Presented by:
Dr Roberta Littleford MACN (Associate) - Associate Director and Head of Operations, Clinical Trial Centre, University of Queensland
Dr Roberta Littleford is the newly appointed Associate Director and Head of Operations at the University of Queensland, Clinical Trial Centre. Roberta has over 30 years’ clinical research experience. Her career has bridged nursing, academia and project and strategic management including establishing and managing a UK Registered Clinical Trials Unit and leading three world first flagship research projects in: lung cancer, cardiovascular screening modalities and personalised asthma treatment for children and young adults.
Samantha Bates MACN - Critical Care Research Manager, Western Health; Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Critical Care, Melbourne Medical School, The University of Melbourne.
Samantha Bates is the Critical Care Research Nurse Manager at Western Health. She manages a team of clinical research nurses and conducts research across the Departments of Intensive Care, Cardiology, Anaesthesia, Pain & Perioperative Medicine. She has an extensive clinical background in intensive care nursing and research trials, including landmark trials in critical care. Sam holds an honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer appointment with the Centre for Integrated Critical Care at The University of Melbourne. She is the immediate past Chair of the Intensive Care Research Coordinator Group (IRCIG), and member of executive committees of the ANZICS Clinical Trials Group, Anaesthesia Research Coordinator Network (ARCN) and Victorian Affiliation of Research Nurses (VARN). Sam was part of the authorship group for the Clinical Research Nurse Australian Standards for Practice. Sam is currently leading a sustainability project investigating reusable PPE gowns.
Melanie Gentgall MACN (Associate) - Deputy Director, UniSC Clinical Trials; Co-Chair, ACN Clinical Research Nurse Faculty
An RN by profession, Melanie is a passionate and committed clinical trials enthusiast with over 25 years of experience across various grass roots and leadership roles within the Australian clinical trials landscape , including as founding CEO of PRAXIS Australia. Melanie is an advocate for advancing the visibility and recognition of CRNs and the pivotal role they play in the conduct and oversight of clinical trials and research.
Kelly Beer MACN - Clinical Research Manager, Murdoch University, Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science (Perth); Co-Chair, ACN Clinical Research Nurse Faculty
Kelly Beer is the Clinical Research Manager for the Myositis Discovery Programme based at Murdoch University and the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science. Kelly is a Registered Nurse, specialising as a Clinical Research Nurse across multiple clinical specialties within her career. Kelly has a keen interest in innovation in research delivery, particularly in engagement and involvement of consumers in the research process.
Gill Tulloch MACN - Clinical Nurse Manager, Cardiology Research, Fiona Stanley Hospital (WA); Deputy Chair, ACN Clinical Research Nurse Faculty
Gill has extensive nursing experience in caring for people with cardiovascular diseases and managing a variety of research projects including global multicentre clinical trials. She leads a dedicated team of CRNs who provide specialist nursing care to clinical research participants in the Cardiology, Advanced Heart Failure and Vascular departments at Fiona Stanley Hospital, WA.
Selina Ward MACN - Clinical Research Nurse – Queensland Children’s Hospital; Leadership Team, ACN Clinical Research Nurse Faculty
Selina is currently working as a Clinical Research Nurse with the Queensland Paediatric Diseases Unit. She has previously worked with the Queensland Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Team (QoVAX) and is currently completing a PhD on Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Queensland.
Rochelle Wynne MACN - Clinical Nurse Consultant, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Melbourne Hospital
Rochelle is a Clinical Nurse Consultant in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and an Honorary Professor of Nursing with the University of Wollongong. In her current role her key focus is on strengthening clinician led interdisciplinary research for the cardiac surgical