Ainslie Cahill AM was recently appointed as the Consumer Advisor on the Monash Partners Council. We spoke to her about her career background, experiences within consumer and community involvement and what excites her most about her new role with Monash Partners.
What is your career background and experiences you will be bringing into your role as Consumer Advisor at Monash Partners?
I have had an extensive career in publishing, media, communications, theatre, film and television, vocational education (TAFE) and health consumer advocacy/representation. Every role – whether administrative, leadership or board positions – has been ‘a building block’ which has enabled me to apply all experiences to the next one.
What led you into work within consumer involvement?
It began when I applied for a job at Arthritis Australia. I had two close friends living with rheumatoid arthritis and saw first-hand what a tough life that can be. Before meeting them, I had naively thought that arthritis was a natural part of ageing which resulted in sore knees and back. There are more than 100 forms of arthritis and I was one of many Australians who didn’t know a lot about it. I had no idea that children can develop arthritis too. When I joined Arthritis Australia, I learned that two of the chronic conditions my sister has had since her early twenties fell under the arthritis umbrella.
Why are consumers important to engage within healthcare research?
My experience shows that the best result anyone/any organisation can achieve is by collaboration so including consumers in the development and implementation of healthcare research makes sense. Health consumers bring a different aspect to what are the research priorities whether from our own experiences or from our extensive consumer representation. Our pragmatic approach can also influence research methodology and terminology, for example, ensuring that the key elements of the study are feasible and the descriptions are in plain language and not jargonistic (doesn’t matter the audience or readership, plain language is a winner every time!).
What excites you most about working with Monash Partners as part of the Monash Partners Council?
I respect and enjoy the manner in which Monash Partners is committed to collaboration – their partnerships, their diverse representation and their willingness to combine ideas that, ultimately, will ensure research is translatable, whether in health systems, services, treatments, etc.
What are you planning to achieve in your role with Monash Partners?
To provide a health consumer perspective underpinned by my professional governance, strategic, advocacy and collaborative experience.
What was your previous experience working with Monash Partners?
In 2023 until end-April 2025 I was appointed a consumer lead for Monash Partners specifically acting as a Chief Investigator on two studies – the MRFF-funded Consumer and community involvement: Implementation research for impact (CCIRI) and Australian Health Research Alliance Women’s Health Research, Translation and Impact Network-funded Ask women’s heart health.
I also worked with the team in developing, recruiting and chairing a diverse and continuing Consumer Advisory Group. There are other Monash Partners-led research studies in the pipeline …. so watch this space.
What is your role within the National Health and Medical Research Council?
My role is:
- Consumer Representative, NHMRC-AMRAB Council (National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Medical Research Advisory Board)
- Chair, NHMRC-Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Consumer Advisory Group
- Member – Consumer Observers Working Committee
- Consumer Advisor for MRFF Grants Assessment Committees
- Additional contributions on an ad-hoc basis
What are your greatest achievements in this field?
Cutting through the long-held traditional, siloed and competitive barriers. Building collaborations that are respectful, inclusive and result in positive actions for health consumers as well as health and medical research priorities/outcomes.
Why are you passionate about consumer and community engagement?
My tenure at Arthritis Australia, as well as Consumers Health Forum Board (voluntary/2008-14 including Deputy Chair), heightened my long-held interest in health matters and supporting the underdog (in many situations other than health). These interests transformed into giving health consumers a voice, many of whom didn’t realise they had one. It also awakened my experiences as a young woman who lived with endometriosis for 32 years, followed by reproductive problems and, in later life, bilateral breast cancer diagnoses in consecutive years. My experience with endometriosis – not just the chronic pain but lack of medical knowledge – was, in hindsight, a lonely experience. There were no health consumer advocates, no representative health consumer organisation and, for much of the time, an unsupportive/dismissive health system. I’m pleased that times have changed for the better and I’m now one of many who have benefited from quality health care. I’m also happy to be one of many health consumers and health professionals who work together striving to make life better for others.
What do we still have to improve to ensure that consumers and communities are better represented in research?
Simply to continue to tell our stories about how collaboration breeds success. However, I would like to see more emphasis on research translation – i.e. when we have the evidence how do we put it into practice? This is why Monash Partners, as one of the 12 NHMRC-endorsed Research Translation Centres, can make a huge difference by raising awareness of the research priorities/results and what that means in practice, as well as persisting with advocacy to influence health services/systems improvements.
