Professor Samar Aoun
Professor Aoun is the Director of the WA Centre for Cancer and Palliative Care within the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute at Curtin University. Professor Aoun has a PhD in Medical Demography from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Masters in Public Health from The American University of Beirut. Her training and experience is in designing, implementing and evaluating health service delivery initiatives and public health interventions for different population groups.
Samar has developed effective national and international collaborations with other academic institutions and key stakeholders to address population health issues related to chronic conditions and palliative care. Undertaken projects have informed policy on service planning and the development of support structures for the community, notably for under-served population groups, at the state and national levels: The National Inquiry on the Social Impact of Caring for Terminally Ill people funded by Palliative Care Australia; the NHMRC funded national project on the Assessment of the Effectiveness of Australian models of Palliative Care Delivery in four neurodegenerative disorders; the Commonwealth funded national project on Scoping the Palliative Care Needs of People Living Alone; the State-funded Review of Palliative Care Provision in Western Australia; the Commonwealth funded National Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration; The Commonwealth funded Systematic Review of the Literature into Complicated Grief and the development of an EORTC Quality of Life Module for radiation induced Proctitis.
Professor Aoun’s recent projects include two NHMRC and three ARC funded projects: “developing an educational program in palliative care for health professionals working with people with Motor Neurone Disease”; “Determining critical points in the potential palliative care pathway in the last year of life using data linkage; “To implement and evaluate flexible models of palliative care service delivery for terminally ill people living alone at home”; “Dignity Therapy: A Novel Psychotherapeutic Intervention for Motor Neurone Disease Patients near the End of Life”. She was recently awarded an ARC linkage grant with international collaborators and Silver Chain Hospice Care on “Implementing and evaluating the impact of the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool (CSNAT) in community palliative care”. Samar’s other program of research is in chronic disease self-management, notably, The Waist Disposal Challenge, a community based health intervention to build the community capacity to implement such programs, and reduce reliance on health professionals. She is a founding member of an international collaboration between Australia, UK and Canada on Family Caregiving Research in End of Life Care. She is a past Chair of the Neurological Council of WA, and a current executive member of Palliative Care WA.
Professor Aoun has extensive experience in rural health and community development having worked in rural Australia and served voluntarily on several rural boards and committees for over 12 years. Samar’s dedication and personal commitment to improving health and community engagement have been recognised by three awards: a regional award in 2001 “the South West Woman of the Year”, a national award in 2003 “the Centenary Medal” and in March 2008 she was a recipient of Paul Harris Fellow award from Rotary International. She was the “Researcher of the Year” at Curtin University in 2009.
