AAAPC Annual General Meeting - Thursday July 30th, 5pm AEST via Zoom
It would be wonderful to have as many AAAPC members as possible at the AAAPC Annual General Meeting on Thursday next week. It will be an efficient meeting, including elections and the awarding of the prestigious Charles Bridges Webb Medal.
We still have not received any nominations for Chair of the Conference and Professional Development Subcommittee - it's not too late to nominate a worthy colleague. Nominations close on Wednesday July 29 and more details are available on the website.
Please click the button below to register, and receive the Zoom link and password. See you there!
Register for the AGM on July 31
AAAPC Annual Research Conference - August 14-15 online
With less than one month to go, we are all excited for the AAAPC Annual Research Conference in August! Make sure you have a look at the website to see the great range of presentations and workshops in the program.
All speakers have been contacted about Speaker IT training sessions and it is encouraged that all speakers take the opportunity up in order to make the conference a smooth success.
There is also an opportunity for delegates to host small group discussions on a topic of their choice, similar to a small group discussion over lunch or coffee during a face to face conference. If you are interested in hosting a small group discussion, please email Dr Liz Sturgiss (liz.sturgiss@monash.edu) before the 7th of August with:
Membership and Marketing Subcommittee #ourprimarycare Campaign
AAAPC's #ourprimarycare campaign is still going! The goal is to promote what academic primary care means to you. The campaign will run from July to mid-August, especially during the AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference.
The campaign will involve two challenges:
We want to hear your challenges, goals and passions in academic primary care. Be creative, zany and inspiring. Put your thinking caps on, talk to your colleagues and start uploading your videos here. For more inspiration and help, visit aaapc.org.au/ourprimarycare.
Contribute to the AAAPC #ourprimarycare campaign
AAAPC Member Announcement - Grant Generating Project from NAPCRG
The North American Primary Care Research Group is calling for applications for the Grant Generating Project (GGP) for 2020-2021. The GGP seeks to equip family medicine and primary care researchers with the skills they need to successfully develop and submit grants for research funding. Once learned, these skills continue to help generate new funds for family medicine research and training, year after year.
This year the GGP is being run virtually until its final session, although there is flexibility for those who may not be able to travel. Applications close on August 28 and further information on how to apply is here.
AAAPC Member Announcement - Social Media Fellow Position with BJGP Open
Another new international opportunity that can be undertaken remotely is the Social Media Fellow Position with the British Journal of General Practice Open. This is a part-time, 12-month honorary post with BJGP Open, and will fit alongside existing commitments. It will include 2-4 hours of work per week.
Applications close on July 31 and further information on how to apply is here.
Welcome to New AAAPC Members
We warmly welcome all new members to AAAPC - if you would like your bio to be published in the monthly newsletter, please email aaapc.secretariat@anu.edu.au. This is a great way to build networks within our community.
AAAPC Annual General Meeting - July 30 2020
The AAAPC Annual General Meeting of 2020 will be held at 5:00 pm on Thursday the 30th July via a Zoom webinar. It would be great to have as many members there as possible.
The meeting will involve the election of President, Vice President, Chair of the Conference and Professional Development Subcommittee and Editor. The agenda, explanatory documents, nomination form and proxy voting forms are all available on the website in the Association Meetings section, under Events.
The 2020 Bridges Webb Medal will also be presented at the end of this meeting. This is a highlight of our meeting honouring one of our members who has excelled in primary care.
AAAPC Annual Research Conference - to be held virtually August 14-15 2020
We are pleased to announce the line up for the COVID symposium which will be held as part of our virtual conference in August.
Chaired by Prof Michael Kidd, we have five excellent speakers who will update us on innovations relating to research, education and clinical practice in primary care in Australasia.
Registrations are open and we look forward to welcoming you online in August.
AAAPC is launching #ourprimarycare campaign to promote what academic primary care means to you. The campaign will run from July to mid-August, with activity focussed during the AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference.
AAAPC Charles Bridges Webb Medal Nominations Open
The Bridges-Webb Medal is awarded to an AAAPC member who has made, and will continue to make, sustained high level contributions to academic primary care. This prize is one of the ways AAAPC's commits to fostering and supporting career development in academic primary care.
Nominations for the 2020 Medal are now open and close on the 15th of July. The winner will be announced at the Annual General Meeting on the 31st July 2020.
Further information and nomination forms are available on the website. Completed nomination forms and a CV of the nominee need to be emailed to aaapc.secretariat@anu.edu.au by close of business on 15th July 2020.
AAAPC Member Announcement - International Primary Health Care & COVID-19 Study
AAAPC member Prof Felicity Goodyear-Smith and colleagues recently conducted a multinational survey aimed to understand characteristics and strategies employed by different countries to deal with COVID-19 from a primary health care perspective. A summary of key findings from this work is now available in the Members Only section of the website.
Link to results from International Primary Health Care & COVID-19 Study
AAAPC Member Announcement - Improving access to early medical abortion amid COVID-19
A newly formed Coalition of key stakeholders and clinician experts is advocating rapid policy and practice-based changes to improve the accessibility of early medical abortion (EMA) in Australia during COVID-19 and beyond.
EMA has been declared an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic but it is not always easy to access. The Coalition, brought together by the NHMRC-funded SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence in Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care and led by Monash University’s Professor Danielle Mazza, is advocating for a range of changes to support women who could potentially be affected by these challenges.
Link to the full EMA and other consensus statements
AAAPC Executive Committee Announcement - Policy Update
AAAPC's Primary Care Research, Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee have helped the Executive Committee recently update its policy regarding distribution of information from AAAPC members. The policy is that we will be happy to distribute information on research projects or other relevant activities from AAAPC members. We need however submitters (AAAPC members) to agree that:
a) (In the case of research projects), submitters need to include the project's ethics approval number.
b) (In the case of advertisement of other initiatives) submitters acknowledge that the distribution will not bring financial or other material benefits, or result in disadvantages to the public or other groups.
Please note that both the AAAPC Member Announcements in this month's newsletter have complied with this policy.
Friends Advancing Careers through E-based Support (FACES) Event in June
FACES 2020 had their second event in June with an interactive presentation (one slide shown below) with Dr. Liz Sturgiss discussing Research Impact. The FACES group provides a peer-support space for students, ECRs and experienced researchers. Our next event will be held at AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference in August when we will be discussing “Tips and tricks for conducting research remotely”. Applications for FACES 2020 are now closed but if you would like more information contact the AAAPC ECR and Capacity Development Chair Dr Rita McMorrow rita.mmcmorrow@unimelb.edu.au.
Vale Founding President Emeritus Professor Neil Carson AO
We grieve the loss of Emeritus Professor Neil Carson AO, our founding president, who died recently aged 92. Neil Carson was a key early leader in academic primary care; who pursued quality multidisciplinary community medicine, skilled and qualified general practitioners, talented research and education teams, all for the growth and improvement of general practice and primary care.
He was a visionary leader who grew his unit into one the largest Departments of General Practice in the country, mentored many current leaders in primary care today, helped establish foundational qualifications and examinations in general practice, created one of the first electronic medical record systems and was part of international growth in general practice and primary care.
Over his career, Neil was the foundation Professor of Community Medicine (now General Practice) at Monash University (1975-1980), head of a newly established Department of Community Medicine at Monash University (1980-1992), founder of the Blackburn Clinic in Melbourne (1952), Censor-in-Chief at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (1973-1976). He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1993, awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Medicine (MD) by Monash University in 1994 and made a Life Fellow of the RACGP in 2004.
Of particular relevance to us, from 1983-1989, Neil was appointed the founding president of the Australian Association for Academic General Practice (now known as the Australasian Association for Academic Primary Care). We continue to benefit from his legacy to general practice and primary care today. A full tribute by Monash University can be found here, and a tribute from Emeritus Professor John Murtagh is here.
AAAPC Annual Research Conference - General announcements
The AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference will be held digitally from Friday 14 August to Saturday 15 August.
Registrations are now open online here!
If you submitted an abstract for an oral presentation, you should have received an email by now regarding whether your abstract was accepted. If you have not received an email yet, please contact aaapc.secretariat@anu.edu.au.
Late submissions are still open for:
Submissions close on May 30. For further information, please see the website.
AAAPC Annual Research Conference - Pre-conference prize winners
Congratulations to the following AAAPC members on their excellent abstracts which have been recognised with the following prizes:
AAAPC Promotional Flyer
Have you ever thought you could use an aesthetically pleasing summary of what AAAPC is about and how people can get involved?
Well, the AAAPC Membership and Marketing Subcommittee has been busy recently revamping our promotional flyer and it looks great. Check out our new brochure on the website for the latest details on membership benefits and how to get involved. Feel free to send it to your friends/colleagues too.
The FACES group will meet again on Thursday June 4 12pm AEST to discuss Research Impact with Dr Liz Sturgiss. Applications for FACES 2020 are now closed but if you would like more information contact the AAAPC ECR and Capacity Development Chair Dr Rita McMorrow rita.mmcmorrow@unimelb.edu.au.
Celebrating some AAAPC Members
A shout out to some members who have had some recent publication success:
I know that this list does not comprehensively include the many achievements of all of our members (apologies). But please send me an email at melinda.choy@anu.edu.au when you or another member you know has a new publication out or receives an award so that we can all celebrate them!
The Global Primary Healthcare Response to COVID-19 webinar series
AAAPC members Lynsey Brown and Kaara Calma are part of the World Health Organization's Primary Health Care Young Leaders' Network that have teamed up with Harvard Medical School to create a webinar series on the global primary health care response to COVID-19. Every Thursday in May there has been an engaging discussion with interdisciplinary panellists and discussants from around the world, sharing on-the-ground experiences. Kaara Calma spoke about the Australian experience in the first webinar. Recordings from the series are available via the button below.
COVID-19 Experiences from the Front Lines webinar series link
Melbourne School of Government Disruptive Ideas Seminar - The Regulation of Controversial Medical Products
AAAPC member Timothy Kariotis has suggested a free event on Tuesday June 23 12-1pm AEST that may be of interest to AAAPC members. The speaker will be speaking on Regulation, Legitimacy and Values - The Regulation of Controversial Medical Products, drawing on her research on the regulation of pharmaceuticals and medical devices in Australia and speaking specific examples including medicinal cannabis and urogynaecological mesh. A link with further information and registration is below.
The Regulation of Controversial Medical Products registration link
AAAPC Annual Research Conference Update: August 14-15 2020
The AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference [now online] thanks the team of abstract reviewers who have been working hard recently. Keep an eye on the website over the next few weeks as registrations are soon to re-open for our online conference!
Friends Advancing Careers through E-based Support (FACES) 2020 Update
FACES 2020 commenced in early April with an interactive presentation from A/Prof Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis to develop grant writing skills. The FACES group will meet again in June to discuss Research Impact with Dr Liz Sturgiss. Applications for FACES 2020 are now closed but if you would like more information contact the AAAPC ECR and Capacity Development Chair Dr Rita McMorrow: rita.mmcmorrow@unimelb.edu.au.
AAAPC Membership Feedback Survey 2020 Results
Thank you to all who participated in our recent AAAPC Membership Feedback Survey! We had 69 responses from our 264 members (response rate ~26%) and we reviewed the results closely at our recent AAAPC Executive Committee Strategic Meeting. Notable findings included:
A full description of the survey results is available in the Members Only section of our website (button below). Please know that we hear you and have been reflecting on how we can best change/maintain things to reflect your feedback.
AAAPC 2020 Membership Survey Results
The effect on outcomes of country-specific strategies and primary health care strength in the COVID-19 pandemic response: An international study - request for survey participation
We hope you are faring as well as possible in your respective countries. We are writing to invite you to participate in a study on the role of primary care in the current pandemic response. We want to know how prepared you think your country was to deal with COVID-19, how your country responded, the nature of your primary health care system, and changes that have been made in fighting this pandemic.
Please consider completing the anonymous survey (link in button below). It should take no more than 15 minutes of your time. Should you have any queries, or suggestions about whom else we should approach to complete this survey, please email PHC_COVID@kkinder.de or Prof Felicity Goodyear-Smith, f.goodyear-smith@auckland.ac.nz.
From the research team: Felicity Goodyear-Smith, Karen Kinder, Robert Phillips, Andrew Bazemore, Cristina Mannie, and Stefan Strydom
Link to survey re role of primary care in COVID-19 response
Update on advocacy for Australian Practice Based Research Network capacity
Most of you will have seen our President's (Kirsty Douglas) recent email update on AAAPC efforts for advocacy within Australia to develop national Practice Based Research Network capacity. An extract of it is below.
We would propose that we continue to work with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and Australian Clinical Trial Alliance (ACTA) to maximise our chances of success and would aim to submit a proposal for funding to the Department of Health and to the Health Minister. I believe it is important that AAAPC is actively involved in this. The COVID pandemic has highlighted the enormous strengths and flexibility of our primary health care system but it is now also clear that we need better coordination, and capacity in primary care research to ensure we optimise rapid high quality research outcomes. The proposal would focus on the need for funding a national PBRN network that would improve capacity and response times for primary care research in Australia.
Please let us know if you are interested in working with us on this. We will need to have a small and engaged group that can work intensely on this with RACGP and other stakeholders in the next few weeks. Please send suggestions, feedback and indication if you are willing to be involved to aaapc.secretariat@anu.edu.au.
A shout-out to some members who have had some recent publication success:
I am sure that this list does not comprehensively include the many achievements of all of our members (apologies). But please feel free to send me an email at melinda.choy@anu.edu.au when you or someone you know has a new publication out or receives an award so that we can all celebrate them!
Call for Papers from The Journal of Health Organization and Management
The Journal of Health Organization and Management (ISSN 1477-7266; IF 1.306; Q2) will be running a Special Issue in 2020, themed Implementation Science to Practice in Healthcare Organization and Management. Dr Mitchell Sarkies, Dr Joanna Moullin, Teralynn Ludwick, and Prof Suzanne Robinson will be guest editing the Issue, and are seeking article submissions in line with the theme. For more information, please click here.
Welcome to all new AAAPC Members
We warmly welcome all new members to AAAPC - if you have joined AAAPC in the last 18 months and would like your bio to be published in the monthly newsletter, please email aaapc.secretariat@anu.edu.au. This is a great way to build networks within our community.
Hello - we are thinking of you all in these tricky times. This month's newsletter contains ongoing online options for connection, some details on resources and support efforts, and some totally unrelated other news. Take care :)
AAAPC Annual Research Conference - 14-15 August 2020 is going ahead online
As you are probably already aware, the AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference will be held online this year. This is an exciting development amidst all the stress, and the Conference Subcommittee are working hard to make this an enjoyable, encouraging and enlightening event.
AAAPC Annual Research Conference - call for abstract reviewers
Each abstract will be reviewed by two peers in a double-blind process. The reviewers will score the abstracts on pre-specified criteria. Abstracts are between 250 and 500 words.
We would expect that the review process would take approximately 2-3 hours in total. If you are able to commit to reviewing abstracts at the end of March please fill in your details in the online survey via the button link below.
In line with our aim to build research capacity, we are also offering a mentoring opportunity for researchers who have not reviewed abstracts before. We welcome early career researchers, PhD students and anyone who is keen to build their skills to take advantage of our mentoring program. You will be paired with an experienced reviewer for the abstract review process.
Survey for prospective ARC 2020 abstracts reviewers
FACES stands for Friends Advancing Careers through E-based Support. It is for all AAAPC members who are interested in connecting and advancing their career through research. The first event for the year will be an interactive webinar called 'Grant writing 101 - Setting up a successful grant application' with A/Prof Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis. It will be held on Thursday April 9th, 12 noon AEDT.
AAAPC and COVID-19
Cancer in Primary Care Survey
PC4 Research Prioritisation Survey
A/Prof Anne Abbott is a neurologist from the Central Clinical School at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Her work is having a significant impact in updating guidelines, policy and practice for improved stroke prevention in persons with carotid arterial disease. She is looking for collaborators in researching the best ways of preventing stroke and other arterial disease complications non-invasively. Please contact her if interested at anne.l.abbott@gmail.com.
AAAPC Annual Research Conference: August 14-15 2020
The AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference is fast approaching and we are all excited about meeting up at Griffith University on the sunny Gold August over August 14-15.
There are a number of details about the conference highlighted in this newsletter, and if you would like to stay even more up-to-date, keep an eye on the relevant page of the website.
The conference organising committee welcomes AAAPC members to be peer reviewers for the submitted abstracts for the 2020 conference.
Link to survey for prospective ARC 2020 abstract reviewers
AAAPC Annual Research Conference - call for abstracts open, closing in March
A reminder that the call for abstracts is now open and that submissions close Sunday March 15 2020.
We welcome abstract submissions covering the full spectrum of primary care across a range of multidisciplinary perspectives. We also welcome contributions focusing on methodological developments and challenges relevant to the field. We will consider abstracts of relevance to primary care practice, research, education, and policy.
As previously mentioned, the Australian Journal of Primary Health (AJPH) will be publishing an online supplement with the accepted abstracts from the Conference (see 2019 Issue). The supplement will be indexed on PubMed as the whole conference, not as individual abstracts. During the abstract submission process, we will request your permission to include your abstract in the AJPH supplement.
We are looking forward to welcoming you to the Gold Coast for our 2020 conference.
Dr Liz Sturgiss, on behalf of the organising committee liz.sturgiss@monash.edu
Have your say - fill in the AAAPC Membership Survey
The Executive of AAAPC will meet in March for a strategic planning meeting. To guide us, we are asking members to fill out this 5 minute survey to give us feedback on what we have done recently and how we can improve from here.
Please click the button below to complete the survey. Thank you!
AAAPC 2020 Membership Survey
FACES 2020 Events - Grant writing 101
FACES stands for Friends Advancing Careers through E-based Support. It is for all AAAPC members who are interested in connecting and advancing their career through research.
The first FACES event for the year will be an interactive webinar called 'Grant writing 101 - Setting up a successful grant application' with A/Prof Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis. It will be held on Thursday April 9th, 12 noon AEDT.
A/Prof Manski-Nankervis is an academic general practitioner leading innovative research into the development and implementation of technology to inform decision making in general-practice. Over the last five years she has been awarded more than $6 million in funding from a variety of sources including MRFF, NHMRC, RACGP Foundation and philanthropic grants.
If you would like to sign up for the interactive webinar and FACES, you will need to register for FACES through the website by March 27. Further information (including information about future FACES events) is available on the website.
Australian Association of Practice Management Annual Survey Feedback
Recruitment is a vital but often difficult aspect of conducting research studies. The managers of general practices play key roles in recruitment to research studies being conducted by AAAPC members.
The Australian Association of Practice Management (AAPM) conducts an annual survey, which this year will be sent to non-members as well as to its current members. Following contact that I had with the AAPM in 2019, AAPM has offered to include questions in the survey from AAAPC about participating in research studies.
If you are interested, there is more information and a first draft of possible questions available via the Members only section of the website. Please send your suggestions for improvements and/or more useful questions to me as soon as possible.
Oliver Frank MBBS PhD FRACGP FACHI
The University of Adelaide
oliver.frank@adelaide.edu.au
Scholarships to the AAAPC Annual Research Conference
AAAPC is pleased to offer two competitive scholarships to support attendance of its members at the 2020 Annual Research Conference on the Gold Coast.
We are offering one Student scholarship and one scholarship to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander of Australia or Māori and/or Pacific People of New Zealand. We invite you to have a look at the selection criteria on the conference website.
To apply, please tick the appropriate box when submitting your abstract online.
We warmly welcome all new members to AAAPC - if you would like your bio to be published in the monthly newsletter, please email aaapc.secretariat@anu.edu.au This is a great way to build networks within our community.
Winner of 2020 AAAPC Travelling Fellowship
Congratulations to Dr Michael Wright of University of Technology, Sydney
Michael will be travelling to the UK to visit the University of Manchester and other leading GP researchers “to investigate the establishment of primary care networks in the English National Health Service (NHS) and provide understanding about whether these structures are likely to reform delivery of UK general practice services, and whether they are applicable for Australia’s health system.”
We look forward to hearing from Michael about his findings when he returns - safe travels Michael!
AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference - call for abstracts
The call for abstracts for the AAAPC Annual Research Conference is now open, please circulate this opportunity to your colleagues and through your networks.
We are delighted to announce that the Australian Journal of Primary Health (AJPH) will be publishing an online supplement with the accepted abstracts from the Conference (see 2019 Issue).
Exciting new opportunity - AAAPC is pleased to offer two competitive scholarships to support attendance of its members at the 2020 Annual Research Conference on the Gold Coast.
Don’t miss out!
We warmly welcome all new members to AAAPC - if you would like your bio and photo to be published in the monthly newsletter, please email aaapc.secretariat@anu.edu.au This is a great way to build networks within our community.
The call for abstracts for the AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference is now open, closing on 15 March. Visit the ARC website, aaapc.org.au/ARC_abstracts to find out all the details.
Registration for the Conference is also available now. Prices and inclusions are listed on the registration page at aaapc.org.au/ARC_registration.
We look forward to seeing you on the Gold Coast in August!
New Australian primary care research opportunities announced
AAAPC members should be aware that the NHMRC has opened new research grant opportunities that will be of interest to many of our Australian members.
1. The Medical Research Future Fund - Preventive and Public Health Research Initiative - 2019 Preventive and Public Health Research Grant Opportunity will support research that focuses on one or more of the following priority areas:
2. The Medical Research Future Fund – Primary Health Care Research Initiative aims to enable or support an increase in Australia’s evidence base in primary health care through research to improve service delivery and patient outcomes, and to translate this knowledge into action.
The objective of this grant opportunity is to increase Australia’s evidence base in primary health care research for the following priority primary health care research topics:
3. The 2019 Rural, Regional and Remote Clinical Trial Enabling Infrastructure grant opportunity provides between $5 million and $100 million for new and innovative approaches to enhance and improve clinical trial infrastructure, to extend existing clinical trials into rural, regional and remote areas of Australia.
Further details are available on the GrantsConnect website www.grants.gov.au or via the NHMRC.
All opportunities have just been announced and are due either by the 5th of Feb or 3rd of March so if you haven’t already lets get collaborating and writing.
Best wishes
Kirsty Douglas (AAAPC President)
Results of the 2019 Extraordinary General Meeting
The AAAPC Executive Committee held an Extraordinary General Meeting earlier this week to vote on some constitutional changes. The meeting was well attended and the changes were passed. For further details please go to the website, where the minutes from the meeting are now available (or click the button below).
Minutes of the 2019 Extraordinary General Meeting
Call for Papers - Australian Journal of Primary Health
Calling all researchers who are looking at primary healthcare in an Ageing Society. A special issue of AJPH will be published in early 2021 so there is plenty of time to put forward your best work.
Details are available at: http://www.publish.csiro.au/py/content/CallforPapers
RACGP 2020 Academic Post Registrars attending 2020 Annual Research Conference
In December the newest cohort of Academic Post GP registrars took part in their orientation workshop before beginning a 12 month academic posting in February 2020. Twenty registrars were selected to the program with representation from six different states. In addition to the supervision, training and support academic registrars receive within their academic departments, they also participate in an activity program delivered by Monash University, Bond University and the University of Western Ontario (Canada).
The RACGP has confirmed that the registrars will attend the AAAPC Annual Research Conference in 2020 as an integral part of their academic and professional development. We wish the registrars well for the year and look forward to hearing about their research at the AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference on August 14-15 on the Gold Coast.
Happy Holidays!
We hope you all have a wonderful, safe, restful and joyful summer holiday. There will be no January AAAPC News, but we will be in touch again refreshed and ready for the new year in Feburary 2020.
Until then,
Dr Melinda Choy, AAAPC Editor
melinda.choy@anu.edu.au
