Sydney School of Health Sciences (SSHS) works with partners in the health and welfare sector to bring innovation to improve health and wellbeing.
Strong allied health partnerships with NSW Local Health Districts and the SSHS, have been developed through appointments at the Professor level in five large metropolitan health districts.
The participating health districts and the Professors of Allied Health in each health district are:
Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD)
Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD)
- Professor Jim Elliott (Acting Director of Kolling Institute)
Sydney Local Health District (SLHD)
South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD)
Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD)
- Professor Leanne Togher, (Director of Partnerships and Placements, SSHS)
These partnerships aim to identify and facilitate projects to the mutual benefit of all partners.
Key among these opportunities are:
- building research capacity in clinical and community units,
- embedded research conducted in local health districts involving allied health clinicians,
- developing and supporting innovative education models for clinical placements of students, and
- achieving research impact through implementation of research into practice and supporting workforce development of allied health professionals.
The Professors of Allied Health also support the work of the Work Integrated Learning team, by helping to build the networks for the clinical placements of students.
The partnerships are strengthened by local health district staff with honorary clinical academic positions in SSHS, and in turn, a number of SSHS academics hold honorary appointments within the health districts.
These positions further underpin ongoing partnerships across a breadth of allied health disciplines, and help to support a multi-disciplinary, networked workforce between sectors.