[Sheree Bekker] In the lead up to the 13th Australasian Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference, I invited keynote speaker Associate Professor Lynne Moore to answer a few questions for our blog.

Lynne Moore is an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the department of social and preventative medicine, Laval University in Québec City. She is recipient of a research career award and a CIHR Foundation grant, holds or shares over 10.1$m in research grants, and has published 140 peer-reviewed papers over her research career. Her research interests are in improving the quality of acute injury care. She has led the development, validation, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive quality tool assessment for acute injury care which has been implemented across Canada. She is co-leader of the International Injury Care Improvement Initiative.

1. Tell us about your training and role in public health/injury prevention.

I have a PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics and have been involved in injury research since 2001. I currently work in close collaboration with our provincial health quality assurance organisation on the evaluation and improvement of trauma systems.

2. What is your research focused on, and what do you see as the issues currently facing public health/injury prevention?

I focus on solutions to getting the right patient to the right place at the right time and delivering appropriate care. My current research projects have three main goals: 1) identifying determinants of inter-provider variations in resource use intensity related to injury care, 2) reducing the use of low-value clinical practices, and 3) improving our understanding of the components of trauma systems that drive optimal patient outcomes. I think that developing optimal trauma systems with available resources in low and middle income countries represents one of the most important global challenges in injury care.

3. How does your research Take Action?

Quality indicators developed through my research program have been used to evaluate injury care quality across Canada and have led to improvements in injury mortality and resource utilisation.

4. What can emerging researchers learn from you?

That injury research is a fantastic research field to be working in! Compared to many other fields such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases, injury research is in its infancy and therefore presents extremely fertile ground for dynamic, young researchers. Most importantly, it has the potential to make a huge difference in terms of saving healthy, productive life years.

5. What are you looking forward to most about your upcoming trip to Ballarat, Australia?

This is my first trip to Australia! I’m spending a month with Belinda Gabbe’s research team as part of my sabbatical. I’m really excited about this opportunity to meet with prestigious colleagues and discover a part of the world that I’ve been longing to visit since I was a child.

Earlybird registration for the  13th Australasian Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference is now open!