Marilyn is a Clinical Nurse Consultant in Aboriginal Chronic Care at Coffs Harbour. Her role includes delivering Aboriginal chronic care models throughout MNCLHD, implementing and sustaining key performance indicators for reviewing patient journeys, and advising service deliverers on the appropriate way to navigate Aboriginal patients through the health system. Marilyn would like to develop her research skills to explore the ways in which Aboriginal people with chronic diseases experience the health system, and to use these findings to improve everyday practice in Aboriginal chronic care.
Marilyn Body
TBA
Kathleen Bohannon
Dr Katherine Brain is an Accredited Practising Dietitian with the Hunter Integrated Pain Service and a research academic with the University of Newcastle. She applied for the KT Scholarship with the desire to enhance her knowledge and skills in knowledge translation and implementation science, assisting her to successfully apply research findings in practice to make real differences to real people. In particular, Katherine would like to continue working in the area of chronic pain, examining the role of nutrition in pain management.
Dr Katherine Brain
Gail is both a Registered Nurse and a Research Co-ordinator in the Intensive Care Unit at John Hunter Hospital. While the ICU is currently engaged in some very valuable research, Gail feels there is great potential for growth. She would like to enhance her ability to encourage, empower, and inspire the various teams of clinicians, as well as patients and their loved-ones, to voluntarily engage and be actively involved in ongoing research projects. She does so with the ultimate aim of ensuring provision of the best possible evidence-based practice for every patient in the ICU.
Gail Brinkerhoff
Laura is a Senior Physiotherapist in a multidisciplinary team treating patients with chronic pain at Hunter Integrated Pain Service. She seeks to gain a greater understanding of the knowledge translation models and frameworks used to improve the uptake of evidence in practice, as well as enhance her working knowledge of designing, implementing and evaluating rigorous practice-based research projects. She is primarily interested in increasing engagement with high value care (multidisciplinary, biopsychosocial active treatments) and decreasing low value care (many surgeries, passive treatments) for patients experiencing chronic pain.
Laura Bruggink
Trish is the Nurse Unit Manager of Hastings Macleay Renal Services based at Port Macquarie Base Hospital. She applied for the KT Scholarship to enhance her overall research skills in relationship to study design and implementation, with the ultimate aim of changing clinical practice based on evidence. Of particular interest to Trish is the management of diabetic patients on renal dialysis and the correlation between trends in blood glucose levels and compliance in attending diabetes education and/or endocrinology review.
Trish Campbell
Donna is the Clinical Coordinator for an acute mental health inpatient and centre-based community team which provides evidence-based interventions for people with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues. She is based at the Calvary Mater Newcastle. She applied for the KT Scholarship to enhance her knowledge of evidence translation in complex health systems, with the aim of increasing uptake of evidence-based practice and policy for consumers with co-occurring mental health and substance use across the Hunter.
Donna Clancy
Anna has a critical care nursing and academic background and is currently the Rural Clinical Services and Research Coordinator for HNELHD. She applied for the KT scholarship so that she is better able to support rural clinicians to design and implement research that aligns closely to clinical need and service provision. Anna is particularly interested in research as a strategy to improve health outcomes for rural populations as well as the recruitment and retention of a rural health workforce.
Anna Edgar
Catherine is the After Hours Primary Care Commissioning Coordinator at the Hunter New England Central Coast PHN. She hopes to develop her research skills to be able to design and evaluate rigorous, yet clinically practical pilot studies to inform PHN decisions around funding allocation and preferred models of care. Of particular interest to Catherine is whether Telehealth can be safely and effectively implemented in rural areas to support people’s access to urgent and after-hours primary care.
Catherine Eggett
Ros is a casual Registered Nurse with Central Coast Local Health District. She works in medical, surgical and mental health units, mainly in aged care and the Psychiatric Emergency Care Unit. She has a keen interest in the divide between the physical and mental health models of care in nursing. As she works in both areas, she sees the potential in developing a cohesive model of care that addresses the overall needs of patients (i.e. physical and mental), with the result being reduced length of stay and improved health outcomes.
Roslyn Gibson
Myfanwy is a Senior Specialist Medicines Information Pharmacist at the NSW Cannabis Medicines Advisory Service based at John Hunter Hospital. The role involves the provision of advice regarding cannabis medicine products. Myfanwy has contributed to the development of prescribing protocols, clinical trial protocols, health professional educational resources and literature reviews. Myfanwy is dedicated to the progression of knowledge translation research within her role and identifies patient safety in the context of prescribed cannabis medicines as a practice area that would benefit from further research.
Myfanwy Graham
Jacqui is a Haematology Nurse Practitioner within CCLHD Cancer Services. She provides clinical assessment and diagnostic reasoning, and develops and evaluates management plans for patients with a haematological malignancy. She applied for the KT Scholarship to enhance her research skills, enabling her to better translate evidence into practice in cancer services. Patient reported outcome measures in the cancer day unit setting; developing a myeloma-specific better health management program; and transitioning acute myeloid leukaemia management to the outpatient setting are Jacqui’s particular interests.
Jacqueline Jagger
Seren is a senior cardiology nurse who has broad clinical experience across the full range of cardiology care, particularly in interventional cardiology. She has a keen interest in implementing a multidisciplinary team approach to healthcare to improve cardiovascular outcomes in patients. Seren applied for the KT Scholarship with a particular interest in collecting and analysing evidence on how health systems affect individuals and their families. She hopes to use this information to better support patients and their families in their experience of healthcare.
Seren Langlands
Dr Niko Leka in an Enrolled Nurse with the James Fletcher Mental Health Unit for Older People. His role involves assisting with assessment and providing direct care for older people experiencing severe mental health issues. Niko applied for the scholarship as he would like to develop skills in the critical appraisal of complex situations, involving both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Niko hopes to use these skills to improve workplace relations for the benefit of the health of his clients and colleagues.
Dr Niko Leka
Matilda is a Speech Pathologist working with the HNELHD Community Stroke Team. She works part-time with community dwelling stroke survivors delivering group therapy programs in a multidisciplinary environment. She also runs the Community Aphasia Group held throughout the year. She would like to determine the feasibility of using telehealth to provide a speech pathology group intervention for people with aphasia and their carers. She applied for the KT Scholarship to improve her skills in designing, implementing and evaluating clinical trials.
Matilda McIntosh
Kim is a Clinical Nurse Consultant for the Renal Outreach Service with Hunter New England LHD. She is based at Tamworth but also services the Peel, Mehi and Tablelands sectors. She is keen to develop her knowledge and skills in study design and implementation, with the aim of enhancing patient care practices and achieving better health outcomes. In particular, Kim would like to develop effective resources to support staff provision of best clinical procedural care to peritoneal dialysis patients in an inpatient healthcare setting.
Kim McNamara
Dr Kate Melville is a Staff Specialist Haematologist at the Calvary Mater Newcastle. She provides clinical inpatient and outpatient services, as well as oversees the laboratory reporting of blood films, bone marrows and other haematology testing at the Maitland Hospital. Through the KT Scholarship, she wishes to enhance her research skills to enable her to implement new ideas to improve patient engagement and outcomes. Clinical areas of interest to Kate include thrombosis prevention for hospital patients, and transfusion education for staff and patients.
Dr Kate Melville
Nick is the Senior Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist at Tamworth Hospital in charge of running the physiotherapy outpatient department. His role involves assessing and managing individuals with predominantly musculoskeletal injuries or pain. He also designs and implements quality improvement projects to ensure best patient care. Nick applied for the KT Scholarship to develop his skills in critical appraisal, so that he can identify appropriate research and use it to inform practice within his department. He also wants to understand more about the barriers he may face in implementing evidence-based practice.
Nicholas Mullen
Fiona is based in Tamworth and is a Senior Physiotherapist with the Get Active New England (GANE) falls prevention program. GANE provides treatment and education to clients living in the community in the Peel, Tablelands and Mehi sectors. Fiona applied for the KT Scholarship in order to develop her skills in tailoring and implementing interventions that address the specific barriers of many of the clients she cares for in her role. Some of these barriers include low health literacy, cognitive impairment and hearing loss.
Fiona Murphy
Margaret is a Mental Health Transitional Nurse Practitioner based in the Emergency Department at the Maitland Hospital. She provides advanced practice nursing intervention to people across the lifespan who present to the ED with mental health issues and concerns. She has a strong interest in conducting research and using it effectively to improve clinical practice and implement innovative change. Margaret has a special interest in mental health and the role of trauma and other biopsychosocial indicators in clinical outcomes.
Margaret O'Sullivan
Zaneta is the Cancer Information Manager for the Coffs Harbour Network within Mid North Coast Local Health District. Utilising quality assurance processes, she manages and interprets quality cancer services data from numerous sources. In undertaking the KT Scholarship, Zaneta would like to develop her skills in designing, implementing and evaluating health research. Oral systemic treatments is one particular area that has been identified by Zaneta and the Mid North Coast Cancer Institute as potentially requiring more research.
Zaneta Parsons
Eve is a Mental Health Clinician with the Whole Family Team, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Newcastle. As a clinical psychologist, Eve is interested in developing quantitative and qualitative research skills to assess the impact of the interventions her team provides to families, as well as how her clients experience them. Eve has always had an interest in bridging her clinical work with research. She feels the KT Scholarship is a good opportunity to develop more skills in research while at the same time potentially benefitting her team and clients.
Eve Pregal
Emma is a Respiratory Clinical Nurse Consultant, based in Armidale and servicing the Tablelands sector for Hunter New England LHD. Her clinical focus is chronic and complex respiratory clients for home management strategies, self-care and inpatient best practice. Emma would like to strengthen her existing skills and develop her qualitative research skills. She is interested in end-of-life care for COPD clients and would like to influence practice change to ensure all are provided with optimal palliative care.
Emma Ratajczuk
Dr Frank Reimann is an Advanced Trainee in Clinical Pharmacology at the Calvary Mater Newcastle. With a clinical background in nephrology, his current research focuses on measuring drug concentrations in renal transplant patients. As an experienced clinician, he understands the shortfalls of current care for patients with chronic disease. However he also has a good understanding of the state-of-the-art methods that are likely to benefit patient care. Frank aims to develop the necessary skills to bridge the gap between the two and make technological advances available at the bedside.
Dr Frank Reimann
With a background in dietetics, Leena works as a Research Assistant at HNELHD Population Health. She currently works on obesity prevention programs that target healthy eating and physical activity in childcares and primary schools. Leena applied for the KT Scholarship to learn more about knowledge translation and how the reach of population health programs can be extended. She has a particular research interest in community nutrition, as well as any research targeting healthy lifestyles in communities.
Leena Stewart
Dr Phillip Tully is a Casual Academic at the University of New England. He wants to learn more about theoretical models of evidence translation, as well as practical ways to overcome any barriers, improve uptake of evidence, and sustain evidence-translation. Phillip plans to use the KT fellowship to trial a project over 14 primary care clinics in HNELHD to evaluate whether standardised depression screening and upskilling of Nurse Care Managers improves the uptake and effectiveness of treatment for depression in Australian regional coronary heart disease populations.
Dr Phillip Tully
Haley is a Senior Midwife within the birthing suite at the Maitland Hospital. Her role involves caring for women and their families during all stages of pregnancy, birth and postnatally. She applied for the scholarship as she has a strong desire to influence real change to ensure better care for women during such a life-changing time. She is also particularly interested in the physical, emotional and psychological skills midwifery often demands and developing a mentorship program for midwives to ensure their ongoing health and wellbeing.
