MrsChristina Whitehead
(she/her)
Lecturer
Discipline of Nursing
BIO
A career which demonstrates a commitment to teaching and learning, professional development, education, research, and advanced nursing practice, evidenced by experience in Advanced Practice Nursing roles, a Masters of Bioethics, current PhD candidacy, current tertiary post-graduate and undergraduate academic teaching positions, strong early career publication record, with evidenced capability across a broad area of practice.
Nurses play a crucial role in operationalising clinical trials in the health system. My research looks at how the research workforce is supported by nurses, from implementing research protocols and enforcing adherence to national, state, and local Governance frameworks.
I have many years of experience in clinical trial research governance and am passionate about creating systems that ensure quality and safety for patients who participate in clinical research while mitigating risk.
The aim of my research work is to provide evidence for best practice around the systems and structures that make clinical trials more efficient, robust by design, and to optimise the systems that make Australian healthcare settings increasingly attractive for international multi-centre trials.
Before a focus shift to my own research, I worked for 15 years as a clinical nurse consultant, planning and optimising clinical trials at Westmead and Nepean hospitals with a focus on critical care settings.
More recently I worked in an executive role within Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, implementing a research governance framework and setting up safety and quality systems for clinical trials across the district.
I have a special research interest in how nursing practice is responding to precision medicine and genomic healthcare. I am investigating the role of the nursing profession in delivering the contemporary national and state agenda on genomic healthcare priorities.
Throughout my future career, building on my research governance expertise, I hope to improve the conduct and governance of clinical trials within Australia by supporting the entire clinical trial pipeline, brokering collaborative group trials, and by establishing future models of conjoint academic and advanced practice nurse positions, to support the clinical trials workforce.
Nurses play a crucial role in operationalising clinical trials in the health system. My research looks at how the research workforce is supported by nurses, from implementing research protocols and enforcing adherence to national, state, and local Governance frameworks.
I have many years of experience in clinical trial research governance and am passionate about creating systems that ensure quality and safety for patients who participate in clinical research while mitigating risk.
The aim of my research work is to provide evidence for best practice around the systems and structures that make clinical trials more efficient, robust by design, and to optimise the systems that make Australian healthcare settings increasingly attractive for international multi-centre trials.
Before a focus shift to my own research, I worked for 15 years as a clinical nurse consultant, planning and optimising clinical trials at Westmead and Nepean hospitals with a focus on critical care settings.
More recently I worked in an executive role within Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, implementing a research governance framework and setting up safety and quality systems for clinical trials across the district.
I have a special research interest in how nursing practice is responding to precision medicine and genomic healthcare. I am investigating the role of the nursing profession in delivering the contemporary national and state agenda on genomic healthcare priorities.
Throughout my future career, building on my research governance expertise, I hope to improve the conduct and governance of clinical trials within Australia by supporting the entire clinical trial pipeline, brokering collaborative group trials, and by establishing future models of conjoint academic and advanced practice nurse positions, to support the clinical trials workforce.
PROFILE TYPE
- Academic