Belinda Lea Baines

I’m a podiatrist and digital health project lead with over 14 years of experience in public health, currently serving as the Quality and Research Lead for Northern Health Podiatry and leading digital innovation projects at La Trobe University. I hold a formal qualification in project management and have authored several peer-reviewed publications focused on digital health, high risk populations, and virtual care pathways. My work is driven by systems thinking, stakeholder engagement, and co-design, with a strong focus on improving clinical outcomes and streamlining care. I’m looking for opportunities to continue growing as a leader, apply my skills to complex healthcare challenges, and contribute to meaningful, evidence-based improvements across the health system

She/Her

• Clinical Triage Tool for High-Risk Foot Presentations, As part of the Learning Health System Academy Fellowship, I developed a digital triage tool designed to support clinicians in the early identification, risk stratification, and referral of high-risk foot complications. The tool was co-designed with health service stakeholders and aimed to reduce clinical variation, improve decision-making consistency, and streamline access to specialist services. This project demonstrated how systems thinking and human-centred design can produce scalable, clinician-friendly digital solutions embedded in routine care.
• Victorian Virtual Specialist Consult (VVSC) Podiatry Pathway, I led the development of a statewide referral pathway between Northern Health podiatry services and the Victorian Virtual Specialist Consult (VVSC) platform. This initiative was designed to facilitate timely access to appropriate medical support for patients with complex foot needs, reducing unnecessary hospital presentations. It involved extensive consultation across disciplines and resulted in a structured, standardised process that supports primary clinicians to escalate care efficiently while preserving specialist capacity for the most urgent cases.
• Wearable Smart Glasses for Remote Support in Urgent Care Centres (La Trobe University & Partnered Health Services), This ongoing project explores the integration of wearable smart glasses in urgent care settings, enabling remote clinical support and real-time visual communication between urgent care clinicians and emergency clinicians. In collaboration with rural health services and La Trobe University, I’m leading the evaluation of the technology's feasibility and clinical impact. The project emphasises co-design with end-users, workflow integration, and equitable access to specialist knowledge in under-resourced locations.
• Pilot Study of AI-Powered Clinical Transcription Tools (La Trobe University), This pilot is to evaluate AI transcription tools designed to enhance clinical documentation accuracy and efficiency. By working alongside clinicians and digital health vendors, I’ve helped evaluate the software’s usability, compliance with privacy standards, and ability to reduce administrative burden. The project includes usability testing, workflow integration, and clinician feedback analysis, with the aim of informing broader implementation across public health services.