The city is set to take on a leading role in the state’s health services providing education and training for clinicians, who will be in greater demand as the population ages.

Griffith University Logan campus, at Meadowbrook, is home to two world-leading teaching programs in nursing and midwifery.

Griffith School of Nursing and Midwifery at Logan offers contemporary, comprehensive programs taught by dedicated professionals.

According to 2017 global rankings, the school is Queensland’s top ranked university for nursing and midwifery. On the world stage, it is ranked 14th.

With a midwifery teaching team led by Professor Jenny Gamble, the program enables students to learn in and out of the classroom, while gaining hands-on experience through placements in community maternity centres and hospitals.

Professor Gamble said the Bachelor of Midwifery program was held in high regard and it was recognised in 2017 with a prestigious Australian Awards for University Teaching for Programs that Enhance Learning.

Along with Prof Gamble the school also has Professor Jennifer Fenwick. Both said the midwifery school was committed to its students’ academic and professional development with graduates highly sought after and employed in hospitals and health centres worldwide.

“The Logan community and health services play a major part in our teaching and clinical learning, and will remain a vital part of our program moving forward,” Prof Gamble said.

“We work in partnership with health services to develop health professionals of the future able to apply the evidence, innovate and provide personal, individualised care.”

From research to rehab, Hopkins Centre holds the key

Logan is leading the way in world-class rehabilitation expertise.

Macleans Bridge is a place of happy memories for many.

But not for long-term Logan resident and Griffith University Professor Elizabeth Kendall. In 1979, her younger brother was injured in a head-on collision at the bridge.

He spent months in hospital recovering under the care of the late Dr Paul Hopkins, a rehabilitation physician who founded many disability and rehabilitation services in Queensland.

After meeting Dr Hopkins and seeing the benefits of rehabilitation, Professor Kendall turned her own career to brain injury rehabilitation. She volunteered at Headway Queensland in 1984, taught at the new Griffith University School of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Nathan campus in 1990 and designed the Acquired Brain Injury Outreach Service in 1996 with her Research Director, Professor Michele Foster.

In 1998, she established Crowson Park Riding for Disabled with help from John Wright and Linda Gaffaney, two long-term residents of Logan who knew only too well the challenging impact of brain and spinal cord injury.

Prof Kendall completed her PhD in 1997 and was one of the first to move to the new Logan campus of Griffith University in 1998, where she helped establish The Hopkins Centre named in honour of Dr Hopkins, the fruit of a 25-year partnership between Griffith University, Metro South Health and the Motor Accident Insurance Commission along with several major non-government organisations and private companies, including Synapse, formerly Headway Qld, Spinal Life Australia and Health Consumers Queensland.

The centre is now a highly successful collaborative and translational research centre committed to improving disability and rehabilitation services in Queensland.