Activities

The Surgical Research Society of Australasia (SRS) was established in 1961 with Professor Richard P Jepson as its inaugural President. The Surgical Research Society has a long history of contribution to the advancement of surgical research and support for academic surgery. As one of its most valuable achievements over the years, the SRS has provided an excellent forum for the presentation of original research by Fellows, Trainees and medical students to present their research.

The Surgical Research Society of Australasia Conference is held in conjunction with the Section of Academic Surgery Meeting as part of the flagship November Annual Academic Conference.

Prestigious and highly sought-after prizes are awarded at the conference:

• the Young Investigator Award which provides financial support for the winner to attend and present their work at the Association for Academic Surgery Annual Scientific Meeting in the United States.
• the Developing a Career and Skills in Academic Surgery (DCAS) which provides financial support for the winner to attend the DCAS Course.
• travel awards.

The SRS Conference will be held as a hybrid event on 4 November 2021 at the RACS SA State Office, 24 King William Street, Kent Town, SA 5067. Details about this event can be found on the Event page.

Become a member of the SRS.

This course was established to help delegates understand the early stages of establishing a career in academic surgery and to broaden their network of experienced colleagues. The target audience of this course includes medical students, surgical Trainees, research Fellows, early career academics, Younger Fellows, and any surgeons with an interest in academic surgery.

Course goals:

• To promote the positive, inclusive aspects of academic surgery
• To inspire and recruit potential academic surgeons
• To provide an insight into academic practice

The DCAS course is held annually by the Section of Academic Surgery on the Monday preceding the RACS Annual Scientific Congress (ASC) within the same venue.

The DCAS Course was successfully held in a hybrid format on 10 May 2021 in Melbourne, Victoria. Planning for the 2022 DCAS Course is progressing; it is expected that the Course will be delivered as a hybrid format at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on 2 May 2022.

Contact details: dcas@surgeons.org
Tel: +61 3 9249 1117

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, through the Section of Academic Surgery has a key focus on creating and sustaining the next generation of the clinical academic workforce. The Clinical Academic Pathways Working Party was formed to take this work forward.

The aims of this working party are:

• to develop a strategic framework that will identify the requirements (including gaps, overlaps and obstacles) for embedding Clinical Academic career pathways within the Australian and New Zealand Medical system, and
• to investigate means by which active support can be provided to host institutions wishing to build new clinical academic training pathways/positions throughout the continuum of training in collaboration with the relevant training, regulatory and professional bodies (including medical schools and postgraduate medical colleges).

Vision statement
Leading the way to transforming patient care through trainee led clinical studies.

Mission statement
Equipping the next generation of surgical trainees with the research, management and organisational skills necessary to initiate and drive multi centred clinical trials. Supporting trainees as they work towards improving patient outcomes through evidence based clinical studies.

Who is CTANZ?
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons through the Section of Academic Surgery recognised that the interests of patients would be best served by preparing scientifically literate trainees who will develop the necessary skills vital to the growth of a robust community of academic surgeons. The Clinical Trials Network Australia New Zealand (CTANZ) was established in 2017 to bring this vision to fruition. CTANZ is modelled on the highly successful Clinical Trials Network of UK which adopted a “bottom up” trainee driven instead of a “top down” consultant dictated approach.

CTANZ seeks to inspire current and future trainees to make a difference by incorporating research into their daily practice. Here the surgical trainees working in specialty networks are the principal investigators recruiting patients into multi-centre prospective clinical trials, during their training rotations. The emphasis is on empowering surgical trainees to design, conduct, analyse and publish clinical trials during their training period. Trainee networks are supported by appointed Surgical Specialty Leads (SSLs) who mentor and provide arm’s length guidance to the networks.

In the future it is proposed that they will be supported by Surgical Trial Centres with additional expertise in study design and data analysis.

Professor David Watson - CTANZ Clinical Director

For more information:
Dr Lorwai Tan - CTANZ Coordinator
CTANZ@surgeons.org

General Surgery
Name of network: Hunter SPARTANs (Student, Pre-vocational And Registrar Trials and Audit Network)
Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/HunterSpartans (@HunterSpartans)
Span of network: Hunter New England Local Health District (HNE LHD), New South Wales
Description: SPARTANs is a research network supporting medical students and junior doctors in engaging with collaborative projects in the surgical field. Our team has contributed over 50 data collectors to four international projects in our four years of activity.
Current multi-centred studies: COMPASS (Management of COMPlicAted intra-abdominal collectionS after colorectal Surgery) hosted by EuroSurg
Network contact: Dr Isabella Ludbrook (Dr Isabella Ludbrook or Hunter SPARTANs). Supported and supervised by Dr Peter Pockney (Dr Peter Pockney)

General Surgery
Name of network: QUEST (Queensland Surgical Trainee Research Collaboration)
Website: www.questcollaboration.org
Span of network: Australia and New Zealand
Description: The main objective of the collaboration is to produce high quality, surgically focused research. 
Current multi-centred studies:  Queensland Colorectal Cancer Survivor Study
Network contact: Dr Tom Arthur (QUEST Collaboration)

General Surgery
Name of network: STARC (South Australian Trainees Audit & Research Collaborative)
Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/StarcSa (@StarcSa)
Span of network: South Australia 
Description: STARC is the first trainee led research collaborative established in South Australia. The main aim of this collaborative is to empower trainees to lead in promoting evidence-based practice in surgery by participating in high quality research studies.
Current multi-centred studies: SUNRRISE and SOS; Previous: IMAGINE, Global Surg 3
Network contact: Dr Nagendra Dudi-Venkata (Dr Nagendra Dudi-Venkata)
  

General Surgery
Name of network: STORCC (Surgical Trainee Organisation for Research, Central Coast)
Website: https://storcc.com/
Span of network: Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD), New South Wales
Description: STORCC is a local collaborative active on the Central Coast of NSW, with approximately 30 members primarily consisting of prevocational doctors and medical students who have an interest in pursuing careers in surgical specialties. Our activity involves both local projects within our network and contributions to large international multi-centre collaborative studies.
Current multi-centred studies: The use of video media in informed consent for emergency appendicectomy: a randomised controlled, cross-over trial 
Network contact: Dr Elizabeth Lun (Dr Elizabeth Lun), A/Prof Amanda Dawson (Dr Amanda Dawson)

General Surgery
Name of network: STRATA (Surgical Trainee Research, Audit & Trials Aotearoa)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STRATA_Collab (@STRATA_Collab)
Span of network: New Zealand
Description: Supporting New Zealand's future surgeons to take part in high-quality and meaningful collaborative research.
Current multi-centred studies: RURAL Study - Rural & Urban Risks of Appendicitis compLications; COMPASS Study - Management of COMPlicAted intra-abdominal collectionS after colorectal Surgery 
Network contact: Dr Brodie Elliott (STRATA Collaborative)

General Surgery
Name of network: VERITAS (Victorian Collaborative for Education, Research, Innovation, Training and Audit by Surgical Trainees)
Twitter handle: twitter.com/VERITAS_Collab (@VERITAS_Collab)
Website: www.veritas.surgery    
Span of network: Victoria, Tasmania and Northern Territory
Description: Trainees (medical student to fellows) from Austin and affiliated hospitals aspiring to a surgical career. In general, VERITAS is surgery focused though not exclusively. 
Current multi-centred studies: SOS (Surgical Outpatient Study)
Network contact: Dr David Liu (Dr David Liu), Dr Su Kah Goh (Dr Su Kah Goh) 

General Surgery
Name of network: WestSuRG (Western Surgery)
Twitter handle: twitter.com/WestSuRG (@WestSuRG)
Website: TBC
Span of network: Western Health, Victoria
Description: A research collaborative that involves junior doctors and clinicians to develop and run research projects at Western Health.
Current multi-centred studies: POSTVenTT (Post-operative variation in anaemia treatment and transfusions); SoCS-FREE-OT (Sequential compression alone for the prevention of deep venous thrombosis in operating theatres); PROTECTinG (Pre-operative and intra-operative chemical thromboprophylaxis increases bleeding risk following elective cholecystectomy: a multicentre study)
Network contact: Dr Danielle Taylor (Dr Danielle Taylor), WHS (WHS)

Orthopaedic Surgery
Span of network: New Zealand
Network contact: Dr Nichola Wilson (Dr Nichola Wilson)

Paediatric Surgery
Name of network: ANZSCRAFT (Australia and New Zealand Surgery in Children Registrar's Association For Trials)
Span of network: Australia and New Zealand
Description: A bi-national, Trainee-led, research collaborative for advancement of academia in paediatric surgery
Current multi-centred studies: Empyema in Children Trial
Network contact: Dr Kiera Roberts (Dr Kiera Roberts), Dr Tim Little (Dr Tim Little) 

Plastic Surgery and Sub-Specialties

Name of network: ACTPRAS (Australasian Clinical Trials in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery)
Twitter: twitter.com/ACTPRASurgery (@ACTPRASurgery)
Website: www.actpras.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ACTPRASurgery
Span of network: Australia and New Zealand
Description: Binational network, supporting trainee-led, multi-centre, collaborative research.
Current multi-centred studies: CANVAS (CompArison of Non-Absorbable Suture Versus Absorbable sutures for Skin surgery)
Network contact: Dr Guy Stanley (Dr Guy Stanley), supported and supervised by Dr Michael Findlay

Vascular Surgery
Name of network: ANZVTN (ANZ Vascular Trainee Network)
Twitter handle: twitter.com/anzvtn (@anzvtn)  
Span of network: TBC
Description: A trainee-lead research collaborative aiming at increasing vascular surgical trainee involvement in research. Recently, the ANZVTN has partnered with the UK trainee Vascular and Endovascular Research Network (VERN) and other trainee networks across the world to conduct the COVID-19 Vascular Service Study: The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the provision, practice and outcomes of vascular surgery (COVER study). 
Current multi-centred studies: COVER study (COvid-19 Vascular sERvice Study)
Network contact: TBC

Vascular Surgery
Name of network: Perth Clinical Trials Unit
Span of network: Australia, UK, Europe, Asia
Description: Professor Toby Richards has just moved to Australia from University College London to take up a post at University of Western Australia as a clinical academic Professor of Surgery and practising Vascular Surgeon at Fiona Stanley Hospital.  He is director of the Perth Clinical Trials Unit. He has a strong interest in integrating translational and clinical trials into clinical practice as part of best patient care.

Current multi-centred studies:
PREVENTT – Preoperative Intravenous iron for anaemia before major abdominal surgery
ITACS – Intravenous iron to treat anaemia before cardiac surgery
ECST-2 – European Carotid Surgery Trial 2
POISE-3 – PeriOperative ISchemic Evaluation-3 Trial
GIVE – International audit of wound infection following vascular surgery
RECON – STARSurg international audit on REspiratory ComplicatiOns after abdomiNal Surgery
ABRE – Medtronic observational trial on venous stenting
VIRTUS – Boston Scientific observational trial on venous stenting
Network contact: Prof Toby Richards (Prof Toby Richards)

Medical students/prevocational

Name of network: STRIVE WA (STudent Research InitiatiVE Western Australia)
Twitter: twitter.com/strive_wa (@strive_wa)
Span of network: Western Australia
Description: Supporting Western Australian medical students from all 3 WA medical schools to develop skills in audit and participate in high-quality collaborative research projects.
Current multi-centred studies: COMPASS Study - Management of COMPlicAted intra-abdominal collectionS after colorectal Surgery (partnered with TASMAN Collaborative)
Network contact: James Leigh (STRIVE WA)

Medical students/prevocational

Name of network: TASMAN Collaborative (Trials and Audit in Surgery by Medical students in Australia and New Zealand)
Twitter handle: twitter.com/TASMANCollab (@TASMANCollab)
Span of network: Australia and New Zealand
Description: For medical students in New Zealand and Australia to be engaged and active in designing, leading, and disseminating high-quality collaborative surgical research.
Current multi-centred studies: RECON (REspiratory ComplicatiOns after abdomiNal Surgery)
Previous: IMAGINE, Global Surg 3
Network contact: TASMAN (TASMAN Collaborative); ASSA: Davina Daudu (ASSA President)

Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA)
http://www.clinicaltrialsalliance.org.au/

Australasian Students’ Surgical Association (ASSA)
https://anzsurgsocs.org/

Single Use Negative Pressure dressing for Reduction In Surgical site Infection following Emergency Laparotomy Trial (SUNRRISE)
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/mds/trials/bctu/trials/coloproctology/SUNRRISE/contact.aspx

The Student Audit and Research in Surgery (STARSurg) Collaborative
https://starsurg.org/

Royal College of Surgeons (UK) Clinical Trials Initiative
https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/standards-and-research/research/surgical-trials-initiative/