotely delivered Osteoarthritis Healthy Weight For Life program is a key focus of the company. To date over 6,400 members of BUPA, HCF, Medibank, Teachers Health, Defence Health and NIB have been enrolled in the osteoarthritis program. Independently analysed outcome data from the program was presented at the 2014 World Congress on Osteoarthritis and is currently being prepared for submission to a peer reviewed journal.
Contact details:
Ph: 0418 280 344/ 1800 226 180
Email: luke@primahealth.com.au
Website: www.HealthyWeightForLife.com.au
Professor Michael Georgeff
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Precedence Health Care
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences,
Monash University
Prof Georgeff is a renowned world leader of software innovation, and an advisor to governments both in the US and Australia on information technology strategy and commercialisation. He is regularly invited to speak at industry and research forums. Prof Georgeff is a founding member of a number of Centres and Institutes in his field. He is a founding member of the Australian National Consultative Committee on e-Health and a member of the Health Informatics Society of Australia. He was elected Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence in 1995 for his “pioneering theory and applications of reactive planning systems and agent architectures”. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society, a member of the Association for Computing Machinery, and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Contact details:
Ph: +61 3 9023 0800
Email: michael.georgeff@precedencehealthcare.com
Website: http://precedencehealthcare.com/about/executive-team/executive-bios/#mike
Professor Chris Maher
Director, Musculoskeletal Division, The George Institute for Global Health
Professor, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney
Professor Maher leads a research division focusing on the management of musculoskeletal conditions in primary care and community settings. Prof Maher’s research evaluates the primary care management of back pain and he holds an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship. Prof Maher is a fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapy and has degrees in physiotherapy and exercise science. Prof Maher has over 400 publications, $18Million in research funding and 28 PhD completions. He is on the editorial board of the Cochrane Back Review group, Associate Editor for Physical Therapy and a Steering Committee member for the Australia & New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network.
Contact details:
Ph: +61 2 9657 0382
Email: cmaher@georgeinstitute.org.au
Website: www.georgeinstitute.org.au
Associate Professor Andrew Briggs
School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Curtin University
Assoc Professor Andrew Briggs is a physiotherapist. Currently, he leads a team at Curtin University that focuses on evaluation and implementation of health policy for musculoskeletal health, and examining and closing evidence-practice gaps in musculoskeletal healthcare. Andrew is also a senior adviser at Arthritis and Osteoporosis Victoria and works as a clinician in Melbourne. He holds an honorary appointment in the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, where he contributes to a range of research projects in musculoskeletal health. Andrew is a member of the Victorian WorkCover Authority Clinical Panel and the Minister-appointed Victorian Musculoskeletal Clinical Leadership Group. Andrew held a senior position in the WA Department of Health for several years, responsible for leading the development and implementation of health policy for chronic diseases with a particular focus on musculoskeletal conditions.
Contact details:
Email: andrew.briggs@arthritisvic.org.au; A.Briggs@curtin.edu.au
Website: http://healthsciences.curtin.edu.au/faculty/research_staff_hide.cfm/A.Briggs
Professor Peter Choong
Sir Hugh Devine Chair of Surgery, Head of Department of Surgery,
Director of Orthopaedics, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne
Chair of the Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma Service,
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Professor Choong’s research which has been supported by recurrent grant funding (NHMRC, ARC, RACS, AOA, Cancer Australia) focuses on 3 areas, that underpin his clinical programmes, namely improving outcomes of arthritis surgery, studying the molecular regulation of bone tumours and advanced limb reconstruction. Prof Choong is widely published with over 240 peer reviewed articles (H score 34) in these areas. Prof. Choong leads an active joint replacement programme at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne that undertakes almost 900 procedures a year and which the Victorian State Government has designated a State Wide Centre for joint replacement and Prof Choong also is engaged in clinical and basic science research in the field of musculoskeletal tumours.
Contact details:
Ph: +61 3 9288 2365
Email: pchoong@unimelb.edu.au / tardino@unimelb.edu.au
Website: http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person2266
