OUR RESEARCH TEAM
Julie Ratcliffe is Mathew Flinders Fellow and Professor of Health Economics in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University. She also holds Honorary Professorial positions in the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow and the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield. Julie has published over 200 papers in peer reviewed journals and has been a chief investigator on over 50 multi-disciplinary research grants. Her research interests include the measurement and valuation of health and quality of life outcomes, patient and consumer preferences and the economic evaluation of interventions across health and social care sectors.
Professor Julie
Ratcliffe
(Lead Investigator)
Dr Claire Hutchinson
(Project Manager)
Dr Claire Hutchinson is a Research Fellow in the Health and Social Care Economics Group, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University. She has a PhD in Psychology from UniSA and is a mixed methods social scientist conducting research in ageing, disability and health. She is the inaugural winner of the Hal Kendig Early Career Researcher Research Development Award from the Australian Association of Gerontology which is supporting her research into the quality of life of older Australians from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds. Dr Hutchinson has a background in organisational psychology consultancy and is an experienced project manager.
Associate Professor Ruth Walker
(Co-Investigator)
Ruth is a social gerontologist with a background in Public Health, Psychology and Rehabilitation Counselling. She is currently Associate Professor in Disability and Community within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University. Her research focuses on life transitions associated with ageing as well as later life caregiving and the intersection between disability and ageing. She conducts qualitative research which gives voice to underserved groups of older people and which helps to shape practice and policy.
Dr Rachel Milte
(Co-Investigator)
Dr Rachel Milte is a Matthew Flinders Senior Research Fellow in the Health and Social Care Economics Group, College of Nursing and Health Sciences. With training in health, research methodology and economics, Dr Milte has established a career in health economics with particular strength and focus on understanding the ‘value’ to consumers of health and aged care services. Additionally, Dr Milte regularly undertakes economic evaluations to understand the value for money of health and aged care, particularly focusing on interventions aiming to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of frail older adults, rehabilitation patients, and people living with dementia.
Dr Jyoti Khadka
(Psychometrics Specialist)
Dr Jyoti Khadka originally trained as an optometrist. He was awarded a PhD from Cardiff University in the UK, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Flinders University. His main areas of research interests and expertise are in healthy ageing, patient-reported outcomes and the application of modern psychometric methods. He has published over 50 peer reviewed research publications in patient-reported outcomes and quality of life. His other research interests include exploring ways to improve the quality of both preference and non-preference-based instruments to measure and value health and quality of life outcomes across the health, aged care and social care sectors.
Ms Jenny Cleland
(PhD Candidate)
Jenny completed her BA (Hons) degree in Sociology at Liverpool University, UK in 2002 and gained a postgraduate certificate in Social Science Research methods in 2003 at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Since graduating she has held a variety of University research positions, mainly in the public health field, including positions relating to cognitive functioning and ageing. Jenny is currently undertaking a PhD at Flinders University as part of the ARC Linkage grant. Her PhD focuses on using qualitative methods to develop a preference-based quality of life instrument with older people for economic evaluation in aged care.
Ms Alexandra Mudd (Research Assistant)
Alex graduated as a nurse in 2006 and has worked across a number of clinical departments including liver transplant, respiratory medicine, infectious diseases, HIV and emergency care. Since 2013 she has branched out into research using nursing knowledge and clinical skills on new projects. Alex is interested in medical ethics, as such she has completed a law degree, has experience working in practice and is a current research ethics committee member. She is keen to work to advance the care of older adults in our society and outside of work she is a pet therapy volunteer with her pet Labrador.
Kate Swaffer
(Co-Investigator & Consumer Representative)
Kate is Chair, CEO and co-founder of Dementia Alliance International, a global group for people living with dementia, currently representing members in 49 countries, and elected board member of Alzheimer ’s Disease International. In 2017 she was Australian of the Year in South Australia and was also awarded the National Disability Award: Emerging Leader in Disability, for her global work in dementia and disability awareness. She’s a current PhD Candidate at the University of South Australia, an Honorary Associate Fellow with the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, and an International Fellow at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Professor Ian Cameron holds the Chair in Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Sydney and is Head of the John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research. He is a clinician researcher with broad interests in rehabilitation, disability and ageing. Professor Cameron has an extensive track record of productive research with relevant stakeholders including the NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority and NSW icare Lifetime Care. CI Cameron leads the research in NSW and leads research on compensation systems, lawyer involvement and health outcomes.
Professor Ian
Cameron
(Co-Investigator)
Dr Candice McBain (Research Assistant)
Candice received her BA (Psychology) from Griffith University and Honours (Psychology) from the University of the Sunshine Coast, and recently completed her PhD (Forensic Psychology) at Griffith University. Her PhD research investigated deception enacted through feigning or malingering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Candice is based at the Kolling Institute - John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, part of the University of Sydney. She is currently a part-time research assistant for the Good Life Project. She is also working on a research project for the NSW State Insurance Regulatory Agency relating to health services for people with work related injuries or illness.
Professor Emily Lancsar is Head of the Department of Health Services Research and Policy at the ANU. She is an economist with research interests in understanding and modelling choice, preferences and behaviour of key decision makers in the health sector, priority setting in the health system, economic evaluation and policy analysis. Prior to joining ANU, Emily was an Associate Professor in the Centre for Health Economics at Monash University and a Senior Lecturer in economics at Newcastle University in the UK. She has also previously worked at CHERE in Sydney and at the Federal Department of Health.