PATIENT REPORTED OUTCOMES IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF LYMPHOMA
Dr Elizabeth Goodall,
Haematologist and PhD student
Austin Health, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute & Monash Health, Melbourne, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne | February 2025
Dr. Elizabeth Goodall (BMedSci Hons, MBBS Hons, FRACP, FRCPA) is a PhD student and early career researcher with La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI), and Haematologist at Austin Health and Monash Health, Melbourne.
After completing her undergraduate degree in Medical Sciences at La Trobe University she went onto complete an Honours degree in malaria research before enrolling in Medicine at Monash University, Gippsland, Victoria in Australia.
Following medical school, she trained at Austin Health and successfully completed both clinical and laboratory haematology programs before moving to a lymphoma clinical trials fellowship at Monash Health. This fellowship provided essential clinical skills and has fostered a life-long interest in improving patient access to trials, finding ways to better select therapies for patients with blood cancers and learning more about the patient’s experience throughout treatment.
Her specific interest in how patients experience their illness and treatment forms the basis for her research in improving patient outcomes. This research comes at a pivotal time in modern lymphoma management with an ever-increasing number of treatment options available and renewed focus on each patient’s journey.
This has led to her PhD on Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) which will focus on the accurate documentation of the patient experience and learn how best to include this data for future clinical trial design, an essential component of obtaining excellent treatment outcomes. For this work she is the 2025 recipient of the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Leukaemia Foundation New Investigator PhD Scholarship which will provide invaluable support throughout the PhD.
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Brain ageing, dementia and psychiatric disorders
Professor Perminder Sachdev graduated from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in 1978 and completed his MD in Psychiatry there in 1983. Following time in New Zealand, he relocated to Australia, where he completed psychiatric training and a PhD at UNSW in 1991. His doctoral work examined ethnopsychological concepts in Māori culture. His early research focused on drug-induced movement disorders, including akathisia, tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome, while his later work has centred on dementia and pre-dementia syndromes, particularly neuroimaging, biomarkers and risk factors.
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Optimising Rural Musculoskeletal Health
Adnan Asger Ali is a Director of Accelerate Physiotherapy and PhD candidate at The University of Sydney, where he is researching implementation strategies for musculoskeletal care pathways in rural Australia as part of the PACE-RURAL project.
A passionate advocate for physiotherapy, Adnan serves as Chair of the Australian Physiotherapy Association’s National Musculoskeletal Committee and sits on the Capital Health Network’s Clinical Council. His commitment to clinical excellence was recognised when he received Physiotherapist of the Year at the 2023 Allied Health Awards.
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CASE STUDY: Transforming surgical waitlist into a ‘preparation list’
The DIAMONDS initiative aims to transform the surgical waitlist into a “preparation list,” enabling healthcare professionals to optimise patient care in the months leading up to elective surgery starting at pre-admission phase.
Patients are will be able to complete pre-admission forms online, receive timely updates, and access educational resources to ensure thorough preparation. This will allow staff to spend more time with patients.
