Dr Fiona Lynch

Dr Fiona Lynch, DPsych(Clin), BA(Hons)

My current position is as one of the Clinical Leads for Allied Health Psychologists at Barwon Health, which I commenced in July 2024 after working as the senior clinical psychologist at Andrew Love Cancer Centre. In my current role, I support our psychologists working in allied health or medical settings (including oncology) with their service development, quality improvement, research as well as psychology staff wellbeing. I have initiated a number of oncology research activities both at Barwon Health and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (my other workplace), often focusing on stepped-care to improve access to psycho-oncology care.

I am passionate about developing efficient and effective models of care to improve access to psychology, particularly in regional settings. By incorporating translational research into my work, I am able to have a broader impact on a larger number of individuals compared to doing only 1:1 clinical work. For example, a research project that develops and trials a self-management booklet can then impact thousands of individuals with cancer who can use the booklet in hospitals across the nation.

I enjoy having the opportunity to think creatively and in depth about problem areas and coming up with innovative solutions to trial to potentially solve them. Research also provides me a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with incredible experts around the world and enhances my clinical skills and learning as well as my research skills by doing so.

Time! Even in organisations with the best intentions, research always has to come second to clinical work except for times when I have been in research specific roles. Even if we carve out time to do the research project itself, the write-up can then take years to squeeze in amongst the busy clinical load. Applying for grants as a clinician-researcher is also incredibly challenging, both in terms of finding the time, but also for some grants I may be considered a “mid career” researcher because of my years of practice as a psychologist. However, if you add up the number of full-time equivalent years I have spent in research specific roles, I should only be an early-career researcher. Some grants take this into account, but for those that do not, my research output is never going to be anywhere near competitive with someone with 10 years of pure research experience.

I constantly remind myself of the significant long-term impact I can have on individuals if I dedicate and protect research time now, rather than only focusing on clinical work. I also ensure my research goals are embedded into my Professional Development Reviews and my managers are supportive of the time I require to complete research tasks. I engage managers and key stakeholders very early on to ensure it is feasible to conduct the project. I also collaborate with universities to add psychology honours or postgraduate students onto research projects, who assist with a lot of the data collection and write-up.

The advice that stands out to me was being told to never be protective of my work and collaborate as much as possible with as many people as possible. Sometimes researchers can be protective of their ideas, but by following this advice I have found I am able to engage people with the highest level of expertise who help my projects immensely. It has also meant not doubling up on projects that are already underway elsewhere, and I can ensure the research I am doing is going to have a unique impact and is actually needed.