Early Career Research Fellow (Monash University)/Consultant Neurologist (Alfred Health)
Research focus: improving first seizure and epilepsy care
Dr Emma Foster is a recipient of a 2024 Early and Mid-Career Researcher Award for novel use of data. This award recognises early and mid-career researchers for excellence in their field. Monash Partners spoke to Emma upon accepting this award.
Can you tell us about yourself, your research and career journey to date?
I’m an academic neurologist at The Alfred and Monash University. I first trained as a medical doctor, and specialised to become a neurologist. During the last few years of my neurology training, I also completed a PhD with a focus on epilepsy. That was my first in-depth research experience, and I loved it. Since I qualified as a neurologist, I have started to build my own epilepsy research program that is informed by my clinical work.
Can you tell us about your achievements in the category of Novel Use Of Data?
I’m really proud of the research that won this award. It comes directly from a knowledge gap I identified in my clinical practice, and the answer is important not just in Australia, but also internationally. By linking almost 10,000 first seizure patients to large administration datasets, I found that attending ‘First Seizure Clinics’ compared to not attending resulted in significantly fewer hospital visits later on. First Seizure Clinics are not currently widespread because they are resource intense. These findings suggest they may be cost-effective in the long run. This is important as we try and find smart ways to spend limited healthcare budgets not just in Australia, but worldwide.
Why is support of early and mid-career researchers so important?
“Early to mid-career researchers” generally refer to people who finished their PhD in the previous 10 years. This is a time of immense change. You transition from contributing to your supervisors’ research program to establishing your own. For this you need funding, and funding schemes are awarded based on your track record. Supporting early and mid-career researchers gives them the time and resources to develop and lead their original research, build their track record, and set them up for successful grant applications.
What kind of support was the most beneficial to you/or you felt you needed as an early and mid-career researcher and what did it mean to you?
Protected research time has been most beneficial. I’ve got clear days each week to concentrate on writing my papers, setting up meetings with collaborators, and engaging with key stakeholders.
Why do you think awards like this are important for Early and Mid-Career Researchers?
It’s a tough world out there! Some of the major grant schemes have success rates less than 5 per cent. Receiving a prestigious award from networks such as Monash Partners is really lovely encouragement that we’re on the right track, helps distinguish us from other applicants, and helps increase our research profile that in turn may generate new collaborations.
What are your future aspirations for your research/career?
I would love to continue on my path as an academic neurologist. Ideally, I would like to continue seeing patients in clinic every week, identify important issues in the way we deliver care, come up with solutions through my research, and implement these to improve the way we look after people.
