Leading the advancement of digital health

Professor Trish Williams will represent Flinders University on the new Australian Council of Senior Academic Leaders in Digital Health. Flinders is a founding member university of the national, cross-university network advocating for the advancement of digital health.

The Council has been established to harness the combined academic power of senior leaders to advance the application of digital technology, informatics and data science to health in Australia.

This coordinated and collaborative approach across Australia’s universities aims to:

• promote quality, consistency and high standards in digital health education and training, and advocate for and support career pathways;
• develop the digital and data science capabilities of the current and future health workforce,
• advise on evidence-based, evolving digital transformation in health care;
• lead and respond to health system research needs in digital technology innovation and data;
• fuel innovation and health system efficiency and sustainability

Read more on the Digital Health CRC website.

Fundamental care in new role

Flinders University researcher Professor Tiffany Conroy has been appointed Professor of Nursing and Director of Nursing and Midwifery Research at the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.

A joint appointment between SA Health and Flinders University, the position works with nurses and midwives across all SALHN sites to advance fundamental care, research capacity, and increase the profile of nursing and midwifery research.

Speaking on her appointment, Professor Conroy said she was proud to take up the role and thanked her predecessor Professor Robyn Clark, who recently retired. Read more>

Keeping hospitalised adults moving 

Associate Professor Claire Baldwin from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences was invited by the Australia Association of Gerontology to provide an update on her 2022 Strategic Innovation Program grant.

Associate Professor Baldwin and her team are making world-first evidence-based recommendations for older adults who are hospitalised with an acute medical illness, on using functional and self-care activities as opportunities to accumulate body-movement throughout the day. You can read her blog here.

Flinders features in palliative care awards

The Southern Vales Compassionate Communities team, chaired by Kristina Walsh in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, has been awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Palliative Care Community Engagement Award in the Palliative Care South Australia 2024 Awards, held last month. The award recognised the team’s work with Death Cafes, which were established in 2020 to offer the community a place to connect, over a cuppa and piece of cake, to talk about life and death.

In the same category, the Midway Road Community House in Elizabeth East was also worthy nominee. The nomination recognises their work educating their community on palliative care and highlights their successful engagement with the Flinders University Palliative Care Research Collaboration team, including Professor Gill Harvey and Dr Karen Nobes from the Caring Futures Institute, as part of the PCRC Death Literacy project.

Austen paper named best in journal

Dr Gillian Dooley’s paper Jane Austen: The Musician as Author has won the Best Paper Award for research and review articles published in the Humanities journal in 2022. Read more>