News and events

Congratulations to Sheymonti Hoque who was awarded a Feminist Fathers Bursary – one of 15 scholarships offered by Graduate Women Victoria in 2024. This bursary is in memory of feminist fathers who encourage and support the higher education of their daughters. Sheymonti is a PhD candidate at the Australasian Pelvic Floor Procedure Registry in CORRP, under the supervision of A/Prof Rasa Ruseckaite, Prof Susannah Ahern and Prof Helen O’Connell. She is pictured above with GWV president Dr Kerry Ferguson at the awards ceremony.

The 91st RACS Annual Scientific Congress was held in Adelaide, 1–5 May. The Australian Breast Device Registry (ABDR) presented in the Breast and Plastic Surgeons Plenary Session, and received feedback from many audience members on the valuable contribution of the ABDR. The Congress was also attended by representatives from the ANZSCTS Cardiac Surgery Registry. Both registries, along with information gathered from the Australian Spine Registry and Australasian Pelvic Floor Procedure Registry, were on display in the Congress exhibition space.

Professor Ahern, Head of CORRP (right), and Dr Maxine Orr of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (left) with a poster presentation at the 2023 Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) Annual Scientific Meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand (25-26 March). The poster represented a five-year collaboration between the Australian Cystic Fibrosis Data Registry (ACFDR) and Vertex to continuously improve registry data quality to support high quality data analysis and registry outcomes.

In October, over 180 delegates attended the Clinical Quality Registry Forum, 'Maximising Australian CQRs' Potential to improve safety and quality' at Pullman on the Park, Melbourne. This event was held in partnership with Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, the Victorian Agency for Health Information, and the Australian Government Department of Health. A highlight for many was the keynote speaker, Director of the Dutch Institute for Clinical Auditing, Dr Eric Hans Eddes, who presented 'The highs and lows of building national outcomes registries – lessons and opportunities for Australia'.

On 26 November the School hosted Australia’s first Clinical Registries Summit, bringing together clinicians, researchers, registry academics and professionals, governments, industry, health services and consumers. Speakers included Prof John McNeil, Ms Emily Hurley from the Commonwealth Department of Health, Dr Bernadette Alibrandi-Costa from the Australian Commission of Safety and Quality in Healthcare, and academics from approximately 15 clinical registries from Monash and other research and government institutes across Australia. With over 130 attendees, the Summit attendance exceeded expectations, with positive feedback in support of an annual event.