About

I am the Director of the Health Workforce Optimisation Program at the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health (CBEH) at The University of Queensland (UQ). This program is part of the seven strategic Health Research Accelerator (HERA) initiatives announced by UQ in 2022, which will address some of the most pressing health and medical challenges of today.

Over the last 25 years, I have developed and contributed experience and knowledge across healthcare settings as a practitioner, educator, researcher and implementation scientist in Australia.

I provide stakeholders with deep industry and academic knowledge, previously working as the Head of the School of Clinical Sciences at Queensland University of Technology, as well as a secondment to Queensland Health in 2021 as Senior Expert Advisor for the COVID-19 Vaccination Taskforce. This role had direct influence on the Queensland response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated challenges of vaccinating over 5 million Queenslanders with multiple vaccine doses in a short period of time

Research interests

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

Workforce models: innovative primary care workforce models to improve efficiency and patient outcomes.

Safe prescribing: influencing legislation, policy environments and competency development and health professional training.

Research impact and partnerships

My research has led to major health system changes, including the introduction of immunisation services by pharmacists throughout Australia, and development of national policy frameworks for prescribing by allied health and nursing professionals. Examples include the Health Professionals Prescribing Pathway and the National Prescribing Service – Prescribing Competency Framework.

I have developed key partnerships with the Allied Health Professions’ Office of Queensland, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Authority and Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.

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