Dr Elissa Jane Elvidge

Dr Elissa Elvidge is a mixed methods researcher whose work focuses on improving clinical and public health outcomes through community-led research partnerships. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle and a member of the Research Faculty at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, she has published work of considerable clinical and strategic policy importance. Despite being an early career researcher, Dr Elvidge has already made significant contributions to the literature, including leading the development of validated cultural safety tools and training programs.

To date, Dr Elvidge has been awarded over $5 million in research funding related to improving health outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Dr Elvidge has led independent research involving local and international collaborative networks, such as the analyses for a scholarship of teaching and learning study examining pedagogies of teaching qualitative research methods in medical sciences. She has collaborated with academics from Oxford University and the University of Southampton (UK) as well as First Nations researchers in New Zealand, America, Alaska, Canada, Hawaii and Spain.

Dr Elvidge's doctoral work led to the development of a novel cultural safety framework currently being used by NSW hospitals, including a cultural safety scale that presents an empirically validated tool for measuring cultural safety from the Aboriginal patient perspective. The tool and framework have had extensive research impact as they have been adopted locally, nationally, and internationally by organizations such as the NSW Health Bureau of Health Information, which have included elements of the framework in a state-wide patient survey to report the performance of the NSW healthcare system. Other organizations that have adopted the framework include the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (Prince of Wales and Tamworth hospitals) and St. Vincent's Private Hospital Network (NSW, QLD, and VIC). International organizations include an international consortium of researchers from the University of the Basque Country (the Indigenous Basque autonomous community located in Spain), researchers from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (Canada) and the University of Massachusetts (USA). Corrections Canada and the Provincial Health Services Authority, British Columbia have indicated interest in adapting the framework for First Nations communities.

Dr Elvidge is currently a Chief Investigator on the 'Characterisation of Airways Disease in Aboriginal Adults' study in Moree and Narrabri (rural NSW), where she leads a team of clinical, biomedical, and Aboriginal health worker investigators. She also leads the 'Breathe for Bub' program, which aims to develop a culturally safe framework for the clinical care of Aboriginal women with asthma during pregnancy. Dr Elvidge's expertise is in high demand as she is regularly commissioned by national peak health bodies such as the McGrath Foundation and the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives to undertake research, workforce development projects and evaluate cultural safety and diversity training initiatives. More recently, Dr Elvidge has collaborated with the University of Newcastle industry partners Forsythes Training (a leading provider of workforce capability and skills development servicing Australia) to develop an online Equity and Cultural Capability course for staff and students.

Beginning with her work in public health (2007-2014), Dr Elvidge has considerable experience in leading complex cross-sectoral studies involving multidisciplinary teams, particularly in relation to Aboriginal health, cultural safety, and respiratory medicine. Dr Elvidge has over 16 years of experience working with diverse communities, and during this time, she has established strong regional collaborations and respectful relationships with GLTBQIA+ communities, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, Aboriginal communities and national peak health bodies across Australia. Relationship building is essential to maintain the trust and connection to the communities whose knowledge, support and involvement make her research possible.