Clinician PhD Pathway (CPP)

The Clinician PhD Pathway (CPP) is a structured and supported career development opportunity for clinicians pursuing a pathway as a future clinician researcher.

The CPP has been designed to support medical, nursing, and allied health clinicians to complete a PhD whilst working or undertaking specialist training to build the future leaders of clinical innovation and research.

Within this flexible 5-year supported pathway, participants will receive highly-regarded mentorship, guidance and expert advice from experienced clinical researchers to assist and support them through their PhD.

Applications for 2025 closed

Applications for the 2025 cohort are now closed.

We expect applications for 2026 to open mid 2025.

Pathway timeline (full-time)

Program Structure

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.

Part-time pathway option

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 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 (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.

Support, mentoring and training

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
Monthly group meetings with one of the mentors from the panel
Opportunity to present research progress to mentors and stakeholders to receive feedback
A peer support network with fellow participants of the CPP
Targeted training from our member organisations including:
- - Planning research projects
  - Writing grant submissions
  - Research translation
  - Establishing and developing your researcher profile including media training

Financial information

The following outlines potential earnings during the CPP’s full-time and part-time pathways, using an allied health professional as an example.

Application process

Step 1: Criteria

Evaluating applications will be based 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 in October 2024. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Step 2: Requirements

Desirable requirements for the 2025 cohort are applicants who:

Are employed at CALHN in a medical, nursing or allied health* discipline.
- *Allied health applicants must be employed either:
  1. by CALHN:
    - as an Allied Health Professional (AHP) (Audiologist, Cardiac Physiologist, Clinical Psychologist, Dietitian, Epidemiologist, Exercise Physiologist, Genetic Counsellor, 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).
  2. or 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
Meet criteria for entry into a PhD program at The University of Adelaide
- Full-time applicants will also need to meet requirements for a University of Adelaide Scholarship
Have evidence to support their applications (i.e. academic transcripts)
Have demonstrated their continued engagement in research (i.e. enclosing evidence of supporting projects, committees and a record of publications and/or grants are highly desirable).

Step 3: Application form

Click here to download the CPP application form as a Word Document (258 KB).

Return completed application form via email to: Health.CALHNPhDProgram@sa.gov.au

Applications are currently closed.

CPP Chair and mentor

Associate Professor Scott Clark

Associate Professor Scott Clark is the Head of the Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide. He leads Adelaide University’s Psychiatry teaching and research programs and works as an Adult Community Psychiatrist in the Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

He is Principal Investigator for multiple national and international clinical trials in psychosis, mood, and autism and for the NHMRC PRE-EMPT Centre for Research Excellence in Psychosis Prediction in collaboration with Orygen and Melbourne University.

He is also a Committee Member of the Australian Early Psychosis Collaborative Consortium (AEPCC) Clinical Trials and Translation Network, Member of Executive Committee for the Mental Health Australia General Clinical Trial Network (MAGNET) and Co-chair of the fluid biomarkers working group of the NIMH AMP-Schizophrenia consortium.

CPP mentors

Professor Catherine Hill

Professor Catherine Hill is a clinical Rheumatologist, Epidemiologist, and an expert in evidence-based healthcare.

Catherine is the head of the Rheumatology unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and holds multiple professional roles, including President of the Australia Rheumatology Association and Medical Director of Arthritis SA. Catherine was awarded the Parr Prize for Outstanding Rheumatology Research by the Australia Rheumatology Association in 2022.

Associate Professor Lee-anne Chapple

Associate Professor Lee-anne Chapple is a clinical dietitian with experience across the healthcare sector including rehabilitation, acute and critical care, private and public, and regional and metropolitan, and tertiary education experience at the University of Canberra.

Lee-anne has been the Critical Care Dietitian at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for the past 4 years, as well as being the Clinical Researcher and Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide.

Lee-anne’s research interest are Intensive Care, Nutrition & Dietetics and Nutritional Physiology. She successfully leads the Intensive Care Nutrition Program at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Associate Professor Sunita De Sousa

Associate Professor Sunita De Sousa is clinical and academic endocrinologist with expertise in pituitary endocrinology and endocrine genetics. Sunita is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide and a Staff Specialist in Endocrinology and Genetics at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Sunita’s postdoctoral research focuses on monogenic diabetes, hereditary pancreatitis, and endocrine tumours. She is the founding member of EndoGen, a national framework of endocrine genetic centres which has led to Australia’s first national endocrine genetics MDT meeting.

Associate Professor Arthas Flabouris

Associate Professor Arthas Flabouris is a staff specialist for the Intensive Care unit and Clinical Lead for the Medical Emergency Response Service at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, with a conjoint appointment with the Faculty of Health Sciences and University of Adelaide as clinical Associate Professor.

Arthas has collaborated with large research groups from the Simpson Centre for Health Service Innovation, University of New South Wales and the Australia and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group.

Associate Professor David Yeung

Associate Professor David Yeung is a clinical and laboratory haematologist with a special interest in acute and chronic leukaemia. David is a consultant haematologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, a clinical research fellow for SAHMRI and an appointment as a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide Medical School.

David has served as chair on the Disease Group, and on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the ALLG. He has run the Asia Pacific Clinical Training Research Institute, sponsored by the American Society of Haematology whilst in Hanoi.

Dr Alice Day

Dr Alice Day is an Advanced Gastroenterology Research Dietitian in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Translational Research Group at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Basil Hetzel Institute and holds an adjunct clinical position as a specialist IBD dietitian. Alice has an extensive clinical background delivering gastroenterology-focused nutrition care since 2008 and completed her PhD in 2021 examining a diet as therapy for ulcerative colitis.

Alice’s career objective is to lead a research team that pioneers diet and microbial therapies for gastrointestinal diseases and establishes new clinical service models of care integrating diet therapies. As part of this, Alice’s IBD research group are taking important steps to pioneer a sulphide-reducing diet as therapy for ulcerative colitis and Alice is the principal investigator in this active randomised controlled trial.

Professor Sheree Smith

Professor Sheree Smith is the CALHN Professor of Nursing and Professor of Nursing, University of Adelaide.

Sheree is an internationally recognised researcher in respiratory care and holds the following degrees and certificates: PhD [Public Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)]; Master of Social Planning and Development (Anthropology and Sociology, University of Queensland); Postgraduate Certificate in Health Economics (University of Aberdeen); Bachelor of Nursing (QUT); and a Postgraduate Cardiothoracic Nursing Certificate.

Sheree has received national and international research awards including the inaugural Co-operative Research Centre for Asthma and Asthma Australia PhD top-up scholarship, the first international Post-doctoral Capability Bursary to the University of Oxford’s Department of Primary Health Care and Centre for Evidence Based Medicine and completed an intramural program at National Institute of Nursing Research at NIH in the USA.

Professor Smith is a member of four global respiratory, sleep and critical care organisations; Thoracic Society of Australia & New Zealand (TSANZ), Asia Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR), European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the American Thoracic Society (ATS). She is a member of the ERS College of Experts and the ATS nursing assembly who have identified research priorities for Lung Health, Sleep and Critical Care. Sheree was awarded Fellow of the American Thoracic Society in 2021, the first Australian nurse to receive this award.

Sheree is committed to mentoring the next generations of nurses as they build their research career (respiratory and non-respiratory).

Associate Professor Adam Nelson

Associate Professor Adam Nelson is a cardiologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, who recently completed clinical cardiology training at Monash University. Adam is an early career clinical academic and Associate Professor across CALHN and the University of Adelaide, with interests in preventive cardiology, personalized medicine and implementation science.

After completing medical school at the University of Adelaide, Adam then completed his FRACP at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Adam completed a BMedSc honours degree and a PhD evaluating vascular function and risk assessment. Adam then embarked on a combined MBA and MPH through Laureate Universities with major subjects in epidemiology, implementation science and clinical trial methods undertaken at Duke University, while pursuing a 2-year post-doctoral appointment at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Associate Professor Josephine (Jo) Thomas

Associate Professor Jo Thomas is a Specialist General Physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, including the Director of Physician Education and Clinical Associate Professor for the University of Adelaide.

Jo completed a PhD in Medical Education in 2020 and is an active clinical educator. Her research interests include Education, Medical and Health Sciences as well as Pharmacology and Pharmacy. Jo was awarded the Excellence in Teaching (level C) by the Executive Dean at the University of Adelaide in 2016, as well as her recognition by the Australian Medical Council in 2018.

Associate Professor Tarik Sammour

Associate Professor Tarik Sammour is a colorectal surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and an Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide, as well as an honorary appointment at SAHMRI. For the past 6 years Tarik has been the research lead for the Colorectal Research Group with multiple successful clinical PhD’s in the program.

Tarik’s research interests are cancer therapy/biology & clinical oncology, surgery and patient-centred outcome based clinical trials in colorectal surgery.

Dr Lee Pryor

Dr Lee Pryor is an Advanced Speech Pathologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Affiliate Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide. Clinical and research interests include management of altered airways, and complex swallowing and communication impairment in Head & Neck and ICU populations. She has collaborated locally and nationally with ENT and Oromaxillofacial Surgery, Radiation and Medical Oncology and Intensive Care multidisciplinary teams.

Lee’s PhD in 2016 was completed over 5 years, part-time at the University of Queensland, whilst working full-time at Royal Adelaide Hospital. She has been a member of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network Human Research Ethics Committee, is a peer reviewer for head and neck and critical care journals, and has contributed to national guidelines, international committees and consensus panels.

Dr Nathan Ward

Dr Nathan Ward is the Advanced Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for Cardiorespiratory Medicine at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He leads the Respiratory Physiotherapy team, which provides clinical services to the state-wide Adult Cystic Fibrosis Service and South Australian Lung Transplant Service, as well as the pulmonary rehabilitation and airway clearance programs across the Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

Nathan completed his PhD in 2021, where he investigated the role of exercise as an alternative to traditional airway clearance techniques in cystic fibrosis. He maintains an active involvement in clinical care and research. He has specific interests in how technology can optimise the effectiveness of airway clearance techniques, the role of exercise as a form of airway clearance and the prehabilitaton of people awaiting cardiothoracic organ transplantation.

Meet our CPP candidates

2024 Cohort

Dr Esrom Learman

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.

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

Dr Damjana Bogatic

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, a devastating orphan liver disease associated with inflammatory bowel 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.

Dr Tristan Bampton

Tristan is currently in his third year of Psychiatry training with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. He graduated from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 2020, completing an honours degree in the same year, and is currently working at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Tristan’s PhD, under the guidance of both 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.

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

Dr Zachary Bunjo

Zac is a General Surgery Trainee with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Originally from Adelaide, he is currently working in hospitals across New South Wales.

Zac’s PhD, under the guidance of A/Prof Tarik Sammour, is focusing on the role of total neoadjuvant therapy in early rectal cancer. 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.

Contact

For more information, support or assistance regarding the CPP please contact Health.CALHNPhDProgram@sa.gov.au

Partners

Central Adelaide LHN acknowledges the Kaurna people as the traditional owners of the lands on which its sites are located. We respect their spiritual relationship with their country and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to living Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today.

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