Governance

The IMPACCT Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) provides feedback on all new clinical trials proposals conducted under the auspice of IMPACCT including clinical trial proposals developed by PaCCSC members and collaborators.

The IMPACCT SAC also provides scientific review of clinical trial research proposals coordinated or conducted by other institutions but developed by PaCCSC members and collaborators.

Data and Safety Monitoring Committees (DSMCs) are independent contracted committees responsible for safety evaluation and determination, and reporting of adverse events for all studies conducted by PaCCSC.

Membership

DSMCs are external committees appointed independently of the management of PaCCSC.

Objectives and Responsibilities

• Responsible for the safety evaluations, determination and reporting of adverse events and the organisation and oversight of the monitoring and auditing of each study conducted under PaCCSC
• Ensures the services provided by PaCCSC are aligned with the principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP)
• Operates in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure for the DSMC established for each study

The Qualitative Research Committee (QRSC) provides expertise in:

• relation to the inclusion of qualitative measures into new study protocols, particularly within the development phase of study protocols, and
• the facilitation of program-wide data collection as part of each symptom node group to assist protocol development, study measures and translation activities.

Members

Associate Professor Tim Luckett, Co-Chair

Associate Professor Tim Luckett is a Senior Lecturer (Research) at Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation (IMPACCT). 

Tim’s research lies at the intersection between health and social sciences and seeks to inform multi-disciplinary, holistic care for people with life-limiting illness and their families. His fields of special interest include symptom management, shared decision making, and advance care planning.

Associate Professor Jodie Ellis, Co-Chair

Associate Professor Jodie Ellis is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and researcher with extensive experience in palliative care, aged care, disability and rehabilitation. She is the Department Head of Dietetics, Speech Pathology and Psychology at Calvary Health Care Kogarah and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Technology, Sydney and Professional Associate at the University of Canberra.

Jodie enjoys both qualitative and quantitative research, with her interests including investigating the lived experience, cancer cachexia, pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, and the effect of nutrition impact symptoms on quality of life in palliative care.

Jodie completed her PhD investigating the psychosocial impact of food and nutrition on hospitalised oncological palliative care patients and their carers utilising phenomenological methodology. Jodie’s research highlights the need to understand the phenomenon from the perspective of those involved. 

Dr Amanda Landers

Dr Amanda Landers was born and bred in rural Waikato. Her interest in palliative medicine started very early in her career. She enjoys talking with patients/whānau facing life-limiting illness, helping them to plan and prepare for the future and making sure symptoms are well-managed.

Amanda is a senior clinical lecturer with the Otago Medical School in Christchurch and the Principal Investigator of the Aotearoa Australia Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Treatment (ASPERT) multidisciplinary research team.

Anna Collins

Dr Anna Collins is an NHMRC Emerging Leader and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital, at the University of Melbourne. She leads the public health and health services research programs for Palliative Nexus.

Anna's background is in health psychology, and she completed a clinically based PhD on the integration of palliative care in oncology. She is nationally and internationally recognised for her work in community education and engagement related to palliative care.  

Dr Deidre Morgan

As an occupational therapist with 25 years clinical experience, Dr Deidre Morgan has an in-depth understanding of the public health system and the value and importance of clinical research that informs practical patient care. 

Deidre's clinical and research focus is in palliative care and she has a particular interest in ways to optimise function at the end of life for people with advanced disease and ways to measure meaningful clinical gains in this area.

Gloria Pavey

Gloria Pavey is a dedicated, outcome-focused Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultant at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH), Camperdown. She has more than 20 years’ experience in developing, implementing and evaluating care management plans for individuals with complex health needs in the government and non-government community sectors, and in residential aged care facilities. 

Gloria is directly involved in the screening, recruitment and data collection for the Prognostic Awareness and Supportive Care Need in Allogenic Haemapoietic Stem Cell Transplant and CAR-T Cell Therapy trial. She has an integral role in the development of clinical trials within the palliative care unit at RPAH.

Imelda Gilmore

Imelda Gilmore cared for and supported her husband for seven years, from his diagnosis with younger-onset Alzheimer’s Disease until his death in 2016. 

Imelda is a member of the IMPACCT Consumer Advisory Group (CAG). As an experienced communicator, advocate, speaker, and campaigner in dementia care, Imelda works to promote the advancement of knowledge, care and services for people with dementia and their family carers.

Emerita Professor Jane Phillips

Emerita Professor Jane Phillips is at the forefront of her field and brings her considerable clinical nursing, national policy and academic expertise to deliver outcomes that are changing practice and enhancing palliative care globally. 

Jane's interdisciplinary program of research targets the delivery of care that enables people to spend more days in their place of choice, to move seamlessly between care settings, and to receive best evidence-based palliative care.

Professor Jennifer Philip

Professor Jennifer Philip is Chair of Palliative Medicine, University of Melbourne and St Vincent's Hospital, in collaboration with the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC). Jennifer leads the Palliative Medicine Research Group conducting mixed methods research to understand and test complex interventions in palliative care.

Jennifer is dedicated to building successful collaborations between researchers and clinicians enabling high-quality evidence to be directly translated into high-quality care for patients and families.

Dr Michael Chapman

Dr Michael Chapman [opens external site] is a geriatrician and palliative medicine physician and director of palliative care at Canberra Hospital. He received his PhD for his award-winning thesis, “The ethics of decision making in dementia:  Making sense of senselessness”, from Monash University in 2018.

Michael’s academic interests include using systems thinking in healthcare, integrating specialist palliative services into aged care, and quality dying in the acute setting. He has qualitative methods experience in thematic analysis, ethnography and integrative reviews. 

Associate Professor Michelle DiGiacomo

Associate Professor Michelle DiGiacomo has a background in psychology and behavioural health.

Michelle's program of research centres on the ways in which people adjust to living with chronic and progressive life-limiting diseases, particularly focusing on unpaid (family and friend) carers, and workforce capacity development.

Symptom node subcommittees (SNSCs)  have oversight of all individual clinical research studies undertaken about their focus symptom. Read more on the research symptom nodes page.  

Engagement with the community is a high priority for PaCCSC and consumers play a vital role in ensuring our research is relevant and meaningful to people accessing palliative care.

The CAG supports IMPACCT's commitment to continuing dialogue and close collaboration with consumers to ensure that research activities reflect best possible care for people affected by life-limiting illnesses. To get involved, go to the Consumer Advisory Group page.

PaCCSC consumers contribute via the IMPACCT Consumer Advisor Group (CAG) as well as through the IMPACCT Scientific Advisory Committee. Their insights and advice are invaluable and ensure our work is responsive to the needs of people accessing palliative care and their families.

Our membership structure encourages a broad selection of individuals with requisite skills, industry knowledge and palliative care experience to participate in PaCCSC activities and actively promote our research program.