ProfessorClaudia Rutherford

Professor Claudia Rutherford is a clinical research methodologist with experience in health outcomes measurement, psychometrics, and clinical study design. For over 20 years, Claudia has specialised in patient-reported outcomes (PROs), including health-related quality of life (HRQL) and symptom burden in research and clinical practice. Her expertise in PRO science spans the research process, covering study design, measurement, analysis, interpretation and reporting of PROs. Claudia also has experience in conducting systematic reviews, multi-centre qualitative and quantitative research, developing and evaluating PRO measures, and cross-cultural and linguistic translation of PRO measures across multiple health conditions.

During 2013-2021, Claudia worked at the Sydney Quality of Life Office (SQOLO). In her role as Deputy Director, she provided specialist advice, education and developed resources to optimise the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation and reporting of PRO endpoints in clinical trials developed by the 14 Australian and New Zealand Cancer Clinical Trials Groups. In 2023, the SQOLO was re-established under Claudia’s direction, with a goal to optimise the use of PROs in health research and routine health care, to achieve quality evidence to inform patient care, improve patient HRQL, and ensure that the patient perspective is part of health care, research, and decision-making.

Claudia’s early career focused on developing specialist knowledge in PRO methodology. In recent years, she has focused her research on improving the standards of PRO/HRQL research with a goal of reducing PRO/HRQL-related research waste.