Category: <span>Bellberry Community</span>
21-23 August, Sydney
We’re back at ARCS again this year co-exhibiting with our colleagues from PRAXIS Australia. Come and meet the team including CEO Kylie Sproston, Operations Manager Trina O’Donnell, Quality Manager Alison Barr and our two Operations and Support Officers Sally Sims and Tess Penglis.
We’re here to answer any questions you may have about Bellberry or anything related to Human Research Ethics or just come and say hi! We look forward to seeing you all here.
Last month CanTeen became the latest organisation to join the CT:IQ Steering Committee. Bringing an important perspective, CanTeen help young people cope with cancer in their family and provide specialist youth-specific treatment teams and have young people affected by cancer guiding the organisation at every level. CanTeen are one of the many organisations that have demonstrated their support of the CT:IQ initiative by joining the Steering Committee. Others include the Icon Cancer Foundation, Novartis, SPHERE, Cancer Trials Australia, Neuroscience Trials Australia, Linear and CMAX.
In June Medicines Australia also announced that they were joining the executive committee. For further information about the CT:IQ initiative please visit their website at https://ctiq.com.au or if you are interested in joining please visit https://ctiq.com.au/contact-us
In April this year Bellberry recruited two new Operations and Support Officers, Sally Sims and Tess Penglis. The main purpose of this role is to act as a triage service for new studies and to prepare HREC meeting agendas and to support the Committee meeting process. Sally will also talk through any application queries with investigators and assist them in their submission preparation. Sally also runs the montly eProtocol webinar training sessions and works on projects such as the National PICF Project and electronic PICF. Sally was previously a Committee secretary at Bellberry and so brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this role. Aside from the triage role, Tess is also responsible for coordinating the review and development of policies and SOP’s, which support:- Consensus on best practice
- Consistency in approach to decision making, service and operations
- Improved coordination of services and delivery, and
- Improved compliance with legislative and professional standards
Bellberry are delighted to announce that we have appointed a Quality Manager to the growing Bellberry team. Alison Barr joined us in this role on the 14th May 2018.
Alison has been in the position of Research Governance Officer at Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (22 sites and incorporating the Lyell McEwan) and the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (30 sites) for the last 6 years. Prior to that, Alison spent 6 years as Coordinator in the Heamatology/Oncology Clinical Trials Unit at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Alison started her career in health and research administration and has experience of both public and academic research settings. Alison has been involved in national projects such as the NHMRC Good Governance Pilot Project.
The role of a specialist Quality Manager will take responsibility for policy and compliance; the annual site monitoring plan; continuous improvement projects and HREC accreditation (local and international).
We are delighted to announce that Bellberry, ACTA, NHMRC CTC and The George Institute have formed a consortium ‘Clinical Trials: Impact & Quality (CT:IQ)’.
The consortium’s mission is “to develop and implement recommendations that will improve the impact, quality and efficiency of clinical trials, leading to more rapid, lower cost and higher quality evaluation of healthcare interventions in Australia”. CT:IQ will drive performance and impact improvements in Australian Clinical Trials; together we will be Thinking Smarter about Clinical Trials.
CT:IQ is modelled on the highly successful US FDA-funded Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI). The pilot project is co-funded by MTPConnect and has commitment from a range of organisations and stakeholders from the Australian Clinical Trials sector.
CT:IQ will be formally launched by Minister Hunt and Minister Cash on Wednesday 16 May at the Royal Melbourne Hospital from 10.30am. This event is also a collaborative effort and will launch CT:IQ, celebrate the ACTA Clinical Trial of the Year Awards and launch the NHMRC consumer engagement campaign. This will be followed by a CT:IQ lunchtime symposium. Registration is free but numbers are strictly limited: https://acta_awards_2018.eventbrite.com.au
For more information, contact Programme Manager Rebecca Trowman at rebeccatrowman@bellberry.com.au
If you are a current ACTA (Australian Clinical Trials Alliance) member and you know of a network or group that published the primary results of a high-impact trial in 2017 (either electronically or in print), ACTA encourage you to read the award guidelines and consider nominating the trial for the 2018 Trial of the Year Award.
A reminder that trials nominated in 2018 will also be considered for the ACTA STInG Excellence in Trial Statistics Award 2018.
The awards will be announced in Melbourne on the morning of Wednesday 16th May.
The Trial of the Year Award 2018 Guidelines and Nomination Form can be downloaded from the ACTA website here.
Nominations will be accepted until 5pm, Wednesday 18 April 2018.
Please contact ACTA for further information.
Bellberry has two objectives: to protect the welfare of human research participants and to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of research.
In 2017 we worked with a number of partner organisations to imagine a structure to address the question of Continuous Improvement in the Australian Clinical Research sector. Our founding co-partners include the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA), the George Institute, and NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre. Bellberry were successful in attracting co-funding from the Pharmaceutical sector growth centre (MTPConnect) to establish a 2-year pilot programme to explore this idea.
The project is due to launch at the start of April and it will be funded for 6 improvement projects. Those specific projects are yet to be finalised, but will be in areas such as Participant Information and Consent, Governance, Big Data and Health Ethics, Novel Trial Structures and Facilitating Multi-Centre Trials.
To assist with the establishment and launch of the initiative, I am delighted to announce we have appointed Rebecca Trowman Day to act as the Programme Manager. Rebecca has a Health Science and Epidemiology background. She has spent the last 10 years in global policy and scientific advisor roles to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (the UK authority better known as NICE), Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) and the WA Chief Medical Officer. We welcome Rebecca to the Bellberry team and look forward to the project launch.
Kylie Sproston – Bellberry CEO
Higher Education Conference
28 February – 2 March, Canberra
Universities Australia is the national peak body representing Australia’s 39 comprehensive universities. Delivered by the sector for the sector, the Higher Education conference is the annual signature event on the Australian higher education calendar attracting more than 900 delegates. Participants include Vice-Chancellors, Chancellors, senior university representatives, Government representatives, industry representatives, members of our research community, international education specialists, media and those with an interest in higher education.
The 2018 conference theme – Future Fundamentals – will have speakers exploring the fundamental role of universities in teaching, learning and research as they reinvent themselves in a new political, economic and technological environment. Bellberry CEO Kylie Sproston is looking forward to attending this event.
For further conference information and speaker details please visit the Universities Australia conference website
Bellberry are pleased to share with you details of PRAXIS upcoming education evening event. Come along for an evening of networking over drinks and canapes and hear from thought leaders in areas relevant to the health and medical research community.
Bellberry is delighted to share the announcement of 3 Medical Research Fellowships in conjunction with Equity Trustees.
The prestigious annual Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation Senior Medical Research Fellowships have been announced for 2017, committing just over $3.6 million to three researchers undertaking leading edge research into fighting cancer, schizophrenia and antimicrobial resistance.
The Bellberry-Viertel Fellow for 2017 is Associate Professor Di Yu from the Department of Immunology and Infectious Disease, Australian National University. A/Prof Yu will work on investigating the differentiation and function of novel cytotoxic T cell subset, with the aim of harnessing this newly identified cell type to come up with new ways to treat diseases including HIV and B cell lymphoma.
Click here for the full Media Release – 15 Nov 2017
Applications for 2018 open: Annually on the first day of February .
Applications close: Annually on the last day of April.
Information about the application process can be found here
Thursday 9th November, The Science Exchange, Adelaide
The topic for the evening was Cancer Immunotherapy and the Gardasil Story both presented by Professor Ian Frazer AC.
Professor Ian Frazer AC was trained as a renal physician and clinical immunologist in Edinburgh Scotland, and immigrated to Australia in 1985. In 1991, along with Chinese colleague, Dr Jian Zhou, he developed the virus-like particle technology which has become the basis of vaccines to prevent cervical cancer. Dr Frazer was founder CEO and Director of Research of the newly created Translational Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia. He now pursues research on skin cancer and on immunotherapy for cancer as head of the cancer immunotherapy program at TRI.
Dr Frazer provided an interesting and thought provoking talk on cancer immunotherapy and the Gardasil story. The event was extremely well received with over 60 people, many from interstate, in attendance. Many thanks to all our members for their invaluable input and to our guest speaker who made the session both entertaining and stimulating.
Michael James has kindly chaired Committee H since its establishment in May this year, in addition to his regular Committee C Chair role.
Bellberry are now delighted to announce that Associate Prof Mark Slee, of Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre, has been appointed as the dedicated Chair for Committee H.
Mark is a senior consultant neurologist and clinical academic at Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University. Mark’s main clinical interest is in immune mediated nervous system disease, especially multiple sclerosis. He completed fellowships in Oxford, UK, and Austin Hospital, Melbourne in clinical neuroimmunology and neurophysiology. Mark established the Flinders MS service in 2007, which has grown into one of the largest services of its kind in SA, combining basic and clinical research with clinical care. Mark was the inaugural Chair, Australian MS Clinical Trials Network and he served on the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network ethics committee from 2007 to 2013. He is current Vice-Chair of MS Research Australia grants management committee and has had recent roles as Associate Dean, Director of the Flinders MD and Associate Dean, Head of Medical Science and Technology at Flinders University.
Mark’s work history and academic output can be viewed at http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4323-2453 .
Bellberry will be exhibiting at the AusBiotech conference this week with Kylie Sproston (Bellberry CEO) and Melanie Gentgall (PRAXIS CEO) both speaking at key sessions. Please come and pay us a visit!
AAHMS Annual Meetings 2017
18-20 Oct, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) Adelaide
Bellberry are delighted to be a sponsor of this years event. Bellberry Operations Manager Trina O’Donnell will be attending the joint AAHMS and ASSA Symposium on Oct 20th and Prof Ian Frazer AC FAHMS (AAHMS President and Bellberry board member) and Hon John Hill (Bellberry board member) are both confirmed panellists for the conference. Bellberry will be exhibiting at this years conference with Kylie Sproston (Bellberry CEO) and Melanie Gentgall (PRAXIS CEO) both speaking at key sessions. Please come and pay us a visit!Our September issue contains the latest news about our 8th HREC, our new IT partner, the IMNIS programme, PRAXIS and much more – give it a read!