District marks20th anniversary of the Surgical Outcomes Research Centre. 

Collaborators at the Surgical Outcomes Research Centre (SOuRCe) have more than 200 projects underway to better patient care, as Sydney Local Health District marks 20 years since SOuRCe was first established.

SOuRCe was founded in 2002 by Professor Michael Solomon and set-up as a partnership between Sydney Local Health District and The University of Sydney. It’s now under the umbrella of the RPA Institute of Academic Surgery.

“SOuRCe’s primary goal is to improve clinical practice and provide the best possible outcomes for our patients, through the sharing of expertise and multidisciplinary research projects and collaborations,” Professor Solomon said.

The District’s Chief Executive Dr Teresa Anderson joined Professor Solomon and guest presenters from the university Professor Henry Pleass, Professor Jane Young, Professor Phyllis Butow and Professor Glenn Salkeld for a special celebration to acknowledge SOuRCe’s role in driving research and innovation over the past two decades.

“SOuRCe has led a research-driven culture across many surgical specialities in our District, including Advanced Gastrointestinal Surgery, Robotics, Orthopaedic Surgery and Vascular Surgery,” Dr Anderson said.

“Its 20th anniversary is a significant milestone and SOuRCe’s achievements would not have been possible without the dedication and support of the District’s Executive, clinical and academic collaborators, consumers, patients and the community,” she said.

Currently, researchers are working on surgical projects which span from developing and improving new techniques, clinical trials design, enhancing a patient’s quality of life, and the translation of evidence-based research into clinical practice and policy. Enhancing patient choice is a focus of SOuRCe’s research goals.

“The research projects developed by SOuRCe, provide an opportunity to RPA patients to be involved in firsthand innovative surgical programs, enhancing evidence-based surgical clinical practice and surgical outcomes.” Associate Professor Daniel Steffens, SOuRCe Director, said.



Over the past two decades, SOuRCe has been awarded more than $20 million in competitive funding, worked with more than 1000 national and international collaborators, produced more than 500 publications, contributed to 22 books, provided clinical training for up to 300 surgeons and supervised more than 70 higher degree students and 50 Doctor of Medicine students.

“It has been interesting to see how different individual projects with separate interests have taken shape and are evolving into cohesive programs,” Associate Professor Cherry Koh, SOuRCe Co-Director, said.

When looking to the future, the team is eager to see SOuRCe grow and cultivate further cross-discipline research, particularly with nursing and allied health.

“A lot of surgical research or medical research is very clinician focused, but there’s so much in everything we do that’s not just “doctors”. It’s important to encourage everyone around us to work on these areas,” Cherry said.