About

I’m a Senior Research Fellow based at the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health at The University of Queensland. My expertise is in improving access to medicines and medicine services for consumers in the primary care setting. I apply economic thinking and frameworks to a range of access to medicines challenges including better integration of medicines services within primary care, the cultural acceptability of services, using digital health to reduce medicine-related problems and the use of appropriate financial incentives to increase the quality of care.

My current research focuses on improving medicines safety in primary care – one of the Australian Government’s ten health priority areas. I’m driven by wanting to improve population health through the safe and appropriate use of medicines.

Research interests

Medicines safety: the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of medicines safety services in primary care.

Pricing medicines: access to medicines issues such as medicines pricing and the disposal of unwanted medicines.

Workforce models: innovative primary care workforce models to improve integration of medicines services.

Research impact

I’m currently co-leading a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) project, Activating pharmacists to reduce medication related problems: The ACTMed stepped wedge randomised controlled trial. This is being undertaken with partner organisations: the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Brisbane South Primary Health Network, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), the Australian Digital Health Agency, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and MedAdvisor.

Other projects include the development, implementation and evaluation of an Indigenous Medication Review Service (IMeRSe) with NACCHO and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia; the Urinary Tract Infection Pharmacy Pilot (UTIPP-Q) with Queensland Health; and investigating pharmacist stress, workload and dispensing errors with Pharmaceutical Defence Limited.

Featured projects

Project titleFunding amountDuration
First, do no harm: Investigating the relationship between pharmacist workloads, stress and dispensing errors using wearable technology
UQ Seed Funding Scheme
$20k2022 - 2022
Activating Pharmacists to reduce Medication-Related Problems: The ACTMed Stepped Wedge Randomised Controlled Trial
MRFF - Medicine Safety
$2.5m2021 - 2023
Indigenous Medication Review Service (The IMeRSe feasibility study)
Australian Government Department of Health
$3.4m2019 - 2020
Communication training for mental health professionals to improve mental health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations
NHMRC Ideas grant
$2.8m2022 - 2026

Contact

To find out how we can collaborate and bring value to your organisation, please email me.