Dr Charmain Strauss

Dr Charmain Strauss is the Senior Project Officer at the IMPACCT Trials Coordination Centre (ITCC) within the Centre for Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation (IMPACCT), University of Technology Sydney. In this role, she coordinates the clinical trial program and provides leadership to the trials operations team, ensuring the delivery of high-quality clinical research in accordance with strategic priorities, approved budgets and timelines.

Dr Strauss oversees the operationalisation of new clinical trial concepts from idea generation and grant development through to study implementation. She collaborates closely with investigators and key stakeholders to support protocol development, budgeting for grant applications, resource planning, and the successful delivery of multi-site clinical trials in palliative care and cancer symptom management. She also plays a key role in maintaining research quality and compliance through oversight of trial processes, implementation of standard operating procedures, governance activities, budget monitoring, and reporting requirements for funding bodies, including Cancer Australia.

In addition to her trial coordination responsibilities, Dr Strauss supports the diversification and sustainability of the ITCC clinical trials program through engagement with industry partners, identification of collaborative opportunities, and exploration of new revenue streams. She contributes to governance processes, provides administrative and strategic support to advisory committees and fosters collaborations with national and international research organisations to strengthen research capacity and expand opportunities for collaborative clinical research.

Dr Strauss is also actively involved in education and capacity building initiatives. She designs, coordinates and delivers educational resources, webinars, toolkits and training programs that support professional development in palliative care, cancer symptom management and clinical trial conduct. Since 2020, she has provided TransCelerate-accredited Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training to UTS staff and members of the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE).

Charmain received her PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Technology Sydney in 2014, where she also worked as a lead laboratory demonstrator and technical officer within the Faculty of Science from 2008 to 2014. She began her clinical research career as a Clinical Trial Assistant before progressing to Clinical Research Associate at Syneos Health (formerly INC Research/inVentiv Health), an end-to-end biopharmaceutical solutions contract research organisation. Between 2014 and 2019, she gained extensive experience in the coordination, management and monitoring of commercially sponsored and investigator-initiated Phase II–IV clinical trials across a range of therapeutic areas and investigational products.

Since joining ITCC in 2019 as a Research Assistant (Trials)/Project Officer, Dr Strauss has been involved in all aspects of coordinating and managing multi-site Phase II–IV clinical trials. She brings extensive clinical research and industry expertise, with advanced knowledge of Good Clinical Practice (GCP), trial governance, regulatory and ethics requirements, project management, risk management and quality assurance. Her work spans study start-up, site management, investigator and stakeholder engagement, development of clinical trial resources and essential documentation, monitoring, education and training, and the interpretation of clinical trial data to identify protocol deviations and risks to participant safety and data integrity. Through these activities, she supports the delivery of high-quality, impactful clinical research that improves palliative care and cancer symptom management outcomes.

Areas of expertise: Clinical trial operations and management; Good Clinical Practice (GCP); trial governance and compliance; protocol development; grant budgeting and resource planning; stakeholder engagement; clinical trial education and capacity building; palliative care research; cancer symptom management; multi-site Phase II–IV clinical trials; investigator-initiated research; risk-based monitoring and quality management.