EIS at the Implementation Science Health Conference Australia (ISCHA 23)

^{L to R - Nicola Creagh, Lucio Naccarella, Nicole Rankin, Ebony Verbunt, Shakira Milton}

The Implementation Science Health Conference Australia (ISCHA 23), 2023 was attended by A/Prof Nicole Rankin, A/Prof Lucio Naccarella, Ms Shakira Milton, Ms Ebony Verbunt, and Ms Nicola Creagh on Thursday and Friday, March 23^rd – 24^th in Surry Hills, NSW.

The conference theme was Implementation Sustainability and Scaling: Achievements and Future Directions in Australia and Internationally. Nicole chaired a session, and had a talk about her work in Lung Cancer Screening, and the need for the implementation of a national program in Australia. Ebony spoke about her PhD work on implementation readiness for intravenous iron in Bangladesh. A/Prof Rachel Shelton from Columbia University in the U.S. was the international speaker who gave the opening plenary. Rachel shared how they sustained a breast cancer screening program for African American women, but also highlighted the challenges of letting go of ineffective strategies (de-implementation).

The conference was an eye-opener, leaving a sense of duty to bridge the gap between evidence and implementation. As implementation scientists, it's our responsibility to involve consumers, partner with clinicians and policy makers, and ensure equitable and impactful work for the long term. Let's not create research waste, but sustain, evaluate, and scale-up evidence-based interventions.