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Sarah Larkins

Projects

12

Publications

0

Awards

10


Contact Details

Professor, Health Systems Strengthening

Biography

Dr Sarah Larkins is an experienced research leader, academic general practitioner and Professor of Health Systems Strengthening in the College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University. Sarah has particular skills and experience in health services and workforce research and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research and is an internationally recognised expert in social accountability in health professional education. Sarah is also a current member of the NHMRC Research Committee (2022-24) and Co-Director of the Anton Breinl Research Centre for Health Systems Strengthening, a centre of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine.

To date, Sarah has over 170 published peer-reviewed journal articles and several book chapters, with an h-index of 35, more than 4100 citations and well over $97m in grant funding. This includes seven current NHMRC/MRFF grants as a CI (3 as CI A), investigating participatory strategies to strengthen  health services and recent grants from DESE and DFAT . She currently supervises 14 students at HDR level with 21 PhD completions. Other recent funding is from the CRC-NA, the Commonwealth Department of Health and the Department of Education.

Sarah's particular focus is on collaborating to improve equity in health care services for underserved populations, particularly rural, remote, Indigenous and tropical populations, and on training a health workforce with appropriate knowledge, attitudes and skills for this purpose. She is a past co-chair, Primary and Chronic Care Panel and Guideline Leadership Group Member of the National Living Evidence Guidelines for COVID-19, Director, Townsville Mackay Medicare Local and past member of the World Health Organisation Technical Working Group on Health Workforce Education Assessment Tools and the National Technical Advisory Group for Health Workforce Australia.

She currently serves as the Convenor, Clinical Leadership Group for the NHMRC-recognised Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre, and serves on Research Australia University Round Table and IRU Research Committee.

Research

Research Interests

Rural health workforce

Socially accountable health professional education

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

Primary health care

Maternal and child health

Health systems strengthening

Research capacity strengthening

Projects

Teaching

Teaching Interests

Sociology of health care and social determinants of health

Research methods

General Practice


Research Advisor Accreditation
Advisor Type

Mentor

Research Advisor Accreditation
Role

Chair; Independent Academic


Taught Modules
Current JCU Research Students
International Approaches to Rural Medical Generalism
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
Healthy Ageing in the Torres Strait: Developing and Implementing a Framework for Best-Practice Aged Care within Primary Health Care Centres
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
What do the Birthing Experiences of Three Genrations of Monington Island Women Reveal About their Aspirations Regarding Birthing on Country?
Doctor of Philosophy (MHMS) (Res)
Exploring the Social and Economic Impact of a Rural Medical School on a Small Community
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
Implementation and evaluation of a novel referral pathway for people with suspected lung cancer in Townsville Hospital and Health Service
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical and Molecular Sciences)
Implementation and evaluation of a GP-led, multidisciplinary Family Lifestyle Clinic for chronic disease prevention in Regional Queensland
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
Improving Rural, Regional and Remote (RRR) access and cultural diversity in clinical trials in Australia: What role does the Australasian Teletrial Model play in Northern Australia
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical, Molecular and Veterinary Sciences)
Development and Implementation of a Breast Cancer Care Pathway in Townsville Region - A Study Looking into Feasibility, Governance, Patient Centred Outcomes and Economics
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical and Molecular Sciences)
Addressing Mild Cognitive Impairment within older adults (>45yo) living in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area.
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
Enhancing the involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients in Goal-setting as part of General Practice Chronic Disease management planning through the development of a Cultural safe Goal-setting tool
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical, Molecular and Veterinary Sciences)
An exploration of the academic and early career professional practice for James Cook University medical students who have experienced academic difficulty
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical and Molecular Sciences)
Integrating Indigenous Principles of Human Research Ethics: The cases of two Pacific Island Countries: Fiji and Tonga
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical and Molecular Sciences)
A novel allied health student blended learning approach to enable high-quality stroke recovery services for rural Australia
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
Socially accountable selection of the appropriate Pacific doctor
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
Completed JCU Research Students
An investigation of health system capacity to provide medical male circumcision for HIV prevention in high burden settings in Papua New Guinea;;
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical and Molecular Sciences)- 2021
Health systems research capacity building in Solomon Islands: A multiple case study approach.
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)- 2022
‘Do you people ever think about the lives you ruin?’ Perspectives and influences on the provision of care for extreme preterm and periviable babies in North Queensland.
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical and Molecular Sciences)- 2021
‘Making of a Strong Woman’: A constructivist grounded theory on young women’s experiences at Menarche in Papua New Guinea
Doctor of Philosophy (Medical and Molecular Sciences)- 2021
Ageing in place in rural Australia
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)- 2020
The role of Academic Health Centres in improving population health: a multiple-case study in Australia and England;;
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)- 2021
Exploring the development of clinical reasoning skills among doctors-in-training in north Queensland
Doctor of Philosophy (MHMS) (Res)- 2019
Understandings and experiences of dementia in Fiji
Doctor of Philosophy (Health)- 2021

Activities

Employment
Awards
Education
Associations