Jo Mckenzie, Sue Brennan and Miranda Cumpston joined the Methods Support Unit in their April 2022 web clinic to discuss a checklist and guide for defining the questions to be addressed in the synthesis of public health intervention reviews.

Sue Brennan is a Senior Research Fellow at Cochrane Australia, in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. She is a systematic review and guideline methodologist, undertaking research to (i) advance methods for evidence synthesis and the uptake of these methods, and (ii) deliver practical, evidence-based approaches for enabling decision-makers to use research evidence. Through leadership roles in the GRADE working group and Cochrane, Sue works with researchers, policy-makers and guideline developers to implement best practice methods in evidence synthesis and guideline development. She has co-authored four chapters of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, contributed to the SWIM and PRISMA-2020 reporting guidelines, and delivered training on synthesis methods and GRADE to more than 1000 review authors, editors and commissioners.

Jo McKenzie is an Associate Professor and head of the Methods in Evidence Synthesis Unit in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. She leads a team of researchers developing and examining methods for the design, analysis and reporting of systematic reviews. She has a number of roles within Cochrane including Co-convenor of the Cochrane Statistical Methods Group and Co-chair of the Methods Executive. She has co-authored four chapters of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, contributed to the SWIM and co-led the PRISMA-2020 reporting guidelines.

Miranda Cumpston is the Senior Methods Editor at Cochrane Public Health in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle, and a PhD candidate at the Methods in Evidence Synthesis Unit at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. Miranda's work aims to support authors and end users of systematic reviews, particularly in the field of public health, by developing methods and guidance that address common challenges. Her doctoral research explores methods to clearly specify synthesis questions in systematic reviews, as well as methods for synthesis when meta-analysis is not used. Miranda is an Editor of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and has co-authored four of its chapters, and has nearly two decades of experience in developing and delivering training in systematic review methods to authors and evidence users internationally.

Each month, Cochrane’s Methods Support Unit invites Cochrane Review authors, editors and staff to a 60-minute web clinic to discuss their methodological questions during the production of Cochrane Protocols and Reviews. 

The first half of the session is dedicated to a specific topic which has been requested by the audience or identified through the work of the Methods Support Unit. An invited speaker will present on the issue and there will be time for questions and discussion. In the second half of the session, audience members can discuss specific methodological questions they have about their Cochrane Protocols and Reviews (please submit these to the Methods Support Unit is advance here). Depending on the queries submitted, representatives from Cochrane’s Methods Group may be invited.  If you have any general questions about the clinics or would like to propose a topic, please contact us via support@cochrane.org. 

Please note: The sessions are recorded and shared via our website for those who can’t attend, meaning their contents will be stored in the public domain.