GEM Community
The GEM Initiative involves an extensive network of collaborating organisations and personnel with expertise in Evidence based Medicine.
GEM Team
Management group
Russell Gruen
Director/Founder
MBBS PhD FRACS
Russell Gruen is a Professor of Surgery at Monash University as well as a trauma and general surgeon at the Alfred Hospital. He is an editor of the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group, and director of its Australian Satellite. Russ has a PhD in health services research, was a Harkness Fellow in Health Policy at Harvard University, and a fellow in trauma and surgical critical care at Harborview Medical Centre in Seattle. His research interests include surgical critical care, systematic reviews and knowledge transfer, the importance of contextual factors in applicability of research evidence, and medical professionalism and disadvantaged populations. Russ and his wife, Theresa, have 2 sons - Spencer and Kody.
Emma Tavender
Management Group
BSc (Hons), MSc
Emma Tavender has a Masters Degree in Healthcare Studies from the Nuffield Centre for International Health & Development, Leeds UK. In addition to being on the Management Group for the GEM Initiative, Emma is Co-ordinator of the Australian Satellite of the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group based at the National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS)/NHMRC in Melbourne. With 9 years experience of working for the Cochrane Collaboration for various groups including the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group and Cochrane Oral Health Group; Emma brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in Cochrane review author support and training, systematic reviews and project management.
Project Manager
Ornella Clavisi
Project Manager
BSc(Hons) Monash, MPH Melb
Ornella has a Masters in Public Health from The University of Melbourne (specialising in epidemiology and biostatistics) and BSc (Hons) from Monash University. She has worked extensively in the area of evidence based practice and has a wealth of experience in systematic reviews and research methodology. Prior to starting with the GEM project Ornella worked for 8 years as a senior evaluator at the Centre for Clinical Effectiveness (CCE), Monash Institute of Health Services Research where she worked on a number of Health Technology Assessments for various Government Agencies including the Medical Services Advisory Committee, Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee and the Department of Human Services. Ornella also has extensive experience in primary research working as the Research Coordinator of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) where she worked on a number of multicentre studies in anaesthesia, perioperative medicine and pain medicine.
Jennifer Burchill
Programs Manager in Surgical Practice & Policy Research
BA VU, GCert Uni Mgt Melb
Jenny has an Arts degree from Victoria University with Majors in Asian Studies and Marketing. She worked as an International Student Advisor and Marketer in the TAFE sector at Victoria University for a number of years and traveled extensively throughout Asia with this position. More recently her work with Associate Professor Harry Minas at the Centre for International Mental Health, University of Melbourne, entailed management of the International Mental Health Leadership Program. This program has trained a large number of psychiatrists from Asia and the Sub-continent in leadership and management and has enabled a network to be set up amongst the Fellows which was put to use during the Tsunami crisis.
Search specialist
Anne Parkhill
Information Specialist
MBIT GradDipLib BA
Anne Parkhill trained as a librarian and works in the health and web development industries as an information professional. She has formal qualifications which cover both the fields of information management and business. Her particular interest is in the transfer of information skills from professionals to the end users of health information. At GEM she searches across the literature to answer priority questions and has worked also on the website review.
Project Officers
Peter Bragge
Project Officer
PhD (Physiotherapy), B Physio(Hons)
Peter Bragge has considerable research and teaching experience in the area of Evidence Based Practice. He graduated as a physiotherapist in 1995 and in 2006 he completed his PhD investigating the epidemiology of Playing Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (PRMDs) in elite (tertiary and professional) pianists, which involved a systematic review of literature in this field. Since then he has published systematic reviews on a variety of topics (rehabilitation for ataxic disorders, thoracic spine pain in occupational and general populations) and authored a book chapter on literature searching and appraisal. Peter was a lecturer in Evidence Based Practice at The University of Melbourne School of Physiotherapy until January 2009 and has also
been invited to lecture on the topic at various conferences, courses and seminars.
As a pianist he performs in soul / jazz bands and is a member of the Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare (ASPAH), a recently formed Australian organisation designed to foster occupational health initiatives for performing artists.
Loyal Pattuwage
Project Officer
MBBS Colombo, MPH Deakin
Loyal Pattuwage is a medical graduate who has a particular interest in the areas of health program evaluation and academic research. He completed a MSc in Food and Nutrition and his project work has included improving post harvest techniques to preserve the quality and nutritional content of avocado at Food Research Institute in Sri Lanka. In his thesis for the Master of Public Health he looked at improving the indicators for evaluating the activities of the Anti Malaria Campaign of Sri Lanka. He also contributed to a project on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease at the School of Population Health before joining the GEM Initiative.
Jason Wasiak
Research Officer
Jason Wasiak has completed post-graduate courses in intensive care, adult education, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He has published in the area of burns care and evidence-based medicine. He has a wealth of experience in systematic reviews and research methodology and has published a number of research papers and 13 Cochrane systematic reviews. Other Cochrane activity has included working with the Australasian Cochrane Centre (2002-2004), Australian Satellite of the EPOC Group and the Pre-hospital and Emergency Care Field in supporting Cochrane collaborators in the Australasian region to undertake systematic reviews, through individual and group assistance. He is also enrolled in a PhD looking at the physical and psychological impact of those affected by severe burn injury at the
Victorian Adults Burns Service, The Alfred Hospital.
Emma Donoghue
Research Officer
BSc (Hons), MPH, The University of Sydney
Emma has completed a Master in Public Health and BSc (Hons) in Health Information Management from The University of Sydney. Emma has extensive experience working in the fields of health research and knowledge translation both in Australia and the UK. Prior to starting at the NTRI Emma worked as a Research Officer at the NHMRC National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) for four and a half years. Before this she spent time working for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK, the Medical Research Council’s Clinical Trials Centre (MRC CTC) in the UK, the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group, and the Family Medicine Research Centre (FMRC) on the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) study. She is currently undertaking a Masters of Music therapy at the University of Melbourne.
Marisa Chau
Project Officer
BBNS Monash (Psychology Major), BBNS (Hons)
Marisa Chau completed her honours in Behavioural Neuroscience as well as majoring in Psychology at Monash University, Clayton. During honours, Marisa has worked in a lab where she investigated the effects of pH and inorganic phosphate on iron accumulation by brain cells, and its implications in neuronal death. Currently, Marisa is a volunteer for the Saturday Respite Program is mainly involved in assisting other workers and accompany children with disabilities on excursions into their local communities.
Haifa Sekkouah:
Research Assistant
BSc (Neuroscience)
Haifa assists GEM with it's Research and Report Production. Haifa has completed her bachelor’s degree in the area of Neuroscience. She has previously worked in Health Economics with the Victorian Koori Health and Research Community Development Unit, as a project officer for a health economic analysis on primary health care utility in the Victorian Koori community. She has also worked for the Northern Territory Department of Health and Families (formerly Territory Health Services), aiding clinical staff in the remote community of Laramba (Naperby) 200kms outside Alice Springs. Her public health interests lay in the area of knowledge transfer, and include working at the grassroots levels to promote health and develop health programs in local and international settings.
Steering Committee
|
Dr Heather Buchan |
Dr Julian Elliott |
Prof Andrew Kaye |
|
Prof Don Campbell |
Prof Sally Green |
Prof John Lavis |
|
Dr Alex Collie |
Dr Claire Harris |
Dr Peter Morley |
|
Dr Sue Phillips |
Mr Terry Harrison |
Dr Lisa Sherry |
|
Ms Emma Donoghue |
Dr Sophie Hill |
Prof Justin Zobel |
Funding sources
Principal Funding Agency
The Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative
Institutions
Collaborating Organisations
The collaborating organisations are contributing expertise and in-kind support to the GEM Initiative:
National Trauma Research Institutue
Monash University
The University of Melbourne
National Institute of Clinical Studies, NHMRC
Cochrane Effective Practice & Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group
Australian Satellite of the Cochrane EPOC group
Australasian Cochrane Centre
Melbourne Health
Southern Health
National Information & Communication Technology Australia (NICTA)
