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Stream Eleven
=============
International Visiting Fellowships
----------------------------------

APHCRI established an International Visiting Fellowship program under
Stream 11 to provide the opportunity for eligible groups to bid for
funds to support the travel and related costs of bringing
international primary health care experts to Australia to contribute
to the knowledge base and research capacity relevant to APHCRI’s
strategic plan.
The Research Advisory Board finalised this stream on 4 March 2009. For
further information about upcoming visitors, please contact us on +61
2 6125 0766 or at aphcri@anu.edu.au

International Visiting Fellows 2009
-----------------------------------
 

Dr Andrew Bazemore
Dr Andrew Bazemore (Robert Graham Center, Washington DC, US)

Dr Bazemore visited Australia in November and December 2009, when he
presented at the APHCRI plenary session during the Health Services &
Policy Research Conference in Brisbane, met with policy advisers at
the Department of Health and Ageing and gave a seminar at The
Australian National University. During these presentations, he spoke
about primary health care reform in the US and his research into the
use of geographic information systems to inform health care policy. He
is the Assistant Director of the Robert Graham Center, a policy
research institution focused on primary care. Dr Bazemore has
longstanding research interests in policy and access to care for
underserved populations both domestically and internationally, and on
the application of the geographic information systems to the study of
the population health and health care. He also serves on faculty at
Georgetown University, George Washington University and Virginia
Commonwealth University, where he sees patients and teaches every
week.
Prof Pim Cuijpers

Professor Pim Cuijpers (VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Professor Cuijpers’ visit took place in November and December 2009.
During his visit he presented a series of keynote lectures including a
talk on Internet supported self-help in stepped care for depression
and anxiety at a national e-health research and implementation forum
attended by a range of key health stakeholders; a public lecture in
Canberra on the prevention of depression, and and an address entitled
Prevention of depression: Policies and Challenges at the Australasian
Society for Psychiatric Research Annual conference. Cuijpers also
contributed to stakeholder discussions designed to provide feedback on
a national 2020 vision of e-mental health and took part in a
roundtable discussion with policy makers from the Department of Health
& Ageing. Finally, he forged collaborative linkages with other
researchers in Australia, co-developed a proposal for an international
early career exchange program between centres of excellence in
Internet health intervention research and delivery and provided
mentoring to early career Australian researchers, particularly at the
Centre for Mental Health Research.

Professor Cuijpers’ keynote presentations, lecture, and roundtable
discussions provided important evidence to inform policy directions
with respect to primary health care defined broadly and to general
practice more specifically. In particular, he presented the results of
meta-analyses showing that depression can be prevented. Across all
conditions, preventive interventions reduced the incidence of mental
disorders by 27 per cent (compared with control) and depressive
disorders by 28 per cent. Cognitive behaviour therapy interventions
resulted in a reduction of incidence of depression of 31 per cent.
Moreover, Cuijpers demonstrated that depression can be prevented using
self-help programs in general practice and that such interventions are
more cost-effective than treatment as usual. Cuijpers emphasised the
potential of the Internet as a means of maximising the public health
impact of prevention programs.
Professor Cuijpers is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the VU
University Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and Head of the Department of
Clinical Psychology. He is also Vice Director of the EMGO Institute
for Health and Care Research and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of
Psychology and Education at the VU University. Professor Cuijpers has
published about 300 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, reports and
professional publications. He specialises in examining the
effectiveness of psychological interventions for common mental
disorders, especially depression. Research on internet-based
treatments of depression and anxiety disorders is one of his areas of
research.

 
Dr Julie Will

Dr Julie Will (Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, US)
The focus of the visit by Dr Julie Will in November 2009 was to
explore evidence based approaches for improving access and equity in
primary health care, with a particular emphasis on preventing and
managing chronic conditions and health problems of people who are
unemployed.  Dr Will is a senior epidemiologist in the Division for
Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. For the past 13 years, she served as the WISEWOMAN
Team Leader, Acting Team Lead for the Applied Research and Translation
Team, and Senior Epidemiologist for Health Services Research and
Registry Team.

The program for Dr Will’s visit included a series of one-day seminars
and workshops that targeted researchers, policy makers and
practitioners working in the area of primary and community health. The
seminars included presentations on programs and approaches with an
explicit equity focus and workshops provided an opportunity to apply
models in the design of prevention programs.
Dr Julie Will spoke about the WISEWOMAN program which targets
low-income, underinsured, and uninsured women aged 40-64 years for
screening and interventions aimed at reducing the risk of heart
disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases.

The visit was co-hosted by a partnership of the Centre for Primary
Health Care and Equity (CPHCE), University of NSW and the Department
of General Practice, University of Melbourne.
Prof Stephen
Campbell

Dr Stephen Campbell (National Primary Care Research and Development
Centre, University of Manchester, UK)
Dr Campbell visited Australia from 3 to 23 October 2009, when he gave
a series of presentations to policymakers, researchers, health care
providers and consumers about the impact of financial incentives on
the performance of primary care professionals.

Dr Campbell is a senior research fellow at the National Primary Care
Research and Development Centre at the University of Manchester. He
also holds a joint appointment at the Department of General Practice
at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
His visit focused on quality in primary care. In particular, it
focused on quality improvement and development, and on clinical and
organisational quality indicators. Dr Campbell was a keynote speaker
at the Victorian Healthcare Association's Annual Conference, which
runs from 22 to 23 October.

Dr Campbell’s research has directly influenced policymakers in the UK
in terms of the development of the Quality and Outcomes Framework and
Primary Medical Care Provider Accreditation. He has also co-led an
11-European country collaboration looking at the development and
improvement of cardiovascular disease and has collaborated
successfully with researchers from other countries, such as Austria,
Belgium, Canada, France, Finland, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands,
Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and USA. He is part of a European network
of researchers called European Practice Assessment and a Board Member
of its umbrella organisation called TOPAS EUROPE.
 

Prof Kurt Stange
Professor Kurt Stange (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland,
Ohio, US)

Professor Stange was in Australia from 22 to 30 September 2009, when
he a gave a series of presentations - at the Department of Health and
Ageing, The Australian National University and The University of
Melbourne - based on a series of editorials that appeared in the
international journal Annals of Family Medicine, focusing particularly
on understanding and organising health as a science of connectedness.
Professor Stange is a practicing family physician, scholar, an
award-winning clinical researcher and Professor of Family Medicine,
Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Oncology and Sociology at Case Western
Reserve University. He holds a clinical research professorship for the
American Cancer Society (2007-2012) and has held the Gertrude Donnelly
Hess Professor of Oncology Research since 2002. Stange was awarded the
cancer hall of fame award in research by the American Cancer Society
Cuyahoga County Unit (2006) and in 2005 received the Maurice Saltzman
Award for ‘work of national or international importance to the health
interests of our community’. He has been the Professor at the Centre
for Clinical Investigation Division of General Medical Sciences since
2006 and editor of the Annals of Family Medicine since 2002. 

In 2004, Stange was awarded the Charles Kent Smith Faculty award for
encouragement of professional development and promotion of faculty. He
was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of
Sciences (1999) and received the Society of Teachers of Family
Medicine Award for best peer-reviewed research paper in 1999 and 2001.
Professor Stange was awarded the most outstanding paper at the 14th
Annual Ohio Academy of Family Physicians research day in 1996. Between
1994 and 1998 he held the position of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar. 
Professor Stange was a fellow of the American College of Preventative
Medicine in 1994, received the Kenneth G. Reeb, M.D. Award for
Excellence in Teaching (1990), and a Certificate of Merit from the US
Secretary of Health and Human Services for a proposal for ‘An
Innovative Approach to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention’
(1988). In 1986, he received The Mead Johnson Award for Graduate Study
in Family Medicine and in 1983 the Anna Perkins Award in Family
Medicine. During 1985-1986 Stange held position of Chief Resident,
Dukes-Watts Family Medicine Program.

Professor Stange’s visit was also supported by the Royal Australian
College of General Practitioners.
Prof Debra Humphris

Professor Debra Humphris (University of Southampton, UK)
Professor Humphris visited Australia in August 2009 to meet with
researchers and policy advisers to discuss the need to educate and
train health professionals to work together.

Professor Humphris is Pro Vice–Chancellor of Education and Professor
of Health Care Development at the University of Southampton, UK. She
has expertise in inter-professional education and health workforce
planning. Professor Humphris led the Health Care Innovation Unit which
was established in 2003 to take an innovative and leading role in the
development of the health and public sector workforce. It focuses on
inter-professional learning and brings together health, social care
and education practitioners working in the area of children and
families service. The work of the Unit includes the ground-breaking
New Generation Project which has seen the integration of
inter-professional learning in all health and social care programs
within the University of Southampton and the University of Portsmouth.
During Professor Humphris' visit to Canberra, she was interviewed by
ABC 666 Canberra radio presenter Alex Sloan about the impact of
teamwork development within primary health care in the UK and its
implications for the way services are delivered in Australia. She also
gave a public lecture at ANU titled "Working together for a better
primary health care system", which can be podcasted through the ANU
website.

APHCRI Report
 

Dr Lee Ritterband
Dr Lee Ritterband (University of Virginia Health System, US)

Dr Ritterband visited Australia from June to August 2009 to share the
research findings on the effectiveness of his interactive and tailored
web-based system for treating insomnia called Sleep Healthy Using the
Internet (SHUTi).
He is an Associate Professor at the University of Virginia Health
System and Director of the Behavioral Health and Technology program
area.  With degrees in clinical psychology and computer
science/technology, Dr Ritterband specialises in the development and
testing of behaviorally-based treatment programs delivered via the
web.  Specific areas of focus include adult insomnia, pediatric
encopresis and diabetes. Over the past 10 years, Dr Ritterband has
established himself as one of the leading researchers in internet
health interventions. He is an International Visiting Fellow of the
Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute and the Centre for
Mental Health Research.

Dr Ritterband was interviewed by ABC 666 Canberra morning presenter
Genevieve Jacobs about SHUTi and his visit to Australia and the Sunday
Canberra Times reported on his Canberra public seminar, which was held
on 9 July 2009 at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU.
 

Dr Tikki Pang
Dr Tikki Pang (The World Health Organization, Geneva)

During Dr Pang's visit to Australia in July 2009, he gave a keynote
address titled “Driving change in our region- responding to the
challenge of health security” at the General Practice and Primary
Health Care Research Conference in Melbourne. He also gave public
lectures at ANU in Canberra and the University of Sydney.
The main message he delivered during his visit was that primary health
care plays a key role in an efficient health system. Primary health
care research needs to be strengthened and innovative mechanisms
should be put in place for translating knowledge into policy and
practice, especially in the setting of low- and middle-income
countries.

Dr Pang is the Director of Research Policy & Cooperation at the World
Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland. He is also Secretary
of the WHO Research Ethics Review Committee and Advisory Committee on
Health Research. Prior to joining the WHO, he was Professor of
Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Postgraduate Studies & Research,
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Dr Pang is a Fellow of
the Royal College of Pathologists (UK), Institute of Biology (UK),
American Academy of Microbiology (USA), Academy of Medicine of
Malaysia and Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), and
a Member of the International Molecular Biology Network (IMBN). He
holds a PhD in Immunology-Microbiology from the Australian National
University, Canberra, Australia.
Dr Pang’s visit attracted interest from the media. During his time in
Canberra, he was interviewed by WIN News and ABC 666 morning radio
presenter Alex Sloan about the role the WHO plays in assisting
countries develop health policy in response to global crises. The
Canberra Times wrote an article about Dr Pang’s ANU lecture titled
“Global perspectives on health policy development: from evidence to
practice”. In Melbourne, he was interviewed by journalists Virginia
Trioli and Barrie Cassidy on ABC2 Breakfast about the delivery of a
swine flu vaccine and the need for strong primary health care systems
in developing countries. Dr Pang was subsequently quoted in articles
by Australian Associated Press and the Ballarat Courier.

 
Prof Frank Sullivan

Professor Frank Sullivan (Scottish School of Primary Care, UK)
In July 2009, Professor Sullivan visited Sydney, Melbourne,
Warrnambool, Hamilton, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth where he met
researchers, policy makers, general practitioners and other groups
involved in primary health care. His areas of expertise are e-health
records in primary care and setting up primary care research networks.
Professor Sullivan is Director of the Scottish School of Primary Care
and NHS Tayside Professor of Research and Development in General
Practice and Primary Care at the University of Dundee. He has
published over 120 peer reviewed articles on aspects of primary care
research. Professor Sullivan and his colleagues from the Scottish
School of Primary Care won the 2008 British Medical Journal research
paper of year for their article about a simple and affordable
treatment for Bell’s palsy. He works as a General Practitioner in
Arthurstone Medical Centre in Dundee one day each week which serves a
very deprived inner-city population.

During Professor Sullivan's visit to Canberra, he met policy advisers
at the Department of Health and Ageing and gave a seminar titled
"E-health: one giant leap for the health system" at ANU. He was in
Canberra for the release of the National Health and Hospitals Reform
Commission (NHHRC) and provided commentary on the report's
recommendations for a national e-health strategy, which was reported
in the Canberra Times.
International Visiting Fellows 2008
-----------------------------------

 
Dr Eric Larson

Dr Eric Larson (University of Washington, US)
Dr Eric Larson’s visit to Australia in November 2008 was to foster
innovative workforce research into the development and implementation
of the (American equivalent) Physician’s Assistant (PA) role. This
will set a baseline for ongoing evaluation of the PA during its
implementation phase. Dr Larson is a Senior Research Scientist and
Information Technology Manager at MEDEX Northwest University’s
Division of Physician Assistant Studies in Seattle, Washington, United
States.

Dr Larson has over 19 years experience in rural health services
research.  Before joining MEDEX in 2006, he was Associate Director of
the WWAMI Rural Health Research Centre where his research interests
included access to perinatal care, rural perinatal outcomes, surgical
outcomes in rural hospitals, methodological issues in rural health
research and rural health workforce research.  His research activities
at MEDEX include studies of emerging specialty roles for physician
assistants.
 

Prof James Buchan
Professor James Buchan (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK)

Professor Buchan visited Australia in November 2008 to discuss his
research about innovative solutions to the serious shortage of health
workers in both Australia and world wide. Professor Buchan is
Professor of Social Sciences and Health Care at the Queen Margaret
University, Edinburgh, UK.  Professor Buchan is an associate fellow at
the Kings Fund, London; an Associate at the World Health Organization
(WHO) European Observatory on Health Systems; and a Visiting Professor
at the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health at the University of
Technology, Sydney.
Professor Buchan has 20 years experience of practice, policy research
and consultancy on human resources and workforce strategy and planning
in the health sector.  He has extensive experience from the United
Kingdom, the National Health Service and WHO, and has international
work experience providing policy advice in a number of countries in
Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. 

APHCRI Report
 

Helen Parker
 

Judith Smith
Helen Parker (Health Services Management Centre, Birmingham, UK) and
Judith Smith (Health Services Research Centre, Victoria University,
New Zealand)

The focus of Parker and Smith’s visit to Australia in late August and
early September 2008 was the development of models of comprehensive
primary health care. This important area of health services
development within Australia is a priority for APHCRI.
Parker has a clinical and senior management background within the
National Health Service (NHS) with a specific interest in primary
health care systems and policy. She joined HSMC in 2005 following
three years as a consultant to health and social care organisations.
Her NHS career spanned clinical and senior management posts in both
acute and primary care settings. Parker was an expert member of the
Department of Health Change Agent team and has had substantial
experience of redesigning services within the reform agenda.
Experienced in working within the voluntary sector and currently a
Trustee for a city centre hostel for the homeless, she is an
experienced coach with a particular interest in clinicians moving into
health service management. She represents the University of Birmingham
on the Council of Governors of the Heart of England NHS Foundation
Trust. Dr Smith is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow, based in joint
posts between the Health Services Research Centre, Victoria University
of Wellington and the New Zealand Ministry of Health. With over 13
years developing research in health services, Dr Smith’s interests
include the organisation, management and development of primary health
care, primary care organisations, commissioning and procurement in
health care and international health policy. Current and recent
projects include a study of chief executives of NHS organisation in
England; policy analysis regarding the nature of effective health
commissioning; the editing of a major international textbook on health
care management; and writing a book on lessons to be drawn from the
international move towards managed primary care. Dr Smith teaches,
writes and presents regularly and has contributed to Public Money and
Management, the British Medical Journal, the British Journal of
General Practice, the Health Service Journal, and numerous other
journals.

APHCRI Report
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