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04 Sep 2023
  • University of Melbourne
  • VCCC Alliance
  • St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne
Monday Lunch Livestream | Webinar | 1.00–2.00pm

MLL: Linking data to study the continuum of cancer care

For the first time in Australia, the linkage and analysis of primary and public health patient data are improving our understanding of factors contributing to delayed cancer diagnosis and treatment, affecting patient outcomes and ongoing health issues.

"By linking data that better reflects how patients experience care between different services, we can advocate for system-wide innovation and integration, reducing duplication of efforts and delivering care when and where it is needed most.” - Prof Jon Emery, Primary Care Research and Education Lead

There is significant evidence that health data usage is a major capability gap in Australian health and medical research. When cancer patients are diagnosed and move from primary to hospital care, and back for post-treatment care, this can impact how their health issues are identified and solved.

Bringing together data sources can build a more complete picture of how and where patients access care, how they’re being diagnosed and their quality of life after treatment.

Join us for a comprehensive look at the capabilities of data linkage and learn:

  • Estimating optimal time to treatment to improve colorectal cancer outcomes: a linked-data study
  • Co-morbidities in cancer survivors & how data linkage is being used to understand survivorship care in general practice
  • Palliative care & associations between patients who received home visits or anticipatory prescribing - these patients having far less hospital care use at the end of life.

Speakers

Professor Jon Emery
Research and Education Lead, Primary Care, VCCC Alliance

Professor Jon Emery is the Herman Professor of Primary Care Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne, and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Primary Care Research and Education Lead. He is also Director of the Cancer Australia Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials Group (PC4), and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge.

Ms Allison Drosdowsky
PhD Candidate, Department of General Practice and Centre for Cancer Research, University of Melbourne

Allison Drosdowsky is a quantitative researcher and PhD Candidate in the Department of General Practice and Centre for Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne. Her research aims to examine the role of time to diagnosis and treatment in colorectal cancer. Her research interests include improving timely cancer diagnosis through use of linked datasets, the translation and implementation of research, meta-research and novel research methodologies. She completed a MPH in 2012 and since then has worked at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre as a Health Services Researcher where she is involved in the development and execution of statistical analysis plans, and advising on study design and methodology.

Olivia Wawryk
Data Analyst, University of Melbourne

Olivia Wawryk is a data analyst at the University of Melbourne. She has research experience in the data management and statistical analysis of large-linked health services data including registry data, hospital data and general practice data.

Dr Matthew Grant
Senior Research Fellow, Palliative Nexus Research Group, University of Melbourne

Dr Matthew Grant is a Palliative Medicine Physician, General Practitioner and researcher. He is a senior research fellow at Palliative Nexus Research Group, University of Melbourne, and Assistant Professor at University Medical Centre Utrecht in The Netherlands. He currently resides in the Netherlands, combining research and clinical work. The focus of his research is the provision and integration of primary care services for patients with chronic and incurable illnesses.

Sally Philip

Sally Philip is the Program Manager for VCCC Alliance Data Connect. Her role is to facilitate the development of the hub, in addition to advising and advocating for its use by researchers.

Monday 4 September
1.00–2.00pm
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