I have been a member of the Faculty since 1986. Throughout my long affiliation with the Faculty through the School of Medicine and Public Health. I had opportunity to chair a number of School committees including the B Medicine Student Consultative Committee and, Domain 3 of the B Medicine programme. I have been heavily involved with the Royal Australian College of Physicians. I was the foundation Chair of the Overseas Trained Physicians Assessment Committee for RACP. I had a leadership role in implementation of the modified clinical examination for the overseas trained physicians, preparation of long case training video for the RACP and, MniCEX training videos. I was a member of the Examination committee, Director of Physcian Training and National Examining Panel member of the RACP. Currently, I am a member of the Senior Examining Panel. I have also worked with RACP to develop links with Oman. For the Australian Medical Council (AMC) I am a Senior Examiner in Medicine , appointed in 1989. I have been a member of the Board of Examiners of the Australian Medical Council and now a member of the Assessment Committee. I am foundation Chair of the Workplace Based Assessment Committee of the AMC. I was assigned to the Health Education & Training Institute of NSW as the District Medical Director. At present I am the Director of Director, Educational Research, Health Education and Training Institute, New South Wales and Editor in Chief of the Journal. I have written two text books on “Geriatric medicine: A Problem Based Approach” and “Clinical Examination: A problem Based Approach”. I have also contributed chapters for the following books: AMC handbook of multiple choice questions Marshall VC, editor. (Member of the Editorial Committee), 2009. AMC Handbook of clinical assessment Marshall VC, editor; 2007. Nair BR. In: Nay R, Garratt S, editors. Older people – issues and innovations in care. 3rd ed. Churchill Livingstone Elsevier. Nair B. The physically ageing body and use of space. Ageing and Place: perspectives, policy, practice Andrews G, Phillips D, editors. Routledge; 2005. p. 110-7. Chapter 8. Nair BR, Cartwright CM, Ch 17. Obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health. In: O’Connor V, Kovacs G, editors Ageing and its problems. UK: Cambridge University Press; 2003. p. 599-615. Basta M, Hardy D, Nair B, Silberberg J, Fletcher P. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in healthy elderly: the effect of blood pressure. Facts, Research and Intervention in Geriatrics Serie. Supplement: Vascular Diseases in the Elderly. Paris: Serdi Publishing. 1997. 157-66.
Number of Grants
Total Funding
I do research in the medical education and geriatric medicine. As a researcher, I am interested in patient-centered medical care and have had a life-long interest in medicine in old age. Dementia is a major issue for patients, carers and society. The care is often fragmented and there is no clear evidence base for what we do now. This has to change for the benefits for patients and the health care system. We need more evidence behind our practice as a lot of things we do as clinicians are in an evidence-free zone. This is more common in geriatrics because older people sometimes fall outside the parameters of research studies. The main research study we are currently doing is to bring some evidence basis to dementia care. I am Deputy Director of ACCcORD (Australian Community of Practice Research in Dementia), an organization that aims to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to improve the well being and quality of care provided to people with dementia and their caregivers. I was a member of the Ageing Productively and Ageing Well sub-group of the NHMRC and was invited to give a private hearing for the Senate Committee into “Inquiry into long term planning for Ageing in Australia”.
2019 Taking action: Increasing Advance Personal Planning by older adults - $573,894 Funding body: ARC (Australian Research Council).
2018
Workplace Based Assessment ; Adapting the mini-cex for nursing and midwifery - $5,000 Funding body: NeW Education Framework I University of Newcastle.
2017
The pathway to diagnosis: Experiences of caregivers of people with dementia - $50,000 Funding body: Dementia Australia Research Foundation Ltd.
2016
Supporting family carers of people living with dementia: an RCT of a new mobile application - $46,188 Funding body: Dementia Collaborative Research Centres.
2015
An Australian Community Of practice in Research in Dementia (ACcORD) to improve health outcomes for people with dementia and their carers- $3,642,479 Funding body: NHMRC (National Health & Medical Research Council) Long term evaluation of uptake, impact and outcomes of the 75+ Health Assessment - $204,898 Funding body: NHMRC (National Health & Medical Research Council) Evaluation of stakeholder outcomes from the University of Newcastle's Master of Clinical Medicine (Leadership & Management) Program - $25,000 Funding body: HETI (Health Education and Training Institute). Evaluation of Stakeholder Outcomes from the University of Newcastle’s Master of Clinical Medicine (Leadership & Management)Program - $25,000 Funding body: NSW Ministry of Health
2013
Development of a clinical supervision professional development program for registrars & Career Medical Officers (CMOs) across Hunter & Coast ICTN - $65,624 Funding body: HETI (Health Education and Training Institute)
2012
Workplace Based Assessment for international medical graduates - $238,600 Funded by the Health Work Force Australia for assessment of Rural IMGs and research into the WBA program Funding body: Health Workforce Australia
Development of Master in Clinical Medicine and Leadership; seeding - $927,110 Funded by Health Administration Corporation for establishment of the Master of Clinical Medicine and Leadership at the University of Newcastle , in collaboration with the Dept of Health , NSW Funding body: NSW Health
2010
Workplace based assessment for International Medical Graduates - $149,040 Funding body: Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing
2009
ISBAR REVISTED; Identifying and Solving Barriers to Effective Handover in Inter-hospital Transfer - $372,800 Funding body: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
2007
Randomised Controlled Trial of Nutrition Screening and Intervention in Hospitalised Elderly$20,000 Funding body: University of Newcastle
2006
A randomised controlled trial of nutrition screening and intervention in hospitalised elderly - $20,000 Funding body: University of Newcastle
2004
Continence promotion following surgical repair of fractured neck of femur in older hospital patients -$122,571. Funding body: Commonwealth Department of Health & Aged Care A Dementia and Training package for staff working in Acute Care Hospitals in NSW - $92,029. Funding body: NSW Ministry of Health Ambient baroque music in dementia - $30,000. Funding body: Bernard Judd Foundation Measuring perceived health-related needs of residents of nursing homes: A pilot of a draft tool - $10,000. Funding body: University of Newcastle
2003
Development of a measure of perceived health related needs of residents of nursing homes - $9,896 Funding body: Effective Healthcare Australia
2002
Development of a measure of perceived health-related needs of residents of Nursing homes - $9,000 Funding body: University of Newcastle
1999
Sleep disturbance and sleeping medication use among older Australian women - $57,529 Funding body: Commonwealth Department of Health & Aged Care
1996
Preventive Care Trial for Elderly Veterans and War Widows - $1,656,607. Funding body: Department of Veterans` Affairs Research Projects – Post-Graduate Research Supervision
2021
Lived Experiences of International Medical Graudates in Australia
2020
PhD - Non-traditional Risk Factors of Dementia,PhD (Medicine), College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle -Principal Supervisor
2019
PhD - Creating a Leadership Training Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education, Students in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) PhD (Medical Education), College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle -Principal Supervisor
PhD - Understanding the Health and Well-being of Older People Living in Residential Care (Public Health & BehavSci), College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle -Co-Supervisor
PhD - Using Epidemiological Evidence to Aid Tailored Joint Decision Making in Areas of Clinical Uncertainty in the Management of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) in Later Life PhD (Clinic Epid & MedStats), College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle -Co-Supervisor
2014
Masters Program -The Relationship Between Early Alzheimer's Disease, Apolipoprotein E Genotyping & Hippocampal MRI Volumes M Philosophy (ComMed&ClinEpid), College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle -Principal Supervisor
2003 Masters Program - Cognitive and Drug Predictors of Post-Operative Delirium in Community Dwelling Older Elective Orthopaedic Surgery Patients
2025
2008
