February 2025

Appointment of Executive Director Research, Innovation and Digital Health

A big welcome to Abdel Bassal, the new WCHN Executive Director Research, Innovation and Digital Health, who commenced in February.

Abdel is well known and respected across SA Health for his skills and experience in healthcare service delivery, digital health and digital innovation. He joins WCHN from his role as Chief Information Officer at the Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network (BHFLHN) where he introduced cutting-edge technology and innovations to improve patient-centred care. 

Prior to BHFLHN, Abdel spent 12 years working across several key areas in SA Health, including the SA Digital Telehealth Network, where he focused on expanding the use of telehealth services, strongly aligning with WCHN Strategy Refresh goals. Most recently, he played a key role in providing SA Health with creative solutions for statewide ICT issues.

Changes to WCHN statistical support availability

Due to extremely high demand, we are implementing a waitlist for accessing WCHN statistical support. New project requests will be triaged, with some preference given to trainees and early career researchers.  

The current wait time for statistical analysis is approximately four months. Limited meeting slots are available for smaller requests (consultation / advice regarding project design, sample size calculations, etc.) but these will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis and there may be a wait of up to 6 weeks for a meeting.  An additional 0.2FTE support is being brought in on 1 March and we will advise of any changes to waiting times once this information is available.
 
Please plan ahead to ensure requests are made well in advance of any deadlines.  We are currently unable to accommodate any urgent requests.

From 1 March, please email WCHN_Stats@sahmri.com to access biostatistical services. 

2024 research publications are now on the WCHN website

2024 research publications have now been uploaded to the Research page on the WCHN website. Only publications where one or more authors acknowledge an affiliation with the Women’s and Children’s Hospital (WCH) or WCHN are included. It is important that all staff or those holding a formal position at WCHN, include WCHN as an affiliated organisation in their publications. This will enable us to include your publications in the annual Research Impact Report and for the Research Week publication prizes.

Please check that your affiliations are correctly listed every time you submit a publication:
Dept. XX, Women’s and Children’s Health Network, Adelaide, South Australia, AUSTRALIA

WCHN HDR + ECR collegial meet ups

A group has been established for higher degree by research students (HDRs) and early career researchers (ECRs) based at WCHN that aims to provide networking opportunities, collegial support and opportunities to discuss research. If you or a member of your department would like to get involved, please email Health.WomenAndChildrenResearchCentre@sa.gov.au.

WCHN HREC Annual and Progress Reporting Status via Research GEMS 

When completing your Annual and/or Progress Reports on Research GEMS, please read through and follow the guidelines below regarding the status of your study. These terms may be different to what you use, however on Research GEMS they impact future reporting requirements. 

Not yet commenced: No clinical activities involving participants (including participant recruitment) have commenced.

In progress: Clinical or study activities have commenced.

Completed: When the last participant has met the last study analysis endpoint and/or all data collection is complete. Approved analyses have been finalised although the publication process may not be complete. No new analyses will be initiated using study data without additional approvals.

Closed (Final Report): The project has been finalised. Participant activities have concluded, and all reports and publications have been finalised. No new outputs will be developed, and the relevant datasets have been archived.

Abandoned: The application has been approved/authorised, but it has been determined that the project will never commence.

Terminated: After study start but before study close, discontinuation of a research project by the investigator or sponsor, wherein activity will not resume. Possible reasons include ethical, safety, financial or other grounds. Will never progress to "Complete" or "Closed (post analysis)".

Please reach out to Jade if you have any further questions: jade.jordan-hall@sa.gov.au.

The Women’s and Children’s Research Centre is again running Research Training Seminars in 2025. This year they will be held in the Queen Victoria Lecture Theatre from 12.30pm - 1.30pm and can be streamed via MS Teams. A light lunch will be provided. No RSVP is required.

• Thursday, 6 March – An introduction to qualitative research design
  (Dr Emma Jeffs, Postdoctoral Nurse Researcher, WCHN)
  Join the meeting
• Thursday, 3 April – Interdisciplinary research in emerging technologies
  (Dr Melissa McCradden, AI Director, WCHN)
  Join the meeting
• Thursday, 29 May – The diversity of research opportunities across SA Pathology
  (Prof Joy Rathjen, Director, Research and Innovation, SA Pathology)
  Join the meeting

For the full program and previous workshop recordings, please visit WCHN Research Events.

Outstanding Workforce Leaders (OWL) Research Program Graduates

The Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre at the University of South Australia has developed the OWL research program to develop the research skills of nurses and midwives including a literature review, research proposal and presentation. Students use clinical issues they observe in practice as the basis for their research project. The course was developed in collaboration with South Australian Local Health Networks (LHNs) and is supported by the LHNs, with every student assigned a mentor. 

Four WCHN candidates completed the course in 2024 and presented their projects during Research Week.

• Kate Frawley, “Breast feeding pump and flange choice”
• Jamie Logan, “Use of acuneedling and acupressure for women presenting for an induction of labour”
• Emma King, “Hypergranulation at the gastronomy site”
• Rowan Morgan, “RQI cart: Healthcare workers increased confidence and skill level in providing effective CPR”

There will be an opportunity to apply for the OWL program in 2025 and UniSA is reviewing the criteria to extend the program to other health professionals.

For research training and funding opportunities, please visit the WCHN website: 

• Research training
• Research funding

Women's and Children's Visiting Academic Program

Generously supported by the WCH Foundation, the Women's and Children's Visiting Academic Program gives members of the WCHN community the opportunity to invite world-class researchers in an area of research aligned with WCHN priorities to visit WCHN and engage with the WCHN community. $6,000 per annum is available to support a minimum of two visiting academics each year. The main round closes on 31 March and the 2nd round closes on 31 October. For more information, refer to the guidelines on the Research Funding Opportunities page on the WCHN website.

If you would like to discuss supporting a visiting academic, please contact the Women’s and Children’s Research Centre by emailing health.womenandchildrenresearchcentre@sa.gov.au.

Future Making Fellowship recipients

The University of Adelaide Future Making Fellowship Scheme was established to attract and support early-career and mid-career researchers of outstanding research calibre and potential.

Early intratracheal budesonide does not improve outcomes for extremely preterm infants

Department of Neonatology Head, Professor, Michael Stark, collaborated on a study led by the Royal Women’s Hospital and published in JAMA, that found no clear evidence that intratracheal budesonide mixed with surfactant improved respiratory outcomes for extremely preterm infants, compared with surfactant only.

The WCH Department of Neonatology was one of 21 neonatal units in four countries (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Singapore) that participated in the double-blind randomized clinical trial (The PLUSS Randomized Clinical Trial). Participants were 1,059 infants born at less than 28 weeks' gestation and less than 48 hours old who were mechanically ventilated or who were receiving non-invasive respiratory support and had a clinical decision to treat with surfactant. 

You can read more about the research here.

Australian couple-based genetic screening program feasible and accepted

Women’s and Children’s Hospital Clinical Geneticist Dr Jan Liebelt and Genetic Counsellor Lara Fitzgerald collaborated in an Australian study published in The New England Journal of Medicine that evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a nationwide couple-based genetic screening program including1,281 genes. Approximately 19,000 couples were invited to participate and 9,107 (45.9%) eventually underwent genetic screening. Of the couples identified as high-risk, fewer than a quarter were considered high-risk before the screening. Notably, three out of four high-risk couples adjusted their reproductive plans based on the results. The study found that genetic screening among Australian reproductive couples is widely accepted and associated with low decisional regret. According to the authors, these findings support the feasibility and acceptability of a nationwide genetic carrier screening program in Australia.

You can read more about the research here.

Sarah Battersby

This month’s featured researcher is Sarah Battersby. Sarah is a PhD candidate enrolled through the University of Adelaide in the Molecular Immunology laboratory led by Professor Simon Barry at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Sarah won the Rapid Fire HDR Competition at WCHN Research Week 2024.

What are you currently researching? 
I am currently investigating the role of specialised cells in the immune system called regulatory T cells in the pathology of COVID, and whether they are implicated in long-COVID. I aim to develop a predictive biomarker for risk of long COVID.

What attracted you to this area of research? 
The immune system has interested me since first learning about it, and the careful dynamic that regulates it to maintain balance within us, and importantly when this is skewed, how it can contribute to diseases like autoimmunity and chronic conditions. My Honours project began my research into the after-effects of COVID-19.
COVID-19 made such a sudden and profound impact on the world, putting a highlight on science, research, and communication to the public. However, not everyone recovers from COVID-19, leading to long-COVID which still impacts people to this day. Long-COVID research opens the doors to researching other post-acute illness syndromes, such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), that are under researched.
 
How are you researching this? 
Through collaborations with other research laboratories and the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), patient samples were collected at several timepoints post COVID-19. By investigating the characteristics, internal programming and functions of these immune cells, and the composition of the immune system at different timepoints following COVID-19, we can begin to unravel potential causes or biomarkers of disease.

What real life impact are you hoping the research will have? 
Through understanding more about the long-term effects of COVID, we can help those affected. Whether that be by paving the way towards a diagnosis or understanding how it occurs, we hope to also apply this to other post-acute illnesses.?

In 1 sentence, what is your ultimate dream for your research?
I hope that my research can bring answers and solutions to affected individuals.

How does the WCHN support your research?
WCHN supports my research through funding and grant opportunities, as well as new initiatives to provide support and networking opportunities to HDR students.

Please briefly state how your research is funded.
My PhD is funded by the Research Training Program scholarship through the University of Adelaide, and my research is funded by grants from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation (WCHF), the Hospital Research Foundation (THRF) and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) awarded to Prof. Barry.

My main role is to build a culture of research leadership and embeddedness at WCHN. My particular focus is to work with nurses, midwives, allied health staff and other WCHN staff who may experience barriers to research career pathways. I provide research mentoring and support; methodological guidance; study pathway advice; education sessions such as journal clubs and workshops; and staff networking. In the Women’s and Children’s Research Centre, I work closely with Louise Goodchild whose role is to support and grow clinical trials.

How to engage with this support:  

• Drop in for an informal research related chat in the WCHN library meeting room on Mondays 1.00pm – 2.00pm. This could include assistance with preparing a conference abstract, designing a research study, preparing documentation for the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC), preparing a publication manuscript and more.
• Attending the monthly qualitative research interest group. This group is made up of experienced and beginner qualitative researchers and aims to build a community of practice and provide professional development opportunities for staff interested in exploratory research methods. Email me to join the Distribution List.  
• Email me for one-on-one research support and/or methodological guidance. My strength is qualitative research methods and survey and evaluation methods, but I can also point you in the right direction for other research assistance. 
• If you are interested in developing your qualitative research skills, consider joining one the ‘Introduction to Qualitative Research in Healthcare’ short courses running in 2025. The small group course will run over four one-hour sessions and cover a basic overview of qualitative data collection, analysis, and protocol design. Email me to express interest and receive the course dates for 2025.  

Email: Emma.jeffs@sa.gov.au 
I currently work Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  

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