Research

The Whitlam Orthopaedic Research Centre supports the research of its directors, Professor Ian Harris and Associate Professor Justine Naylor. A selection of their publications and current projects are provided here.

Research Partners
Research Partners

Publications by year
Project Highlights

GRANT FUNDING AND SCHOLARSHIPS

Selected projects shown below.

Project: ACL STARR: Anterior Cruciate Ligament Stratified Accelerated Repair or Reconstruction Single blind randomised control trial for patients with proximal ACL injuries treatment with ACL repair v ACL reconstruction.
Funding body:             NHMRC-NIHR Collaborative Research
Amount:                      $2,545,537.48
Chief investigator:      David Beard
Date awarded:            January 2024
Grant period:               5 years

Project: EPIK: Early Pain Intervention after Knee replacement
Funding body:            MRFF
Amount:                      $1,467,744.83
Chief investigator:      Sam Adie (Harris CIC)
Date awarded:            September 2024
Grant period:               5 years

Project: Scalable internet-delivered primary care for shoulder pain with or without telehealth support
Funding body:            MRFF Primary Healthcare Research
Amount:                      $1,277,299.95
Chief investigator:     Peter Malliaris
Date awarded:            March 2024
Grant period:               5 years

Project: A novel non-surgical intervention to improve outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament injury: A multicentre randomised controlled trial
Funding body:            MRFF Clinical Trials Activity
Amount:                      $1,725,343.30
Chief investigator:      Stephanie Filbay
Date awarded:            June 2024
Grant period:               5 years

Project: A novel non-surgical intervention to improve outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament injury: A multicentre randomised controlled trial
Funding body:            MRFF Clinical Trials Activity
Amount:                      $1,725,343.30
Chief investigator:      Stephanie Filbay
Date awarded:            June 2024
Grant period:               5 years

Project: ROADMAP: RandOmised Arthroplasty infection worlDwide Multidomain Adaptive Platform trial 
Funding body:             NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies 
Amount:                      $4,744,165.40 
Chief investigator:       Joshua Davis
Date awarded:            2023
Grant period:               5 years

Project: HIP4Hips: Intensive physiotherapy to lower hospital length of stay after hip fracture (MRFAR000166)
Funding body:             MRFF Clinician Researchers Initiative
Amount:                      $2,930,000
Chief investigator:       Anne Holland (Harris CIC)
Date awarded:           July 2022
Grant period:     3 years

Project: Restructuring musculoskeletal health services to ensure equitable access to effective, affordable allied health care 
Funding body:             MRFF Clinician Researchers Initiative
Amount:                      $1,491,473.01
Chief investigator:       Joshua Zadro
Date awarded:           2023
Grant period:     4 years

Project: Short Stay Joint Replacement
Funding body:             HCF Research Foundation Innovation Research Grant
Amount:                      $200,000
Chief investigator:       Ilana Ackerman (Harris CIB)
Date awarded:           July 2022
Grant period:     1 year

Project: Next-gen clinical registries: common data models, AI & cloud computing
Funding Body:  MRFF 2021 Research Data Infrastructure Grant
Amount:  $2,645,724
Chief investigator:      Louisa Jorm
Date awarded:           2023
Grant period:     4 years

Project: ANZMUSC Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal Clinical Trials Network (APP2015615)
Funding body:             NHMRC Centre for Clinical Excellence
Amount:                      $2,500,000
Chief investigator:        Rachelle Buchbinder (Harris CID)
Date awarded:           2022
Grant period:     5 years

  • SUcceSS
    This NHMRC funded study will compare surgical decompression to placebo surgery for lumbar spine stenosis – the first placebo spinal surgical trial to be conducted. The study is currently recruiting.
  • CRISTAL
    This MRFF funded study compared two common forms of clot prevention in joint replacement. The main findings were published in JAMA and the study was the first orthopaedic registry-nested clinical trial in Australia. Over 23,000 patients were recruited from 31 hospitals in a unique cluster-randomised crossover trail. The study showed that symptomatic clots were twice as likely to occur when patients were given aspiring compared to a common form of heparin, to prevent clots.
  • ARC
    This study, which is currently recruiting, compares rotator cuff repair during arthroscopic shoulder surgery to not repairing the rotator cuff, in patients with degenerative rotator cuff tears. It will be the first patient-blinded study of rotator cuff repair for this diagnosis and involves a team of international researchers. The study is funded by the Whitlam Orthopaedic Research Centre.