Sydney Health Partners provides pilot funding for collaborative teams of clinicians and researchers who wish to test the implementation of an evidence-based intervention, program or innovation.

The projects are intended to help the teams build translational research foundations which will lead to longer-term impacts on health services and policy.

Each of the projects is funded for two years and has two principal investigators – one research-based and the other clinically based.

The Pilot Grants program was launched in 2020, and there are currently ten Pilot Grant projects underway, all of which commenced in 2023. These ten new pilot grants are in addition to 15 pilot grants previously awarded by the Sydney Health Partners Implementation Science Program.

Current Implementation Science Projects

2023 Recipients

Feasibility and acceptability pilot of a self-management intervention “My Personal Recovery Plan” (MyPREP) for people with serious mental health conditions
Academic PI: Dr Alyssa Milton, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney 
Clinical PI: Professor Nick Glozier, Senior Staff Specialist, Sydney Local Health District and Professor of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney

Helping clinicians and patients make sense of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer: implementation of an information resource
Academic PI: Dr Rachael Dodd, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Associate Professor Purnima Sundaresan, Senior Staff Specialist, Sydney West Radiation Oncology Network, Western Sydney Local Health District

Tailoring a bereavement model of care for the respiratory service of Nepean Hospital
Academic PI: Dr Nicci Bartley, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Dr Laura Kirsten, Principal Psychologist, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD) 

Implementation pilot of Virtual Reality intervention to reduce adolescent/young adult distress in emergency departments
Academic PI: Dr Brad Ridout, Deputy Chair, Cyberpsychology Research Group, Discipline of Biomedical Informatics & Digital Health, The University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Dr Margaret Murphy, Senior Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC), Westmead Hospital, Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD)

Tele-Prehabilitation for major abdominal and thoracic surgery to improve patient outcomes
Academic PI: Dr Sviatlana Kamarova, Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney and Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD)
Clinical PI: Anwar Hassan, Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD) 

Impact of an interactive workshop on physiotherapists’ implementation of an evidence-based e-health resource for people with musculoskeletal conditions in tertiary care
Academic PI: Professor Trudy Rebbeck, Professor of Clinical Translation in Allied Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Ms Dragana Ceprnja, Health Professional Educator – Physiotherapy, Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD)

The acceptability of digital supports for families waiting for neurodevelopmental assessment
Academic PI: Dr Kelsie Boulton, Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Dr Antoinette Hodge, Senior Clinical Neuropsychologist, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network

Evidence-based physiotherapy exercises for all
Academic PI: Professor Lisa Harvey, Senior Researcher, Kolling Institute, The University of Sydney 
Clinical PI: Dr Joanne Glinsky, Physiotherapist, John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, Northern Sydney Local Health District

Move to improve: prescribing physical activity and deprescribing paracetamol: a pilot feasibility study
Academic PI: Dr Paula Beckenkamp, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Dr Mark Halliday, Physiotherapy Team Leader – Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) 

A digital tool for clinicians to improve the uptake of resistance training in cardiac rehabilitation (LIFT-CR)
Academic PI: Dr Matthew Hollings, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Mr Robert Zecchin, Nursing Unit Manager – Cardiac Rehabilitation, Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD)

Previous Implementation Science Projects

2021 Recipients

Online mindfulness-based stress reduction for chronic musculoskeletal pain: A pilot randomised controlled trial
Academic PI: Dr Anita Amorim, Lecturer at the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Dr Charlotte Johnstone, Anaesthetist/ Pain Medicine Specialist at the Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney Local Health District

Clinician created multimedia and multicultural cardiovascular m-Health education – EDUCATE_MI
Academic PI: Dr Liliana Laranjo, Community and Primary Health Care Practice, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Dr Aravinda Thiagalingam, Senior Staff Specialist, Cardiology Department, Westmead Hospital, Western Sydney Local Health District

Digital psychosocial assessment for adolescents in hospital settings: The HEEADSSS implementation study
Academic PI: Professor Katharine Steinbeck, Chair in Adolescent Medicine, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
Clinical PI: Dr Daniel Waller, Research Officer, Academic Department of Adolescent Medicine, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network (SCHN Westmead)

A student-led speech pathology telerehabilitation program for head and neck cancer survivors – an implementation study
Academic PI: Dr Emma Wallace, Lecturer/Researcher, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Discipline of Speech Pathology
Clinical PI: Ms Danielle Stone, Clinical Specialist Speech Pathologist, Department of Speech Pathology, Royal North Shore Hospital, Northern Sydney Local
Health District

2020 Recipients

Originally intended to fund two grants, the scheme expanded in 2020 to fund four projects totalling $100,000 in response to the unexpectedly high demand. Each project has two Principal Investigators (PIs) – one clinical and one academic. In addition to the four projects funded by SHP in 2020, seven additional projects received funding from our health service partners in March 2021.