I am a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales. I am also an Adjunct Professional Fellow in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney.
I am an experienced epidemiologist specialising in injury, public health, and health services research, with 20 years of experience in government and industry settings. I apply my skills in risk assessment and mitigation, utilising comprehensive data and system analyses to provide evidence-based evaluations for improving health and safety outcomes. I am dedicated to advocating for health system optimisation through data-driven strategies, and to translating evidence-based findings to improve practice and policy for cost-effective health care.
I have been a collaborative team member on 14 research projects that have examined system, policy and economic determinants of acute care patient pathways. My research focusses on the inter-relationship of these factors to patient outcomes in the context of social determinants of health across pre-hospital, emergency department, inpatient and community populations. Experienced in planning and coordinating large-scale research programs, I advise industry and government bodies on harm prevention and risk management.
I have been appointed to three Expert Technical Committees for safety standards (2017-). Two are national committees for Standards Australia, one an international mirror committee. Technical committees are responsible for the development and maintenance of Australian, joint Australian-New Zealand, as well as International Standards that are regularly referred to in legislation, regulations and industry codes of practice. I am appointed member of the Executive Committee for the International Population Data Network (2022-), an appointed member (by the ACCC) of the International Technical Working Group on Detriment (comprising the OECD, the UK’s Office for Product Safety and Standards, the ACCC, the Canadian Consumer Product Safety Directorate and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission) and an appointed member to the Australian Cross Jurisdictional Injury Surveillance Working Group.
I am regularly engaged by the courts (NSW, SA, and QLD), to provide bipartisan Expert Testimony in matters of injury and harm litigation. My evaluation of risk, outcome, liability and applicable guidelines or standards in healthcare and community settings, has aided in settling 24 cases to date.
I am an Editorial Board Member (2016-) for the BMC Health Services Research Journal, and an Editorial Board Topic Editor for Injury for the International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health.
As a Chief Investigator of 12 research teams, I have been awarded research funding of $7,051,744. This includes: two Category 1 competitive research grants - $5,490,258 ($2,986,451 as CIA); seven Category 2 industry research grants - $1,500,636 (6 as CIA); one Category 3 industry evaluation project - $25,890; and two university research grant - $34,960 (CIA). I have personally received 11 research awards.
My Grants
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As a Chief Investigator of 12 research teams, I have been awarded research funding of $7,051,744. This includes: two Category 1 competitive research grants - $5,490,258 ($2,986,451 as CIA); seven Category 2 industry research grants - $1,500,636 (6 as CIA); one Category 3 industry evaluation project - $25,890; and two university research grant - $34,960 (CIA).
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2024
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July 2024 – June 2029
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$2,986,450.58
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Grant type
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Category 1 – Government research income
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Funding body
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Medical Research Future Fund
National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant Opportunity
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Subject
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National Injury Surveillance for Actionable Research (NISAR-ED)
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Chief Investigators
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Sharwood LN, Swanston H (AIHW), Berecki-Gisolf J, Ivers R, Jorm L, Dinh M, Perez-Concha O, Clay-Williams R, Shackel R, Hegarty K, Rebbeck T
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Role
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Initiated proposal, engaged AIHW, ACCC, ACEM, MUARC/VISU and forged collaborations. Developed program of work to collaborate with states/territories to augment Emergency Department data, build machine learning models to optimise identification and coding of external cause of injury. Platform will test ICD11 with AIHW.
Project lead/manager, PhD (x2) supervisor, staff x 2
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2023
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July 2024 – June 2029
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$2,505,877.95
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Grant type
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Category 1 – Government research income
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Funding body
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Medical Research Future Fund
Primary Health Care Research Grant Opportunity
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Subject
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Implementation of a PAthway of CarE for people with chronic musculoskeletal conditions living in RURAL regional and remote Australia using allied telehealth (PACE-RURAL)
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Chief Investigators
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Rebbeck T, Evans K, Beales D, Mosler A, Sterling M, Cameron I, Kifley A, Sharwood LN, Refshauge K et al
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Role
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Co-led the conceptual idea and design of the project. Wrote economic evaluation component of this stepped-wedge multi-state clinical implementation trial. Will conduct economic evaluation with components at beginning and towards end.
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2019
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July 2019-Sept 2020
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$10,000
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Grant type
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University Research Grant
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Funding body
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University of Sydney
FMH / FHS Ignition Seed Fund Grants
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Subject
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bstreetsmart – pilot outcome evaluation for behaviour change in pre-driving adolescents
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Chief Investigators
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Sharwood LN
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Role
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Initiated project, led design, implementation, conducted pre-post intervention evaluation
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2019
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July 2019-Sept 2020
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$25,890
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Grant type
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Category 3 industry evaluation project
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Funding body
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NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation / ITIM
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Subject
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bstreetsmart – pilot outcome evaluation for behaviour change in pre-driving adolescents
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Chief Investigators
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Sharwood LN, Seggie J, Scott-Parker B, Burns B
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Role
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Initiated project, led design, implementation, conducted pre-post intervention evaluation
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2019
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July 2019 – Aug 2020
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$25,464.79
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Grant type
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Category 2 industry research grants
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Funding body
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NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation / ITIM
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Subject
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Implementation Effectiveness of Playground Injury Prevention
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Chief Investigators
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Curtis K, Brown J, Sharwood LN, Eager D, Beck B
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Role
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Co-designed methods, undertook data analysis, project evaluation, advised re product safety standards
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2019
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Oct – Dec 2019
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$15,000
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Grant Type
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Category 2 industry research grants
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Funding Body
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Royal North Shore Trauma Department
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Subject
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Epidemiology of Major Trauma NSW: health service pathways & patient outcomes
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Chief Investigators
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Sharwood LN, Vaikuntam B, Joseph A, Ball J, Middleton J
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Role
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Designed methods, undertook data analysis, project evaluation
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2018
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Feb 2018-Nov 2019
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$55,000
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Grant Type
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Category 2 industry research grants
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Funding Body
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Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit
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Subject
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Serious Injuries from Indoor Trampoline Parks in Australia
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Chief Investigators
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Adams S, Brown J, Mulligan C, Teague W…Sharwood LN
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Role
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Co-designed methods, undertook data analysis, project evaluation, advised re product safety standards. Co-supervised Honours student project within this.
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2018
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Feb 2018-Aug 2018
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$10,178
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Grant Type
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Category 2 industry research grants
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Funding Body
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iCare™
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Subject
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Epidemiology of work-related spinal injuries across NSW
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Chief Investigators
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Sharwood LN
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Role
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2018
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Feb 2018-Dec 2021
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$989,383
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Grant Type
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Category 2 industry research grants
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Funding Body
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State Insurance Regulatory Authority
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Subject
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New Compulsory Third Party Reform Evaluation Project
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Chief Investigators
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Cameron ID, Craig A, Jagnoor J, Gopinath B, Sharwood LN
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Role
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Co-designed project implementation, developed economic evaluation aspect
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2016
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Feb 2016-Feb 2019
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$330,610
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Grant Type
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Category 2 industry research grants
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Funding Body
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iCare™
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Subject
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Improving Care Standards and Costs for Spinal Trauma Patients
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Chief Investigators
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Sharwood LN
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Role
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Conceived of and designed project, collaborated with iCare policy makers, developed HDR program, established PhD stipend, led and conducted project.
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2016
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Feb 2016-Feb 2017
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$75,000
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Grant Type
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Category 2 industry research grants
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Funding Body
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Ramsay Research and Teaching Fund
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Subject
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Improving Care Standards and Costs for Spinal Trauma Patients.
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Chief Investigators
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Sharwood LN, Middleton J, Ball J, Rigby O, Joseph A
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Role
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Designed project, piloted initial methods to demonstrate viability for larger application.
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2015
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Feb 2015-Feb 2016
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$24,959.68
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Grant Type
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University Grant ECR Scheme
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Funding Body
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Sydney University Medical School Early Career Researcher Scheme
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Subject
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Defining Best Practice Standards for spinal trauma patients among acute care/pre-hospital clinicians
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Chief Investigators
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Sharwood LN
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Role
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Developed and implemented Delphi process across specialist spinal trauma services nationally
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My Qualifications
PhD MPH GradDip. Adv.Nsg (ED/ICU) BN RN.
Candidate: MSci.Health Data Science
My Awards
2024 KidSafe Australia – Research Article of the Year Award 2023:
Eager D, Zhou S, Barker R, Catchpoole J, Sharwood LN. A Public Health Review into Two Decades of Domestic Trampoline Injuries in Children within Queensland, Australia. IJERPH. 2023. 20(3). p 1742-7.
2024 Profiled - Australasian Injury Prevention Network Newsletter
2023 Profiled – Australian Institute for Health and Welfare #HumansofAIHW page
2021 Franklin Women’s Foundation: Mid-career Mentor Development Program (6-months)
2019 Beryl and Jack Jacobs Travel Fellowship
2019 Scientific Staff Council RNSH Travel Award
2019 Profiled - StopKidsInjury
2018 Ramsay Health Foundation International Travel Award
2017 ECR Overseas Travel Grant – Sydney University Medical School
2016 Ramsay Health Foundation International Travel Award
2014 Travel Grant in memory of Rosalind Nicholson – Spinal Cord Injury Network
2013 John Chalmers Doctoral Award – best PhD student paper across The George Institute for Global Health
2012 AIPN Best PhD student conference paper
My Research Activities
- National Injury Surveillance for Actionable Research - Emergency Department - $2.98M MRFF funded National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant (2024-2029)
Injury surveillance data can identify health risks not easily detected using standard data collections e.g., family violence, suicidal behaviour,occupational risk, to inform prevention activities. implementation and evaluation. Emergency departments collect structured andunstructured data which offer significant opportunity to better identify injury causes, intent, or location. Currently, there is vast jurisdictionalvariation in injury surveillance, mostly with no injury cause data collection due to coding and infrastructure limitations. Using artificialintelligence techniques, we will build and test a national injury surveillance system, provide a platform to validate ICD11, identify high-riskpatients and enable actionable research. I am leading this as Principal Investigator, and have a stellar team, including partners in the AIHW, the ACCC (Product Safety), MUARC and ACEM.
- Implementation of a PAthway of CarE for people with chronic musculoskeletal conditions living in RURAL, regional and remote Australia using allied telehealth (PACE-RURAL)
This project will implement an evidence-based cliical pathway of care to improve health service delivery for people with chronic musculoskeletal conditions living in regional, rural and remoe Australia. We will provide access to a high-quality evidence-based digital resource (Mypainhub.com) for people who will recover well (low risk of poor outcome) and their treating health care professionals (HCPs). Mypainhub has been robustly co-developed by our team of clinicians, researchers, and consumers to provide accurate advice and exercises for people with MSK conditions. Concurrently, it serves as a centralised hub for clinicians to access credible resources on assessment, prognosis, and management. As Chief Investigator on this project, I am responsible for conducting the health economic evaluation.
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
I have the following projects available for HDR candidates with experience in data science, epidemiology and health data research:
- Injury surveillance development using national Emergency Department Data
Injury surveillance data can identify health risks not easily detected using standard data collections e.g., family violence, suicidal behaviour,occupational risk, to inform prevention activities. implementation and evaluation. Emergency departments collect structured andunstructured data which offer significant opportunity to better identify injury causes, intent, or location. Currently, there is vast jurisdictionalvariation in injury surveillance, mostly with no injury cause data collection due to coding and infrastructure limitations. This MRFF National Critical Research Infrastructure granted project is using artificial intelligence techniques, to build and test a national injury surveillance system, provide a platform to validate ICD11, identify high-riskpatients and enable actionable research. Your PhD project would access some of these data and learn injury surveillance techniques using Emergency Department data.
2. Implementation Science planning to integrate surveillance systems within current clinical settings
This project will be embedded within the Implementation Science framework to introduce a new surveillance system within Emergency Department settings. You will engage in key stakeholder interviews, identify barriers and enablers to adopting a new methodology and how to bring clinicians along with a data focussed piece of work and optimise health outcomes for patients.
3. The impact of an Australian Standard on Trampoline Injuries
In Australia, the growing number of injuries sustained during the activity of trampolining (domestic environment) has prompted development and revision of an Australian Standard (AS) for trampolines (AS 4989-Tramplolines) that includes measurable safety design features engineered to reduce the risk of injury. The extent to which revisions of this standard, in the context of improved product safety standards and trampoline design modifications is unknown. Specifically, a focus on pinching and shearing hazards, which has not been previously measurable in injury surveillance data. Objectives: To examine national trampoline injury patterns and trends relative to the current AS. Trampoline injuries across Australia: epidemiological review of injuries around the country, data sourced through injury surveillance units.
- Specifically focussing on pinching and shearing hazards, and
- Reviewing any reduction in injury risk since the last modifications to AS 4989-2006: Trampolines - Safety aspects, in 2010.
4. Playground standards and fall height: is there evidence of their impact on paediatric head injuries?
The objective of the Australian Standard (AS) for Playgrounds (AS4685) is to minimize the risk of injury to playground users. It provides requirements for siting, designing and developing playgrounds, for the selection of appropriate equipment and other design elements, for product information requirements, instructions and operating procedures, and for the minimization of operational hazards. Since the AS4685 was first published, revisions have included an amendment to the acceptable fall height from a piece of playground equipment. There has been no evidence since this amendment, of the efficacy of this change in height on injury rates and severity in Australian playgrounds. Playground fall injuries across Australia: epidemiological review of injuries around the country, data sourced through injury surveillance units. - Specifically focussing on falls from height and related head injuries - Reviewing any reduction in injury risk since the 2014 fall height modifications to AS4685
• Data will be sourced from the multiple injury surveillance units around the country; data analysis and presentation
• Systematic literature review
• Analysis of the AS development, attendance at relevant AS meetings
• Interpretation of injury surveillance data and compilation of a report that reviews any reduction in injury risk since the 2014 modifications to AS
• Submission of scientific publication
I am available for HDR / Masters / Honours research project supervision across the following areas:
- Injury prevention
- Injury surveillance
- Injury litigation
- Injury outcomes
- Injury health services management
- Epidemiology
- Data linkage
- Health services research
- Economic evaluations
- Activity based funding
- Mental illness
- Health care evaluation
Currently supervising
2025 - Clinical AI student
My Engagement
June 2024 Live television interview – ABC National News re MRFF grant
April 2024 Sharwood LN, Ivers R, Teague W. Falls, fractures and self-harm: 4 charts on how kids’ injury risk changes over time and differs for boys and girls. The Conversation. 18 April 2024
Jan 2024 News.com.au – interviewed for water safety and risk article
Feb 2023 Interviewed for quote on Standards Australia website
Oct 2022 Sydney Morning Herald – Playground risks
April 2022 Injury prevention giant slides Tuesday DRIVE 104.5FM radio interview
April 2022 Giant slides interviews
April 2022 Sharwood LN, Eager D, Barker R. Giant tube slides and broken legs: why the latest playground craze is a serious hazard. The Conversation. 25 April 2022
Dec 2021 Interviewed by ABC News re jumping castle tragedy deaths Tasmania
Dec 2021 Interviewed re Safety Standards
Aug 2020 Interviewed for pool safety / near drowning
May 2020 Scimex interview re COVID restrictions
Oct 2019 Sharwood LN et al. Ask the Experts: Should children climb trees? The Conversation. 16 October 2019
May 2019 Kids safety interview - trampoline
Mar 2019 Safework NSW – Invited presentation of Workplace Spinal Injuries research – ABC radio interview
Jan 2019 ABC radio Sydney – invited in studio discussing school safety
Dec 2018 ABC radio Sydney – invited in studio discussing playground injuries
Nov 2018 OHS Career – news interview and article
Nov 2018 Monkey bar injuries radio interview 3AW -
Nov 2018 Channel 10 - interview re monkey bar injuries
Sunrise – Interview re trampoline injuries/ Choice report / Injury warnings
Oct 2018 Media Release by MJA for Perspectives article
Sharwood LN. Playground safety standards. MJA Podcasts 2018.209 (9).
ABC Radio Sydney in studio on ‘Drive’ program/multiple ABC radio station interviews.
Oct 2018 Sharwood LN, Eager D, Barker R. Ensuring children get enough physical activity while being safe is a delicate balancing act. The Conversation. 29 October 2018
Sept 2018 Medical Xpress – Construction worker spinal injuries
Feb 2018 Sharwood LN, Eager D, Adams S. Without mandatory safety standards, indoor trampoline parks are an accident waiting to happen. The Conversation. Feb 15, 2018
Feb 2018 Media Release ANZJPH & The Conversation publications on Trampoline Park Injuries.
Reach - Total Audience of 5,347,704 via 6 media types (TV 63.6%, AM Radio 22.6%, FM Radio 4.9%, Newspaper 3.63%, Online News 1.6%, Social Networks 3.7%)
Examples - SBS News Report - Sharwood - Trampoline Park Injuries
Fairfax Media - Sharwood - Trampoline Park Injuries
ABC Radio Australia Report - Sharwood - Trampoline Park Injuries
Today Show TV - Sharwood - Trampoline Park Injuries
The Project – TV interview re indoor trampoline park injuries/Australian Standards
April 2013 International Media Release by BMJ and media release by The George Institute for: Sharwood LN et al Caffeine and crash risk study
Reach - Extensive media reporting of this nationally and internationally.
Examples - BBC News Report - Sharwood - Caffeine
NY Times Article - Sharwood - Caffeine
BigRigs News - Sharwood - Caffeine
Workplace OHS Report - Sharwood - Caffeine
Nine News – Sharwood – Caffeine
News articles were also identified in the French Tribune (circulation 531,000), Arab Times (circulation 48,000), TopNews Arab Emirates, Men’s Health Magazine, Metro, i09.com, Swedish television, Times of India, New Zealand Herald, Portland University, Spanish News (article found written in Spanish), MDLinks Editorial, Webconsultas (Spain)
March 2013 DRIVE radio interview – truckers on caffeine
August 2012 Media release by Australian Truckers Association announcing my keynote – “Truck Driver Health and Sleep Apnea” (Transport Minister/Shadow and 39 other Ministers in attendance) Parliament House, Canberra
Reach - National - WIN News Interview – see WIN News - Sharwood - Sleep Apnea in Truckies. This story was run nationally on all WIN News stations
Examples - Workplace OHS report - Sharwood - OSA - Parliamentary Breakfast
May 2012 Media release by Australian Truckers Association announcing my keynote at annual convention – Driver Health and Sleep Apnea
Reach - Nationwide via ABC radio, also peak industry newspaper with over 500 distribution locations nationwide.
Example - Big Rigs - Sharwood - OSA - National conference
April 2012 Media Release for publication in journal of Sleep (from The George Institute)
Reach - radio interviews: ABC Radio Stations in most Australian states, metro/regional
** The press release was picked up nationally and internationally by sources such as:
Example - Big Rigs - Sharwood - Sleep Apnea in Truckies
My Teaching
I am currently Course Co-convenor for the PHCM9701 Health Leadership and Workforce Management in the Masters of Health Leadership course within the School of Population Health.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8977-6144
