What is COMPASS?

COMPASS is a National Health and Medical Research Council Capacity Building Grant in Population Health Research, awarded in October 2006 to Mother & Child Health Research at La Trobe University, in partnership with the Primary Care Research Unit in the Department of General Practice at The University of Melbourne and the Healthy Mothers Healthy Families Research Group at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.

The focus of COMPASS is building public health research capacity for conceptualising complex questions; working with populations who are often excluded from research, including Indigenous communities, immigrants/refugees and women experiencing intimate partner violence; and designing and evaluating complex interventions in diverse settings ranging from hospitals to primary care and communities. COMPASS has a major interest in the health and care of mothers and children.

COMPASS lead investigators are: A/Prof Rhonda Small, A/Prof Stephanie Brown (Healthy Mothers, Healthy Families, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute), Prof Jane Gunn (Primary Care Research Unit, University of Melbourne), Prof Judith Lumley, A/Prof Jeanne Daly Dr Karen Willis and Prof Christine MacArthur (University of Birmingham)

COMPASS team investigators are: Dr Angela Taft, Dr Lisa Amir, Dr Mridula Bandyophadhyay, Fiona Bruinsma, Dr Mary-Ann Davey, Dr Della Forster, Dr Ya-Seng (Arthur) Hsueh, Dr Renata Kokanovic, Tanya Koolmatrie, Dr Helen McLachlan, Dr Victoria Palmer, Dr Joanne Rayner, Lyn Watson, Dr Jane Yelland.