Dr Laura Jolliffe, Bayside Health (Peninsula Care Group) and Monash University
Research focus: EVIDENCE@HOME: Establishing valid inference with data and emulated trial method in non-admitted care environments
Supported by Equity Trustees from 2025-2027.
Dr Laura Jolliffe is a recipient of a Monash Partners Strategic Translation and Research (STAR) Clinician Fellowship. The program invests in emerging and mid-career clinical academics to support their career pathway development and train the next generation of researchers. Monash Partners spoke to Laura upon accepting this Fellowship.
What is your career background and research experience to date?
I am a clinician researcher in stroke rehabilitation at Peninsula Care Group (Bayside Health) and Monash University. My program focuses on implementation science and the delivery of evidence-based care in public health services. During my PhD I tested strategies to translate rehabilitation guidelines into routine practice. Since then, I have focused on models of care in home-based services, working to establish their quality and to determine whether they can deliver equitable or superior outcomes to inpatient care, and under what conditions.
How did you become interested in improving evidence generation in non-admitted care settings?
Increasingly, rehabilitation is delivered within our home-based services, but our measurement and quality systems still focus on the care provided within the hospital inpatient setting. I see dedicated home-based teams working without the same data, tools, or standards and am interested in how this influences stroke survivor care. That gap drew me into building practical ways to generate evidence in home-based models of care.
What are some of the major challenges in Australia’s non admitted care system, and how do they impact patients and families?
Access to home-based care often depends on local eligibility criteria, workforce capacity, and whether a person has support from family or carers. These factors can vary between services and may influence who is accepted, how quickly care starts, and how much care is delivered. Service recipients and families can also find the pathway hard to navigate from hospital discharge to community services. Importantly, we need stronger evidence on whether non admitted home based models achieve outcomes that are at least equivalent to inpatient care, and for which patients and conditions. That evidence will help patients, families, and referrers make informed choices about the most appropriate model of care.
Can you describe your EVIDENCE@HOME study and what it aims to address?
EVIDENCE@HOME uses population level observational data and a target trial emulation approach to test whether home-based stroke rehabilitation models deliver outcomes that are as good as or better than usual care when randomisation is not feasible. We pair this with journey mapping to visualise each step from hospital discharge to home-based therapy, highlighting delays, handovers, and decision points. Together these methods show both effectiveness and where the pathway can be improved.
What outcomes are you hoping to achieve through this research?
We aim to deliver two main outcomes. First, rigorous evidence on whether home-based (non-admitted) rehabilitation for stroke achieves outcomes that are equitable or superior to inpatient rehabilitation, and for which patient groups. Second, stroke survivor journey mapping from hospital discharge to care at home shows where delays and handover risks occur and how they can be addressed. Together with my earlier work on quality of care in these services, this study will generate the data needed for future co-designed solutions to ensure high quality home-based rehabilitation for stroke survivors.
What motivated you to apply for a Monash Partners STAR Clinician Fellowship?
My research is motivated by a commitment to high quality rehabilitation in new models of care, and by the need to show how home-based services can be implemented so they are timely, effective, and fair. The STAR Fellowship provides an amazing opportunity for me to stay embedded in my role at Peninsula Care Group, while allowing me the protected time needed to complete this important work.
Why is it important to support emerging and mid-career clinical academics?
Supporting emerging and mid-career clinical academics is essential because doing research inside a busy health service is hard and protected time is scarce. Opportunities like the STAR fellowship give early and mid-career clinicians the time and structure to grow a program of work that is embedded, linked to mentors, and focused on problems that matter to patients and health services. Early support also builds a pipeline of clinician scientists who modernise care pathways, strengthen equity, and create improvements. This investment keeps talent in the health system and accelerates the translation of evidence into everyday practice.
What does receiving the STAR Clinician Fellowship mean for your career and your research program?
I’m very grateful to receive the STAR Clinician Fellowship, and the opportunity this affords my research and career. It allows me protected time to complete a novel study, generate the pilot data needed for larger competitive grants, and learn from mentors across Monash Partners and Bayside Health. For my research program, this fellowship enables Australian first data on home based (non-admitted) models of care, and the design of implementation solutions that may benefit people after stroke.
What are your long-term aspirations for your research and clinical career?
I want to lead a program that makes home-based rehabilitation reliably excellent and equitable. I want to ensure people recovering at home receive care that is timely, coordinated, and matched to their needs. My focus is on service designs that remove barriers, support families, and deliver outcomes that matter to patients.
