Dr Peter Collins is the Team Leader for Research Development for Gold Coast Health. He has over 18 years’ experience as a clinician (dietitian) and academic having previously worked as a senior lecturer and clinical team lead. He completed his PhD in nutrition support and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and his research includes the assessment and treatment of disease-related malnutrition, gut-lung microbiome, and lung transplantation. Peter is passionate about the importance of high-quality research that is translated into practice for the benefit of patients and the wider healthcare system. He has supervised numerous research projects and mentored several novice clinician researchers within Queensland Health.

• ResearchGate
• Scholar

Dr Ian Hughes BVSc, BSc(Vet), PhD, MBiostats graduated from the University of Sydney in Veterinary Science with an honours degree in immunogenetics. He gained his PhD in molecular genetics before teaching genetics and statistics (amongst other things) at the University of Queensland.  He has a long career of research experience spanning animal and human genetics and a variety of human clinical specialties, most notably paediatric endocrinology (growth hormone and growth, type 1 diabetes), psychiatry (schizophrenia and suicide prevention), cardiology, neurology, and speech pathology. He graduated with a Master of Biostatistics degree in 2018 and is now your, very helpful, Gold Coast Health Biostatistician. Ian has supervised and mentored many higher degree research students and is passionate about sharing his research and statistical experience with clinician researchers. Whether you are a just starting out in research with a small project or contemplating an NHMRC study, Ian can help from study design to statistical analysis, to clear writing of statistical methodologies.

Bianca Bates is the Research Coordination Support Officer within the Research Development Team, responsible for assisting in the planning, delivery, and assessment of research initiatives and opportunities managed by the Research Office. Additionally, Bianca provides comprehensive administrative support to ensure smooth operational workflows.

Jasna Romic is Gold Coast Health Library Services Manager with over 10 years' experience in managing and leading library staff, overseeing daily Library operations and strategic direction, managing medical library resources and providing research support to healthcare professionals. Jasna’s expertise and ongoing involvement in medical research, and her strong understanding of evidence-based practice and information literacy principles are significant to the library’s effectiveness in delivering relevant training and conducting literature searches to a high standard. Jasna actively participates in the work of the Research Development Team, making sure Library Services are expertly tailored to meet the diverse information needs of GCHHS staff. 
 

Stan Earnshaw is a Research and Training Librarian at Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service. He works to support evidence-based practice, foster research excellence, and enhance information literacy among healthcare professionals. His role involves the design and delivery of research and information skills training, the provision of specialised guidance in the development and conduct of evidence synthesis projects, and the monitoring and analysis of Gold Coast Health research outputs.

• ORCID 

Gold Coast Health offers in house tailored Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training for all staff involved in clinical research. The interactive training is offered as an introductory and refresher course and gives participants understanding of GCP, what being GCP qualified means, and investigator responsibilities and aims to promote compliance with guidelines for research governance, including applicable regulatory compliance. Staff can register via Learning On-Line. 

Research education and development opportunities at Griffith University can be made available to Gold Coast Health medical and health professionals who hold academic titles. The benefits and requirements for academic title status are available here and here. The available training and resources are detailed here.

• Evidence-based practice (EBP) workshops customised to your clinical area. 
• Interactive plenary and skill session in evidence-based practice. 
• Stimulating and engaging workshops:
  • study design and protocol writing;
  • writing for publication;
  • evidence-based practice; and 
  • understanding and conducting systematic reviews. 
• Please find more information about upcoming EBPPU workshops here.

• Research mentoring and partnership
• Enhancing research activity and productivity
• Assisting the implementation of high-quality research into practice
• Building a sustainable culture of evidence-based practice

Our areas of research relate to:

• Minimising low value care, by:
  • Reducing overdiagnosis and overtreatment
  • Identifying and minimising use of low value services
  • Encouraging evidence-based clinical decision making
• Facilitating clinical decision making, by:
  • Evaluating clinical decision aids
  • Encouraging shared decision-making
  • Implementing decision tools into regular workflow and clinical service
• Minimising antibiotic resistance, by:
  • Generating knowledge on the benefits and harms of antibiotics
  • Facilitating the adaption of effective interventions for antibiotic prescribing

Writing a research protocol (online short course)

The Writing a Research Protocol microcredential is an online course that will guide you through crafting a high-quality health research protocol. You will learn how to formulate impactful research questions, choose appropriate research study designs, and create and write a detailed and ethical research study protocol.

Gold Coast Health staff can arrange access to the course free of charge by e-mailing A/Prof Mark Jones (majones@bond.edu.au).

To supplement the online course, you have the option to join a 4-month learning cohort, where you will be able to join fortnightly Q and A sessions on TEAMS that will begin with a 10-15 minute “mini lecture” on a specific topic. If there is sufficient interest, we will also run a 2-hour face-to-face introduction session that will introduce the course but also describe where research support is available locally, covering research design, finance, library, ethics and SSA. 

Click here for more information or contact majones@bond.edu.au.