Investigators
Prof. Denise O’Connor is researcher and Deputy Director of the Monash-Cabrini Department of Musculoskeletal Health and Clinical Epidemiology and NHMRC Translating Research into Practice (TRIP) Fellow. Other roles include Director of the Australasian Satellite of Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group, the group responsible for publishing Cochrane reviews of interventions to improve health care delivery and systems and Editor with Cochrane Musculoskeletal.
Prof. Rachelle Buchbinder AO is a rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist who combines clinical practice with research in a wide range of multidisciplinary projects relating to arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. She is the Director of the Monash-Cabrini Department of Musculoskeletal Health and Clinical Epidemiology and a Professor in the Monash University Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine. Other roles include Coordinating Editor, Cochrane Musculoskeletal and Cochrane Back and Neck; and Chair Executive Committee, Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network.
Prof. Tammy Hoffmann is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and NHMRC Senior Research Fellow in the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Bond University. Her research spans many aspects of evidence-based practice, shared decision making, and minimising waste in research. Her research currently broadly centres around engaging patients and the public in sharing in informed decision-making about their healthcare, improving the quality of research evidence for health interventions, and making evidence-based practice and evidence implementation easier for clinicians.
Prof. Kirsten McCaffery is an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the Sydney School of Public Health, the University of Sydney. She has a national and international reputation in shared decision making, health literacy and the assessment of psychosocial outcomes. She is Director of Research at the Sydney School of Public Health and Director of the Sydney Health Literacy Lab.
Prof. Chris Maher is a Professor, Sydney School of Public Health and Director of the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health. He originally trained as a physiotherapist and holds a fellowship from the Australian College of Physiotherapy in recognition of his contribution to physiotherapy research. He is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and visiting professor at the University of Oxford.
Prof. Ian Harris is an orthopaedic surgeon based in Sydney with over 20 years of experience. He is also a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research.
A/Prof. Laurent Billot is an internationally recognised biostatistician, in particular for his work in clinical and health services research. He is Director of Biostatistics and Data Science at the George Institute for Global Health and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of New South Wales.
Dr Heather Buchan is a public health physician and Senior Medical Advisor at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Her work has focused on ways to increase the effectiveness and appropriateness of health care, including methods to improve communication between patients and clinicians, and in the implementation of change in health care settings.
Dr Ornella Clavisi is the General Manager of Consumer Services at Musculoskeletal Australia. She has expertise in consumer-focused research related to musculoskeletal conditions including knee osteoarthritis.
Dr Alexandra Gorelik is an experienced Data Scientist and Research Methodologist in the Monash-Cabrini Department of Musculoskeletal Health and Clinical Epidemiology.
Dr Jonathan Foo is a physiotherapist who works with musculoskeletal conditions and is a titled APA Research Physiotherapist as awarded by the Australian Physiotherapy Association. He is a post-doctoral researcher with the Monash-Cabrini Department of Musculoskeletal Health and Clinical Epidemiology.
Consumer Partners
Jenny Lang was an English teacher for 25 years and a freelance book editor for a further 13. After retiring she carried out short editing tasks and wrote papers as a member of a writing group. Her interest in treatment for knee problems dates from 2003 and 2005, when she had arthroscopies.
Ben Horgan currently works with the Western Australian Health Translation Network within the Consumer and Community Involvement Program. He’s worked with Arthritis Australia as a consumer advocate and between 2011 – 2015 work in primary health care organisations supporting patient driven, evidence based, multidisciplinary care. Ben has been a consumer representative in state and national committees and was the first patient to be appointed a National Coordinator by the World Health Organisation initiative, the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 – 2010. As a patient research partner he’s worked for nearly two decades in local, national and international research projects.