Dr Clare Heal is  Professor (Promotional Chair) in the department of  General Practice and Rural Medicine at James Cook University School of Medicine and Dentistry Rural Clinical School in Mackay, Queensland.

Over the past ten years she has been principle investigator, or supervising co-investigator of seven successful practice based randomised controlled trials investigating the management of skin cancer surgery. The results of these trials have been published in high impact medical journals, such as the British Medical Journal.  In 2016 her study comparing sterile to clean boxed gloves was named one of the top 20 top international studies for Primary Care Physicians.She was awarded the AAAGP award for best research in Primary Care in 2015, and the RACGP Peter Mudge Medal for best research in General Practice in 2016. She is principle author of a Cochrane review on topical antibiotic prophylaxis was published in November 2016.

She continues to be active in clinical and academic general practice. She is a member of the editorial advisory group for the British Medical Journal, and the RACGP National Research Committee. She is a member of the NHMRC project grant review panel.

She currently supervises four honours students and two PhD students and has had fourteen successful honours completions, and one PhD completion. She has published more than 50 peer reviewed journal articles.

In addition to her research activities, she is chair of the Year five assessment and co-ordinator of general practice for James Cook University.  She is a member of an expert exam item-writing panel for the Australian Medical Council and is co-chair of ACCLAIM, a national exam writing collaboration.  

Teaching

• MD5010: Integrated Clinical Practice Part 1 of 3 (Level 5; TSV)
• MD5020: Integrated Clinical Practice Part 2 of 3 (Level 5; TSV)
• MD5030: Integrated Clinical Practice Part 3 of 3 (Level 5; TSV)

Research Disciplines

• Public Health and Health Services (1117)
• Clinical Sciences (1103)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Clinical Health (9201)
• Public Health (9204)

Awards

• 2015 - AAAPC Distinguished paper chosen for international presentation at NAPCRG
• 2014 - Best paper and audience choice awards RACGP Queensland annual meeting
• 2012 - Peter Mudge Medal, Best Research in General Practice presentation, RACGP annual scientific meeting
• 2011 - Senior author, annual best paper, Australian Family Physician

Other

• 2015 to 2018 - Member of Oxford primary care research leadership cohort

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Charles D, Heal C, Delpachitra M, Wohlfahrt M, Kimber D, Sullivan J, Browning S, Saeidnia S, Hardy A, Banks J and Buttner P (2017) Alcoholic versus aqueous chlorhexidine for skin antisepsis: the AVALANCHE trial. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 189 (31). pp. E1008-E1016
• Heal C, Banks J, Lepper P, Kontopantelis E and van Driel M (2017) Meta-analysis of randomized and quasi-randomized clinical trials of topical antibiotics after primary closure for the prevention of surgical-site infection. British Journal of Surgery, 104. pp. 1123-1130
• Heal C, Lepper P and Banks J (2017) Topical antibiotics to prevent surgical site infection after minor surgery in primary care. Dermatology Practical & Conceptual, 7 (3). pp. 16-20
• Javat D, Heal C, Buchholz S and Zhang Z (in press) Early versus delayed invasive strategies in high-risk non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome patients - a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Heart, Lung and Circulation,
• Malau-Aduli B, Teague P, D'Souza K, Heal C, Turner R, Garne D and van der Vleuten C (in press) A collaborative comparison of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) standard setting methods at Australian medical schools. Medical Teacher, pp. 1-23
• Drobetz H, Koval L, Weninger P, Luscombe R, Jeffries P, Ehrendorfer S and Heal C (2016) Volar locking distal radius plates show better short-term results than other treatment options: a prospective randomised controlled trial. World Journal of Orthopedics, 7 (10). pp. 687-694
• Fergus E, Speare R and Heal C (2016) Developing strategies to increase the immunity of medical students at an Australian University. Vaccine Reports, 6. pp. 56-61
• Heal C, Banks J, Lepper P, Kontopantelis E and van Driel M (2016) Topical antibiotics for preventing surgical site infection in wounds healing by primary intention. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews , 2016 (11). pp. 1-71
• Heal C, Charles D, Hardy A, Delpachitra M, Banks J, Wohlfahrt M, Saednia S and Buettner P (2016) Protocol for a randomised controlled trial comparing aqueous with alcoholic chlorhexidine antisepsis for the prevention of superficial surgical site infection after minor surgery in general practice: the AVALANCHE trial. BMJ Open, 6 (7).
• Leung A, Heal C, Banks J, Abraham B, Capati G and Pretorius C (2016) The incidence of peripheral catheter related thrombosis in surgical patients. Thrombosis, 2016. pp. 1-6
• Malau-Aduli B, Teague P, Turner R, Holman B, D'Souza K, Garne D, Heal C, Heggarty P, Hudson J, Wilson I and van der Vleuten C (2016) Improving assessment practice through cross-institutional collaboration: an exercise on the use of OSCEs. Medical Teacher, 38 (3). pp. 263-271
• Heal C, Sriharan S, Buttner P and Kimber D (2015) Comparing non-sterile with sterile gloves for minor surgery: a prospective randomised controlled non-inferiority trial. Medical Journal of Australia, 202 (1). pp. 27-31

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 52+ research outputs authored by Prof Clare Heal from 2005 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Is There a Role for L-Arginine Supplementation in the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers in a North Queensland Community Diabetics Clinic? (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Fibrin Glue in Skin Grafts for Skin Cancer (Masters , Secondary Advisor)

Completed

• Treatment of distal radius fractures with volar locking distal radius plates (2013, PhD , Associate Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.