ProfessorChristopher Williams

BAppSc(ExSci), MPhty, PhD

Professor Chris Williams is dedicated to improving health and wellbeing in rural communities through practical, high-quality and collaborative research. His work aims to advance Learning Health Systems and integrated healthcare in rural settings through the co-production of embedded pragmatic clinical and implementation trials, quality improvement cycles, and development of research capacity building initiatives. He established and leads a successful embedded research program spanning three Local Health Districts in New South Wales, linking local health teams and researchers to conduct research that is responsive to health service and community needs.

Over the past decade, Chris has secured over $31 million in competitive research funding as a chief investigator, including 12 NHRMC/MRFF project grants, three NHMRC fellowship awards, and industry supported research.

Chris currently serves as Research Development Manager for the Mid North Coast Local Health District, and Director of Research at the University Centre for Rural Health, Northern Rivers. He holds professional qualifications in exercise science and physiotherapy, postgraduate training in biostatistics, and more than 10 years professional experience in population health and health service management. He has held consultancies with World Health Organisation and is co-chair of the newly established Raising Equity and Access to Clinical Trials Special Interest Group for the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance, which works to make clinical trials more accessible to all Australians.