Since 2002, I have been awarded >AU$26M external competitive funding as Chief Investigator including >AU$11M as Principal Investigator (including 23 Category 1 grants). I am one of only 10 health social science academics in the history of Australian government funding to have been awarded 3 consecutive competitive government research fellowships including an ARC Professorial Future Fellowship and stretching over 12 years (2007-2019). My academic innovation, skills and vast experience have also resulted in my appointment as a Senior Fellow & Senior Mentor, Oxford International Primary Care Research Leadership Program, Nuffield Dept of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford (2010-ongoing), a current Honorary Professorship at the Dept of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London as well as my appointment as a Fulbright Senior Scholar – the most senior award offered by the world #1 prestigious academic fellowship.
I have been employed by Top 100 World Ranked universities for the last 20 years (University of Queensland=42nd 2026 QS world rankings; UTS=University <30 years old=1st in Australia, University 620 academic publications to date including 10 edited international health research books. My current H-Index=74, i-10=441 and total citations=>22,742. My publications consistently attract over 2,000 citations per year. Out of my total publications, I have co-authored with international colleagues on 214 occasions and, since Q1 rankings began in 2007, I have authored 355 Q1 journal articles. The Stanford Rankings have consistently identified me as a world top 2% researcher since 2020. I have also recently been ranked as a top 250 researcher across all academic researchers across all scientific disciplines in Australia (Australian Scientific Report, 2022, 2023).
I have exceptional ability to establish international collaborations and international co-authorships. Throughout my post-PhD career (25 years) I have collaborated with international colleagues on over 50 research projects and co-authored with international colleagues on 214 publications (an average of >8 per year) involving collaboration with >65 international colleagues from 23 countries.
I am a high-performing academic providing exceptional research initiatives and outputs, research mentorship and leadership, teaching and learning, and service to my immediate colleagues and institution as well as national and global fields of practice. Amongst my many strengths, I am a truly global-facing academic with vast experience and track record in developing international collaborations (resulting in co-authorship, project and grant collaboration). I have world-leading mentorship and research leadership experience and abilities, my work has attracted prestigious global and national awards, fellowships, scholarships and rankings and I have produced research of exceptional direct and wide-ranging translation and Impact (reaching varied audiences nationally and globally across community, practice, professions and government).
I have led work commissioned and supported by a range of Health Ministries/Depts of Health, the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization amongst others. My research has also made valuable contributions to many national and international policy strategies and reports. These include providing evidence feeding directly into reports and recommendations for the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the NSW, QLD and WA State Governments, the Federal Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Dept of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Globally, my research has provided direct evidence feeding into reports and strategies led by the Dept of Health and Social Care UK, Italian Ministry of Health, Ministry of Health Turkey, Ministry of Health Slovak Republic and the NZ Ministry of Social Development as well as the UN, WHO, AHRQ, the UK Nuffield Council on Bioethics, World Bank, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Canadian Health Workforce Network, Marie Curie, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
I have also developed an exceptional interdisciplinary approach, strong methodological expertise and extensive track record in a number of significant health substantive fields and topics, these include but are not limited to: investigating, evaluating and enhancing hospital, allied and primary care, community-based care and self-care (especially for those living with a range of chronic illnesses including cardiovascular disease, stroke, affective disorders, dementia and musculoskeletal conditions); practices, behaviours and initiatives to promote, facilitate and improve quality of life, wellbeing and prevention; healthy ageing and longevity; co-designing and implementing digital health technology and devices; women’s health; rural and remote health issues; cancer and palliative care; healthy cities and urban design; indigenous health; and the health of priority and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations, amongst others.
One of my core academic/career passions is to encourage and facilitate successful clinician research engagement and capacity-building alongside helping mentor a wider pool of junior academics to achieve significant research development and success. As my publication track record shows, I have co-authored 304 publications with mentees and co-authored 257 publications with clinicians (across a vast number of practice fields and professions including general practice, physiotherapy and other manual therapies, pharmacy, social work, integrative therapy, dietetics, nursing, midwifery, hospital specialisms, clinical psychology, oncology, palliative medicine, psychiatry).
I’m also committed to helping build the evidence base for allied health and primary health care professions (deepening research literacy, involvement and conduct), and to fostering interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary research through introducing health social science, qualitative research methods and mixed methods designs and where applicable training colleagues/students and others in these valuable health research tools so they are further utilised as a complement to other health science approaches and methodologies.