Q & A with Kathryn Refshauge

So, welcome Kathy to the Brain and Mind Centre. How do you see this role-playing out over the coming months?

There are incredible researchers here, putting out world-leading research and what’s so special is that it's clinically based and so it has an immediate impact. I see my role as facilitating that research and ensuring that these successes are visible outside the BMC.

As a multidisciplinary institute, what do you think sets the Brain and Mind Centre apart as a world-leading research institute?

There is no other research institute anywhere in the world quite like BMC. We have researchers using basic science to discover new approaches to diagnosis, and importantly to treatment and prevention, and these can ultimately be tested in its clinics. This bench-to-community approach is very rare in a single institute and is a key to its success. We have the Social Functioning Modelling team, Translational Psychopharmacology and Neurotherapeutic Innovation as an example of bench-to-community research. The Brain and Mind Centre is an enabling centre for research that has real-world impact.

You have a longstanding history with the University of Sydney. Can you expand on this?

I joined as a Level B academic last century!  My background is in physiotherapy. I was working in hospitals and clinics, particularly in industrial areas. I joined the University because I believed that we weren't doing the best that we could in primary care and I wanted to help change that. 

Later, I became the head of the physiotherapy school. Initially, I was a very reluctant leader, but after two days I loved it, because of the way that you can influence decisions and policy, and how you can influence the culture that you lead. 

From there, I applied for all my subsequent leadership roles, including various roles in the Faculty of Health Sciences. And then ultimately, I was appointed Dean of the Faculty - the best job that I'd ever had.

What do you think your greatest asset as a leader is?

I like to approach things collaboratively. Listening is important, but action and decisiveness are also important, ensuring decisions include what people are saying and their experiences. I think what feeds into that is my patient research-centred or patient-led care and how we get much better results when patients are partners in their care and leading the decisions.

It’s the same with leadership. You also need to create a safe place where people can tell you what's going on and they can be part of the solution.

How do you see yourself and Co-director Ian Hickie working together?

I'm looking forward to this because I have known Ian for a long time. I have so much respect for him, his advocacy, his research, his approach, his ideas and his creativity.

I won't be doing much external advocacy as Ian does this brilliantly, but I’ll still definitely focus on celebrating BMC researchers. I can advocate for everyone's research because when you’re the researcher, you're constrained about what you can say. But when you're that advocate, I can talk about it in a really different way and powerfully get the message across.

You’re quite active in the medical health industry, can you go a little more into that?

I have been very engaged with the health sector, at both the state and federal levels and in hospitals, local health districts, as well as primary health networks. Primary care is where the bulk of health care happens, but high costs are associated with hospitalization. So keeping people out of hospital underpins much of my more recent research.

I was a member of the Clinician Council of the Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network from the time it was established. When Medicare Locals changed to primary health networks, I went to all the strategic planning meetings to establish the PHN because I believe that the university and the PHN should be working closely together. This was a new idea at the time.