*|FNAME|*, Welcome to our July Newsletter

July Newsletter

Accelerating the translation of Research findings into Action to ensure scientific evidence can positively Impact the health of South Australians.

This month kicked off with our Connected Care Forum which brought together 37 people, representing patients and carers, general practitioners and hospital clinicians and executives, to determine the user requirements of a technical solution to connect general practice and healthcare data in real time.

This Forum was an important step forward for the Acute/Primary Care Interface Project, and now enables us to hold a follow-up forum with digital, data and IT experts to develop the technical specifications for the essential user requirements identified. Keep an eye out on our website for the full report!

Another significant achievement for HTSA is the joining of 3 new organisations to our Board of Partners; CSIRO, Commission for Excellence and Innovation in Health (CEIH) and Torrens University. HTSA looks forward to working closely with their Board representatives and staff, to further enhance our ability to collaborate on state-wide translational initiatives and bridge the gap between research, health services, education and our community. We also have a new consumer voice on the Board, Dr Nadia Corsini, representing the HTSA Consumer Engagement Action Group. See more information under 'News'.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge NAIDOC week and the opportunity this brings to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

HTSA is proud to work alongside talented and dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers and community members to support the implementation of projects such as the Strengthening Aboriginal Capacity in Health Research Translation and Development in South Australia (StACTD) Project, showcased in this month’s feature story. We are also very pleased the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia is one of our foundation partners and we appreciate their involvement and commitment to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Wendy Keech, CEO

Photos of HTSA Connected Care Forum participants, 2021.

Culturally safe connections the key to improved health outcomes

Recognising that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researchers and practitioners are best placed to translate research findings and improve health service delivery for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Health Translation SA (HTSA) initiative Strengthening Aboriginal Capacity in Health Research Translation and Development in South Australia (StACTD) Project is working to build a network of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners and researchers in South Australia skilled in health translation to help reduce the time between research findings and improvements in health outcomes.

Dr Karla Canuto, Senior Research Fellow and Platform Lead of Capacity Development within Wardliparingga Aboriginal Health Equity at SAHMRI, says StACTD was established to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, researchers, and health care workers to build their skills and confidence in health research translation, primarily through a Health Translation Training Program.

“The program gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants the opportunity to upskill, or reskill, in health research translation, and is suitable for a wide variety of people, including people working in health services; working on research projects; or enrolled in a Higher Degree by Research,” Dr Canuto says.

Read the full story here.

Photo of StACTD project researchers and participants. Front row (left to right) Courtney Hammond and Dr Karla Canuto. Back row (left to right) Corey Kennedy and Eliza Schioldann.

A fresh consumer voice on the HTSA Board of Partners

Dr Nadia Corsini is the chair of HTSA's Consumer and Community Engagement Action Group, and has recently accepted a position on Board of Partners representing the consumer voice.

Nadia is a behavioural scientist with expertise in health research and evaluation, having worked with industry, government, and consumer partners to inform the development of resources, services, and policy to improve health outcomes. Her priority research areas include consumer-centred care, psycho-oncology, and health workforce wellbeing. She leads a research program on the use of patient-reported outcome measures in cancer policy. Nadia has worked innovatively with consumers by co-supervising students, co-developing funding proposals, and building authentic relationships through regular communication and engagement activities.

See her full biography here.

Supporting Indigenous university students through the Career Tracker Program - Welcome back Luke!

Luke Newall is a proud Aboriginal man from Flinders Island, Tasmania. Flinders Island is located off the Northeast Coast of Tasmania and has approximately 800 people, making it a small, tight-knit community. He relocated to Adelaide in February 2018 to attend university and is currently in his final year of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of South Australia.

During his study, Luke has been involved with CareerTrackers - an Indigenous internship program with an aim to increase Indigenous representation in corporate Australia.

“I have been very privileged to intern at SAHMRI during the course of my study and have spent many of my summer and winter internship periods with the HTSA team” Luke says.

“Most recently, I have been fortunate enough to become involved with the Aboriginal Health Equity Theme and contribute to an Aboriginal men’s health report under the guidance of Kootsy and Courtney. The report highlighted the disparities in health between Indigenous and non-Indigenous men and included statistics on chronic disease, risk factors for disease and life expectancy”.

During this internship period, Luke will be undertaking a scoping exercise for HTSA looking at what services, supports and researchers current focus on the transition of children with chronic diseases to adult services and whether they would be interested in being part of a national network in this space.

Photo of Flinders Island, sourced from Our Tasmaina website.

Congratulations to our 4 SA recipients of the AHRA WHRTN Early and Mid-Career Researcher Awards

The Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA) Women’s Health Research, Translation and Impact Network (WHRTN) has granted 4 AHRA WHRTN Early and Mid-Career Researcher (EMCR) Awards to South Australia:

Dr Erandi Hewawasam, SAHMRI
Dr Jessica Grieger, The University of Adelaide
Dr Jane Chalmers, University of South Australia
Dr Prabha Andraweera, The University of Adelaide

The EMCR Awards provide flexible funding for women to bolster careers, projects and professional development to ultimately advance research that improves the health of all women in Australia. It is expected there will be further EMCR opportunities through the national WHRTN in the future.

For the full list of award recipients, click here.

The WHRTN is currently in the process of being established across Australia. Funded by the Medical Research Future Fund, the Network is a national collaboration across community, health services and academic institutions set to boost national and international collaboration on women’s health, build health workforce capacity, develop leaders in women’s health, and advance research and translation to deliver impact and better health for Australian women.

HTSA will be launching the SA node of this Network soon.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash.

Thinking about Honours, Masters or PhD in health and medical research? - Meet your future supervisor at FHMRI honours and PhD information session!

On 3 August a large number of researchers at Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute will be available to discuss your research interests and help you find a research project and supervisor.

From molecular biosciences, through to clinical translation and building healthy communities, there’s a research project for everyone. To check out the wide range of researchers that will be on hand to answer your questions click here.

Information about rural and remote research, scholarships and application process will also be available, along with free pizza!

Click below for more information and to register.

>> Click here for more information >>

2021 IRNet National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Showcase - Postponed to November!

This event will now take place at the University of Sydney on Tuesday 23 - Wednesday 24 November, 2021.

The Showcase will bring together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researchers across all career stages to present their research, reflect and discuss today’s most critical health challenges and solutions.

For more information click here.