South Australia’s public hospitals have started trialling artificial intelligence (AI) scribes to help reduce the administrative burden on clinicians and give them more time with patients.

The locally developed AI Scribe system is being tested at the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN), where it will generate clinical notes from doctor–patient conversations in emergency and urgent care settings.

The initiative stems from an AI Scribe project first funded by The Hospital Research Foundation Group through the Health Translation SA (HTSA) Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Catalyst Grant Scheme.

The project aims to develop a fit-for-purpose AI documentation tool integrated within SA Health’s digital infrastructure, specifically designed to meet the needs of South Australia’s public hospital system.

Led by Associate Professor Johan Verjans (University of Adelaide), Dr Anthony Porter (CALHN), Associate Professor Emily Kirkpatrick (EKology Health, AIML) and Bronwyn Krieg (CALHN), the project has grown rapidly since its inception.It has now gained statewide support from all Local Health Networks and the Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health (CEIH).

Dr Porter said the early funding from The Hospital Research Foundation Group through the Catalyst Grant was critical in getting the project off the ground.

“We definitely wouldn’t have started this without Catalyst funding support,” Dr Porter said.

“Now our project manager has been appointed as AI Project Manager at Central Adelaide, and we have just been granted funding from the Department of Treasury to continue the work. This genuinely wouldn’t have happened without Catalyst funding.”

As trials begin, the team’s work is focusing not only on improving efficiency but ensuring ethical use of AI in healthcare – including protections for patient privacy, informed consent, and equitable care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

An accompanying education program is also being rolled out to help healthcare professionals and policymakers better understand AI’s capabilities and limitations.

Health Translation SA (HTSA) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 MRFF Catalyst Grant Scheme, marking the third consecutive year of this successful initiative designed to strengthen South Australia’s competitiveness in securing Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) investment. Through a total investment of $387,000, the 2025 round will support six outstanding projects that address key health challenges across infant health, cancer and chronic condition management. Delivered in partnership with The Hospital Research Foundation Group, Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation, and Cancer Council SA, the MRFF Catalyst Grant Scheme provides targeted seed funding to help collaborative research teams test ideas, engage consumers, and prepare for national competitive funding opportunities. “The Catalyst Scheme continues to demonstrate the value of collaboration across South Australia’s research and health sectors,” said Tom Symonds, Executive Director of Health Translation SA. “Each of this year’s projects exemplifies our shared commitment to accelerating research translation—ensuring that strong ideas, grounded in clinical and community need, can evolve into scalable solutions that improve health outcomes for South Australians.” The 2025 Catalyst recipients are: The Hospital Research Foundation Group 🏆 Dr. Rosa Virgara (University of South Australia) – A better bypass: Improved health for patients after heart surgery 🏆 Dr. Dusan Matusica (Flinders University) – Development of a blood test for the identification of neuropathic pain types 🏆 Dr. Suzanne Dawson (Flinders University) – Leveraging work as an intervention in primary mental health care to enable individuals and communities to thrive 🏆 Assoc. Prof. Stephanie Harrison (Flinders University) - Evaluating the use of care services on post-stroke health outcomes in older adults living in regional, rural and remote areas Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation 🏆 Assoc. Prof. Ecushla Linedale (SAHMRI) – Readiness for Scale: A Multi-Jurisdictional Assessment to Enable National Expansion of the Omega-3 Test and Treat Program (O3TTP) Cancer Council SA 🏆 Prof. Claudine Bonder (University of South Australia) – Advancing a novel precision-guided cancer therapy Each project team have also just participated in HTSA’s Research Translation Essentials Course, designed to continue to strengthen their skills in implementation, evaluation, and impact planning. Since launching in 2023, the Catalyst Scheme has provided more than $1.2 million in seed funding (19 projects) — helping South Australian research teams turn promising ideas into collaborative projects with real-world impact.   About the Catalyst Grant Scheme The HTSA MRFF Catalyst Grant Scheme focuses South Australian effort around the MRFF’s Principles and Priorities and rewards meaningful collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and consumers. The Scheme’s three funding streams – Chronic Conditions (THRF Group), Maternal and Paediatric Health (WCH Foundation), and Cancer (Cancer Council SA) – reflect a shared vision to drive innovation where it is needed most. For more information about the program or upcoming funding opportunities, visit our website.

 

Health Translation SA (HTSA) is excited to share that it has been awarded $1 million through the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) 2025–26 Supporting Research Translation Centres Grant Opportunity. This funding will amplify HTSA’s critical role in strengthening collaborations to address pressing health challenges across the state, enabling even greater impact.

Following consultation with senior health system leaders across South Australia, mental health was identified as a key priority area for our community. This grant will enable HTSA to accelerate research translation efforts in this area by supporting a demonstration project, led by SA Health, that will integrate mental health peer support workers alongside clinicians within at least one SA Health clinical service.

In parallel, HTSA will develop a scalable and enduring statewide model to guide this, and future research translation initiatives, ensuring that evidence-informed improvements in care are implemented effectively across SA.

“This funding allows us to bring researchers, health services, policymakers, and the community together to co-design solutions that are grounded in evidence and experience,” said Dr Mike Cusack, Chief Medical Officer, SA Health and HTSA Board of Partners Member. “By working in partnership, we can accelerate the translation of knowledge into real-world improvements in mental health care and deliver better outcomes for South Australians.”

The Australian Government is investing a total of $12 million to support Australia’s 12 NHMRC-accredited Research Translation Centres (RTCs). The Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA)—the national alliance of Australia’s 12 NHMRC-accredited RTCs—welcomes the Australian Government’s investment as a recognition of the vital role RTCs play in connecting research with health services and communities, building capacity in research translation, and delivering high-quality, equitable, and evidence-based healthcare across the country.

Find out more on 🔗 AHRA’s website or 🔗 NHMRC’s website.

The Health Translation SA (HTSA) Board of Partners are very pleased to announce that Tom Symonds has been appointed to the role of Executive Director of HTSA, taking over from Wendy Keech who has led this collaborative organisation over the past 7 years. He commenced in this role on June 23, 2025.

HTSA is South Australia’s statewide, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) accredited Research Translation Centre (RTC). It is one of 14 accredited RTC’s across Australia that come together as the Australian Health Research Alliance. HTSA has eleven active partners who work together to prioritise the translation of health and medical research into policy and practice to ensure that research has impact and benefits the South Australian public.

HTSA’s partners include SA Health and all Local Health Networks, SAHMRI, University of South Australia, Flinders University, University of Adelaide, Torrens University, the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia, Adelaide and Country SA Primary Health Networks and CSIRO. 

HTSA focusses on building research translation capacity and delivering impactful research translation projects with clinicians, researchers, academics, consumers and community-based organisations that respond to the needs of the health system.

The HTSA Board of Partners would like to thank Wendy for her outstanding leadership over the last 7 years in building the capabilities and success of HTSA across a range of critical projects and training activities. As a result of Wendy’s untiring efforts, HTSA is now positioned as vital part of the South Australian Health and Medical research translation landscape.

The Board is very pleased that Tom brings to the Executive Director position a wealth of valuable work experience, networks and skills. He is currently the Chair and Board Director of the Adelaide Primary Health Network and national charity, the Cure4CF Health Foundation. He is also a Board Director and Council Member of the Australian Medical Council. 

He has experience in leadership roles at Southern Adelaide Health Services (now SALHN), Flinders University and in the SA Government’s Department of the Premier and Cabinet at the Lot Fourteen Innovation District. Additionally, he has successfully led multi-partner initiatives that align closely with the work and mission of HTSA. Tom is known as a natural collaborator with a proven ability to bring people together, build trust, and foster impactful partnerships.

The chair of the HTSA Board of Partners, Dr Leanna Read, commented,

“As a result of Wendy’s strategic vision and leadership, HTSA is very well positioned to play a leading role in health research translation in SA and we look forward to it continuing to thrive and grow under Tom’s leadership.”

The Health Translation SA (HTSA) Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Catalyst Grant Scheme provides vital funding to South Australian research teams, with the aim of preparing them for future MRFF opportunities. By aligning with MRFF’s Principles and Priorities, the Scheme helps strengthen South Australia’s competitiveness in the national health research landscape, funding projects that demonstrate a clear commitment to collaboration and research translation.

Dr. Rebecca Perry, HTSA’s Lead for Priority Driven Research Translation Support, said, “The Catalyst Grant Scheme is about building a pipeline of research that is primed to make a difference. We want our teams to not only apply for MRFF funding but to do so with projects that are informed by deep collaboration and aligned with real community needs.”

What makes the Catalyst Scheme unique among other funding sources across South Australia is its emphasis on cross-sector collaboration. Each funded project must involve meaningful partnerships with health services, research organisations, and the community, engaging both consumers and clinicians to address unmet healthcare needs in South Australia.

At HTSA's Stakeholder Forum in October, several 2023 Catalyst projects, funded by The Hospital Research Foundation Group and the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation, showcased the significant impact that the Catalyst Scheme has made on their health research.

Professor Tracey Wade (Flinders University) and her team shared insights from their work on developing an online, family-based group treatment for parents of children with eating disorders. This initiative, intended as a first-line treatment, has been deeply shaped by a co-design process involving clinicians and parents, ensuring the intervention meets real needs.

The project has also led to the submission of an application to the MRFF Childhood Mental Health Grant Opportunity in collaboration with two interstate services. Professor Wade expressed her gratitude, saying, “I am thankful to Health Translation SA for giving us a chance to dip our toes into this water, to give this project a try, with learnings along the way setting us up for success in an MRFF grant.”

Dr Anthony Porter (Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN)), who has been instrumental in creating the first-ever academic and clinician-led AI scribe software for hospital emergency and outpatient departments, echoed this sentiment. He also emphasised the value of Catalyst funding to support clinician-led research, stating that “We definitely wouldn’t have started this without their (HTSA and The Hospital Research Foundation Group) support. After a 25-year break from research, no one else would have given me a grant.”

Despite facing various implementation challenges, Dr Porter’s team is well-positioned to continue researching the software's effectiveness in hospitals, supporting its potential scale-up in SA’s public hospitals and for other public hospitals across Australia.

Dr Kate Bartel’s (Riverland Academy of Clinical Excellence) presentation also highlighted the impact of Catalyst funding on being able to kick-start a project led by the Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network. “It’s allowed the project team to implement stage one of the project which is aimed at delivering the right mental health care, at the right time, to rural people,” Dr Bartel said.

By utilising the Care Mappr software—developed by researchers at Flinders University—the team has been able to connect rural service providers through this platform and understand the needs of rural healthcare professionals, consumers, and carers. These findings also informed an MRFF Million Minds Mental Health Research Mission grant application aimed at testing the platform's feasibility in the Riverland Region. If successful, the team hopes to identify sub-groups that benefit most and evaluate pathways for national scalability.

During the event, HTSA also awarded over $400,000 to the seven new 2024 Catalyst projects, thanks to the generous support of The Hospital Research Foundation Group, Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation, and Cancer Council SA. These projects stood out not only for their research aims but also for their dedication to consumer engagement and collaboration, both within South Australia and beyond.

The 2024 grant recipients included:

The Hospital Research Foundation Group

• Professor Shilpa Jesudason (CALHN) –The kidney as a window to pregnancy and future health

• Dr Rachel Elovaris (SAHMRI) – Optimising culturally safe and self-determined management of gestational diabetes mellitus among Aboriginal women in South Australia, assisting child health outcomes

• Dr Amy Hutchison (University of Adelaide) – Continuous Glucose Monitoring-Assisted Remote Telehealth Dietetics to Empower people with Type 2 Diabetes and improve Cardiovascular Outcomes (CARE-T2D)

• Prof. Stacey George – (Flinders University) Co-designing an integrated care model to improve experiences and outcomes in the Chronic Disease Preventive Health System in Northern Adelaide

Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation

• Dr Lito Papanicolas (CALHN) – Preventing neonatal sepsis treatment failure: Precision antibiotic therapy through pathogen genomic screening

• Dr Sarah Wallwork (UniSA) – Co-designing the VITAL Project (validation, understanding, and graded, valued activity prescription) for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Cancer Council SA

• Dr Amanda Lumsden (UniSA) – Developing a predictive tool for ovarian cancer through patient-centred symptom data collection

HTSA is pleased to share that all three funding partners will be supporting the HTSA MRFF Catalyst Grant Scheme again in 2025, reflecting their commitment to fostering innovative health research in South Australia.

Stay tuned for details on the 2025 funding round, expected to launch in April/May, as we look forward to seeing the next wave of impactful research ideas and collaborations.

Photo: Successful 2024 HTSA MRFF Catalyst Grant Scheme project team members + funding partner representatives

In 2021, the Centre for Health in All Policies Research Translation (the Centre) was launched. Three years on and the Centre continues to work towards increasing research-policy translation in ways that deliver improved public policy, and lead to better health, wellbeing and equity outcomes.

Led by Associate Professor Carmel Williams, the Centre is a Health Translation SA (HTSA) “Affiliated Centre”, jointly based within HTSA and the School of Public Health Adelaide University. Wendy Keech, Executive Director, HTSA said that the Centre has gone from strength to strength over the past few years.

Fundamental to the Centre’s vision is the idea of healthy public policy, which the World Health Organisation characterises as “an explicit concern for health and equity in all areas of policy and by an accountability for health impact.”

With this at front of mind, the Centre was established to work with policy makers and academics, at a national and international level, to strengthen research translation across public policy fields with a key focus on the determinants of health, wellbeing and equity.

Associate Professor Williams says these partnerships and the collaboration they require, ground the Centre’s approach - ‘we work across sectors and disciplines to build true and trusting partnerships.’

She also explains that there are 4 key priorities that drive the Centre: ‘generating evidence, translating evidence, capacity building and awareness raising’.

The Centre’s 2023 Annual Report describes the breadth of impactful work the Centre has achieved over the past year and the efforts made to progress the Centre’s priorities.

Of note, the Centre has continued to facilitate its Maximising Impact from Research – Policy Partnership Masterclass - an interactive short course that aims to build the capacity and skills of researchers, academics and policy actors to bridge the gap between policy relevant research and impact. The Masterclass is reflective of the Centre’s plan to build capacity for research-policy collaboration and action with the research and policy making communities.

Another highlight of the Centre’s work thus far is the recent establishment of the research-policy-practice translation Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP brings together researchers, policy actors and practitioners from diverse disciplines in a new network, where they will explore and progress best practice in research translation knowledge. The first official CoP was held in November 2023 and now meets regularly. It marks an exciting step forward in the Centre’s evolution.

Agenda setting is also a key element of the Centre’s work whereby it promotes emerging social and health issues onto the policy and research agenda. This includes raising awareness among decision-makers of determinants of health including Trees and Green Space and Density and Housing.

On an international front, the Centre’s work with the World Health Organisation has been a highlight for Associate Professor Williams. In particular, the launch of the new Health in All Policies Model and Guidance which aims to support countries to implement and sustain good governance to deliver improved health, equity and wellbeing.

When looking to the future of the Centre, Associate Professor Williams says, ‘we need to keep asking how we can change systems so that translation of evidence into policy is fostered and enhanced to reduce the health equity gap.’

To learn more about the Centre, visit the HTSA website, follow them on LinkedIn or email: Carmel.Williams@healthtranslationsa.org.au.

Photo: Launch of the New Health in All Policies 4 Pillars Model in Tampere, Finland

From putting her hand up as a participant, to now being co-leader of a government-funded research project, Penelope McMillan has a long history of engaging with research throughout her healthcare journey.

“I’ve always been really aware that, particularly in these days where evidence-based medicine is the byword, nothing moves forward in medicine without research.”

“Any time I was invited to participate in research I said yes, even when it was quite inconvenient for me and involved changing medications and so on, because I wanted the field to move forward.”

Through these experiences as a participant, Penelope quickly realised that, particularly in the field of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), there was a concerning lack of research that was based on lived experience. This meant that research projects were sometimes created and run in a way that wasn’t as accessible for the participants as they could be and didn’t address the priorities that people with ME/CFS actually had about their care.

“There’s a limit to the degree that people without lived experience can infer what participants really need in order to be able to participate comfortably, safely, and willingly.”

With this in mind, the transition from participant to consumer advocate was a natural one, and Penelope was soon becoming involved in research projects in many different capacities.

“As a consumer, I have helped shape research right from developing the research question to now being a co-leader on a research project, and many activities in between.”

“My greatest impact came from a simple conversation with a researcher friend at a Health Translation SA (HTSA) event. I mentioned that I’d just been involved with a report about how the primary health sector ignores the access needs of people who are homebound, but that we were struggling to get the report much attention. This friend offered to share the report, Just Invisible by Ricky Buchanan, with her colleagues at Flinders University - a small but important act which led to the creation of a multi-faceted research and innovation project for Frail, Homebound and Bedridden People which I am co-leading.”

At its core, consumer engagement is about ensuring that medical research is serving its target community in the best way possible. Research teams who partner with consumers and community members deliver research that addresses community needs. When those with a lived experience provide their perspective and ideas, new research projects are envisaged that have a higher likelihood of translating into improved care for the community.

“One of the things the research has shown is that what researchers and clinicians believe is the most useful research to move forward, and what people with lived experience want can be quite different! But bringing together the different perspectives is essential for moving the field forward.”

“Every consumer brings their own lived experience which has inherent value, as well as a connection to their peer group and others with the same condition or the same circumstances.”

At HTSA, we offer a range of services and expertise for both researchers who wish to partner with community members, and for community members who are interested in working on research projects.

Contact us at enquiries@healthtranslationsa.org.au for more information about how you can get involved.

Photo: Penelope McMillan (Consumer Advocate)

HTSA’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Catalyst Grant Scheme (Catalyst Scheme) provides funding to highly collaborative South Australian teams in line with the MRFF’s Principles and Priorities, aiming to increase SA’s success at winning future MRFF funding.

In the Catalyst Scheme’s 2023 round, teams could apply for up to $60,000 (per project) for a maximum of 1 year through generous support from The Hospital Research Foundation Group and the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation. A total of six projects were funded.

The Catalyst Scheme differs from other state-based sources of funding by specifically focusing on projects that demonstrate meaningful collaboration across health services and research organisations. It also encourages consumer and clinician engagement to define and address an unmet healthcare need in South Australia and supports projects that align with the MRFF Principles and Priorities to enhance their team’s chance of success in future MRFF grant rounds. It is expected that a project funded through the Catalyst Scheme will result in an application to an MRFF Grant Opportunity.

Previous funding recipients have highlighted that, while the funding itself was beneficial, the process of applying for the grant also had a significant impact on how they viewed their projects.

Professor Tracey Wade was awarded funding to perform an economic evaluation of online family-based group treatment for children with an eating disorder.

“We’ve deepened our partnership with the Women’s and Children’s Hospital as we worked on the grant, and the process has given us valuable feedback for what would work for an MRFF submission in childhood eating disorders,” she explained.

Dr Sarah Hunter leads a project implementing an evidence-informed program to support caregiver wellbeing.

“This grant really does feel like a springboard to bigger and more exciting ways to work together to make a difference in the lives of South Australian families,” she said.

“We’ve also been working with one of our key investigators from Ireland to see if what we’re doing here can actually be implemented internationally.”

Executive Director of HTSA Wendy Keech said that the funding provides the 2023 recipients with a game-changing opportunity.

“Through the Catalyst Scheme we’ve given research groups a chance to transform the way they’re leading their projects, to bring in multi-disciplinary collaborators from all over the world and think about scalability from the beginning.”

“We’re so proud of the scheme and looking forward to opening it for a second round in May 2024. We are also grateful for the continued support of our foundational funding partners, The Hospital Research Foundation Group and the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation and thrilled to announce that the Cancer Council SA will come on board as a funder for the 2024 round”.

For more information about the 2024 HTSA MRFF Catalyst Scheme follow us on Linked In or contact enquiries@healthtranslationsa.org.au.

Photo: 2023 Catalyst Scheme grant recipients

Health Translation SA's inaugural Summer Research Scholarship program has proven to be an outstanding success, with immediate benefits for both the organisation and the participating students.

In collaboration with the University of Adelaide, three undergraduate psychology students, Alex Palazov, Amy Randell, and Hannah Freeman, are spending their summer holidays contributing to  priority projects within the South Australian Health and Medical Research ecosystem.  

Amy and Alex have been working on an innovative new project as part of the Northern Adelaide Health and Wellbeing Partnership to help better understand the full scope of research activities occurring in the north of Adelaide.

Meanwhile, Hannah is has been immersed in the important area of Consumer and Community Involvement in research by supporting a strategic review of HTSA’s Community Interest Register.

For the students, the unique opportunity to further their learning by contributing to real-world projects was too good to pass up.

"Being provided an opportunity to gain valuable experience in a local research translation project that would not only teach me a great deal but have positive health impacts within South Australia felt like an unreal opportunity”, says Alex.

Health Translation SA, located within the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, serves as a catalyst for collaboration, focusing on accelerating research findings into healthcare policy and practice.

It’s no easy task- something that the students have quickly learnt in their time embedded within the small, but dedicated team.

“I’ve learnt that without truly passionate people, research translation is near impossible” reflects Amy.

“Research translation requires a unique level of collaboration from partners, researchers, clinicians, policy makers and consumers. Health Translation SA is the driving force in this conversation”.

In addition to broadening their knowledge and understanding of health research translation, the students agree that their time embedded with the Health Translation SA team has furthered their personal and professional development.

“The Scholarship has enhanced my self-awareness, independence and initiative, as well as my problem solving, public speaking and critical thinking abilities” says Hannah.

“It’s fostered a sense of personal growth and confidence.”

For Health Translation SA’s Executive Director, Wendy Keech, the value for both the students and the organisation is clear.

“We’ve been able to use these potential research leaders of the future to help drive the priority projects of today.”

Health Translation SA plans to offer the Summer Research Scholarship as an annual opportunity, aiming to collaborate with other academic partners and stakeholders while exploring interdisciplinary learning opportunities.

Last week we hosted our annual HTSA Stakeholder Forum where we presented a strategic overview of HTSA’s key activities in 2023 and also announced the recipients of the inaugural HTSA Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Catalyst Grant Scheme (the Scheme). 

The Scheme aimed to incentivise collaboration across health services, academic research organisations and the community as well as address health service and system challenges and was financially supported by The Hospital Research Foundation Group and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation.

We were impressed with the calibre of the applications and would like to extend our congratulations to the six successful projects:

• Empowering Carer and Older People Dyads: Characteristics and Impacts on Quality of Care and Unplanned Hospitalisations (Lead: Dr Tesfahun Eshetie)
• Development of a Prototype for Automated Clinical Case note Generation (Lead: Associate Professor Johan Verjans)
• AI enhanced referral system to improve patient and provider agency in rural mental health (Lead: Professor Paul Worley)
• Developing a Roadmap or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing in South Australia (Lead: Dr Tina Brodie)
• Caring for Caregivers: Implementing an evidence-informed program to support caregiver wellbeing (Lead: Dr Sarah Hunter)
• Online family-based group treatment for parents of children with an eating disorder as first line treatment: an economic evaluation (Lead: Professor Tracey Wade)

During the Forum the project leads engaged in a panel discussion, reflecting on how the requirements of the Scheme had very positively impacted their applications. While the key indicator of success is submitting a MRFF (or other) collaborative research proposal in 12 months’ time, it was really pleasing to hear that two of the project teams are already preparing proposals to external funding schemes based on the new collaborations and projects they have formed.

We are proud of the Scheme’s development, recognising that its success is attributed to the support, guidance, and input from numerous contributors. A big thank you to all involved.

It is great news that both of the Foundations have committed to further funding in 2024 and we are looking for other funders to join this collaborative funding model. 

If you are interested please get in touch us via enquiries@healthtranslationsa.org.au or download a copy of the information flyer today.  The 2024 Scheme is expected to launch in May.

A $3.3 million clinical research and translation project has transformed cardiac rehabilitation for people living in rural and remote areas, making the lifesaving, evidence-based programs more accessible and improving health outcomes for these communities.

The Country Heart Attack Prevention Project (CHAP) began in 2019, with the goal of improving attendance at cardiac rehabilitation programs in Australia.

Cardiac rehabilitation involves a collection of interventions that ensure the physical, psychological, and social well-being of a patient after they experience an acute cardiovascular event. A large focus of cardiac rehabilitation is education regarding a patient’s heart condition and the long-term lifestyle changes they can make to improve their health, as well as support to achieve their goals.

However, despite its clear benefits, the engagement of consumers and clinicians with cardiac rehabilitation is limited in Australia.

“Despite high level evidence supporting the proven benefit of risk factor modification to reduce secondary events through cardiac rehabilitation, statistics from Australia and around the world report that only 20-50% of eligible patients attend, and attendance has not improved in the past 20 years.”

The CHAP project aimed to tackle this attendance issue from several key angles. The team first identified four major barriers to participation in cardiac rehabilitation, which included limited referrals to the programs, a lack of patient-centred approaches, a lack of sustainable lifelong commitment to secondary prevention, and heterogeneous quality among the available programs.

They addressed each of these barriers in turn with innovative solutions. To improve referrals to cardiac rehabilitation, the team created the Country Access to Cardiac Health (CATCH) system, which provided a centralised referral process for all patients discharged from hospital after a cardiac event. CATCH also implemented a telehealth-based service to improve accessibility and the patient-centred nature of cardiac rehabilitation, the efficacy of which was supported by evidence collected in the early stages of the project.

To improve the sustainability and lifelong commitment to cardiac rehab, the team also developed a model of care which relied on a strong collaboration between general practitioners and local nurses, along with telehealth services. This model was created in partnership with the consumers and clinicians to ensure it suited their needs.

All along the way, the team also evaluated each of these approaches, collecting high-quality evidence to assess and support the translation of the CHAP model into mainstream clinical practice.

Now, at the conclusion of the CHAP project, the team has shared the final outcomes and impacts of their efforts, and the benefits are crystal clear.

“As a result of three years implementing current evidence into practice, South Australian country cardiac patients now have access to the best, evidence-based, patient-centred and cost-effective international standard of cardiac rehabilitation in the nation,” explained project lead Professor Robyn Clark at the final CHAP showcase.

Evaluation of the CHAP approach revealed that completion of cardiac rehabilitation programs were both significantly higher in those patients exposed to the CHAP model, which was also more cost-effective for healthcare providers and patients.

Importantly, the patients who experienced the CHAP model reported very positive experiences and were hopeful that the programs would continue into the future, with one participant explaining,

“The only thing that I would suggest would be to have more rehabilitation sessions and modes of delivery so patient have a choice of how they will attend after discharge.”

“After having a heart attack, I undertook cardiac rehabilitation in the Barossa for six weeks, but I think it should be available to me for the rest of my life,” said Clayton Bester, one consumer who was involved throughout the CHAP project.

This project was built on a foundation of strong multi-disciplinary partnerships and consumer engagement, including long-term support from Health Translation SA (HTSA) as a collaborative partner.

Wendy Keech, Executive Officer of HTSA provided leadership regarding the translational aspects of the project as an Associate Investigator from the very beginning, facilitating interactions across health networks and institutions.

“The whole team has done so many things right. They’ve consulted with all the right people from the start, had a clear game plan, and thought about the impact they wanted to have,” said Wendy.

“HTSA has been really pleased to see how this project has brought the academic rigour and the vision of academia together with health services. That’s what HTSA is all about.”

Even though the CHAP project has now come to a close, the work is far from over. Reflecting on the future of CHAP, Wendy Keech said,

“The question I keep coming back to is, how do we actually change the system to accommodate the findings that have been established. How do we actually take this knowledge and pass this onto the next people so the findings don’t just sit in a drawer once a project comes to a close.”

For Professor Clark and the rest of the CHAP team, the next steps are clear.

“The ultimate outcome for a translation project is to become policy for practice – we want to get the CHAP model into care across the state and even across Australia, and we’re thrilled to be working with the South Australian Cardiac Rehab Clinical Network to see this through.”

“We’ve created a statewide clinical network adaptation of the CHAP model which encompasses everything we’ve been working on for the past years, including the central referral service and all the other fantastic resources that have been developed.”

“Every person in South Australia will have the option to have their cardiac rehabilitation their way….a brilliant example of research based person centred care…and all of this work originating in South Australia.

The Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation (WCH Foundation) has awarded $5.7 million in funding to research into childhood brain and central nervous system cancer, asthma management and pregnancy health in its inaugural Bloom Research Program grant round.

On Thursday 24 August, Health Translation SA attended an awards night to celebrate the outcome with successful research teams, WCH Foundation staff and board members, Women’s and Children’s Health Network (WCHN) representatives and the Honourable Chris Picton MP, Minister for Health and Wellbeing.

The competitive three-stage application process included a round table event during which Health Translation SA presented to research teams regarding research translation and consumer engagement, and provided feedback to support the development of applications.

Following full application, four grants were awarded to:

• Professor Simon Barry of the University of Adelaide and his team focusing on finding better and more personalised treatments for childhood brain and central nervous system cancers
• Associate Professor Carson-Chahhoud of WCHN and her team developing and testing an artificially intelligent app to improve self-management of asthma
• Professor Tim Green of Flinders University and SAHMRI with his team determining if folic acid supplements in mid to late pregnancy may be contributing to rising rates of gestational diabetes
• Professor Jordan Hansford of SAHMRI and his team undertaking genomic analyses on brain tumour samples to understand factors related with survivorship.

These projects will be undertaken over the next two to five years and will see more than 15 senior researchers, 20 early and mid-career researchers, at least three PhD students, and more than ten partnering organisations involved.

The WCH Foundation is hopeful that the focus on health translation throughout the application and review process means that the projects have the best chance of making a direct and tangible impact on the health of women, children and families under the care of the WCHN and across South Australia.

For more information about the funded projects, visit https://wchfoundation.org.au/2023-bloom-research-program-outcomes/

The WCH Foundation Bloom Research Program will open for applications again in early 2024. Visit https://wchfoundation.org.au/bloom-research/ to find out more, or contact research@wchfoundation.org.au

Welcome to the latest update from the SA MRFF Network! We are excited to share some important information and updates we have compiled in relation to the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) in recent weeks. Let’s dive in!

New MRFF Grant Opportunities

We are thrilled to share the availability of these new MRFF Grant Opportunities that have opened since our last update. These grants present exciting funding possibilities for cutting-edge research in various areas. Here are the latest opportunities up for grabs:

• MRFF TBI Mission – 2023 Traumatic Brain Injury Grant Opportunity
  • Close Date: 29-Nov-2023, 5:00 pm (ACT Local Time)
  • More information: https://www.grants.gov.au/Go/Show?GoUuid=235c4776-3efa-4160-aff1-2cead8f10494
• MRFF Indigenous Health Research Fund – 2023 Indigenous Health Research Grant Opportunity
  • Close Date: 06-Mar-2024, 5:00 pm (ACT Local Time)
  • More information: https://www.grants.gov.au/Go/Show?GoUuid=c4fa41f1-eef6-4d12-9858-2c8bec6e1878

Remember that you can see what MRFF grant opportunities are open, forecast and closed  here:

https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/medical-research-future-fund/mrff-grant-opportunities-calendarKeep up to date

Invitation to Learn about Consumer Involvement in MRFF-funded Research

Consumer involvement plays a vital role in improving the quality, relevance, and impact of research. Join this upcoming webinar to learn more about consumer involvement in MRFF-funded research. 

The webinar, hosted by Mr. John Stubbs AM, Chair of the MRFF Consumer Reference Panel, and Dr. Masha Somi, Chief Executive Officer, Health and Medical Research Office, will cover the following topics:

• Discussion on the recently released Principles for Consumer Involvement in Research Funded by the MRFF.
  • Examples of how effective consumer involvement is put into practice and why it is critical to high-quality research.

Save the date and register for the webinar at 12:00 pm (AEST) on 3 August 2023.

https://kapara.rdbk.com.au/landers/f90dea.html

Funding Rates for Health and Medical Research

Between 2020 and 2022, the MRFF opened 61 grant opportunities across 21 MRFF initiatives and awarded 454 grants, totaling $1,177.3 million. These grants represent half of all MRFF grants awarded since the fund’s inception.

To learn more about funding rates for MRFF grant opportunities that opened between 7 November 2020 and 5 November 2022, we encourage you to read the Financial assistance to support the Australian Medical Research and Innovation Priorities 2020–2022 report.

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/financial-assistance-to-support-the-australian-medical-research-and-innovation-priorities-2020-2022?language=en#:~:text=Funded%20rates%20of%20MRFF%20grant%20opportunities%202020–2022

National Consultation: Improving Alignment and Coordination

The Australian Government is committed to ensuring that health and medical research investment delivers maximum benefit to the community while driving long-term economic sustainability. To optimize this investment, the Department of Health and Aged Care and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) are undertaking a national consultation to improve alignment and coordination between the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and Medical Research Endowment Account (MREA).

This consultation aims to identify ways to enhance strategic alignment and coordination between the two funds. Potential models for reform include:

– A coordination mechanism with broad representation to provide coordinated advice and oversight for greater strategic alignment.

– NHMRC managing both funds separately, supporting both investigator-led and priority-led research.

– NHMRC managing the merged funds, supporting research at every stage of the pipeline to meet the needs of Australia’s complex healthcare system.

For more details and to contribute to this important consultation, please refer to the Discussion Paper, which includes guiding questions to shape your response. All stakeholders are invited to submit written contributions by 11.59 pm on Friday, 14 July.

For any inquiries, please contact HMRconsultations@health.gov.au.

https://consultations.health.gov.au/health-economics-and-research-division/improving-alignment-and-coordination-mrff-mrea/

Stay tuned for more updates and opportunities from the MRFF!

Note: The South Australian MRFF Network is dedicated to promoting MRFF initiatives and disseminating relevant information to the research community in South Australia. For more information or assistance, please contact enquiries@healthtranslationsa.org.au

A local industry placement internship with Health Translation SA and Digital Health SA has delivered a critical step towards improving continuity of care through real-time data sharing between community and hospital healthcare providers. 

Health Translation SA’s Connected Care project began in 2019, and was supported by the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) as part of the Rapid Applied Research Translation program. (MRF9100005).   Critical leadership for the Connected Care Project has been provided by partner organisations including SA Health’s Office of the Chief Medical Information Officer (OCMIO), the Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health (CEIH), the University of South Australia, Adelaide Primary Health Network, and the Country SA PHN.

The project aims to address the long-established problem of discontinuity of care, wherein critical details relating to a patient are lost in the transition between primary care and hospital care settings. These two disparate healthcare settings use very different data systems and without significant effort from clinicians and administrative staff it can be nearly impossible for up-to-date, accurate patient records to be shared across the sector. 

This means that critical details about patient management and treatment can be lost, valuable time is lost trying to chase information, and diagnostic tests are often unnecessarily repeated. Such discontinuity in the transition between primary and acute care leads to poorer outcomes for patients and is even associated with a higher risk of extended hospitalisation or death. 

A solution is urgently needed to bridge this gap and ensure continuity of care throughout the patient journey, but navigating a complex healthcare system to create an effective solution is no mean feat and requires an enormous team effort. 

During his six-month internship, which was coordinated through the Australian Postgraduate Research Intern (APR.intern) program, Swinburne University of Technology PhD student Dominic Lin completed a critical step in this project, bringing us closer to the creation of a technical data sharing solution that could interconnect the primary and acute healthcare settings. 

“Health Translation SA had already conducted the early phases of this project, including significant engagement with practitioners and consumers in the healthcare system to understand their needs,” Dominic explained.

“My primary goal during this phase of the project was to deliver a comprehensive draft of the business and technical requirements of an effective data exchange solution to this problem, and actually identify potential technical solutions in partnership with Digital Health SA.”

To do this, Dominic researched the technical operations of SA Health’s data storage and exchange capabilities and compared these with the capabilities of the primary care operators. With support from senior colleagues at Digital Health SA, he investigated the high-level system architecture of each system to characterise their compatibility and identified potential bridges between the primary and acute care settings. The end result of this important work was a comprehensive report containing the technical details needed to consider potential solutions to this continuity of care problem.

“With the work that Dom’s done, we’ve ended up with very detailed and tangible documentation around what the requirements are for both functional and non-functional components of this solution,” said Rhys Parker, Chief Clinical Information Officer at Digital Health SA.

“A real big-ticket item for health is that ability to interconnect primary care and acute care settings and be able to manage that patient journey end to end.”

Dominic’s internship not only highlighted the importance of data sharing across healthcare settings, but also highlighted how essential the relationships between the partner organisations are to pushing this work forward. 

“We appreciate what the internship program does. We like the model of it and we like what it does from a capacity-building perspective,” said Wendy Keech, CEO of Health Translation SA.

“The strong partnership between HTSA and Digital Health SA, as well as the Office of the Chief Medical Information Officer is absolutely critical to getting this work done, and we could not do it without the support of all the passionate individuals who have worked on this project.”

The successful outcome from this internship also speaks to the effectiveness of the APR.intern program, with National Program Manager Glen Sheldon adding,

“This is a fantastic internship result where there’s been work on a real problem that everyone’s really interested in the solution for.”

At the conclusion of his internship, Dominic was grateful for the opportunity to flex his technical skills, and to have built new skills in an unfamiliar industry.

“Throughout the six-month internship I learned many things from my industry mentors,” he said.

“They perfectly demonstrated how to drive a research project forward to become a product, and they linked me with different key people for the project and demonstrated how to effectively communicate with different levels of people,”

“These soft skills are extremely beneficial for my future.”

2023 Masterclass: Maimising impact from Research-Policy Partnerships

-Carmel Williams, Director: Centre for Health in All Policies Research Translation

The third Maximising Impact from Research – Policy Partnerships Masterclass is scheduled to run on the 29- 30 August and 23 October 2023. The practical two- and half–day workshop aims improve collaboration between researchers and policy makers and support improved translation of research into policy and practice and lead to the creation of better public policy. 

The Masterclass targets both academics and researchers working across a range of disciplines, and policy actors from government and the non- government sector. The course is very interactive and focuses on skill development, drawing on course participants lived experience and expertise. The Masterclass brings researchers and policy actors together in the same space, to learn from each other. 

The Masterclass is convened by the Centre for Health in All Policies Research Translation (CHiAPRT), jointly based at Health Translation SA and the School of Public Health, University of Adelaide. CHiAPRT works with policymakers and academics at the international, national and local level to strengthen the capacity for research translation in the development and implementation of public policy with a focus on the determinants of health, multisectoral action such as Health in All Policies, the creation of Wellbeing Economies and health equity. 

The Masterclass is structured into three modules with Module 1 Concepts and Frameworks and Module 2 Tools and Skills to be delivered in August, with Module 3 Bringing it all Together scheduled to be run on 23 October 2023. 

The 2021 and 2022 Masterclass attracted between 30 plus participants including people from all three South Australian universities, research agencies and policy makers from a diverse range of government agencies including, education, environment, health, corrections, education, and child protection.  Past participants share some of their experience below: 

“The two-day Research- Policy Partnerships Masterclass was exactly what I was looking for, it provided the insights I need to push our research agenda forward and certainly gave me food for thought regarding our policy development processes and how we can work more effectively with researchers and involve them much earlier in our strategic level policy decisions”

Kristy Nixon, Manager, Health Promotion, SA Dental | Central Adelaide Local Health Network

“The Masterclass was a unique opportunity to hear the perspectives of policy actors and to understand the role of research in their work. I also came away from this dynamic, information-packed two-day event with a raft of new contacts in the policy space”

Dr Helen Dinmore | Research Fellow, UniSA Business

The Course Curriculum was developed in collaboration with policy professionals and researchers from across Australia, to help ensure that the course was tailored to meet both the needs of policy professionals and researchers. Course evaluations have been very positive, with many participants indicating they valued the opportunity to network with researchers and policy actors outside their usual networks. Following multiple requests from Masterclass Participants, plans are underway to establish a Research – Policy Community of Practice, which will initially be coordinated by CHiAPRT. The Research – Policy Community of Practice is scheduled to be launched in October 2023. 

Register for the upcoming masterclass HERE