The Southern Cluster is led from Canberra Health Services with Professor Walter Abhayaratna, CHS Director of Research Operations and Clinical Trials, as Cluster Lead.
Clinical trials closer to home
Distance is a significant healthcare barrier for 30% of Australians living in rural, regional and remote areas. The Southern Cluster Clinical Trials Support Unit (CTSU) is designed to improve access to innovative healthcare by bringing clinical trials closer to regional communities. The initiative focuses on developing local workforces to adopt and deliver decentralised clinical trials to participants living in regional and remote areas of the NSW and ACT.
The Southern Cluster CTSU facilitates clinical trial start-up and access across four health services, incorporating numerous hospitals and health facilities.
The CTSU is open to proposals from trial sponsors across all phases and health conditions. To meet the specific needs of their community, Southern Cluster health facilities are available to conduct clinical trials in oncology, cardiology, renal medicine, endocrinology, and psychological medicine.
Download the Southern Cluster brochure (PDF 280.4 KB)
For site CVs and enquiries, email Southern-RRR-CTEP@act.gov.au
Our partners
The Southern Cluster is a collaboration between:
- Canberra Health Services
- Illawarra-Shoalhaven Local Health District
- Murrumbidgee Local Health District
- Southern NSW Local Health District
Modes of delivery
The Southern Cluster CTSU supports clinical trial activities closer to participants’ own locations through one of the following methods:
- In-person: regional facilities and workforces are skilled to conduct clinical trial activities.
- Virtual: clinical trial activities conducted remotely using technology to connect participants to healthcare providers.
- A mixture of approaches: a combination of in-person and virtual methods designed to limit participant travel and maximise regional based healthcare.
NSW Health and the ACT Government have partnered to deliver the Rural, Regional and Remote Clinical Trial Enabling Program, supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Medical Research Future Fund.