Professor Fenella Gill holds a joint appointment at Perth Children’s Hospital and School of Nursing, Curtin University where she is also lead for the Critical Care Nursing program. Fenella is a Registered Nurse with over 30 years critical care experience working in clinical, education and research roles. Fenella leads the Safer care for children in hospital research program which aims to improve the health outcomes for children and families. Her research leadership has resulted in state-wide adoption of the paediatric ESCALATION System across all WA hospitals and the prehospital emergency response service St John Ambulance WA.
Fenella also leads nursing research at Western Australia’s Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) where she supports CAHS nurses to get involved in research through opportunities for hands-on experience, provides mentorship and supervises higher degree by research students. Fenella is an Editor for the journal - Australian Critical Care and a life member of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses. Her research interest includes implementation science methodologies, paediatrics, promoting safe systems, parent/ family involvement, co-design and engagement with industry and health consumers. |
Emeritus Professor Gavin Leslie has extensive experience across acute healthcare systems in WA, Australia and internationally, most recently as a founding member of the 'Safer Care for Children in Hospital' research group and Nursing Research Director at Fiona Stanley Hospital and South Metropolitan Health Service (2021-2023). Professor Leslie has a passion for and long-standing record of accomplishment in identifying and responding to patient clinical deterioration, health service research and health implementation science.
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Prof Leslie has worked in critical care for over 40 years, as a clinician, educator, administrator and researcher. He was the inaugural joint appointment in Critical Care Nursing at Edith Cowan University and Royal Perth Hospital (2000-2007). In this role, he established a joint clinical critical care program which was awarded with teaching & learning accolades and launched a clinical Masters and research program. He then joined Curtin University in 2007 continuing his appointment with RPH. He was later appointed Director of Graduate Research at Curtin where he also developed the Master of Clinical Nursing and the Paramedicine programme, as well as leading two undergraduate curriculum reviews. He has published over 170 peer reviewed articles and journal editorials, five book chapters, graduated 20 PhD and MPhil students and contributed to over $6.5M in research grants and postdoctoral fellowships.
As an original co-investigator of the ESCALATION System with Prof Gill, Prof Leslie provides invaluable expert support, guidance and mentorship to the team on an ongoing basis. |
Dr. Eileen Boyle is a Registered Nurse with extensive expertise in intensive care, emergency, rural and remote nursing. Eileen is dedicated to improving healthcare by implementing initiatives that address the concerns of both the community and health professionals. She was instrumental in managing three significant multi-state clinical trials at Curtin University's School of Allied Health since 2013.
Eileen Boyle is the Implementation Science Research Fellow within the ESCALATION Research Program. She is currently leading Sub-study 1: Evaluate the scale up and sustain the implementation of the ESCALATION System in WACHS sites and Sub-study 3 Strengthen Aboriginal family involvement in the ESCALATION system within the overall research program. In 2025 Eileen will commence a joint role lecturing in Curtin University School of Nursing. |
Dr Laird is a senior paediatric respiratory physiotherapist at Perth Children’s Hospital with over 25 years expertise and special interest in chronic lung disease, particularly bronchiectasis in Indigenous children. Dr Laird currently leads/co-leads four research projects across WA, QLD, and NT. Her research has provided world-first data on the prevalence of the life-shortening, ‘orphan disease’ of bronchiectasis; addressed significant health-service and health-outcome gaps for Indigenous children in regional/remote areas.
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Dr Laird is a senior paediatric respiratory physiotherapist at Perth Children’s Hospital with over 25 years expertise and special interest in chronic lung disease, particularly bronchiectasis in Indigenous children. Dr Laird currently leads/co-leads four research projects across WA, QLD, and NT. Her research has provided world-first data on the prevalence of the life-shortening, ‘orphan disease’ of bronchiectasis; addressed significant health-service and health-outcome gaps for Indigenous children in regional/remote areas. In close partnership with Aboriginal medical services and leaders, she has contributed to national guidelines and created accessible resources that, with her research, have already translated throughout WA. Dr Laird was the 2024 joint WA Early Career Scientist of the Year and the 2024 WA Allied Health Researcher of the Year. Dr Laird lectures at Notre Dame University, is an adjunct A/Prof at Curtin University and the University of Western Australia.
Dr Laird’s research approach combines implementation science and Aboriginal participatory action research methods. All projects incorporate partnerships with local Aboriginal health service providers and Aboriginal leads at each site. Dr Laird brings her Aboriginal health research expertise and leadership to the Safer care for children research program. |
Maggie Harrigan is a senior social worker and researcher who joined the team in 2024. Her professional background as a social worker includes many years in a hospital setting, providing psychological and social support to people with chronic respiratory illness. Maggie is close to completing her PhD at The University of Western Australia, exploring the mental well-being of adults living with Cystic Fibrosis. Her passion lays within patient advocacy and empowerment.
Maggie is working on the Find Your Voice project. Maggie has been busy in 2024 building relationships with key CaLD community groups across Perth metro and PCH health professionals and will start conducting interviews and focus groups early 2025. |
Dr. Alhassan is a Ghanaian-trained Registered Nurse whose professional career spans several years of clinical nursing, nursing education, and nursing research. He worked as a clinical nurse at the Tamale Teaching Hospital for six years before transitioning into nursing education. From 2014 to 2020, He was Senior Nursing Tutor at Kpembe Nursing and Midwifery Training College where he taught undergraduate courses in nursing, midwifery, and public health. Dr. Alhassan also served as the academic coordinator (2015 – 2017) and the dean of students (2018 – 2020) during his time at the college. He was also the national secretary of Nurse Educators Group - Ghana, the official union of all nurse educators in Ghana from 2016 – 2020.
Dr. Alhassan relocated to Melbourne in 2020 where he completed his PhD at Deakin University, graduating in 2023. Dr. Alhassan’s research will first focus on Phase one of the Find Your Voice project, leading a retrospective cohort study to determine the prevalence, patient characteristics, and outcomes of care escalation events for children from CaLD backgrounds at PCH. |
Dr Marie Clancy is a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter in the Academy of Nursing. She has a clinical background as a children’s nurse and studied at the University of Birmingham, England with clinical roles at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
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Marie has worked in Australia, Trinidad, Malawi, Afghanistan and New Zealand. Her clinical and academic focus has been on children with oncology, high dependency needs, pain assessment and treatment including cultural aspects to care. Her Master in Public Health degree expanded upon this work with a dissertation focusing on children’s pain in Sub Saharan Africa. Marie’s PhD focused on experiences of asylum seeker and refugee families in children’s palliative care services, utilising arts-based research approaches.
Marie's research interests include child health inequalities, migration and improving the sensitivity of cross-cultural communication, palliative and bereavement care for neonates, children, young people and their families. She is bringing her expertise working with our team in 2025. |
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