Witness Statement of Jo-An Atkinson

WIT.0001.0107.0001 Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System WITNESS STATEMENT OF JO-AN ATKINSON I, Jo-An Atkinson, Associate Professor, of Building F, Level 5, 94 Mallet Street, Camperdown, NSW, say as follows: 1 I make this statement on the basis of my own knowledge, save where otherwise stated. Where I make statements based on information provided by others, I believe such information to be true. 2 I am providing evidence to the Royal Commission in my personal capacity. Background Qualifications and relevant experience 3 I have more than 20 years’ experience in health service delivery and clinical research in Australia, as well as public health operational research to inform strategies for disease control and elimination in the Asia-Pacific region. I have particular experience leading research on the use of various forms of systems modelling to address challenges such as suicide prevention and mental health service planning. 4 I have a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, which I received in 1998 from The University of Queensland, and a clinical research Master of Philosophy, which I undertook between 2003 to 2005 at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital through the University of Queensland. 5 I worked as an allied health professional in hospitals in the UK and in Australia for over 10 years, providing care for inpatients and outpatients. From 2008 to 2011 I worked as the Research Manager for the Pacific Malaria Initiative Support Centre (which was based at the University of Queensland School of Population Health and supporting a joint AusAID / Global Fund program to eliminate malaria in the South West Pacific). 6 I was awarded a PhD in International Public Health in 2012. My PhD thesis focused on the individual, household, community, and health system factors that impacted malaria prevention and health system effectiveness in the scale up of interventions in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. It was during my PhD studies that I became more deeply aware of complex systems science and the use of systems modelling and simulation to forecast infectious disease transmission, and as a tool for testing alternative strategies to reduce and eliminate transmission. Please note that the information presented in this witness statement responds to matters requested by the Royal Commission. 84273733 page 1 WIT.0001.0107.0002 7 On being awarded my PhD, I worked from 2012 to 2013 as a Research Fellow with the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit, School of Population Health (SPH), University of Queensland, before moving to Sydney where I took up a position with the Sax Institute's Implementation Science group. 8 In 2014, I joined The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre (“Prevention Centre”) - a $25 million national initiative administered by the Sax Institute and funded by the National Health and Medical Research Centre, the Australian Government Department of Health, NSW Ministry of Health, ACT Health and the HCF Research Foundation. The aim of the Prevention Centre is to explore systems approaches to building an effective, efficient and equitable system for the prevention of lifestyle-related chronic disease. Under that initiative, I built a program of work in systems modelling and simulation to inform lifestyle-related chronic disease prevention policy and planning with a small team of talented colleagues. Our policy partners recognised the value of this approach, which then led to the establishment of a consultancy service called Decision Analytics within the Sax Institute, of which I was Director until January 2020. 9 Decision Analytics provided a service to national and state policy agencies and regional planners in using systems modelling and simulation to develop interactive decision support tools to help address complex health system, service planning, and population health problems. Over the past 5 years (through the Prevention Centre and Decision Analytics, and in partnership with policy agencies and regional planners) my team and I developed over 30 models to tackle issues such as suicide prevention, mental health service planning, alcohol related harms, tobacco control, childhood overweight and obesity, diabetes in pregnancy, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, state-level health system service planning to improve hospital performance, child protection service system reform, and homelessness. 10 In addition to my formal qualifications, I have undertaken a range of short- and semester- long courses in applied mathematics, epidemiological and statistical methods, health care modelling, systems thinking & design thinking, data-informed simulation modelling in health, and in the use of smartphones and wearable technology (such as smart watches or fitness trackers) to better understand individual health behaviours. 11 Attached to this statement and marked ‘JAA-1' is a copy of my CV. Current role and responsibilities Computer Simulation and Advanced Research Technologies (“CSART”) 12 I have been Managing Director of CSART since its inception in 2018. 84273733 page 2 WIT.0001.0107.0003 13 CSART is a not-for-profit organisation working at the intersection of computer science, data science, systems science, health and behavioural sciences. We are committed to Open Science (a movement to make scientific research transparent and accessible to everyone). Our goal is to put better analytic tools in the hands of decision makers and working to create the necessary workforce, technological, and systems infrastructure to make systems modelling and computer simulation more broadly available and more routinely used to support decision making. CSART is an alliance of centres of excellence around the world, undertaking both methodological development and applied research. I discuss applied research further in paragraph 20 below. 14 CSART is working to build global capacity in the use of computer simulation and advanced research technologies to support policy and planning decisions that better address society's most complex, persistent health and social problems. 15 The core areas of CSART's work are: (a) Interdisciplinary national and global health focussed systems modelling and simulation to support strategic and operational decision making to improve health and social systems. (b) Training and capacity building activities shared across the alliance that encompasses: i. student research projects and shared supervision and mentorship of postgraduate students between CSART partner institutions; ii. collaborative development and adaption of training materials and provision of short courses; and iii. postgraduate student placements and exchanges between CSART's partner organisations internationally to promote contacts between talented young scientists and foster the next generation of science leaders. (c) Fostering collaboration and exchanges between leading scientists through joint organization of symposia, seminars, workshops and lectures. (d) Sharing of research expertise, materials, technological innovation, data and scientific knowledge through collaborative national and international grant applications and projects. 84273733 page 3 WIT.0001.0107.0004 16 My role as Managing Director is to spearhead the implementation of strategic and operational priorities of CSART to achieve its mission1 and vision2. Brain and Mind Centre (“BMC”) 17 In addition, in February 2020 I commenced a part-time role with the Brain and Mind Centre (“BMC”) at The University of Sydney, where I Head the Systems Modelling and Simulation group, as part of the Youth Mental Health and Technology program led by Professor Ian Hickie. My role in this position is to advance a program of work in the application of systems modelling and simulation in the areas of mental health and suicide prevention, and in particular, in youth mental health. This program of work spans local, regional and national levels - that is, my team is applying systems modelling and simulation to: (a) inform improvements in operational efficiency and coordination of local services to improve the effectiveness, equity, and timeliness of care; (b) support regional decision making regarding strategic investments to improve mental health and suicide prevention; and (c) inform national system reform to enhance Australia’s ‘mental wealth.’ 18 Over the past five years, my teams and I have been commissioned to build a national model, and our primary clients have been Primary Health Networks (“PHNs”). System Design My research background 19 My research background has spanned clinical research, international public health research in infectious disease prevention, chronic disease prevention in Australia, and, most recently, mental health and suicide prevention. This research experience has included the use of quantitative, qualitative and participatory research methodologies, and the design of strategies for community engagement in prevention initiatives. 20 My research experience has often been policy driven, and has primarily been applied research. Applied research refers to research that is used to solve a specific, practical issue affecting a public health policy or program, as opposed to basic research that aims 1 CSART’s mission is “to provide better access to advanced research technologies and transparent decision support tools to help policy makers and planners make sense of complex problems and generate collective action to help solve them.” For more information about how CSART seeks to achieve this mission, see http://www.csart-world.com/ 2 CSART’s vision is “a world where human health

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