Allied Health Research Symposium

Keynote and Panellist

Dr David Ireland is a Senior Research Scientist at the Australian E-Health Research Centre. Here he works with speech & occupational therapists and other clinicians in realising technology interventions that have gone on to win national awards in research & development.

He received a Bachelor of Engineering in Microelectronics, Masters of Philosophy, and a Ph.D. in electronic engineering and computer science from Griffith University. Reportedly a "legend in chatbots for health" he has developed chatbot technology for applications in chronic pain, autism spectrum disorder, smoking cessation, Parkinson's disease, dementia and genomics.

He is an associate editor for the journal of Artificial General Intelligence, where he contributes and edits on publications related to the philosophy of AI.

Panel Chair

Dr Katrina Campbell brings over two decades of experience across clinical, academic, executive and advisory roles. She has driven measurable impact across health systems, from international research leadership and nationally recognised capability building initiatives to statewide reform and health service wide programs.

With deep expertise in implementation science, operational excellence, workforce development and digital innovation, Katrina has a proven track record of building high performing teams and designing sustainable models of care that deliver scalable change in complex environments.

She is passionate about bridging the gap between evidence, policy and practice to drive meaningful improvements in access, quality and health equity.

Panellist

Professor Michael Barras is the Director of Pharmacy at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and a Research conjoint with the School of Pharmacy (Hospital 0.8 FTE / UQ 0.2 FTE).

He currently supervises 8 HDR students conducting research related to medication safety, health informatics and advanced scope clinical pharmacy. He has a strong interest in designing, testing and monitoring individualised dosing strategies for high-risk patients in the hospital setting. Michael has many significant research relationships in hospital, university, and industry settings.

Panellist

Dr Jodie Austin currently works as the Clinical Informatics Director for the SMART Hub, embedded within the Data Science Collaborative Research Platform and the Queensland Digital Health Centre at the University of Queensland. She also holds a conjoint research position with the Office of Chief Clinical Information Officer, eHealth Queensland.

Jodie is a clinical pharmacist by background, having worked in both the public and private hospitals settings across Australia and the United Kingdom. Over the past decade her line of work transitioned into the field of clinical informatics. She completed her PhD in 2024, exploring the management of high-risk medications within digital hospital environments.

Panellist

Dr Emmah Doig is an experienced occupational therapist and researcher in the field of brain injury rehabilitation. Emmah is a Senior Conjoint Research Fellow in the STARS Education and Research Alliance. Emmah has published more than 65 peer reviewed journal publications and has received over $11 million research grant funding. Emmah conducts collaborative research, partnering with consumers and clinicians in the health service to co-design and trial interventions and models of care. Some of this work has included co-design of virtual-reality-based interventions and group interventions in brain injury rehabilitation, person-centred goal-setting approaches, hand therapy and cancer-related lymphoedema services.

Emmah co founded BRAINSPAN, a multidisciplinary online national network that connects clinicians and researchers to share knowledge and support translation into practice. Emmah co-developed the Knowledge Translation and Impact Planner (K-TIPS), an internationally recognised resource to support knowledge translation of health research including implementation research planning. Emmah has received awards recognising excellence in research translation, consumer partnership, and higher degree research supervision.

Panel Chair

Dr Nina Meloncelli is an Accredited Practising Dietitian, clinician-researcher and Program Director of the HELIX Hub in Metro North’s Healthcare Excellence and Innovation. She has extensive experience supporting healthcare staff to implement research evidence through education, training, coaching and mentoring.

Her passion lies in removing obstacles to improving healthcare for clinicians and teams and the pragmatic application of tools, frameworks and methods to enable better implementation and innovation.

Panellist

Dr Ruth Cox is the Director Occupational Therapy at the QEII Hospital, in Metro South Health, Brisbane Australia. She is passionate about partnering with consumers in quality improvement and research so that all voices can influence healthcare.

Her other research interests include models of care, skill mix, and co-design.

Panellist

Kelsey Pateman is the Principal Research Fellow for Allied Health at the RBWH. Kelsey originally is an Oral Health Therapist and completed her PhD research in 2017.

Kelsey champions consumer partnership in research and is a passionate advocate for co-design.

Panellist

Dr Adrienne Young is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian who currently holds positions as the Dietetics Research Coordinator at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland’s Centre for Health Services Research. Her research focuses on improving nutrition care in hospitals to prevent avoidable complications and optimise outcomes for older patients, with national and international recognition, including awards from Dietitians Australia and the International Congress of Dietetics received for this work. Adrienne is a leading advocate for consumer engagement and co-design, having co-led the development of the Metro North Co-design Framework. As an implementation scientist, she also co-developed the Allied Health Translating Research into Practice (AH‑TRIP) initiative, aimed at embedding knowledge translation from research within the usual clinical care. She supervises clinicians undertaking their PhDs, research fellows and honours students, supporting the next generation of clinician researchers.

Panellist

Anja Christoffersen is a consumer co-researcher with lived experience of disability, working in disability advocacy and entrepreneurship. She holds an MBA in Health Services Management and Entrepreneurship, lectures in health services management (KBS) and health innovation co-design (QUT), and is an Adjunct Associate Fellow with The University of Queensland. She is also the founder of disability-owned ventures including the Women with Disabilities Entrepreneur Network (WDEN), Champion Health Agency, SHH!T Happens, and Against the Grain Coffee. Her research focuses on elevating consumer voices, improving career pathways for consumer researchers, and enhancing experiences for people with chronic illness and disability. She has contributed to state, national, and international projects and received multiple awards, including QLD Young Achiever of the Year (2020).