About Us
Meet the clinicians who make up the AustPMRGCA team.
Dr Claire Owen
MBBS (Hons), PhD, FRACP, CCPU
Rheumatologist
Dr Claire Owen is the Deputy Director of Rheumatology at Austin Health and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne.
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Her predominant area of research concerns polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and its intersection with the related condition, giant cell arteritis (GCA). Since commencing her PhD studies in 2014, Claire has developed internationally-recognised expertise in the use of imaging modalities including ultrasound, MRI and whole-body PET/CT for both PMR and GCA.
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Currently, Claire leads the dedicated PMR/GCA Clinic at Austin Health, which offers an evidence-based, protocolised model of care, delivered alongside a research program focusing on advancing the diagnosis and management of these rheumatic diseases.
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Since 2017, Claire has also been an active contributor to the PMR Working Group of OMERACT, an international collaboration of clinicians, researchers and patient partners committed to improving outcome measures in rheumatology, and presently serves as the Group's Co-Chair.
Dr David Liew
MBBS, BMedSc, FRACP
Rheumatologist
David is a rheumatologist, clinical pharmacologist and early career researcher based at Austin Health, and is currently a research doctoral candidate, with experience in clinical and laboratory research, as well as running and participating in national and international research collaboratives.
His research interests include PMR, immune-related adverse events from checkpoint inhibitors for cancer, value-based rational prescribing/quality use of medicines, and pharmaceutical drug safety.
David is the founding project lead of the Medicines Optimisation Service at Austin Health, with experience in the clinical implementation of change projects, increasingly supported by data science.
He is also a clinical contributor to public policy, including authoring reports for the Victorian Government and serving as a member of the Australian Government’s PBAC Drug Utilisation Subcommittee.
David is a medical speciality media communicator with active written, audio, and video commitments, including guest series editor at Rheumatology Advances in Practice and editorial board member at both The Lancet Rheumatology and Drug Safety.
MBBS, BSc/BA, GradDipBiostats, CHIA, FRACP
Dr Christopher McMaster
Rheumatologist
Chris is a consultant rheumatologist at Austin Health. He is also a PhD student in the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health and School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, where he focuses on machine learning in medicine, both applications and methods development.
His clinical research interests include pharmacovigilance, medication stewardship, imaging in rheumatic diseases and clinical informatics applied to the electronic medical record. His machine learning interests are varied, ranging from computer vision to natural language processing, with a particular interest in building large, foundation models (like ChatGPT).
Dr Jessica Leung
MBBS, BMedSc, FRACP
Rheumatologist
Jessica is a consultant rheumatologist at Austin Health, where she manages both outpatient clinics and inpatient ward service, as well as being Clinical Trials Lead for the Rheumatology Department.
She is also currently undertaking a PhD examining PMR, for which she was awarded the Ronald John Gleghorn Bursary by The University of Melbourne.
Jessica has an interest in managing a broad range of rheumatological conditions and has particular expertise in PMR and GCA.
MBBS (Hons), MD, FRACP
Rheumatologist
