BIOSTATISTICS IN CLINICAL TRIALS
Kate Francis, Biostatistician (Snr Research Officer)
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute &
Honorary Research Fellow,
Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne &
Affiliate Biostatistician,
The Royal Children’s Hospital,
Melbourne, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne, Australia | July 2025
Kate Francis is a biostatistician with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), an Honorary (Senior Fellow) within Department of Paediatrics, the University of Melbourne and Affiliate biostatistician with Royal Children’s Hospital in Narrm (Melbourne), Australia.
As a biostatistician working in research and clinical settings, she plays a vital role in ensuring all projects adhere to best practice guidelines and are transparently reported. She has served as the lead statistician for the analysis of clinical trials across a broad range of subject areas, including neonatal resuscitation, BCG for allergy and infection, convulsive status epilepticus and her work has been published in the top journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The Lancet. Most recently she was awarded the 2025 Excellence in Trial Statistics Award for her work on the PLUSS trial.
Kate is also an expert in the measurement of adolescent health behaviours, determinants, and outcomes and this was recognised with her invitation to be a commissioner for the second Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing which was recently released at the 2025 World Health Assembly meeting.
Kate believes in the importance of gender equity, diversity, and inclusion and was key team member in helping MCRI achieve bronze accreditation in the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program.
Source: Supplied
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Exercise program for the prevention of osteoporotic fracture
Dr Beck is an international leader in the effects of mechanical loading on bone health. Dr Beck graduated from The University of Queensland (BHMS[Ed]) and the University of Oregon (MSc and PhD) and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Stanford University School of Medicine (California, USA.) She is a Professor of Exercise Science at Griffith University Gold Coast campus, where she has led the Bone Densitometry Research Laboratory since 2004.
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Biomarkers for early sepsis detection
Dr Gabrielle Briggs is a biomedical scientist dedicated to finding smarter, faster ways to diagnose and treat life threatening complications in critically ill patients. Dr Briggs established a research laboratory embedded within the John Hunter Hospital – one of the busiest major trauma centres in NSW. Dr Briggs works alongside surgeons, intensivists, and pathologists to turn complex clinical problems into practical research solutions. Her work spans two major programs: developing a rapid diagnostic test to detect bacterial infections in blood before sepsis takes hold, and exploring mitochondrial transplantation as a novel therapy to rescue injured tissues after trauma and ischaemia.
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Trials in treating STIs, vaccines and lipid lowering medications
Since joining Paratus Clinical Research in 2022, Dr Pi Lip Seet has served as both Principal Investigator and Sub-Investigator across Phase I–IV industry-sponsored clinical trials. His research experience spans vaccines, immunology, cardiovascular and endocrine disease, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, pain management, sleep medicine and adult psychiatry. He has been involved in multiple vaccine development programs, including RSV, influenza, COVID-19, herpes zoster and pneumococcal studies.
