Our research
We manage an extensive portfolio of research projects in collaboration with government, patient advocacy groups and international partners with a shared interest. These include multi-centre clinical trials, systematic reviews and observational studies.
Current programs of work and projects
- Value In Care – optimising surveillance COLonoscopy (VIC-COL) in Victorian healthcare services: a HCF Foundation-funded collaborative program of work shared between three Victorian Academic Health Science Centres (Monash Partners, Western Alliance, and Melbourne Academic Centre for Health) aimed at improving high-value use of colonoscopy in Victorian public hospitals
- NHMRC Program Grant and NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence – Wiser Healthcare: aims to reduce the inappropriate use of tests and treatments by systematically investigating the problem of over-testing, over-diagnosis, and over-treatment and developing and evaluating sustainable solutions
- NHMRC Partnership Centre in Health System Sustainability: aims to explore the issues impacting health care system sustainability and develop and evaluate a set of implementable interventions that are appropriate from clinical, patient and economic perspectives
- NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for the Australia & New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network: a research collaboration of over 200 clinician-researchers from 30 universities, 31 hospitals and 17 research institute that aims to optimise musculoskeletal health through high quality collaborative research and build research capacity in this field
- The Australian Rheumatology Association Database (ARAD): a database in collaboration with Arthritis Australia which collects long-term observational data about the outcomes of Australians with inflammatory arthritis
- Cochrane Musculoskeletal: as the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Review Group in Australia, we produce the best available evidence to inform decisions in treating arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders
- Australasian Satellite of Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group: assists evidence-based policy making by supporting, promoting and helping to implement systematic reviews of interventions designed to improve health care practice and the delivery of effective health services
- ANZMUSC Living Evidence: aims to conduct Cochrane living system reviews (platelet-rich plasma and stem cell injections for knee osteoarthritis) which are updated whenever new research becomes available, to feed into “living” recommendations in Therapeutic Guidelines Ltd: Rheumatology
- Development of a tool for setting priorities for trials in the musculoskeletal field: aims to develop a multi-attribute priority setting tool for the explicit and transparent ranking of musculoskeletal research questions
- Identifying and prioritising alternative delivery models to increase value and sustainability of healthcare: A scoping review of systematic reviews of trials and economic studies of alternative delivery arrangements and a Delphi study
- Clinician, patient and general public beliefs about diagnostic imaging for low back pain: Qualitative evidence synthesis
- Consumer understanding of terms used in imaging reports requested for low back pain
- Experiences and perceptions of people living with shoulder pain: A qualitative evidence synthesis
- Perceived barriers and facilitators to reducing inappropriate use of imaging in people with shoulder pain
- Scoping review of the volume and scope of implementation research conducted in knee osteoarthritis
- Comparative effectiveness of ultrasound-guided injection with either autologous platelet rich plasma or glucocorticoid for ultrasound-proven lateral epicondylitis: a three-arm randomised placebo-controlled trial
- SUcceSS: SUrgery for Spinal Stenosis – a randomised placebo-controlled trial
- Effectiveness of an electronic patient-centred self-management tool for gout sufferers: a cluster randomised controlled trial
- Hype or Hope? platelet-rich plasma as a symptom- and disease-modifying treatment for knee osteoarthritis – the RESTORE trial
- CROSSFIRE: Combined Randomised and Observational Study of Surgery for Fractures In the distal Radius in the Elderly
- CRISTAL: Cluster Randomised Trial of Aspirin versus Low molecular weight heparin for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in joint replacement surgery, a registry-nested study
- Development of a decision support tool for patients considering arthroscopic treatment for degenerative knee disease (osteoarthritis, degenerative meniscal tears)
- Understanding general practitioner and patient expectations for imaging requests and reports of the lumbar spine in people with acute low back pain: A qualitative study
- Complementary medicine use in people with inflammatory arthritis
- Acute low back pain presenting to the Emergency Department: The patient journey
- Development of a core set of outcomes for shoulder trials, part of the OMERACT initiative
- TOPS: Trial Of Prevention Strategies for back pain
- OPAL: First placebo-controlled trial of opioid analgesia for acute spinal pain
- Patterns of care for musculoskeletal conditions by general practitioners in Victoria, Australia
- Barriers and enablers to monitoring and deprescribing opioid analgesics for chronic non-cancer pain: a qualitative evidence synthesis
- Implementation of the Clinical Care Standards for Osteoarthritis of the Knee
- Obstacles, enablers and acceptability of home-based rehabilitation following hip and knee replacement at Cabrini: A qualitative study
- Communicating overdiagnosis to the public