Roadshow Highlights Research Translation at SCHN

Fellow CAG member, Dr Natalie Ong, said “the CAG has enabled us to brainstorm ways to more efficiently and effectively diagnose children with neurodevelopmental conditions.”

Several speakers highlighted the challenges facing busy clinicians who want to undertake research alongside their clinical work.

Co-chair of the Child and Adolescent Health CAG, Professor Russell Dale, said giving clinicians who want to undertake research some time to do so is “in the interests of the whole system, or else they burn out.”

Clinical Nurse Consultant and Senior Research Fellow at SCHN, Dr Laurel Mimmo, said that researchers who aren’t from a medical background can feel “invisible” in the health system but that the CAGs can give them greater profile.

The event also featured interactive sessions on how to set up a research project for implementation and impact, how to involve consumers in research in a paediatric setting, and different pathways into research for young clinicians.

SCHN Clinical Geneticist, Dr Alan Ma, said the various support he’d received from Sydney Health Partners had helped him establish a program of research and given him a deeper appreciation of the role clinician-researchers play in successful research translation.

“Clinicians don’t always appreciate the value they bring to research,” he said. “I underestimated the importance of being both a clinician and researcher, but I know now that it’s very powerful.”

The dates and details of future Roadshow events will be announced over the coming months.