Dr Katharina Merollini has been appointed a Lecturer in Health Economics in 2022 and is part of the School of Health (Public Health discipline) and the Sunshine Coast Health Institute at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital. She completed a Research Fellowship at UniSC in health economics from 2016-2022. Prior to this she worked as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
Katharina’s research interests are health services research and assessing evidence on basis of cost-effectiveness, including health economic evaluations with the goal to inform decision-makers and improve health service delivery and patient outcomes. She has a special interest in cancer economics, in particular cancer survivorship outcomes. Katharina has successfully supervised numerous PhD students and serves as a reviewer and guest editor to a number of high-quality, peer-reviewed journals. Her teaching interests are in teaching research methods and health economic evaluations and passing on her passion for these areas to the next generation.
Professional Memberships
- IHEA: International Health Economics Association
- HSRAANZ: Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand
- AHES: Australian Health Economics Society
- QCCS: Queensland Collaborative for Cancer Survivorship
- SCHI: Sunshine Coast Health Institute, Sunshine Coast University Hospital
Engagement
- NHMRC grant reviewer
- Guest editor & peer-reviewer for a range of scientific journals
- Discipline representative on Research Sub-Committee within the School of Health
- Research Coordinator for Public Health/ P&O discipline within the School of Health
- Lead, School of Health Mentoring Program
Current Research
Key research area 1: Cancer Survivorship
Brief synopsis of the research area
This current work investigates lifetime costs of surviving cancer in Queensland, Australia, including health service usage from cancer diagnosis up to 20 years (linked population healthcare dataset). Economic evaluations provide an ideal platform to predict future healthcare expenditure and to show the potential impact of more investment in cancer prevention. This project is a collaboration with the Cancer Council Queensland and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.
Key publications
- Merollini, K.M.D.; Gordon, L.G.; Aitken, J.F.; Kimlin, M.G. Lifetime costs of surviving cancer - a Queensland study (Cos-q): Protocol of a large healthcare data linkage study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2020, 17, doi:10.3390/ijerph17082831.
- Merollini KMD, Gordon LG, Ho YM, Aitken JF, Kimlin MG. Cancer Survivors' Long-Term Health Service Costs in Queensland, Australia: Results of a Population-Level Data Linkage Study (Cos-Q). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022;19(15):9473. Published 2022 Aug 2. doi:10.3390/ijerph19159473.
- Gordon, L.G.; Merollini, K.M.D.; Lowe, A.; Chan, R.J. A Systematic Review of Financial Toxicity Among Cancer Survivors: We Can’t Pay the Co-Pay. Patient 2017, 10, 295-309, doi:10.1007/s40271-016-0204-x.
Current HDR projects
- ‘Estimating health service utilization and lifetime cost of surviving childhood cancers in Queensland, Australia’. Supervisors: Dr Katharina Merollini (Principal), Prof John Lowe (Associate), Prof Louisa Gordon (External: QIMR Berghofer).
- ‘The cost of colorectal cancer follow-up’. Supervisors: Prof Louisa Gordon (Principal, University of Queensland / QIMR Berghofer), Dr Katharina Merollini (External).
This research is aligned to:
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- PH research area: Health Economics, Health Services Research, Non-communicable diseases
- UniSC Cancer Research Group
Key research area 2: Health service efficiency & health economic evaluations
Brief synopsis of the research area
This work contributes to improving the efficiency of health services and identifying cost-effective interventions, treatments or programs across different discipline, ranging from skin cancer prevention, infectious diseases, environmental health, obstetrics to health service planning, workforce development and care provision.
Key publications
- Merollini, K.M.D.; Beckmann, M. Induction of labor using balloon catheter as an outpatient versus prostaglandin as an inpatient: A cost-effectiveness analysis. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 2021, 260, 124-130, doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2021.03.020.
- Imai, C.; Hall, L.; Lambert, S.B.; Merollini, K.M.D. Presenteeism among health care workers with laboratory-confirmed influenza infection: A retrospective cohort study in Queensland, Australia. American Journal of Infection Control 2020, 48, 355-360, doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2019.07.024.
- Gordon, L. G., Leung, W., Johns, R., McNoe, B., Lindsay, D., Merollini, K. M. D., Elliott, T. M., Neale, R. E., Olsen, C. M., Pandeya, N., & Whiteman, D. C. (2022). Estimated Healthcare Costs of Melanoma and Keratinocyte Skin Cancers in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in 2021. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022;19(6):3178. Published 2022 Mar 8. doi:10.3390/ijerph19063178
Current HDR projects:
- ‘Pandemic Threat and Natural Disasters in Australia: Impact on Blood Supply and Strategies to Address Potential Blood Supply Restriction’. Supervisors: Dr Helen Faddy (Principal), Dr Melinda Dean (Associate), Dr Katharina Merollini (Associate), Dr Elvina Viennet (External: Lifeblood Australia)
- ‘Comparison of nursing clinical placement models to determine the cost-effectiveness of preparing clinically competent, work-ready undergraduate registered nurses’. Supervisors: Prof Fiona Bogossian (Principal), Dr Alison Craswell (Associate), Dr Katharina Merollini (Associate).
- ‘Factors influencing integrated care for people with stoke comorbid with diabetes and cardiac conditions.’ Supervisors: A/Prof Jo Wu, Dr Katharina Merollini (Associate), Prof Rohan Grimley (External)
This research is aligned to:
- PH / SoH research areas: Health Economics, Health Services Research, Environmental Health
- SoH research areas: Health Services Research, Environmental Health, Nursing, Scholarship of Learning & Teaching
Research areas
- Financial toxicity: financial hardship faced by cancer patients
- Lifetime costs of surviving cancer in Queensland, Australia: health service usage from cancer diagnosis up to 20 years
- The cost-effectiveness of skin cancer prevention
- Systematic literature reviews
- Health service efficiency & evaluation research
- Economic evaluation of palliative care & cancer care support services
Teaching areas
Dr Merollini's specialist areas of knowledge include health economics, health services research and economic evaluations