A/Prof Michelle Dowsey

Research Group Leader - Epidemiology, Clinical Trials and Health Services Research, University of Melbourne Department of Surgery, St. Vincent's Hospital (Melbourne).
BHealSci (Nursing) (Vic U); PG Dip Adv Clin Prac (Orthopaedics) (Vic U); Dip Frontline Management (Swinburne U); PhD (Melb U); PGradCert Appl Epi & Biostats (Curtin U); Grad Cert Clin Res Methods (Monash U); MEpi (Melb U).

A/Prof Michelle Dowsey is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow, Epidemiologist, Registered Nurse and Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Surgery at St. Vincent's where she leads the Epidemiology, Outcomes & Clinical Trials Orthopaedic Group.
Michelle has worked in musculoskeletal research since completing her PhD in December 2009, has published 100 scientific articles and 3 book chapters, and received over

4 million dollars in competitive grant funding.

She is an emerging international leader in musculoskeletal and health services research with a specific focus on addressing surgical and patient related factors that impact on the efficiency, safety and durability of total joint replacement surgery for those with end-stage arthritis. She is currently a member of the Australian Orthopaedic Association, Associate Editor for Frontiers of Orthopaedic Surgery and member of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International Publications Committee.
Michelle's research consists of three interweaving programs that aim to develop scalable cost effective solutions to mitigate the rising and unsustainable health care costs arising from the surgical management of advanced osteoarthritis. Utilizing her unique skill set (clinician, epidemiologist, behavioural researcher, trialist) and position as a Chief Investigator on an NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Total Joint Replacement (OPUS), Michelle's research program; i) explores ways in which linking primary, secondary and tertiary care data can be used to develop clinical prediction tools, ii) uses mixed methods research to explore clinician and patient health behaviours and how this impacts decision making, and iii) develops and tests pathways for divesting low-value health care practices in advanced osteoarthritis management.
Michelle is the lead investigator and custodian of the St. Vincent's Melbourne Arthroplasty (SMART) Outcomes Registry. SMART is a clinical registry based at St. Vincent's Hospital that houses clinical and patient reported outcome data in more than 11,000 patients who have undergone lower limb arthroplasty. Over 100,000 patient pain, function and quality of life surveys are recorded in the Registry, which plays an important role in identifying novel and modifiable factors including bone and joint structural and surgical factors, that affect the outcomes of surgery. Through an NHMRC Partnership Project with the Australian Orthopaedic Association, Medibank, MSK Australia and St. Vincent's Health Australia, she is leading a nationwide study to integrate a multi-dimensional electronic surgeon feedback intervention into public and private orthopaedic settings, to improve uptake of evidence-based practice in the management of advanced knee osteoarthritis.

Find out more about Michelle Dowsey's experience

Michelle Dowsey's highlights

FEATURED Journal article

Misconceptions and the Acceptance of Evidence-based Nonsurgical Interventions for Knee Osteoarthritis. A Qualitative Study

Michelle Dowsey's selected work

Reducing Inappropriate Knee Joint Replacement Surgery And Hospital Burden

Research Grant

National osteoarthritis strategy brief report Advanced care

Journal article

The Pretend Trial: A Mixed Methods Study Evaluating Preferences, Feasibility, And Costs Of..

Research Grant

Opioid Use and Total Joint Replacement.

Journal article

An External Review Of An Implementation Project Introducing An Online Clinical Database Fo..

Research Contracts

Comparison of posterior-stabilized, cruciate-retaining, and medial-stabilized knee implant..

Journal article

Projects

Displaying the 26 most recent projects by Michelle Dowsey.

Reducing Inappropriate Knee Joint Replacement Surgery And Hospital Burden

2019 - 2023

Active

The Pretend Trial: A Mixed Methods Study Evaluating Preferences, Feasibility, And Costs Of Performing Sham Surgery Trials Involving Major Surgical Procedures

Randomising patients to receive either an 'active' or a 'sham' (pretend) surgery and comparing the outcomes is the best way to test how effe..

2019 - 2020

Active

An External Review Of An Implementation Project Introducing An Online Clinical Database For Use By Orthopaedic Surgeons And Their Patients Presenting With Knee Pain.

2018 - 2020

Active

Developing A Prediction Model For Total Knee Replacement Surgery For People With Osteoarthritis In General Practice

2018 - 2021

Active