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Dr Geoff Spurling

Secondee Associate Professor

General Practice Clinical Unit
Faculty of Medicine

NHMRC Emerg Ldrshp Fellow (Second)

General Practice Clinical Unit
Faculty of Medicine
g.spurling@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 65144

Overview

Associate Professor Spurling works at The University of Queensland General Practice Clinical Unit (0.4 FTE) and at the Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care (Inala COE – 0.6 FTE). He has research interests in social determinants of health and access to primary health care, especially where his research skills can be of service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. His other research interests are quality use of medicines and respiratory infections, with particular methodological interests in systematic reviews and mixed-methods research in general practice.

He completed medical training at the University of Queensland, did his junior doctor years in regional Queensland and completed a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in London in 1998. In 2001, he spent 12 months working on a project in Central America with Médecins Sans Frontières. He completed general practice specialty training with the RACGP in 2004, which included an academic registrar term. In 2004, he was fortunate to meet Professor Noel Hayman, one of Queensland’s first Aboriginal medical graduates and Clinical Director of the Inala COE, who offered him a GP position in 2004. He has shared his full-time work as a GP academic at the Inala COE and UQ GPCU ever since.

Associate Professor Spurling has developed clinical interests in serving the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Inala, serving Spanish-speaking refugees, diabetic retinopathy, and, most recently, addiction medicine. He has been mentoring GP registrars and medical students at the Inala COE since 2004. As a member of the UQ GPCU academic staff, he regularly takes tutorial groups and lectures in cardiovascular medicine, respiratory infections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and social determinants of health for medical students doing their general practice rotation.

Associate Professor Spurling supervises five postgraduate students (PhD students). He has been awarded over A$10M in research grants and has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers.

Research Impacts

Associate Professor Spurling’s research has led to invitations to be primary editor for the Therapeutic Guidelines update on otitis media (2022-23); provide advice to Therapeutic Guidelines regarding their update of sore throat and rheumatic heart disease sections (2020-2021); serve as a committee member of the national RACGP expert committee on research (2018-2021); and serve as a GP representative on NPS Medicinewise’s prescribing and intervention expert advisory group (2011-2017).

Associate Professor Spurling’s research program, including doctoral research, contributed to: a new Medicare item number for retinal photography in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary care; remodelled national health assessments developed by RACGP and NACCHO, and published by the Department of Health in 2021; computerisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments at the Inala COE in Brisbane, Australia (2010-). In 2019, he was awarded an NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellowship with the aim of co-creating a youth health assessment to better meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people presenting to primary care.

Qualifications

  • Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
  • Doctor of Philosophy of General Practice, The University of Queensland
  • Masters (Coursework) of Public Health, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and Medical Science, The University of Queensland

Publications

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Grants

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Supervision

  • Measuring equitable access to primary care services.

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Factors affecting clinician use of evidence in GP consultations

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Gram-negative bloodstream infections in Australian children

    Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Publications

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

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Links

ResearcherID: F-1783-2010

ORCID: 0000-0002-3525-4663

Scopus ID: 18635517300

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