Get to know the CHSD team

The CHSD is a skilled multidisciplinary team. CHSD staff and fellows have qualifications and expertise in psychology, statistics, economics, public health, management, health planning, health informatics, communications, nursing, social work, education, pharmacy, human geography, medical epidemiology, medicine, occupational therapy, developmental disability, dementia, nutrition and Indigenous health.

The members of our team draw on experience in management, planning and research in health services, community services, social welfare and consumer organisations, and experience as members and chairpersons of intra-government and inter-government committees and organisations and quasi-judicial bodies. The team's stability, experience and expertise provide a sound base for addressing the funding, management and evaluation of services.

Centre for Health Service Development

Associate Professor Robert Gordon has been an integral member of the Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI) for 25 years. Joining shortly after establishment of the Centre for Health Service Development (CHSD) as it was then known, Rob’s contributions were critical to the Centre’s growth, culminating in the formation of AHSRI in 2011. As Deputy Director of AHSRI and Director of CHSD, Rob’s strategic vision and leadership is fundamental to the Institute’s continuing success. Through his commitment to research excellence and impact, Rob has significantly improved health outcomes for individuals and influenced health policy and system reform in Australia.

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Cristina joined the Australian Health Services Research Institute in July 2008. Prior to this she worked for over 25 years in the health system as a clinician and senior manager, in both rural and metropolitan health settings. As a Senior Research Fellow, Cristina works within the Centre for Health Service Development and supports team based research projects in health and social policy, strategic health service development and planning. Cristina has worked on several large-scale evaluation projects and costing studies, with various State and Territory Health Departments. At a national level she has worked with a wide range of Australian Government Departments, agencies and non-government organisations in diverse areas including cancer services; rural and regional community based medical education; costs of transplant services; dementia services and most recently in health workforce reform. Cristina is experienced in mixed methods and qualitative research and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

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Dave Fildes holds a full time position at AHSRI. He conducts literature reviews, contributing to the development of policy options and preparing reports for Government agencies across a range of subject areas as part of his research at the Institute. He is involved in a variety of projects including suicide prevention, men’s health, mental health and community development and assessment. Dave has experienced in mixed methods research and has a keen interest in qualitative research methods such as survey design, interviewing techniques, the conduct of focus groups and consultation sessions. In his current position Dave supports evaluation projects and social policy research projects in program evaluation and policy reform within mental health and aged care. He has a wide range of experience in large to small projects encompassing national to state and local issues. He also has a wide range of interests, skills and experience that bring a broad perspective to evaluation and social policy issues. He has worked with a wide range of stakeholders over many years, including clinicians, managers and policy makers, working for organisations in the government, non-government and private sectors.

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Karen is a Research Fellow within the Centre for Health Service Development. Her work focuses on development, implementation and evaluation of novel approaches to public health and health service change. Karen has a particular interest in exploring ways to improve research/practice collaborations through the application of tools and approaches such as Design Thinking and Agile development. Karen has experience conducting research and evaluation in a variety of contexts including aged care, community development, homelessness, mental health and a variety of other public health issues. Karen has particular expertise in systematic reviews, qualitative research, implementation science and evaluation.

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Darcy has a strong and diverse set of skills encompassing every aspect of research activity. He has extensive experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods, and has a particular interest in combining these in mixed methods research. Over almost two decades, Darcy has applied this expertise to a multitude of regional and national health service research, development and evaluation projects covering wide-ranging content areas.

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Josephine Paasila is an Associate Research Fellow at AHSRI. Prior to starting with AHSRI Josephine worked with the Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) and the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research within the field of Brain Injury Rehabilitation since 2015. Josephine has worked on multiple projects throughout her time as a researcher, including NSW Health brain injury program service evaluations, mental health outcomes following brain injury as well as employment outcomes following a brain injury. Josephine’s thesis explored psychological protective factors for poor negative psychological outcomes following a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and recently won the ‘Kevin Walsh’ award for the most outstanding Master’s degree research at the 2021 Australian Society for Brain Impairment (ASSBI) conference. Josephine is a passionate researcher who has strong interest in working to create an accessible and inclusive healthcare system for people with an intellectual disability.

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