Foundation Update - August 2023
29 August 2023
Update includes: Professional practice research network webinar, long term chronic postsurgical pain study, inspirational ANZCA researchers recognized plus more
Professional practice research network
The foundation and the ANZCA Professional Practice Research Network (PPRN) Executive through its chair, Professor Kirsty Forrest, are holding a special online webinar on 20 September with a theme of ‘Leadership and High Performance Teams’. The event will showcase recent research in various aspects of professional practice research.
The keynote speaker will be Professor Victoria Brazil, an emergency physician and medical educator at Bond University on the Gold Coast, whose mantra is ‘doing our work better, together’. Victoria will discuss the importance of professional practice research in better understanding and improving professional practice in the clinical setting, drawing on examples from recent work looking at dynamics within supervisor and trainee relationships.
Professor Brazil is the director of the ‘Translation Simulation Collaborative’ at Bond University, and her personal objective is to ‘help healthcare teams to be better – through innovation, collaboration and high-performance mindsets and skillsets.’
If interested in this area, you are strongly encouraged to consider attending. To register click here.
Grant applications review
We are nearing the completion of our research grant applications review process, with all reviewers now locked in to review applications ahead of the Research Committee’s all-day grant assessment meeting in September.
Once again, the foundation and the Research Committee are enormously grateful for the significant voluntary efforts of all our expert reviewers. Without them, it would not be possible to support our researchers through our annual grant program, maintain our high standard of quality in ANZCA Foundation supported research, or to continue to expand our efforts to make grants more accessible to a larger range of researchers especially novice and emerging investigators.
Long-term chronic postsurgical pain study
In June the foundation secured a grant of $50,000 from the Medibank Better Health Foundation as a contribution to advancing research into the incidence and nature of chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) in the one-to-five year post-operative time frame. This funding will be used to support a foundation grant to Professor Philip Peyton from Austin Health, the principal investigator on the current ‘ROCKet’ multicentre clinical trial on perioperative ketamine and chronic pain, which is nearing completion.
The long-term CPSP study will be a sub-study of the ROCKet trial using trial data, with a primary outcome of CPSP at 12 months or longer after surgery. This will supplement the three-month primary outcome timepoint of the main trial, and extend the effectiveness of the trial by examining the important issue of the significant portion of the postoperative pain burden which appears to occur beyond one year after surgery.
The study will use high quality data from the ROCKet trial, Medicare, and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), to assess the true chronicity of CPSP and quantitate its overall human and economic costs for patients in this cohort.
ASMR President commends ANZCA research
Speaking at the foundation’s cocktail reception at the Annual Scientific Meeting in Sydney on 7 May, Australian Society for Medical Research president Dr Emily Colvin commended ANZCA’s and the foundation’s support for medical research through its annual research grants program and the ANZCA Clinical Trials Network.
Dr Colvin said that the foundation’s research grants and similar support program are vital for driving discoveries in medical science which are the basis for further research and clinical trials, which deliver evidence to inform future improvements in clinical practice and patient outcomes.
She delivered a powerful message on why increasing private philanthropy and government funding is critical for supporting a range of high-quality research, to support medical practitioners in everyday clinical practice.
Inspirational ANZCA researchers recognised
At the reception, Research Committee deputy and acting chair Associate Professor Matthew Doane also formally presented the prestigious ANZCA and ANZCA Foundation Named Research Awards to deserving recipients.
These awards are funded each year by generous ANZCA Foundation supporters, and are established either in memory of notable individuals, many of whom made significant career contributions to the specialties, or in support of specific areas of research interest.
EOFY support
The Foundation warmly thanks all of its committed donors and Patrons, and particularly those who have recently generously donated at the end of the July 1-June 30 tax year. We continue to be greatly appreciative of your support.
Contact & Support
To donate click here, use the 2023 subscriptions form, OR search ‘GiftOptions – ANZCA’ in your browser.
For queries, please contact:
Research grants program, please contact:
ANZCA Clinical Trials Network: