Leading minds meet to revolutionise health care

World-leading health experts will converge for the Diamantina Health Partners ‘Meeting of Minds’ tomorrow to discuss the latest in health care for Queenslanders. 

At the inaugural forum, University of Queensland researchers will discuss cutting-edge research about telehealth, infectious diseases, neuroscience and genomics. 

UQ Faculty of Health Sciences Executive Dean, Professor Nicholas Fisk says the forum’s emphasis is on interweaving research, education and clinical care that translates into better health care. 

“Academic Health Science Centres have been slow to come to Australia, but they are a fantastic platform for us all to work together,” Professor Fisk said. 

The event is run by Diamantina Health Partners – which brings together eight of Queensland’s top research institutes, hospitals and universities, including UQ into Queensland’s first academic health science centre. 

“This is what makes Diamantina Health Partners first meeting so exciting, as it showcases the collaborative results of linking researchers who develop treatments with clinicians and educators who treat patients and change practice for the better,” Professor Fisk said. 

UQ Diamantina Institute Director and renowned leader in the genomics field Professor Matt Brown said excellence in health care comes from excellence in research. 

“The forum will bring together the best of both fields to improve health care and enable the world-class research already going on in Brisbane,” Professor Brown said. 

UQ Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) Deputy Director Professor Pankaj Sah said the collaborative approach would allow researchers at the QBI to collaborate with health-care providers at the coal face and provide the foundations for the development of novel therapies for a range of disorders. 

“This approach will drive innovation in both sectors and lead to better health care as well as social and economic benefits,” Professor Sah said. 

Forum registration is open to all interested clinicians, researchers, educators, managers, funders, and policy makers. Details can be found on the Diamantina Health Partners’ website: www.diamantina.org.au 

To arrange interviews with UQ researchers contact Kirsten Rogan, Media and Communications, UQ Faculty of Health Sciences, 07 3346 4713, 0412307594 or k.rogan@uq.edu.au. 

University of Queensland speakers and titles of presentations 
All profiles can be viewed here. 

Faculty of Health Sciences 
Professor Gerald Holtmann - Where is the gap? 

Professor Len Gray - Telehealth: the new frontier in health care delivery in a digital age 

Professor Elizabeth Powell - The burden of chronic liver disease – role of inflammation 

Dr David Looke - Multi-resistant bacteria and smart solutions 

Associate Professor Andrew Barbour - New treatment approaches from sample collection and individual patient tumour evaluation to clinical trials of new treatment options 

Professor Janet Hardy - Palliative care – a multidisciplinary approach improving patient experience and outcomes 

Associate Professor Euan Walpole - Comprehensive cancer data bases and linkage for outcome analysis and research 

Professor Elizabeth Ward - How can we measure the results after trauma? 

Professor Steve Kisely - Is mental illness deadly? The life threatening comorbidities of mental illness 

Associate Professor Jennifer Martin & Professor Nick Shaw - Personalised pharmacotherapy: new techniques to increase drug benefits and reduce harms 

Associate Professor Ian Scott - Maximising value for money: the new agenda for learning healthcare organisations 

Diamantina Institute 

Professor Ian Frazer (CEO of Translation Research Institute) - Collaboration for successful clinical outcomes to research: core facilities, academic health science centres, and the McKeon report. 

Professor Matt Brown - The genomics revolution 

Professor Ranjeny Thomas - Autoimmune prone genetic backgrounds and the challenge of infection control 

Dr Sarah Olson - Healing the mind from a surgeon's perspective 

Queensland Brain Institute 

Professor John McGrath - Concise overview of Centre for Neuroscience, Recovery and Mental Health 

Professor Bryan Mowry - The genetics of schizophrenia revealed: implications for translational medicine