title: The Australian, US, Scandinavian Imaging Exchange (AUSSIE): an innovative, virtually-integrated health research network embedded in health care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the development, design and function of an innovative international clinical research network for neuroimaging research, based in Australia, within a joint state health service/medical school. This Australian, US, Scandinavian Imaging Exchange (AUSSIE) network focuses upon identifying neuroimaging biomarkers for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We describe a case study of the iterative development of the network, identifying characteristic features and methods which may serve as potential models for virtual clinical research networks. This network was established to analyse clinically-derived neuroimaging data relevant to neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disease, specifically in relation to subcortical brain structures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AUSSIE network has harnessed synergies from the individual expertise of the component groups, primarily clinical neuroscience researchers, to analyse a variety of clinical data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AUSSIE is an active virtual clinical research network, analogous to a connectome, which is embedded in health care and has produced significant research, advancing our understanding of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disease through the lens of neuroimaging.
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, and; Mental Health Service, Australian Capital Territory Health Directorate, Canberra Hospital, Woden, ACT, Australia jeffrey.looi@anu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jeffrey Cl
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Looi
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatry Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, and; Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne and Northwestern Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Velakoulis
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatry Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, and; Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne and Northwestern Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walterfang
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Nellie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Georgiou-Karistianis
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, and; Mental Health Service, Australian Capital Territory Health Directorate, Canberra Hospital, Woden, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Macfarlane
authors.affiliation: School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley; and; Peel and Rockingham Kwinana Mental Health Service, Rockingham, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Brian D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Power
authors.affiliation: Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christer
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Computer Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Styner
authors.affiliation: Imaging Genetics Center, University of Southern California (USC) Institute for Neuroimaging and Informatics, Keck School of Medicine, USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, UCLA, CA, USA; and Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry, Engineering, Radiology and Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine, USC, USA.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Imaging and Physiology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, and; Diagnostic Radiology, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van Westen
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, ANU Medical School, Canberra, and; Mental Health Service, ACT Health Directorate, Canberra Hospital, Woden, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Fiona A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Wilkes
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars-Olof
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Wahlund
keywords: AUSSIE; clinical research; clinical research network; collaboration; imaging; international; neurodegenerative disease; neuroimaging; neuropsychiatric disease