Farewell A/Prof Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis

It is with mixed emotions that we bid farewell to Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis, an esteemed member of our Department, as she embarks on an exciting new chapter in her career. A/Prof Manski-Nankervis will be taking up the distinguished position as the Primary Care Research Lead in the Department of Family Medicine in Lee Kong Chian (LKC)  School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, one of the top medical schools in the world. We are sad to say goodbye but will follow her journey with great interest.

Since joining the Department in 2010, A/Prof Manski-Nankervis has made significant contributions to advancing the field of general practice research. A leader in data-driven quality improvement, her work has been instrumental in advancing innovative research that focuses on the development and implementation of technology to enhance decision-making in general practice. Her ability to see where new ideas may lead combined with her energy and drive to get things done have inspired us all to think outside our comfort zones.

Jo-Anne is passionate about leveraging data to describe and improve general practice activity. The core of her work focuses on using general practice datasets to assess and evaluate models of care. She is deeply interested in harnessing technology to provide decision support and facilitate quality improvement to assist GPs with their work and played an instrumental role in the Department’s move to a more datacentric approach to research. She was a driving force in setting up the Data for Decisions program, an achievement that would not have happened without her.

One of her major accomplishments was the co-creation of the Future Health Today program, a collaboration between The University of Melbourne and Western Health, designed to identify and manage chronic diseases in general practice through a co-designed technology platform. Jo-Anne played a key role in developing a number of tools that seamlessly integrate with electronic medical records to support evidence-based, clinical decision-making. She was also instrumental in the design and development of Torch Recruit, an innovative digital platform facilitating better clinical trial recruitment in general practice.

In addition to her research endeavours, Jo-Anne has actively engaged in numerous leadership roles and collaborations. These include Deputy Head of the Department of General Practice and Primary Care, a member of the RACGP National Faculty of Specific Interests – Diabetes Network and Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Research. She has also been a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Advisory Committee, Medicare Benefits Review Clinical Committee, Primary Care Clinical Academic Informatics Director at the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health at the University of Melbourne, collaborator with the ACADI Diabetes Centre and Director of the MACH Track—an innovative program supporting clinician researchers undertaking PhDs.

We would like to say thank Jo-Anne for her unwavering commitment to progressing research and knowledge in general practice and her dedication to advancing our Department. We will miss her deeply and wish her continued success and fulfillment in her new role in Singapore and look forward to continued collaboration.