Symposium 5: Consumer and Community Involvement in Hypertension and Pharmacology Research
Tracks
Track 1
| Thursday, December 11, 2025 |
| 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM |
Details
Participatory research methods, including ‘codesign’, actively engages all stakeholders in the research process to ensure that the work addresses a priority area of patients, carers and the communities and promotes impactful research. Consumer-led research and/or community engagement throughout the research process is an increasing priority area for major national funding organisations so greater awareness of these research methods and how to effectively engage with communities is needed to support researchers to undertake high-quality work.
In this symposium, three researchers and one consumer will provide diverse insight into the key concepts for effective community engagement and share first-hand experience of community engagement with diverse communities in practice.
Participants attending this symposium will:
- Gain an appreciation of the challenges and rewards of community engagement throughout the research process;
- Learn practical tips, the “how-to’s” and the common pitfalls of community engagement in hypertension and pharmacology research;
- Opportunity to exchange knowledge and ideas, and reflect on the principles of community engagement in their own research and practice.
Community engagement in hypertension and pharmacology research provides the opportunity to foster inclusivity, relevance and ethical considerations, whilst promoting innovation and empowering all stakeholders involved in the research process. The symposium will provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the role of ‘lived experience’ in research and the benefits of knowledge exchange between patients, carers and researchers. The session will provide an opportunity for participants to engage with the speakers to reinforce their learning.
Speaker
John Stevens
Consumer advisor
University of Sydney
Ingredients for successful partnerships between researchers and consumers
Biography
John is a stroke survivor and active consumer advisor and advocate of consumer voice in research, health policy and health programs to provide lived experience of the impact of stroke for survivors and their loved ones. John is an experienced consumer advisor with >5 years of experience as a research steering committee member, a co-author on two publications and CI on >$5.5 million of grant funding. In 2023, John was appointed both as Chair of the Lived Experience Group and member of the Steering Committee of the Menzies Cardiovascular Research Flagship, UTAS. In 2024, John delivered a national invited presentation at the Hypertension Australia Winter School to provide lived experience of consumer involvement in research and took part in a panel discussion on consumer involvement at the inaugural National Hypertension Summit in Sydney.
Dr Niamh Chapman
Senior Research Fellow
Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Co-presenter
Biography
Dr Niamh Chapman leads the People and Systems Hypertension Research Team at the University of Sydney. Dr Chapman is the Co-Chair of the Australian Hypertension Taskforce Patient Engagement Working Group and Initiative lead the International Society of Hypertension patient guidelines.
Dr Chapman has received >$13.9 million in competitive grant funding, >$6.2 million as CIA, and published 35 papers. In 2023, Dr Chapman received a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to explore effective patient education and engagement strategies to improve hypertension management.
Dr Chapman’s research is focused on improving health service delivery to better meet the needs of patients and priorities to improve the detection and management of hypertension. Dr Chapman has extensive experience in community-led research with >7 years’ experience working directly with lived experience consumer advisors that have been co-authors on publications and CIs on successful grants.
Dr Andrew Goodman
Postdoctoral Fellow
Digital Therapeutics and Care, The Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO
Meaningful engagement to develop culturally relevant health interventions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Biography
Dr Andrew Goodman is an Aboriginal man from Iningai Country in Queensland. Prior to his PhD, Dr Goodman spent more than 13 years as an Indigenous Healthcare Worker in Queensland, focusing on cardiac and healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Fellow with CSIROs Australian eHealth Research Centre, exploring novel approaches and/or solutions to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health and wellbeing using electronic Health (eHealth). Dr Goodman is a steering committee member of the National Hypertension Taskforce. Dr Goodman leads a program of research through the facilitation of e-Health research (with respect to consultation, co-design, trialling or evaluation) and the development of technologies to support health and wellbeing. With his core value system of ‘Relationships before Partnerships’, Dr Goodman takes a relational approach to research agenda setting anchored by a value-based accountability with prospective Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations.
Prof Grant Drummond
La Trobe University
Consumer involvement in hindsight: reflections from a discovery scientist
Biography
Professor Grant Drummond is a pharmacologist and vascular biologist with over 30 years of experience in research and tertiary education.
He holds senior leadership positions at La Trobe University including Co-Director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Disease Research and Associate Dean (Research Partnerships) for the School of Agriculture Biomedicine and Environment.
Grant Drummond’s research is focussed on understanding the roles of oxidative stress and the immune system in hypertension and its downstream complications including kidney disease, heart failure and atherosclerosis.
His work has shown that hypertension is associated with activation of T cells, B cells and macrophages. These immune cells then accumulate in key blood pressure-regulating organs such as the blood vessels, kidneys, heart and brain, where they promote inflammation and tissue damage via the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. interleukin 18, interferon-g) and autoantibodies.
The long term goals of Grant Drummond’s research are to develop novel therapies that alleviate hypertension and end organ damage by dampening inflammation.
Grant Drummond has over 180 publications and his work has received more than 17,500 citations. His work has been continuously supported by the NHMRC and Heart Foundation of Australia for >20 years.
He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, and Associate Editor for the British Journal of Pharmacology, Cardiovascular Research and Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
Chair
Lisa Kouladjian O'Donnell
Lecturer
School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Mouna Sawan
Senior Lecturer
School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
