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My Expertise
Professor Claire Wakefield is a medical psychologist who leads research to improve quality of life for patients with medical illness, especially children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions. Claire is a Professor at the School of Clinical Medicine at UNSW. She is also Executive Director of the Behavioural Sciences Unit at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Professor Wakefield holds multiple international leadership roles, including being Continental President (Oceania) for the International Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). Specific responsibilities of the SIOP Continental President Oceania include advocating for children and adolescents with cancer across Oceania, promoting research to improve outcomes for childhood cancer patients across Oceania, facilitating and sharing education and training opportunities for SIOP Oceania members, increasing membership and engagement of SIOP Oceania members in SIOP activities and strengthening and expanding strategic partnerships of relevance to SIOP Oceania. She works very closely with the World Health Organisation, supporting the work of the Global Childhood Cancer Initiative.
Website: www.behaviouralsciencesunit.org
Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
Paediatrics, Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified, Cancer Therapy (excl. Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy), Health, Clinical and Counselling PsychologySEO tags
Biography
Prof Claire Wakefield is a medical psychologist who leads research to improve quality of life for patients with medical illness, especially children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions. She is a Professor at the School of Clinical Medicine at UNSW. She is also Executive Director of the Behavioural Sciences Unit at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Prof Wakefield holds multiple international leadership roles, including being Continental...view more
Prof Claire Wakefield is a medical psychologist who leads research to improve quality of life for patients with medical illness, especially children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions. She is a Professor at the School of Clinical Medicine at UNSW. She is also Executive Director of the Behavioural Sciences Unit at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Prof Wakefield holds multiple international leadership roles, including being Continental President (Oceania) for the International Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). Specific responsibilities of the SIOP Continental President Oceania include advocating for children and adolescents with cancer across Oceania, promoting research to improve outcomes for childhood cancer patients across Oceania, facilitating and sharing education and training opportunities for SIOP Oceania members, increasing membership and engagement of SIOP Oceania members in SIOP activities and strengthening and expanding strategic partnerships of relevance to SIOP Oceania. She works very closely with the World Health Organisation, supporting the work of the Global Childhood Cancer Initiative.
Prof Wakefield has published, or had accepted, more than 300 journal articles and is named as Chief Investigator on competitive research grants totalling more than $55M. She has received numerous awards for her work, including being named as the NSW Premier’s Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow of the Year.
Prof Wakefield holds an Investigator Grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and was a Diamond Jubilee International Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton, UK.
Research Interests:
Research interests include health psychology; palliative care; advance care planning; precision medicine; genomic sequencing; cancer predisposition syndromes; patient education; assisting families to make difficult medical decisions (e.g. deceased organ donation); and challenges faced by children with complex needs. Currently focussing on child health research, with projects ranging from newly diagnosed families, on-treatment families, long term survivors and bereaved caregivers.
Broad Research Areas:
Child Health, Cancer, Health Promotion, Quality of Life
Qualifications:
BPsych(Hons1), MPH, PhD
Specific Research Keywords:
Paediatrics, Childhood Cancer, Psychosocial Issues, Adolescence, Genetics, Mental Health, Psychology, Oncology
My Qualifications
- Registered Psychologist
- PhD (Psychology)
- Master of Public Health
- B Psychology (Hons I)
My Awards
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University Medal for Psychology.
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Australian Psychological Society Prize.
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Higher Degree Research Excellence Award, Macquarie University.
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Cancer Research Network Innovation Award, NSW.
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Macquarie University Research award for Excellence in Research – Social Sciences, Business & Humanities.
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NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Award.
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Dean’s Rising Star award.
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International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) Hiroomi Kawano New Investigator Award.
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Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow of the Year.
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Excellence in Postgraduate Research Supervision Award.
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Diamond Jubilee International Visiting Fellowship at the University of Southampton, UK.
My Research Activities
Society Memberships & Professional Activities:
- International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) (Continental President, Oceania).
- International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) (Board of Directors).
- World Health Organisation Global Childhood Cancer Initiative (Committee Member)
- iCOPE (interegional Childhood Oncology Precision medicine Exploration) (Advisory Board Member)
- Danish Cancer Society Research Centre for Pediatric Oncology, International Advisory Board Member
- St Jude's Together International Advisory Board
- International OPTILATER Advisory Board
- Starlight Children’s Foundation Health Professionals Advisory Board Member
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
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