Excellence in Research - Researcher of the Year awarded to Professor Caroline Smith
18 December 2015
Congratulations to NICM’s Professor Caroline Smith who was awarded Researcher of the Year at today’s Western Sydney University 2015 Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Awards.
Awarded for her excellence in research, Professor Caroline Smith has made a sustained and significant contribution to establishing the evidence base of acupuncture in relation to reducing the impact of illness relating to women’s health for which she is recognised as a world leader.
“Professor Caroline Smith is an outstanding researcher of international repute,” said Professor Alan Bensoussan, NICM Executive Director.
“She has been an active researcher for over two decades, boasting a strong track record of nationally competitive grants, influential publications in high impact journals and a significant impact on healthcare policy and practice.
“There are very few international research leaders in the field of complementary medicine with comparable track records, and as such, she has made an unambiguous and strong contribution the ERA 5 ranking of NICM,” he said.
Professor Smith has substantial experience in developing and delivering high quality clinical trials.
Her most recent NHMRC funded clinical trial on acupuncture assisted in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) is the largest clinical trial of complementary medicine undertaken in Australia, both in terms of patient numbers and recruitment sites. If successful, this will have major impact on practice and policy in IVF.
Professor Bensoussan says the findings of many of her previous studies have already been incorporated into clinical practice guidelines and are well cited.
“Professor Smith has also built on clinical trial data by undertaking and publishing strong systematic reviews and meta-analyses in her areas of clinical speciality – women’s health and mental health,” he said.
Professor Smith also received at the awards ceremony, a highly commended for excellence in postgraduate research, training, and supervision.
