Claudia Rutherford

Associate Professor Claudia Rutherford is a clinical research methodologist at Chris O'Brien Lifehouse and the University of Sydney, specializing in patient-reported outcomes (PROs), health-related quality of life (HRQL), and symptom burden in research and clinical practice. With over 15 years of experience, she serves as Director of the Sydney Quality of Life Office (SQOLO), which she re-established in 2023 to optimize the use of PROs in health research and routine healthcare, ensuring the patient perspective informs care, research, and decision-making.

Her research interests focus on:

• Clinical research in implementing routine PRO collection in health settings for individual patient decision-making and service evaluation
• Methodological research to improve PRO/HRQL research standards from concept development through peer-review reporting

Rutherford's recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate a strong focus on patient-reported outcome measures across various healthcare contexts, with particular emphasis on oncology applications. Her work spans systematic reviews, psychometric evaluations, cross-cultural validations, and implementation studies, with significant contributions to immune checkpoint inhibitors, cancer survivorship, bladder cancer, and integration of PROs into routine clinical care. She frequently collaborates on international initiatives aimed at standardizing PRO methodology and implementation, particularly through her leadership in the SISAQOL-IMI project.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Novice Investigator Award of EPUAP for 2010
• New Investigator Poster Presentation Award of ISOQOL 2014

As an educator, Rutherford coordinates and lectures for OLEO5623 Quality of Life Research Principles at the University of Sydney since 2018, lectures for AMED3001 Cancer Unit of Study at Westmead since 2018, and serves as a guest lecturer on patient-reported outcomes at Sydney Nursing School since 2016. She supervises research students including Margaret TAIT, who is researching health-related quality of life in patients accessing medicinal cannabis. Rutherford also chairs the Patient-Reported Outcomes Special Interest Group with over 1000 members and contributes to the Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials Group (PC4).

Rutherford leads several significant research projects including:

• Strengthening Healthcare Systems with Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) - NHMRC 2021 Partnership Projects PRC3
• Identifying referral pathways for a nurse-delivered sexual function and intimacy service for cancer patients - Cancer Institute NSW Clinical Trials Portfolio
• MY-PROMPT-2 trial for relapsed multiple myeloma - NHMRC MRFF Rare Cancers
• ACORNS Program of Research (2018-2023) - Beckett Fellowship
• SISAQOL-IMI - International Standards of PROs in Cancer Clinical Trials