Message from the Board Chair and Chief Executive

Mr Jim McGowan AM and Adj. Assoc. Prof. Jackie Hanson

Adj. Prof. Jackie Hanson, Chief Executive

Jim McGowan AM, Board Chair

Metro North Health provides vital healthcare services to over a million people in our local area, and specialist services for the whole of Queensland. This care is continually evolving thanks to advances in research happening within Metro North and across the world. Cutting edge care requires a strong research ecosystem to enable the development of new treatments, diagnostic tools and preventative disease management strategies.

The 2022 Metro North Health Research Snapshot Report represents our health service’s continued investment in research and recognises the vital roles that researchers, and those who support and enable research, play in advancing healthcare and improving health outcomes for our patients and community. It highlights Metro North’s position to maintain and build our research excellence, increase innovation and translation of our research outcomes, and address emerging research challenges. It represents an opportunity to leverage our progress and build upon our achievements in the future, to reach a collective vision for research excellence in Metro North.

People development, leadership, talent management, and succession planning are essential to addressing workforce challenges and maximising opportunities within Metro North. These considerations are no different for the research workforce. Establishing integrated research career pathways for our workforce will position Metro North as an employer of choice in Queensland.

The expectations of the community are becoming increasingly clear: a health system that provides more choice, control, and transparency. Working collaboratively with consumers to design and deliver research will provide us with valuable insights that will improve the relevance, quality and impact of our research. In order to achieve this, we must support our research workforce to engage consumers and community organisations in co-designing research.

Building a strong and sustainable workforce that is capable and committed to research is more important than ever, as the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare models continue to be challenged by ever tightening economic and social pressures. A strong clinician researcher workforce where health professionals are engaged simultaneously in patient care and research is vital to the translation of research into practice and maximising impact.

Partnerships are a key enabler of our research strategy, and the core principles of equity, transparency, sustainability and co-investment will drive successful research partnerships in Metro North. We have an opportunity and responsibility in Metro North to facilitate partnerships across our facilities, services and professional disciplines, with Queensland Health and our Hospital and Health Services across the state, with Foundations, academic partners, primary care and industry, locally, nationally and at an international level. By embedding our core principles into our research partnership opportunities, we will create a research ecosystem that values research and enables more opportunities to reach beyond our own boundaries and conduct ground-breaking collaborative research.

Advances in healthcare take time, funding, innovation and commitment, and require more than simply a good idea. Importantly, they also need an underlying framework of support.

Enjoy the 2022 edition of the Research Snapshot Report.

Regards,

Jim McGowan AM
Metro North Board Chair

Adjunct Associate Professor Jackie Hanson
Metro North Chief Executive