DrAmal Chakraborty

Dr Amal Chakraborty is a seasoned public health researcher with over 18 years of experience in Australia, specialising in Indigenous health, health systems strengthening, and socio-environmental determinants of health. He currently serves as a Research Fellow at the University Centre for Rural Health, University of Sydney, where he leads and coordinates the multi-jurisdictional current MRFF-funded (GNT2007341) VOICE PREM development research project. He brings a strong foundation in integrated knowledge translation, participatory research, and stakeholder engagement, working collaboratively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, health services, and policymakers. His career spans academic and community sectors, underpinned by a PhD in Public Health and a commitment to equity, inclusion, and culturally safe research practices.

Dr Chakraborty has played a pivotal role in numerous national and state-funded research initiatives, including the current MRFF-funded VOICE project, which co-develops patient-reported experience measures with Indigenous communities. In his previous roles, he coordinated a 4-year NHMRC funded EnRICH research project (GNT1051824) and completed his PhD nested within this broader project. He also worked as a Site Evaluation Facilitator with an Australian Government-funded multifaceted Sentinel Site Evaluation (SSE) Project. In this project, he engaged with Aboriginal communities, ACCHS, and general practices in 13 of the 24 Sentinel Sites across Australia to evaluate the implementation of the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package (ICDP) measures. Similarly, he also worked with another Australian Government-funded large-scale Support, Collection, Analysis and Reporting Function (SCARF) Project, where he closely worked with 27 Aboriginal Health Services across the states of NSW, VIC, QLD, and the ACT. In these roles, Dr Chakraborty undertook service visits; conducted regional workshops on Continuous Quality Improvement involving Aboriginal Health Services staff; led the interpretation of data, and facilitated translation of findings into improving local-level health services delivery. He has led and contributed to numerous systematic reviews, qualitative and quantitative studies, and program evaluations across diverse health domains such as chronic disease, palliative care, and environmental health. He co-authored 21 peer-reviewed papers published extensively in high-impact journals, and produced influential reports for government agencies, including the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQH), and SA Health.

Dr Chakraborty's research has directly informed policy and practice in Indigenous health, aged care, and environmental health. His work has contributed to the development of culturally appropriate evaluation tools, improved service delivery models, and evidence-based policy recommendations. For example, as a Site Evaluation Facilitator working with the Sentinel Sites Evaluation, Dr Chakraborty co-authored 24 sentinel site-specific reports. He then visited and directly engaged with 13 of the 24 sentinel sites to interpret the site-specific reports with staff members of participating primary health care services, and discussed key findings with them for considering potential modifications to local-level implementation of the ICDP measures. In another example, Dr Chakraborty led to the completion of a systematic review of published literature and a qualitative study funded by the SA Health, engaging residential aged care services in South Australia to understand the grief, loss and bereavement needs of residents and families. The findings from these two studies were utilised to inform the development of the Flinders Bereavement Bookletwhich has been well received by the residential aged care services in South Australia and SA Health. Dr Chakraborty also made strong contributions to the Rapid review of the literature: End-of-life care funded by the ACSQH. This rapid review was undertaken to inform an update to the National Consensus Statement: essential elements for safe and high-quality end-of-life care. His past experiences in knowledge translation with the projects outlined will be instrumental and a key asset for the VOICE PREM implementation project. He has also supported grant development and academic mentoring, and currently serves as a member of the Northern NSW Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee (NNSW LHD HREC).