Zachary Munn
Zachary Munn
Professor Zachary Munn is an advocate for evidence-based healthcare and for ensuring policy and practice is based on the best available evidence. Professor Munn is the Director of Health Evidence Synthesis, Recommendations and Impact (HESRI) in the School of Public Health at the University of Adelaide; Head of the Evidence Synthesis Taxonomy Initiative (ESTI); Founding Director of the JBI Adelaide GRADE Centre; Chair of the Guidelines International Network (GIN) and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator. He is a systematic review, evidence implementation and guideline development methodologist.
To enable evidence-based decisions, we need to ensure that the 'evidence' is trustworthy. As such, Zachary advances the methods of systematic review, guidelines and implementation science and conducts methodological research. He has been involved in the conduct of dozens of systematic reviews, clinical guidelines, evidence implementation and health services research projects. He is the convenor/chair of four methodology committees; Systematic Reviews of Prevalence/Incidence, Systematic reviews of Interventions, Scoping Reviews Methodology, Grading evidence, and Predatory Publishing Practices. He is an in-demand invited speaker at numerous conferences internationally, presenting on clinical practice guideline development, implementation science, systematic reviews and evidence-based healthcare. He is on the editorial board for the journal JBI Evidence Implementation and is an Associate Editor for BMC Medical Research Methodology. He has published hundreds of papers in peer reviewed journals and authored multiple books/book chapters.
He has been involved in and led research grants and commissioned projects for the UK Department for International Development, the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Sax Institute, the World Health Organisation, HCF Health and Medical Research Foundation, the Centre of Research Excellence in Aboriginal Chronic Disease Knowledge Translation and Exchange (CREATE), the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Queensland Health, the Heart Foundation of Australia, Australian Diabetes Educators Association and the Julian Burton Burns Trust Clipsal Community Grant - and many more. He is a GIN Board Trustee, a Cochrane author, and a member of the GRADE working group and project groups. He is a current member of the NHMRC Synthesis and Translation of Research Evidence (SToRE) Advisory Group.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Prof Munn contributed to the coordination of global efforts to develop trustworthy evidence to inform decision making regarding Covid-19. He was the Chair of the Guidelines International Network Covid-19 Taskforce, in addition to being a key member of the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVID-END), the COVID19 Recommendations and Gateway to Contextualization (https://covid19.recmap.org/about), a member of the WHO Evidence Collaboration for COVID-19 and a member of the Evidence Implementation Council for the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges.
As Head of the Evidence Synthesis Taxonomy Initiative, Prof Munn works to resolve confusion regarding meta-research and to advance methods of evidence synthesis. This grant, which commenced in 2021, has been awarded to investigate and improve the quality and science of the synthesis of medical research through the development of an evidence synthesis taxonomy. This is a comprehensive resource for policy makers, academics, clinicians, consumers and all others who are interested in rigorous and transparent methods of evidence synthesis for informing knowledge, policy and practice. (https://jbi.global/jbi-evidence-synthesis-taxonomy-initiative)
Prof Munn's work in implementation science has resulted in direct improvements in healthcare practice. He has provided practical support, training and advice to clinical and public health professionals on how change can be achieved in healthcare practices and how we can move through evidence generation, synthesis and to implementation/translation resulting in clear health improvements. He is lead author on a chapter providing guidance for people implementing evidence (Munn Z et al. Evidence implementation projects using an evidence-based audit and feedback approach: the JBI Implementation Framework, JBI Handbook for Evidence Implementation). In addition, he has been the lead researcher/methodologist/implementation science expert for many quality improvement and health services research projects. In this capacity he ensures that rigorous methods are used and that where evidence implementation activities take place, these are based on trustworthy and valid sources of information. Within these projects he ensures there are strategies for engaging and collaborating with team members and health service staff so they accept and embrace the research program or activity.
In his role as a GIN Tech steering group member and as a developer of systematic review software, Prof Munn is very familiar with the various tools available for systematic review and clinical guideline development and has been involved in the development of these tools. He understands how these tools can contribute to trustworthy clinical guideline development whilst still maintaining relevancy and currency, and where their use can optimise a digital and trustworthy evidence ecosystem, and the potential for AI, machine learning and automation in the evidence pipeline.
Although Prof Munn is involved in many systematic reviews, implementation and guideline projects, perhaps the most rewarding part of his role is the chance to work hands on with public health professionals, clinicians and health services to facilitate the implementation of evidence into practice, particularly in low resource and LMIC.