Professor John Wakerman

Professor of Remote and Rural Health Services Research

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, University of Sydney, 1981; Master of Tropical Health, University of Queensland, 1990; Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Australian College of Physicians,1990; Fellow of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, 2000; Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), Charles Darwin University, 2013.

Location:

Alice Springs

Biography:

Professor John Wakerman is a Public Health Medicine specialist and general practitioner who has worked in remote primary health care as a clinician, senior remote health services manager, educator, researcher and advocate for the past three decades. He has specific interests in remote and rural health services research – particularly focusing on increasing access to primary health care, remote health workforce education and training, and in using evidence for advocacy to inform health policy and practice.

 

He was the Inaugural Director of the Centre for Remote Health in Alice Springs, a joint centre of Flinders and Charles Darwin Universities. From 2014 to 2019 he held the position of Associate Dean, Flinders NT, responsible for the NT Medical Program, Centre for Remote Health and Poche Centre for indigenous Health.

 

He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications that constitute a significant body of knowledge relating to improving access to sustainable, high quality Primary Health Care services for populations living in remote and rural regions.

 

He has served on many local, jurisdictional and national committees and boards, including as Chair of the Central Australian Rural Practitioners Association (CARPA), Deputy Chair of the Central Australian Health Service Board, a member of the NHMRC Health Care Committee, the Advisory Board of the Health and Hospitals Fund and of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Advisory Council. He is a past Chair of the National Rural Health Alliance. He is currently a member of the Health Care Homes Evaluation Working Group.

Professor John Wakerman
Email
Research Themes
 
  • The cost and health impact of short-term health staffing in remote and rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities: Does Community Control make a difference?
  • Optimising remote primary health care service access through evidence-based workforce retention strategies.
  • Evaluation of the Central Australian Medical Retrieval and Consultation Centre.
  1. MEDIA RELEASE | Menzies researchers in the top 2 per cent
  2. MEDIA RELEASE | Examining the effects of extreme heat on health service delivery in remote Australia
  3. HEAL network to tackle health impacts of climate change
  4. New network to protect the health of Australians impacted by climate change
  5. $10 million national network to build resilience to the human health impacts of environmental change
  6. Nursing shortage in Central Australian remote communities due to border restrictions
  7. Training for NT General Practitioners facing a grim future
  8. Citizen Scientists to help in important national research projects
  9. Citizen Scientists to help in important national research projects
  10. NT News | How to aid health Staff
  11. Keeping health professionals in remote communities
  12. PUTTING RURAL HEALTH BACK ON THE MAP - Australia/New Zealand | April 23, 2019
  13. Centralian Advocate | New role for Professor in Alice
  14. Professor of Remote and Rural Health Services Research appointed in Alice Springs
  1. Wakerman J 2004 Defining Remote Health. Australian Journal of Rural Health 12: 210-214.
  2. Wakerman J, Humphreys JS, Wells R, Kuipers P, Entwistle P, Jones J. 2008 Primary health care delivery models in rural and remote Australia - a systematic review. BMC Health Serv Res. 8(1):276 http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6963-8-276.pdf
  3. Wakerman J, Humphreys JS, Wells R, Kuipers P, Jones JA, Entwistle P, Kinsman L 2009 Features of effective primary health care models in rural and remote Australia: a case-study analysis. Medical Journal of Australia 191(2):88-91.
  4. Buykx P, Humphreys J, Wakerman J & Pashen D 2010 Systematic review of effective retention incentives for health workers in rural and remote areas: Towards evidence-based policy. Australian Journal of Rural Health 18: 102–109.
  5. Lenthall S, Wakerman J, Opie T, Dunn S, MacLeod M, Dollard M, Rickard G, Knight S. 2011 Nursing workforce in very remote Australia, characteristics and key issues. Australian Journal of Rural Health 19: 32-37.
  6. Thomas SL, Wakerman J & Humphreys JS 2014 What core primary health care services should be available to Australians living in rural and remote communities? BMC Family Practice 15:143.
  7. Zhao Y, Thomas SL, Guthridge SL, Wakerman J 2014 Better health outcomes at lower costs: the benefits of primary care utilisation for chronic disease management in remote Indigenous communities in Australia's Northern Territory. BMC Health Serv Res. 14:463.
  8. Wakerman J, Bourke L, Humphreys JS, Taylor J 2017 Is remote health different to rural health? Rural Remote Health. 17(2): 3832. doi: 10.22605/RRH3832.
  9. Russell DJ, Zhao Y, Guthridge S, Ramjan M, Jones MP, Humphreys JS & Wakerman J 2017 Patterns of resident health workforce turnover and retention in remote communities of the Northern Territory of Australia, 2013–2015 Human Resources for Health 15:52 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-017-0229-9
  10. Zhao Y, Russell D, Guthridge S, Ramjan M, Jones M, Humphreys JS, Wakerman J. 2019 Costs and effects of higher turnover of nurses and Aboriginal health practitioners and higher use of short-term nurses in remote Australian primary care services: an observational cohort study. BMJ Open 9:e023906. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023906.

Click here to view more John Wakerman publications in PubMed.