New program a ‘pilot for medical workforce development’

Kicking off early next year, MACH-Track is a five-year program in which candidates will explore their research interests through participating in three mini-projects of their choice in the first year.
 
With the objective of developing relationships with established researchers, candidates will have the opportunity to learn about different research methods and to identify a PhD project – undertaken in the second, third and fourth year of their post – with completion of postgraduate specialist or generalist training.
 
In the fifth year, candidates will receive some ‘protected time’ to work on publications, translation of their findings and explore Fellowship opportunities.
 
The project managers envisage MACH-Track as a pilot for medical workforce development to help deliver Australia the research-active clinical innovators it needs to ensure a healthy future for all.

General practice registrar Dr Brent Venning has been accepted into the MACH-Track program through the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health.
 
He was awarded a 2021 RACGP/Australian General Practice Training Academic Post for which he will undertake a discrete choice experiment for MACH-Track, relating to polygenic cancer risk scores in primary care, under the supervision of renowned cancer researcher Professor Jon Emery and the Cancer in Primary Care Research Group at the University of Melbourne.
 
Dr Venning is a general practice registrar with a background in public health and research interests in the early recognition and diagnosis of cancer in primary care.
 
He told newsGP that he has always had an interest in combining a career in clinical medicine and research.
 
‘I was drawn to research as a way of answering questions that arise in clinical practice and the creativity involved in coming up with solutions,’ he said.
 
‘For my academic term, I will be conducting a discrete choice experiment relating to polygenic cancer risk scores in primary care. My PhD will be in the area of cancer in primary care, with a specific topic to be determined next year.’


General practice registrar Dr Brent Venning will begin his Academic Post and placement on the new MACH-Track program in early 2021.

Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis is Associate Director of training on the program, and Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee–Research.
 
Together with the program Director, she worked to develop the scheme, interview applicants, provide mentorship and career guidance, and assist in the development of research programs of successful applicants.
 
Associate Professor Manski-Nankervis brings her own experience of combining general practice clinical work with academic work to the project, as well as her research interests in digital health, data science, antimicrobial stewardship and chronic disease.
 
‘I will support [Dr Venning] on his MACH-Track journey,’ she told newsGP. 
 
‘I also advocate for GPs to be able to participate in programs such as the MACH-Track, so that they have opportunities to develop their interests as their hospital-based counterparts do.’
 
Associate Professor Manski-Nankervis anticipates the project will benefit general practice through building sound connections with evidence-based future policies.
 
‘General practice is a clinical specialty in its own right and evidence for our patients and specialty needs to be generated by GPs and primary care researchers who understand the context in which general practice operates and the opportunities that exist there,’ she said .
 
‘The [MACH-Track] program will help develop the academic GPs of the future who can lead multidisciplinary research and build the evidence base that will underpin clinical care and drive policy.’
 
Dr Venning wants his research findings on cancer to be implemented into clinical practice.
 
‘I hope it will impact on patient care,’ he said. ‘Whether that be through different ways of conducting cancer screening or the implementation of diagnostic tools which reduce time to a cancer diagnosis.’
 
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