Category: <span>Blog</span>

Due to our continued growth, we seek to expand our panel of medical and scientific members on an ongoing basis.  At present we are particularly interested to hear from people with clinical and/or research experience in the following areas:

Knowledge and experience favourably considered for medical and scientific members (category (c) and (f) per the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research) includes:

Meetings are held on a Wednesday evening.  There is no requirement to attend a regular meeting as attendance is based on Bellberry’s need and member’s availability. Category (c) and (f) members rotate through all HRECs depending on the meeting agenda and type of expertise required. As such, the time commitment is variable, and can be tailored to suit each member.  Some panel members join a Bellberry HREC meeting 3 or 4 times per year, others may join 12 or 15 times.  Interstate members join meetings remotely.

Our online software program enables members to access all relevant documents and investigator and committee correspondence via the internet.

Proposals are available to review 12 calendar days prior to a meeting.  Post meeting matters are required to be dealt with promptly within a 48 hour period.

Bellberry supports education and professional development of HREC members.  Initial induction training is delivered to all new HREC members and ongoing education provided with access to internal events and support for attendance at external events.

From time to time, we require community representatives, pastoral care and lawyer members (category (b), (d) and (e), per the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research) to join our team.  Members in these categories are required to attend meetings rather than join remotely.

If you are interested in becoming a Bellberry HREC member please complete and submit the Committee Member Application Form.

If you would like further information, please call the Committee Manager Cathy Stevens on 08 8361 3222 or email recruitment@bellberry.com.au

On Monday 20 May ACTA held their National Tribute and Awards ceremony in conjunction with International Clinical Trials Day.

“Clinical trials are vital to ensuring patients receive the best treatments and get the best outcomes. Effective and efficient treatments not only reduce suffering they can also mean less time spent receiving treatment and less money spent by the patient and the health system,” said Prof John Zalcberg, Chair of ACTA.

The winner of the 2019 Trial of the Year award was the ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) Trial, which looked at the efficacy of people 70 and above taking aspirin daily in preventing age-related illness including heart attack and dementia. The ASPREE study was an international, multicentre clinical trial to determine whether daily low-dose aspiring prolonged good health by preventing or delaying age-related illness such as cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke), dementia, depression and certain cancers in the healthy elderly. It is the largest primary prevention aspiring study ever undertaken in healthy people aged at or above 70 years and the first to weigh the benefits versus the risks.

For results of the other awards including the runners up for Trial of the Year and winner of the STiNG Award for Excellence in Trial Statistics please visit the ACTA website.

A Photo Gallery of the event day can be viewed here

 

As part of the celebrations to commemorate International Clinical Trials Day on 20 May, ACTA are holding a National Tribute and Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will honour the remarkable people who have make ground-breaking clinical trials possible and will include the ACTA Trial of the Year Award, ACTA STInG Excellence in Trial Statsistics Award and the inaugural ACTA Consumer Involvement Award.

The ceremony will be held at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, from 8-10am and is free to attend.

Please check out the Award Ceremony flyer for further details of the event.

 

https://www.australianclinicaltrials.gov.au/international-clinical-trials-day

As of 2016, Bellberry began working in collaboration with the Viertel Foundation to offer prestigious, high-value 5 year mid-career fellowships to the brightest research talent.

The Senior Medical Research Fellowship and the Bellberry-Viertel Fellowship are intended to be amongst the most prestigious awards available to those who wish to continue a career in medical research in Australia. The Fellowship is an integral part of a scheme that is intended to provide both salary and project grant support for outstanding Australian medical researchers.

The closing date for 2019 application is 30 April 2019. Please click here for more details on the award and visit the Viertel website for further information and application details.

CT:IQ Projects Update

CT:IQ works collaboratively with the medical research sector to improve the impact, quality and efficiency of clinical trials in Australia, resulting ultimately in the delivery of better health outcomes for the whole community.

The CT:IQ Steering Committee met in December 2018 and selected five projects for CT:IQ to progress in 2019:

  1. Consumer Involvement and Engagement
  2. E-Information
  3. Early Phase Trial Best Practice
  4. Clinical Trial Recruitment
  5. Biomarker-directed Therapies

CT:IQ welcomes members from across the medical research sector to develop and implement recommendations for investigator-initiated trials and industry-initiated trials.

For more information on CT:IQ and how your organisation could get involved please visit ctiq.com.au or contact us on info@ctiq.com.au.

If you would like to keep up to date, follow CT:IQ on LinkedIn and Twitter

17 -19 March – Melbourne

This years APHA Congress will examine the changing operational environment for private hospitals. Issues such as private health insurance reform, the new National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (National Standards) and privacy will all be discussed.

The APHA Congress will continue to feature a range of social and networking events that bring delegates and exhibitors together so there are plenty of opportunities to discuss issues with peers and industry partners.

Bellberry CEO Kylie Sproston and Operations Manager Trina O’Donnell are attending this event and look forward to seeing you there!

Bellberry is delighted to welcome two new members of staff to the team, Reuben Jacob as Innovation Manager and Jerneen Williams as Early Phase Clinical Trials Manager.

Reuben has a background in science and genetics, and has spent the last decade working in research and in technology commercialisation. He previously worked for a State Government start-up grant program helping early-stage companies to develop and commercialise their intellectual property. At Bellberry, Reuben is responsible for implementing the Innovation Framework – which aims to improve internal processes and systems as well as seeking to solve the pain points of the national clinical trial sector.  In the next few months, Reuben will be reaching out to Bellberry users to explore challenges and potential solutions.  If you would like to be involved, please contact Reuben at reubenjacob@bellberry.com.au

Jerneen has worked in Cancer Clinical trials for 15 years, with a particular focus on early phase studies. She has a BSc in Genetics and a Masters of Medical Science in Clinical Trials (Research).  Jerneen brings significant expertise and knowledge of clinical trials in the public health system to the Bellberry team, along with an understanding of the interactions between Ethics and Governance in the public sector.  In the first instance, Jerneen will focus on assisting the training for new NSW-based users through the NSW Health Early Phase Clinical Trial Framework.  Jerneen can be contacted at jerneenwilliams@bellberry.com.au

Both Reuben and Jerneen look forward to working with you and supporting you with your research programme.

PRAXIS: Essential Project Management Skills for Research and Clinical Trials

PRAXIS are today holding their Essential Project management Skills for Research and Clinical Trials course right here in Bellberrys new office premises. The session is an introductory style workshop which covers key processes and strategies in project management. Participants will learn practical and essential skills for effective project management of clinical trials and research more generally. The basic skills of project management gained from this workshop will equip participants to run their projects smoothly and seamlessly; on time and on budget. Participants will walk away with a toolkit of resources that they can rapidly apply to their next project and a renewed sense of confidence! For further information on this course and others run by PRAXIS please visit their website

I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Sonia Harvey as Project Manager to support the Clinical Trials: Impact & Quality (CT:IQ) initiative.

Sonia has spent the first two decades of her career in a variety of increasingly senior roles at BP including as a Strategy manager, Transformation manager and Compliance & Assurance Manager.  Sonia then moved into a Business Improvement role at INCITEC before working as a consultant to deliver ‘Building Resilience’ programs into multiple organisations.  More recently Sonia has turned her attention to the Health Sector working at SAHMRI as a finance and Strategy Lead for the Wellbeing and Resilience Centre translating the science of psychological health and wellbeing into real world practise within organisations.

Sonia has a wealth of expertise in process improvement, strategy development & implementation, project management and change management within and outside the health sector that will be an incredible asset to CT:IQ.

Leanne Weeks
CT:IQ Programme Director

 

Our contact number remains the same, 08 83613222, and you can continue to contact us directly by phone or email.

We look forward to continuing to work with you and we invite you to stop by for a tour next time you’re in the neighbourhood.

The first meeting of 2019 will be held on 2 January. From 2 January onwards meetings will be held every Wednesday evening for the remainder of the year.

Bellberry holds eight regular HREC meetings per month. All study documentation must be submitted via eProtocol 2 weeks prior to a meeting. We are able to hold extra meetings if and when required. Please contact Bellberry prior to submitting your documents if you have specific time frames.

Wishing you all a happy and safe festive period. We look forward to working you again in 2019!

Another year has flown by and what a busy year its been! On the Committee front, our 8 HREC’s have held 87 Committee meetings and reviewed 478 studies between them.

Within the Bellberry team, we have welcomed six new members of staff: Committee Administrators Emily Dodd, Molly Wundenberg and Kate Fulton, Operations and Project Support Officer Tess Penglis, Quality Manager Alison Barr and CT:IQ Programme Manager Leanne Weekes. Sally Sims (previously a Committee Administrator) also joined Tess as our second Operations and Project Support Officer. Leanne Weekes is heading up our exciting new sector-wide vehicle for the continuous improvement of Clinical Trials, CT:IQ which was officially launched in May. For further information on the initiative please visit https://ctiq.com

The Bellberry office will be closed for the Christmas break from 24 December to 1 January 2019, however eProtocol will be available 24/7 over the Christmas period.

We would like to thank you all for your support over the past year and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and New Year. We look forward to working with you all again in 2019!

Submission deadline for last meeting of 2018!

If you would like your study to be reviewed before the Christmas break, please ensure you submit all study documentation via eProtocol by Wed 5 December.

Alternatively, our first meeting of 2019 will be held on 2 January. The submission deadline date for this meeting is December 12th.