It’s difficult to summarise the year just gone without once again foregrounding the impact of the pandemic. But in sitting to reflect on our work in 2021, I am yet again humbled by the extraordinary strength of our staff and students who continued to deliver and grow a portfolio of research and education that is, more than ever, critical to the future of our strained health ecosystem.

I’m incredibly proud of the expertise and leadership our researchers have brought to projects spanning clinical services, healthy ageing, climate health, social care and the long list of other specialist fields of health research supported by our school. Their efforts will build resilience in our health system – and health systems globally – far beyond the pandemic.

Our teaching staff again rose to the challenges posed by social distancing and lockdowns, taking each modal change in their stride. The fine crop of students we celebrated at our 2021 Student Excellence Awards reflects their outstanding work.

Projects led by our evidence synthesis experts continued to evolve and expand. Our trailblazing work in living guidelines, catapulted to new heights via the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, seeded last years’ launch of the Australian Living Evidence Consortium (ALEC). A world-first collaboration, ALEC will build a next-generation system for delivering reliable, accessible, up-to-date evidence in health care.

Our clinical registry portfolio continued to drive improvements in the safety and quality of care across medical devices, interventions and multiple disease states. Two new registries were launched in 2021, bringing our total count to 45 clinical registries. You can read about them in our latest report.

Thanks to incredible fortitude and tenacity of our staff, most of our clinical trials were able to continue recruiting to target throughout the year. STAREE welcomed 3,000 new participants, whose generous participation will help us understand whether the benefits outweigh the risks of preventive statin use in healthy older people. The ASPREE dataset yielded 39 new publications, providing a rich vein of new knowledge about healthy ageing. And our pioneering research investigating acute care for COVID-19 continued to thrive, with REMAP-CAP and SPRINT-SARI generating unique evidence about treatments and the impact of the pandemic on Australia’s intensive care system.

We welcomed the School’s new Health and Social Care Unit early in the year. Led by Professor Helen Skouteris, the unit has already established a huge footprint in qualitative and mixed-methods research, community partnerships and advocacy. We also formally welcomed Prof Karen Walker-Bone to our shores. Fresh from the United Kingdom, she assumed leadership of the Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, and spent 2021 honing the group’s focus on issues such as supporting longer, healthier working lives for all.

Mobility safety researcher Associate Professor Ben Beck secured funding for a raft of innovative projects that will strengthen transport networks that support healthier people and more sustainable cities. Climate researcher Prof Yuming Guo also continued to contribute crucial knowledge around climate change and it’s impacts on health, helping our health services plan for the future.

My sincere thanks go to all of our staff across research, academic and professional portfolios. What I’ve described here is just a drop in the ocean of the achievements we’ve celebrated throughout the year, that have been made possible by their dedication and teamwork. Those achievements will make our world a better, safer and healthier place to live in.

I feel incredibly excited about what lies ahead for us as a school in 2022 and beyond. This coming year will be a time to reflect, recharge and refocus as we prepare to launch a number of exciting new initiatives: our new strategic framework, a new clinical trials hub, and a host of new flagship projects that are well advanced in the development pipeline. I’m also looking forward to welcoming a new research group specializing in health economics, producing research vital to creating efficient, sustainable health services.

I wish all members of our team another successful and fulfilling year ahead.

Professor Sophia Zoungas
Head of School

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