General News
9 March, 2025
Get to know new healthcare columnist
My intention is to provide readers with interesting and relevant information about advances in healthcare and medical understanding.
These columns will cover a range of topics, from those on specific treatments and physiology to broader philosophical and political considerations.
I am, however, of the opinion that if someone cannot explain a concept in simple terms, then they themselves do not understand.
As such I will do my utmost to offer content that is not difficult to read or digest.
I feel I should introduce myself honestly.
This requires that I do not hold back from describing my professional life frankly, despite being an Aussie familiar with our endemic Tall Poppy Syndrome.
I apologise for the lack of humility in what follows.
My paternal grandfather, father and mother all attended Adelaide University Medical School before becoming general practitioners.
Later in life my grandfather became a Minister of Health.
My father also trained as a psychiatrist, now mostly providing psychotherapy, while my mother works in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and the youth justice system.
After growing up in Halls Creek and Dunsborough in rural Western Australia and then Adelaide, I too studied medicine at the University of Adelaide.
During placements I spent time at hospitals in Adelaide, Darwin, Broken Hill, Port Augusta, Wilcannia, Beirut and Dublin and more than six months in various rural Zambian mission hospitals.
I completed a Master of International Public Health before working in metropolitan hospitals in Adelaide and Melbourne, mostly in general medicine and emergency departments.
During Covid I was very much on Melbourne’s “front line”.
Having climbed at Dyurrite/Mt Arapiles since adolescence, it was only three years ago that I found my home in the Wimmera.
I now work as a GP at Lister House Clinic in Horsham and Natimuk.
My clinical focus is mental health, chronic pain and addiction.
Via the ByFive and Doctors in Secondary Schools programs I provide paediatric care with a focus on mental and behavioural health.
My love of academia is broad, and I have undertaken research and presented on a wide range of topics.
Currently my academic passion is spiritual health and my extra-clinical interest is teaching medical students.
I very much look forward to the opportunity of sharing my thoughts, opinions and knowledge in a way I hope you will find useful and empowering.