Rate My Professor Matt Oates

Associate Professor Matthew Oates serves as Head of Clinical Education in the School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport at La Trobe University. He is a registered podiatrist who earned his Bachelor of Podiatry with Honours from La Trobe University in 1998. Oates completed his Doctor of Philosophy at La Trobe Rural Health School in Bendigo between 2013 and 2019. His doctoral research centered on the development of the Interprofessional Learning Outcomes Scale (IpLOS), a tool designed to assess outcomes of interprofessional education among pre-qualification health professionals. Previously, he worked as a podiatrist at Inner East Community Health Service. Throughout his career at La Trobe University, Oates has accumulated extensive experience in teaching undergraduate health professionals, coordinating subjects such as Cutaneous Science of the Foot, Medical Conditions Affecting the Foot, and Honours Industry Project. He has led significant curriculum and course redesign initiatives and currently oversees the School's clinical education renewal program.

Oates's research specializes in interprofessional education and collaborative practice, with a particular emphasis on designing valid instruments to evaluate interprofessional education outcomes in pre-qualification health students. Notable publications include 'A critical appraisal of instruments to measure outcomes of interprofessional education' published in Medical Education in 2015 with Megan Davidson, which has garnered substantial citations; 'Static Stance Response to Different Types of Foot Orthoses' in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association in 2003, co-authored with Craig Payne and Hazel Noakes; and contributions to 'Transforming Practice through Clinical Education, Professional Supervision and Mentoring,' including a chapter on clinical education topics. Additional works encompass 'Predictors of academic performance of nursing and paramedic students in first year bioscience' and studies on the Brief Attitudes Survey for Interprofessional Collaborative Learning. He is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Health Professional Educators and has held leadership roles such as Chair of the Australasian Interprofessional Practice and Education Network. Oates's contributions advance clinical education practices and interprofessional training in health sciences.