BMDH on the road for more research

Participants brainstorm at the BMDH half-day research workshop.
Participants brainstorm at the BMDH half-day research workshop.

Take 40 committed health professionals, then let them loose to brainstorm the topic ‘research’.

The result? A fresh direction and new focus on collaboration around research at Blacktown and Mount Druitt hospitals.

Eleven presentations examined how to collaborate, clinical trials, navigating the ethics approval process, supporting student projects and working with Western Sydney University, which has a clinical school and research centre at BMDH.

Director of operational design Peter Rophail said the workshop had been invaluable in creating a road-map for research at Blacktown.

“We focused where we could go in the future and how to collaborate to get there,” he said.

“Among the suggestions was the development of a Blacktown research strategic plan and creating a BMDH Research Institute that could lead ground-breaking studies in a range of medical fields.”

Speakers on the day included:

Professor Mark McLean – Research at BMDH

Irina Piatkov – Lab-based facilities and research – a chance to collaborate

Allison Sigmund – WSU facilities, clinical trials and the DXA facility

Vita Birzniece – Investigator-initiated studies and the Metabolic Research Unit

Raymond Tangunan – Oncology clinical trials – how to work with pharma

Professor Peter Zelas – WSU – how can the university help you?

Prof John Morley – WSU support and student MD Program from 2018 – How to support student projects and involve them in your research

Prof Annemarie Hennessy – WSU Dean, School of Medicine Blacktown Campus

Sonia Hollands – Hospital Foundation – a new supporter and funder of research

Kellie Hansen – Ethics approval—how to navigate the process

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