About Health Translation SA

Health Translation SA aims to enable research findings to be translated into action, as quickly as possible and in a practical way, to ensure that health research can positively impact on the health of individuals and the community.

The logo motif is derived from an original art piece painted by Professor Alex Brown, an Aboriginal man from the New South Wales South coast.

Alex is a Deputy Director at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), SAHMRI Aboriginal Health Theme Leader, and a member of Health Translation SA Board of Partners.

The artwork represents “collaboration” and highlights the importance of connecting the efforts of individuals, organisations and communities if we are to realise the potential of the partnership approach that underpins Health Translation SA. It acknowledges that a collaborative effort with a common vision is required to tackle the issues that currently undermine the health of South Australians.

Health Translation SA respectfully acknowledge Aboriginal people as the traditional owners and custodians of the land and waterways on which we meet and where our facilities are located. We acknowledge the deep feelings of attachment and relationship of Aboriginal people to their Country. We pay respect to the Elders past, present and future, community members and culture and continue to uphold their ongoing relationship to the land and waterways.

What is Health Translation?

Often there is a significant time lag between new health and medical research findings leading to changes in clinical practice, health professional education and policy.

The aim of health research translation is to “translate” research findings into practical actions that will positively impact on the health of individuals and the community at a scale and speed that can make a tangible and timely difference to their health.

Health Translation Centres across Australia, and internationally, assist in achieving this aim through bringing together higher education institutions who deliver medical and other health professional education, researchers and health service providers to achieve high standards of clinical care, more targeted health service research and education of health professionals. Additionally, consumers and policy makers have an important role to play in this space and are integrally involved in the Translation Centres.

Health Translation SA is an Advanced Health Research Translation Centre (AHTRC) accredited by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in 2015 for an initial 5 years. It was formerly known as the South Australian Academic Health Science and Translation Centre.

Health Translation SA (formerly known as the SA Academic Health Science and Translation Centre) is one of the first four inaugural Advanced Health Research and Translation Centres to be formally recognised in Australia.

In a unique whole-of-state collaborative network, Health Translation SA brings together academic, research and health care agencies, and the community, to accelerate the translation of health and medical research findings into policy, education and clinical practice to improve health outcomes for South Australians.

Partners

Our unique partnership unites nine academic, research and health care agencies within South Australia, and encompasses the full breadth of health service delivery across the state and represent organisations who can contribute to, and directly influence, the activities of the Health Translation SA across each of the three health research translation elements; research, action and impact.

Our partner agencies are:

SA Health and its five Local Health Networks;
the State’s two Primary Health Networks – Adelaide PHN and Country SA PHN;
the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute;
the three South Australian universities – Flinders University, The University of Adelaide and University of South Australia;
the peak body representing the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector in SA – Aboriginal Health Council of SA; and
the State’s peak health consumer agency – Health Consumers Alliance of SA.

By combining the expertise and strengths of its partners, Health Translation SA is effectively placed to tackle the challenges in health to achieve a high-quality sustainable health system and deliver solutions to address the most pressing healthcare priorities for our community.

Our Work

Our work focuses on three areas:

PROJECTS: funding a range of priority translation projects including state-based Flagship Programs, Rapid Impact Projects and National Collaborative Projects.
PEOPLE: building capacity amongst academics, researchers, clinicians and policy makers to enable and drive research translation; and
PLATFORMS: influencing and re-orientating systems to ensure there is the infrastructure in place to accelerate research findings into action.

Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA)

At a national level, Health Translation SA also works with the eight other Advanced Health Research Translation Centres through an Alliance called the Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA).

The other Centres are:

Through the Alliance these centres work together on 4 national systems projects:

Health Systems Improvement
Data Driven Healthcare Improvement
Consumer Engagement
Aboriginal Researcher Capacity Building