Clinician PhD Pathway (CPP)

Year 1 Pre-PhD: Pathway will support participants with project specific and basic research skills and guide the development of a successful PhD and scholarship application with an identified supervision team.

Years 2-4 PhD scholarship: Full-time enrolment into The University of Adelaide PhD program alongside clinical training.

Year 5 Post-PhD: Participants will receive mentoring and support for PhD thesis write-up and submission and to build successful post-doctoral pathways through fellowship applications.

*Participants may have the option to enter the program at Year 2 depending on stage of research training. 

The Pathway is available on a part-time basis. This may be preferable to medical candidates who must meet advanced training obligations, or to other candidates who wish to maintain a higher clinical workload.

Year 1 (equivalent) Pre-PhD: Pathway will support participants to develop project specific and basic research skills and guide the development of a successful PhD and scholarship application with an identified supervision team.

Years 2-4 (equivalent) PhD / work: PhD enrolment part-time (0.5 FTE, paid) along with usual paid clinical work (0.5 FTE). This PhD component will be required to be completed within 7 years.

Year 5 (equivalent) Post-PhD: Participants will receive mentoring and support for PhD thesis write-up and submission and to build successful post-doctoral pathways through fellowship applications.

The Clinician PhD Pathway provides participants with access to experienced clinical researchers and clinical scientists via a mentoring model.

A panel of mentors will support and guide budding clinical researchers in their specialist training and PhD progress, using the following methods:

• support from a panel of mentors, highly experienced clinical researchers and clinical scientists
• one on one support from allocated mentor/s and monthly group meetings with CPP network
• opportunity to present research progress to mentors and stakeholders to receive feedback
• a peer support network with fellow participants of the CPP
• a targeted training from our member organisations including:
  • planning research projects
  • writing grant submissions
  • research translation
  • establishing and developing your researcher profile including media training.

The following outlines potential earnings during the CPP’s full-time and part-time pathways, using an allied health professional as an example. The image below is a screenshot of what the financial estimator looks like. Please download the file to utilise the financial information in the table. 

 

Minimum requirements are applicants who:

• are employed at CALHN in a medical, nursing or allied health* discipline.
  • *allied health applicants must be employed either:
    • (a) by CALHN:
    • as an Allied Health Professional (AHP) (audiologist, art therapist, cardiac physiologist, clinical psychologist, dietitian, epidemiologist, exercise physiologist, genetic counsellor, music therapist, neuro psychologist, occupational therapist, orthotist or prosthetist, perfusionist, physiotherapist, podiatrist, social worker, speech pathologist, or radiation therapist), or
    • as a Medical Scientist (MeS), or
    • as a Medical Physicist (MPH)
    • (b) by state-wide clinical support services in an allied health discipline, and based at a CALHN clinical site
       
• applications from CALHN employees pursuing a clinical pharmacology research career are encouraged
• medical trainees may rotate to other Local Health Networks but must remain a CALHN-affiliated trainee
• meet criteria for entry into a PhD program at The University of Adelaide.

Highly desirable requirements are applicants who:

• meet requirements for a University of Adelaide Scholarship
• have demonstrated their continued engagement in research (i.e. enclosing evidence of supporting projects, committees, and a record of publications and/or grants.

Applications will be evaluated on merit, with additional focus on achieving medical speciality diversity (if multiple medical candidates are included) and gender balance. Applicants who are shortlisted will be notified of interview opportunities by mid-July 2025. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

• Head of the Discipline of Psychiatry at the University of Adelaide
• Psychiatry teaching and research programs
• Adult Community Psychiatrist at CALHN

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• Adelaide Nursing School
• Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
• Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD 

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• Head of Rheumatology unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital
• President of the Australia Rheumatology Association
• Medical Director of Arthritis SA
• Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD

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• Rehabilitation
• Acute and critical care
• Intensive care
• Nutrition and Dietetics
• Nutritional Physiology
• Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD

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• Early career clinical academic
• Preventative cardiology
• Personalised medicine
• Implementation science

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• Clinical and academic endocrinologist
• Pituitary endocrinology
• Endocrine genetics
• Founding member of EndoGen
• Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD

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Director of Physician Education
Clinical Associate Professor 
Active clinical educator

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• Colorectal Surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital
• Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide
• Honorary appointment at SAHMRI
• Research lead for the Colorectal Research Group
• Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD

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• Acute and chronic leukemia
• Consultant Haematologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital
• Clinical Research Fellow for SAHMRI
• Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide Medical School
• Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD

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• Specialist IBD dietitian
• Gastroenterology-focused nutrition

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• Staff specialist for the Intensive Care unit
• Clinical Lead for the Medical Emergency Response Service

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Esrom is an anaesthetic trainee with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. Currently based at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, he will rotate through various hospitals within South Australia and the Northern Territory throughout his clinical training.

Esrom’s PhD, under the guidance of Professor Guy Ludbrook and Professor Mike Grocott, is using advanced modelling techniques to investigate the health economics within the perioperative surgical pathway.

By demonstrating clinical and economic value, this research aims to transform perioperative care by demonstrating that high-value interventions like advanced recovery room care can simultaneously improve patient outcomes, reduce complications and mortality, and enhance healthcare system sustainability.

“My research aims to create a paradigm shift in how perioperative services are evaluated and delivered. By developing robust cost-effectiveness models for perioperative pathways, I hope to provide hospitals with practical tools to identify high-value interventions worth investing in.”  

Following the completion of his PhD and specialist training, he intends to continue to balance time in clinical anaesthesia and health economic research. 

Damjana is an early career clinician-researcher with an interest in manipulation of the gastrointestinal microbiome as therapy for human disease. She is currently undertaking training in Gastroenterology at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, taking on the role of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fellow in 2024.

Under the supervision of Associate Professor Rob Bryant, Damjana is investigating the application of microbial manipulation as therapy for inflammatory bowel disease. As part of this project, she is leading a phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the role of faecal microbiota transplantation in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a devastating orphan liver disease associated with inflammatory bowel disease.

She hopes the study can transform care for patients with PSC, who have no other medical treatment options and enable the development of future targeted therapies as well as alleviating the health system burden caused by PSC-induced cirrhosis.

"My ultimate dream for my research is to bring us closer to an effective medical therapy for primary sclerosing cholangitis and to deepen our understanding of the microbiome’s role in disease."

Damjana aspires to a career where she can balance clinical work and research, and hopes to make a significant contribution to advancing microbial therapeutics and treating inflammatory bowel disease.

Tristan is currently undertaking Psychiatry training with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.  

Tristan’s PhD, under the guidance of both Associate Professor Scott Clark and Professor Lyle Palmer, focusses on utilising machine learning, a subset of Artificial Intelligence, to investigate linkages between structural neuroimaging and clinical outcomes in psychotic disorders.

Tristan’s project aims to explore the potential of deep learning algorithms to analyse structural neuroimaging in patients presenting with a first episode of psychosis. Neuroimaging is often performed at presentation to exclude organic causes, but may contain subtle, under-recognised features that could be relevant to prognosis.

By training deep learning models on these scans, Tristan research aims to enhance our ability to identify which patients are more likely to benefit from specific pharmacological treatments, supporting more personalised and timely interventions.

“Ultimately, I hope to contribute to understanding the biological foundations of psychotic disorders by harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence to improve clinical care.”

Following the completion of his PhD and psychiatry training, Tristan hopes to continue to pursue a career as a Clinical Academic, with a particular interest in Neuropsychiatry and biomarkers in psychiatric disorders.   

Zac is a General Surgery Trainee with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.  

Zac’s PhD, under the guidance of A/Prof Tarik Sammour, is focusing on the role of pre-operative therapy of early-stage rectal cancer.  

He hopes to provide strong evidence to advance the standard of care for these patients diagnosed including demonstrating that chemotherapy and radiotherapy are effective alternatives to surgery for selected patients to improve their quality of life and enhance long-term oncological outcomes.  

“Ultimately, my ambition for my research is to make a meaningful impact on the care of patients diagnosed with early-stage rectal cancer and maintain South Australia’s position as a leader in modern rectal cancer management.”

Aside from his clinical work and research pursuits, Zac also has an interest in education and mentorship for medical students and junior doctors aspiring to a career in surgery. Following the completion of his PhD and surgical training, Zac intends to complete further fellowship training in Colorectal Surgery, with the hope of eventually practicing as a Colorectal Surgeon and Academic.

Momina is an Intensive Care registrar at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and an Advanced Trainee in General and Acute Care Medicine with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 2022, Momina was awarded the Guha Prize in recognition of academic excellence and exceptional contribution to the training community during physician training.

Under the supervision of Associate Professor Peter Psaltis, Dr Jessica Marathe and Dr Chinmay Marathe, she is undertaking a prospective, observational clinical study researching artery disease in people with type 2 diabetes. She hopes to identify and understand factors affecting coronary plaque progression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a serious and persistent health challenge despite modern treatments that is estimated to affect just under 700 million people globally by 2040.

“Through my research, I hope to uncover the drivers of cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes, enabling earlier identification of high-risk individuals and paving the way for transformative therapies that redefine prevention on a global scale.”

Later she hopes to establish herself as a leading clinician-researcher in cardiometabolic disease to improve the clinical care of high-risk cardiovascular groups on both an individual and broader population level.   

Khuyen is an early career researcher and a Respiratory Medicine Advanced Trainee based at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.  His main areas of interest are interventional pulmonology and lung cancer, including the use of cutting-edge technologies to deliver accurate and early diagnosis to improve patient survival outcomes.

Supervised by Professor Phan Nguyen, Associate Professor Arash Badiei, and Professor Paul Reynolds, Khuyen’s research will focus on using 4D medical imaging to better assess curable lung cancer patients and demonstrate its applicability for lung cancer clinical practice and management. He also wants to explore the potential of the rich dataset provided by new imaging technology that has previously been underutilised or may be novel in helping determine ideal treatment approaches.

“I want to demonstrate that new imaging technology can revitalise the ability of resource limited settings to provide advanced investigations of lung cancer, improving accessibility and equity for patients.”  

With lung cancer remaining one of the most diagnosed malignancies with leading mortality rates, Khuyen’s career objective is to advance the field of respiratory medicine through more equitable, efficient and less resource-intensive lung cancer assessment at a population level. 

Alice is an experienced clinician having worked as the primary dietitian for the Royal Adelaide Hospital’s colorectal surgery team for most of the past decade.  

Alice’s PhD, under the guidance of Associate Professor Lee-anne Chapple and Associate Professor Tarik Sammour, is focusing on the nutrition management of pelvic exenteration patients after recognising there was little research to guide best practice for this unique population. This gap in knowledge led to challenges in providing optimal, evidence-based care and sparked her desire to develop the first comprehensive studies in this area. She hopes her research will improve the quality of life for patients who undergo pelvic exenteration surgery by improving their nutritional care and overall recovery.

“My ultimate dream is to establish a globally recognised, evidence-based nutrition care pathway for pelvic exenteration patients that enhances their clinical outcomes.”

Following the completion of her PhD, Alice is keen to support and mentor fellow dietitians and allied health clinicians to develop their research skills and participate in research initiatives. She hopes to become a leader in nutrition research and clinical practice for colorectal surgery, particularly in relation to pelvic exenteration surgery. 

Luke is an experienced Nurse Consultant working in Acute and Urgent Care at the Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

He has instigated multiple quality improvement focusing on staff education and training in working with people with dementia in Residential Aged Care Homes. His drive to implement research-led improvements was prompted by delivering caring for patients with advanced dementia in a clinical environment that was ill-suited to meet their needs.

Luke’s research aims to reshape how we care for older people by driving evidence-informed changes in practice. His goal is to raise the standard of care through the design of scalable, evidence-based models to enhance the quality of life for those with dementia whilst reducing the burden on healthcare workers and carers.  

“I want to advance knowledge and become a leading advocate for improving care approaches and outcomes for older adults living with dementia, frailty, and complex geriatric syndromes.”

He is keen to build structures where person-centred care, continuity, and dignity are non-negotiable – especially for those with dementia or frailty.