Doing science

The lives of health professionals living and working in Australia invariably involves research of some kind or another. For example, in hospitals and community health we all have to be involved in quality improvement activities each year to ensure our clinical practice is achieving the desired outcomes, and in many cases, this is a simple kind of research.

Additionally, one of the requirements for health professional registration/accreditation in Australia is of course making sure you maintain your knowledge base by keeping abreast of the latest high-quality science published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature (i.e., science journals). Regularly conducting systematic literature reviews is one example of how this can be accomplished.

Working at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and later Diabetes Australia (NSW) required me to supervise Masters of Nutrition and Dietetics students – mainly from the University of Sydney, but also from Wollongong. Typically, supervision involved the conduct of a research project over the course of a Semester, and in recent years has evolved into writing of a Journal article based on the research project, for potential submission for publication.

After many years of supervising students, and while employed as Research and Development Manager/Head of Research at Diabetes Australia (NSW), I decided it was time to do a PhD to advance my own research skills.

My thesis ended up being titled “Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load and Risk of Life-Style Related Disease” and the degree (PhD) was awarded in 2008 without emendation, and many of its chapters have been published in peer-reviewed journals (see some examples below). I did my first systematic review and meta-analysis as part of my PhD thesis, and they have since become a specialty of mine.

I have continued to be involved with research through the University of Sydney and am currently an Honorary Research Associate, supervising Master of Nutrition and Dietetic students and giving the occasional lecture.

My most recent Masters of Nutrition and Dietetics supervisory role involved a systematic literature review of the evidence for the role of glycemic index in cognition, and I am also currently involved with a systematic review and meta-analysis looking at the effect of glycemic index and glycemic load on the management of diabetes.

Many of the studies I have been involved with over the years have been published in prestigious science journals, including: