The Meaning of Health Podcast

Episode 35 - Prof Tim Colmer

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 07:41:55 GMT

We are joined by Professor Tim Colmer for a chat in this episode. Tim is a plant physiologist who conducts research into stress tolerance of plants, particularly in conditions where there is high salinity, drough, or waterlogging. Tim is also the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research at the University of Western Australia. We chat with Tim about his research, and how his area of work intersects with public health in relation to food security. We also talk with Tim about the involvement he has with health and medical science research at UWA in his role as DVC of Research. We pick Tim's brain about how he has seen UWA change over the 25 years he has been working there as an academic, and what things may look like as the sector navigates its way past COVID19. You can read more about Tim and his work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/tim-colmer As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 127 - Real World Data and the Use of Medicines to treat Cancer with Dr Monica Tang

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 07:47:09 GMT

In this episode, we speak with Dr Monica Tang, a medical oncologist at the Prince of Wales Hospital and researcher at the University of New South Wales. Monica shares her clinical and academic journey, highlighting how her experience with patients and real-world data is reshaping cancer care in Australia. She discusses her specialisation in breast cancer treatment and the collaborative approach taken by multidisciplinary teams. These teams, comprising surgeons, radiation oncologists, pharmacists, pathologists, and psychologists work together to tailor care based on each patient’s diagnosis and needs. Monica also explains the critical differences between curable and treatable cancers, demystifying terms like metastatic disease. She stresses that while not all cancers are curable, many can be treated long-term with excellent quality of life. A key focus of the episode is her research on cancer survivorship. Through patient-reported outcomes and health economic data, Monica explores the challenges patients face after treatment, including persistent symptoms, reduced income, and unmet support needs. She also champions the role of real-world data to complement clinical trials, offering a more accurate picture of how treatments work outside controlled environments. This episode is a powerful reminder that life after cancer deserves just as much attention as diagnosis and treatment. You can read more about Monica and her work here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Monica-Tang-3 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Or visit our website: www.meaningofhealth.com.au

Episode 20 - The Psychology of Health Misinformation with Doug MacFarlane

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 02:37:58 GMT

Hello and welcome to episode 20 of the Meaning of Health! We are joined by Doug MacFarlane from the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia for this episode. Doug chats with us about the road he took to end up doing a PhD into the Psychology of Health Misinformation which he is currently completing. Doug’s story is unique and has led him to do some interesting work over the years. Our conversation concludes with a discussion about health misinformation and COVID-19, something which has been posing problems for health authorities around the world since the pandemic began. If you want to find out more about Doug and his work, you can click here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/douglas-macfarlane If you have any feedback about this, or any other episode, you can contact us at meaningofhealth@outlook.com or tweet us @healthmeanswhat

Episode 87 - Drug Policy And Medicinal Cannabis With Leah Roberts

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 03:22:52 GMT

Episode 87 - Drug Policy And Medicinal Cannabis With Leah Roberts by The Meaning of Health Podcast

Ep 141 - using iyarn for mental health and wellbeing w/ Lockie Cooke

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 02:41:43 GMT

As we return for 2026, we kick off our mental health series with a great conversation between Dr Ingrid Stacey and Lockie Cooke, founder and CEO of iyarn. iyarn is a digital platform designed to help to support people to keep track of their health and wellbeing across a range of domains, including mental health. Lockie talks through his inspiration for developing iyarn, and discusses how the platform works, and some of its many uses, both by individuals and organisation who work with people. Lockie also shares some of his experience living and working in remote parts of Western Australia, and the special bond he has formed with the Bardi Jawi people from the Kimberley. Lockie’s experience has shaped how iyarn manages individuals’ data ethically, and consistent with principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Lockie also touches on the current technological landscape, and particularly some to the risks posed by the rapid rollout of AI, with some companies prioritising growth over quality assurance. The conversation does include discussion about suicide, so if that may be upsetting to you, this may be one to skip. If listening this conversation does raise any concerns for you, you can contact Lifeline on 131144. You can read more about iyarn and Lockie here: https://iyarn.com As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 134 – Living w/ Hidden Disability, Supporting Carers w/ Chanel & Esme [disability series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 05:22:35 GMT

Dorinda is joined by Chanel & Esme as we continue our series on disability. Chanel talks us through her journey over the last few years since she acquired a brain injury due to a traumatic event, and discusses some of the challenges she has faced, both due to her injury and the symptoms she manages, including hearing loss and balance issues, as well as the complexities navigating the health system, often out in rural areas. Chanel also talks about the successes she has had, particularly in being able to return to her work working in film production. Esme discusses her experience as a leader and advocate in a range of sectors, including health (where she worked as a registered nurse), disability and road safety. She also shares her experience as a family member carer for Chanel and the mental and physical load that comes with this important, and often unrecognised role. She also reflects on her work as Chair of the Carers Advisory Council and the role they play advising the WA government on issues affecting carers. Both Chanel and Esme share their thoughts on weaknesses in our society currently when it comes to engaging with people with disabilities and their carers and provide practical advice (based on much experience) for navigating not just health and disability systems, but everyday life for people with disability. A particular focus is on people with disabilities that are “hidden” that may not be visually obvious to people they come into contact with. Read more about Chanel and her work as a Producer, Access Coordinator and Disability Advocate: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chanel-bowen-b629236b/?originalSubdomain=au Read more about Esme’s work with the Carers Advisory Council: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-communities/carers-advisory-council As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 131 - Improving Understanding of Menopause with AProf Erin Morton [women's health series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 05:42:24 GMT

In this episode of The Meaning of Health, we’re joined by Associate Professor Erin Morton, CEO, and founder of Bespoke Clinical Research, to explore the often-overlooked topic of perimenopause and menopause. Erin shares her professional expertise and personal experiences navigating perimenopause, which inspired her to establish the Vital Perimenopause Registry—a project capturing community perspectives on symptoms, challenges, and priorities in women’s health. We discuss what menopause and perimenopause really mean, the wide range of symptoms beyond the well-known hot flushes, and the significant impact on mental health, work, relationships, and daily life. Erin highlights the stigma and silence that too often surrounds menopause, stressing the importance of open conversations, informed healthcare, and supportive workplaces. The conversation also touches on the need for better clinician training, especially in rural and regional communities, and the cultural and social factors that shape women’s experiences. Erin reminds us that while symptoms and treatments differ, what makes the biggest difference is understanding, empathy, and support—from healthcare providers, workplaces, families, and society at large. This insightful discussion is a valuable listen for anyone—whether you’re directly experiencing menopause or supporting someone who is. Learn more about Erin’s work here and get contact details: https://bespokeclinicalresearch.com.au/about-us/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Or visit our website: www.meaningofhealth.com.au

Episode 128 - KeepingHearts Strong:NoongarWomen,Culture&CardiacHealthwProfAuntyVickyWade&ProfBepUink

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 07:08:23 GMT

In this special NAIDOC Week episode of The Meaning of Health podcast, Ingrid is joined by Associate Professor Aunty Vicky Wade and Professor Bep Uink for a discussion about the importance of heart health among Noongar women and Aboriginal communities more broadly. Together, they explore the central role of Noongar women as matriarchs, healers, and cultural leaders, and how these responsibilities connect deeply with physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Aunty Vicky shares her journey as a Noongar woman and cardiac nurse with over 40 years of experience, highlighting the significant burden of cardiovascular disease on Aboriginal women, who face much higher risks of heart disease and early death than non-Aboriginal women. Bep talks about her background in social and emotional wellbeing research and being appointed as the first woman and first Aboriginal Director of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. Together they discuss how cultural safety involves recognising different worldviews and building genuine connections between healthcare providers and patients. Aunty Vicky and Bep share their hope and optimism for the future as part of this year’s NAIDOC theme The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy, and how they are inspired by the resilience and strength of Noongar women and the growing leadership of younger generations. They encourage Aboriginal women to prioritize their own health and seek heart health checks, reinforcing that knowledge and empowerment are key to creating lasting change. Listeners can explore NAIDOC week history and activities at naidoc.org.au The Australian CVD risk calculator discussed can be found at https://www.cvdcheck.org.au/calculator The heart age calculator is available at https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/heart-age-calculator The 2025 guidelines for the diagnosis and management of rheumatic heart disease can be found here: https://rhdaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Australian-ARF-RHD-Guideline-2025.pdf As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Or visit our website: www.meaningofhealth.com.au

Episode 118 - Protecting the Rights and Needs of Children and Future Generations

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Welcome back for our first episode of 2025. We bring you panel conversation from a “Breakfast by the Bay” event recorded in October 2024 at the University Club of Western Australia. The panel conversation was moderated by Linda Savage, lawyer, former member of parliament and law reform and social justice advocate. The panellists were: Kate Chaney, Independent Federal Member for Curtin Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor Brett Hart, Pundukunu Aboriginal Service Amie Furlong, Government Relations and Research Advisor, Foundations for Tomorrow Jacqueline McGowan-Jones, Commissioner for Children and Young People WA A/Prof Rebecca Glauert, Director of the Australian Child and Youth Wellbeing Atlas at UWA The conversation covered a range of topics related to the rights and wellbeing of children and young people, as well future generations. These topics included how governments consider this group in government decision-making and future planning, which touched on how we could learn from some world-leading legislation enacted in Wales that deals with this issue. The conversation also covered mental health, education, and a move away from short-term thinking in policy making, and how young people can and should be more involved in policy development. Many thanks to A/Prof Paul Maginn and Clare Feenan from the UWA Public Policy Institute for hosting the event and collaborating with us once again. As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 103 - Menopause Matters Live Panel

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 07:50:22 GMT

Welcome to a special episode where we bring you the conversation from a live event “Breakfast By the Bay – Menopause Matters: Igniting Change with Menopause Policy Reform” hosted by the UWA Public Policy Institute (PPI) at the University Club at UWA in July 2024. The event included opening remarks from WA Member of the Legislative Assembly Dr Katrina Stratton who shared her experience of menopause, and Juris Doctor student Basira Khan who spoke about the research project she recently completed on the intersection of menopause and different cultural backgrounds, in order to ensure that future menopause policies consider culturally diverse groups. The panel for the event was hosted by Director of the UWA PPI A/Prof Paul Maginn and included: WA Senator Louise Pratt who is leading the current senate inquiry into “Issues related menopause and perimenopause” - https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Menopause Grace Molloy, CEO of Menopause Friendly Australia - https://menopausefriendly.au Dr Rod Gutierrez, Group Vice President, Health & Hygiene, BHP - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drgutierrez/?originalSubdomain=au Dr Dani Barrington, Senior Lecturer at the UWA School of Population and Global Health - https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/dani-barrington Francine Eades, East Metropolitan Health Service - https://www.linkedin.com/in/francine-eades-49b721225/?originalSubdomain=au The panel discuss the different impacts of menopause and perimenopause on women across different aspects of their lives. They also discuss how increasing awareness among family members, employers, and policymakers can help to pave the way for meaningful changes to help women who are going through perimenopause and menopause. Audience members also shared their menopause stories and asked the panel questions. The panel rounded out the discussion by finishing with an acknowledgement of some of the benefits of having gone through menopause. A huge thanks to Paul Maginn and Clare Feenan from the UWA PPI for organising this excellent event, and for inviting us along to record it. You can access the UWA PPI’s Policy Brief “Menopause Matters” here: https://api.research-repository.uwa.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/407913418/Menopause_PolicyBrief_Final_08082024.pdf As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 97 - Finishing A PhD With Courtney And Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 01:20:44 GMT

Episode 97 - Finishing A PhD With Courtney And Craig by The Meaning of Health Podcast

Episode 90 - The Voice To Parliament With Prof Dawn Bessarab

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 07:35:50 GMT

We sit down for a yarn with prominent Indigenous academic Prof Dawn Bessarab. Dawn is a Bard/Yindijibarndi Aboriginal woman who grew up in the Kimberley in North Western Australia. She has a background in social work, and is now the Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health at UWA. Dawn has led many innovations in Indigenous research methods, and was responsible for developing the clinical yarning framework which is now widely used in Australia and across the world. Dawn gives us a snapshot of her life and career, before sharing her views on the upcoming referendum on constitutional recognitional and a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament for Indigenous Australians. A supporter of the Voice, Dawn provides a unique perspective on what the Voice means for Indigenous people, and some of the challenges that the Indigenous community is facing as the “yes” and “no” campaigns push their cases in a debate that has been very emotional for many. Dawn also addresses some of the arguments from the “no” side of the campaign, and provides some valuable insight into why many Indigenous people are struggling with this debate, and how white Australia can best support the Indigenous community now, and into the future. A big thank you to Dr Emma Haynes who helped to arrange our conversation with Dawn. You can read more about Dawn and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/dawn-bessarab For more information on the Voice to Parliament, you can watch/read a speech by Mary Crooks here: https://www.vwt.org.au/women-for-yes-address-by-mary-crooks-ao-delivered-sunday-13-august-2023/ And you can watch Marcia Langton, Jackie Huggins and Emily Carter’s talk here: https://www.vwt.org.au/video-what-do-you-tell-your-grandchildren-featuring-marcia-langton-ao-dr-jackie-huggins-am-and-emily-carter/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 72 - Zombie Ideas in Public Health with A/Profs Marco Rizzi and Katie Attwell

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 03:35:29 GMT

We welcome back to the podcast Associate Professor Katie Attwell from the UWA School of Social Sciences and for the first time Associate Professor Marco Rizzi from the UWA Law School. We discuss how a zombie health idea that was long debunked was endorsed by the courts in Italy, having a huge ramifications for public health in the country. Our conversation centres on a couple of court decisions around vaccines that individuals in Italy had claimed had caused them injury, resulting in them seeking compensation from the Italian Government. During one of these cases the infamous Wakefield paper that was published and then later retracted by the Lancet was tendered as evidence that the measles mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was linked with an increased risk of autism developing in children. Astonishingly on two separate occasions the Courts accepted the argument that the vaccines in question had caused the injuries claimed, despite no evidence being tendered to support these claims. We discuss the circumstances that led the courts to come to their decisions, the process of getting these decisions overturned later on appeal, and the consequences for vaccination rates and the public health system in Italy. We discuss what lessons can be learned by public health authorities around ensuring that the public is effectively informed about health issues, and zombie ideas or misinformation, so that they can make well informed choices about their health care. You can read more about the work that Marco and Katie did investigating the events in Italy here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-law-in-context/article/legitimising-a-zombie-idea-childhood-vaccines-and-autism-the-complex-tale-of-two-judgments-on-vaccine-injury-in-italy/BF7D7E525FE83898A458202C2D261D66 and here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8203395/ Marco’s research profile is here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/Profile/Marco-Rizzi Katie’s research profile is here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/Profile/ABLE/Katie-Attwell As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 65 - Addiction and Recovery Part 4 with Lee

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 26 May 2022 04:17:22 GMT

Welcome back to another podcast episode as we sit down with the final guest from our series with the peer support workers from Doors Wide Open in Bunbury in Western Australia. Lee talks us through his experience with addiction and recovery, with a relationship breakdown being a major factor in Lee’s experience in getting involved in using methamphetamine and finding himself in trouble with the law. Lee’s experience saw him enter rehab before COVID19 had arrived in Australia, and come out a few months later when Western Australia was not only cut off from the rest of Australia, but there were regional borders within the state. He talks us through what this was like, and how doing simple tasks like grocery shopping had changed during his time in rehab. Lee talks about how he has transformed his life since his time in rehab and how this journey has led him to working as a peer support worker at Doors Wide Open. Lee talks about his ambitions for the future, including doing further study. Lee does discuss some fairly dark experiences with us, including attempting suicide, so if that sounds like something that may be upsetting for you this may be one to skip. If not, please join us for a fascinating and frank conversation with Lee. A big thank you to Dr Jane Anderson for making this episode possible. If this episode raises any issues for you, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 You can read more about Doors Wide Open here: https://www.doorswideopen.net As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 49 - Croakey Health Media with Dr Melissa Sweet

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 04:08:21 GMT

In this episode we chat with Dr Melissa Sweet, the Editor in Chief of Croakey Health Media. Melissa is a journalist and writer whose current focus in on Public Interest Health Journalism. We discuss the origins of Croakey, which was initially borne out of the Crikey e-news bulletin, and was incorporated in its own right in 2018. We chat with Melissa about her career and experiences with Croakey, and delve into the crisis in public interest journalism in Australia. We talk about the potential to embed public interest journalism and reporting into research projects to help disseminate the findings more efficiently to a wider audience. We also chat about the intersection of health and politics, and the implications of this on health policy in Australia. We hope you enjoy the conversation. You can read more about Croakey and access their stories here: www.croakey.org As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 42 - Sanitation, Toilets & Menstruation with Dr Dani Barrington

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 06:08:57 GMT

Welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. This week we are joined by Dr Dani Barrington from the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia. Dani started her academic career in Environmental Chemistry and Environmental Systems Engineering before her work in the developing world led her to Public Health. Dani has worked in several countries across the globe, including in Bangladesh and Africa, and spent time as a Visiting Lecturer at Leeds University in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. Dani's work involves both qualitative and quantitative methods and looks broadly at Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) with a particular focus on toilets and menstruation. We have a frank discussion with Dani about some of the challenges that a lot of the world's population faces in these areas, and discuss what can be and is being done to try and improve things around the world. Another area that Dani is passionate about is promoting more transparency about failures in the WASH sector, arguing that not acknowledging WASH intervention failures can lead to the continuing use of ineffective interventions, in turn wasting valuable resources. If you would like to read more about Dani and some of her work you can here: UWA Profile: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/dani-barrington WASH Failures: https://wash.leeds.ac.uk/what-the-f-how-we-failed-to-publish-a-journal-special-issue-on-failures/ WASH Failures Twitter: https://twitter.com/FSM_Fail Review of menstrual experiences: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/tajkp/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 24 - Addiction Medicine with Dr Michael Christmass

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 00:59:38 GMT

In this episode we have a great chat with Dr Michael Christmass, a drug and alcohol addiction doctor practising at Next Step Clinic in East Perth. Mike has had an interesting and unique journey into medicine discusses his career pathway with us, and his motivations for practicing addiction medicine. This is the first of two episodes that you will hear with Mike as he was very generous with his time, so we have split the discussion in two. You can find out more about Next Step here: https://www.mhc.wa.gov.au/about-us/our-services/next-step-drug-and-alcohol-services/ Contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 2 - Cannabis with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 05:52:33 GMT

In this episode we look at cannabis and what impact it may have on health, particularly mental health. We discuss the pros and cons of making cannabis legally available from a health, research and criminal justice perspective, as well as discussing some of the evidence about cannabis as a possible medicine. Links to more information on cannabis: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/phe/221/alcohol-tobacco-other-drugs-australia/contents/drug-types/cannabis https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/3ac07c8b-ce2d-47db-8e50-5352fb92258e/AODTSFactsheet_Cannabis.pdf.aspx https://adf.org.au/drug-facts/medicinal-cannabis/ https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/blog/australias-recreational-drug-policies-arent-working-so-what-are-options-reform

Ep 145 - Ageing, Dementia & Music w Dr Simone Marino

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 03:50:54 GMT

We kick off our series looking at aged care and the health of aging populations with a conversation with Dr Simone Marino, a researcher at Edith Cowan University. Simone’s work is at the intersection of aging, dementia and cultural anthropology. Simone also serves as a Music & Cultural Engagement Consultant for WA InCasa Aged Care. Simone discusses his background working with migrant communities, and the role that music plays in helping people from these communities who live with Dementia, as well as family caregivers. You can read more about Simone and his work here: https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/arts-and-humanities/staff/profiles/sage-futures/dr-simone-marino As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 139 - Developmental Disability WA with James, Georgie & Justin [disability series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 03:29:15 GMT

For this episode Dorinda visited the offices of Developmental Disability WA (DDWA) with our practicum student Sumaya and speaks with 3 guests with experience living with developmental disability and navigating the health system as consumers. James, a member of the DDWA advisory council, discusses some positive experiences with hospitals and the support he received from his parents and doctors, as well as the need for improvements like reducing hospital wait times and providing separate areas for people with disabilities in emergency departments. Georgie, who manages a back injury along with a disability, discusses problems such as the lack of understanding and respect from hospital staff, emphasising the need for better communication and support. Justin, a disability advocate, calls for a specialised disability hospital to address the unique needs of people with disabilities, highlighting the current system's failures in providing adequate care and support, Justin calls for simple steps to be taken such as making documents such as information and consent forms more accessible for people with disability. Many thanks to Mary Butterworth, CEO of DDWA who helped make this episode possible. You can read more about DDWA here: https://ddwa.org.au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 126: Australia's Medicine Funding with Prof Robyn Ward and Ms Jo Watson [medicines series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 28 May 2025 05:25:11 GMT

Welcome to a new series looking at Medicines in Australia. To kick off our medicines series, this episode features conversations with Professor Robyn Ward, Chair of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), and Ms Jo Watson, PBAC deputy-chair. Robyn briefly discusses her work as a cancer oncologist and researcher and has taken up a new position as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) and Senior Vice President at Monash University in Melbourne since we recorded this conversation. Robyn then talked us through the important work that the PBAC does in assessing which medicines should be recommended to the Commonwealth Health Minister for inclusion on Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). The PBS is an important part of Australia’s health system, as it helps to keep the cost of a range of medicines more affordable for people across Australia who are prescribed them. Robyn discusses the range of expertise that makes up the PBAC, including health economists, clinicians, researchers, and community members, who all consider applications for new drugs to be added to the PBS from different perspectives. Jo talks us through her career as a health consumer advocate, including work done advocating for people living with HIV back in the 1990s, through to her current roles today as deputy-chair of PBAC, Chair of the Consumer Consultative Committee, within the Office of Health Technology Assessment in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, and Deputy Chair and Director on the Board of the Consumers Health Forum (CHF), the peak national health consumer organisation in Australia. Jo talks us through how the different members of the PBAC work together to produce the advice to the Health Minister, and provides some insight into the types of questions that need to be asked and answered as part of that process. Read more about Robyn here: https://www.monash.edu/about/structure/senior-monash-staff/deputy-vice-chancellor-research-and-enterprise-and-senior-vice-president Read more about Jo here: https://genomics4newborns.sydney.edu.au/team/ms-jo-watson/ A big thank you to Prof Sallie Pearson from the Medicines Intelligence Centre of Research Excellence (MI-CRE) at University of NSW who shared her thoughts (and contacts) for guests to feature in our medicines series. Read more about MI-CRE here: https://www.unsw.edu.au/medicine-health/our-schools/population-health/research/centre-research-excellence-medicines-intelligence As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Or visit our website: www.meaningofhealth.com.au

Episode 114 - PHAA Australian Public Health Conference Part 5

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the fifth episode of our special series we recorded at the Public Health Association of Australia’s (PHAA) Australian Public Health Conference in Perth in September 2024 #AustPH2024. We had many guests come through our pop-up studio over the 3 day conference to chat about their career and recent work. In this episode we feature conversations with: Dr Hannah Barbour from Flinders University: https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/hannah.barbour Dr Lucy Butcher from the East Metropolitan Health Service: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-butcher-81aa34129/?originalSubdomain=au Dr Pam Nguyen from Deakin University: https://experts.deakin.edu.au/38832-phuong-nguyen A big thank you to the wonderful PHAA team, and Anise Clarke who helped arrange the logistics for us to record during the conference As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 107 - Pain Medication with Dr Ria Hopkins

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 04:22:02 GMT

In this episode we are joined by Dr Ria Hopkins from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at the University of New South Wales. Ria is also a member of the Medicines Intelligence Centre for Research Excellence (MI-CRE). Ria chats with us about her work looking at prescribing patterns of medication used to manage pain. We talk at length about the recent trends in Australia and the opioid-related issues that have been experienced in the United States in recent years. Ria also talks us through the non-pharmaceutical therapy options that should also be considered for patients who are experiencing chronic pain, such as physical therapy, and psychological support. You can read more about Ria and her work here: https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/ria-hopkins You can read about MI-CRE here: https://www.unsw.edu.au/medicine-health/our-schools/population-health/research/centre-research-excellence-medicines-intelligence As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Twitter/X @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 104 - Vaccination Among People Who Inject Drugs With Olivia Price

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 02:55:37 GMT

Episode 104 - Vaccination Among People Who Inject Drugs With Olivia Price by The Meaning of Health Podcast

Episode 100 - ROBO - Health - AI And The Future Of Healthcare

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 04:04:40 GMT

To celebrate our 100th episode we partnered with the Public Policy Institute at the University of Western Australia to hold a live event at the Backlot cinema in West Perth in May 2024. We invited a panel of experts to discuss the use of AI in healthcare and heard different perspectives on what the risks and benefits are of using AI for many aspects of healthcare. Our panel included: Tania Harris, Engagement Manager, Aboriginal and Disability Engagement Lead at the Health Consumers Council of Western Australia - https://www.hconc.org.au who discussed how AI could be beneficial to healthcare consumers, but also the potential risks and downsides to having less human contact when receiving healthcare Dr Yuliya Karpievitch from the Telethon Kids Institute - https://www.telethonkids.org.au/contact-us/our-people/k/yuliya-karpievitch/ who discussed using AI to tackle the challenge of anti-microbial resistance that is likely to result in antibiotics being ineffective by 2050 Elizabeth Lang, a PhD candidate and CEO/founder of Diversity Focus - https://diversityfocus.com.au who talked about the need to include data from a diverse range of people in the algorithms used to train AI to ensure that it works effectively across to entire population, not just people from specific demographic groups A/Prof Marco Rizzi from the University of Western Australia’s Law School - https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/marco-rizzi who discussed some of the regulatory and legal considerations when AI is used in healthcare, including who may be liable when things go wrong A huge thank you to our panellists who generously gave their time and ventured out on what was a very wet evening in Perth. Also, a big thank you to Ian Hale and the team at the Backlot for providing such a wonderful venue, it really helped to make the evening special: https://www.thebacklotperth.com A massive thank you to A/Prof Paul Maginn and Clare Feenan from the UWA Public Policy Institute who supported and led the co-ordination of this event, it was a pleasure working with them, and they do excellent work to ensure that society’s most important issues are featured in the public discourse: https://www.uwa.edu.au/institutes/public-policy/home Finally, thank you to all the people who have joined us as guests on the podcast, and also those who have listened to our episodes and supported the podcast since we started in 2019. It is a privilege to produce the podcast and we continue to learn and evolve and look forward to bringing you the next 100 episodes! As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 92 - Using Living Models To Advance Medicine With Dr Erika Bosio

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 03:29:14 GMT

In this episode we venture out to Royal Perth Hospital for a chat with Dr Erika Bosio, Laboratory Head in the Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine, and a senior lecturer at the UWA School of Biomedical Sciences and Graduate Research Coordinator at the UWA Medical School. Erika talks us through her career in research, which took her to Italy and back again. She has conducted research in immunology, transplantation, diabetes and stem cells. Erika is currently working with UWA and the Harry Perkins Institute using a live human model of tiny blood vessels to try and improve our understanding of how sepsis and anaphylaxis work to make people acutely unwell. Erika also discusses our reliance on the use of animal models in early-stage laboratory research, a complex and often controversial topic. You can read more about Erika’s work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/erika-bosio As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 86 - Medication Safety In Pregnancy With Dr Erin Kelty

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 05:47:28 GMT

Welcome to another episode where we chat with Dr Erin Kelty, a researcher at the UWA School of Population and Global Health. Erin discusses her research career, starting with animal research, through to the work she currently does researching medication safety during pregnancy. Erin shares some breaking news with us about a large grant that she and her collaborators were awarded to investigate the impact of living through a heat wave has on pregnancy outcomes for people living in Western Austalia. Erin is a keen horse rider and shares with us some of the events she has competed in over the years, along with research that she has been involved in aimed at understanding better why horses develop oral diseases that have a flow-on effect to other aspects of their health and wellbeing. Find out more about Erin and her work: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/erin-kelty As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 83 - Safety Of Elderly Drivers And Navigating A PhD With Dr Wendy Feng

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 08:09:48 GMT

If you have ever thought that elderly drivers on our roads may pose a risk to safety, then this episode is for you. We sit down with Dr Wendy Feng to discuss the safety of elderly drivers which she studied for her PhD recently. Wendy talks us through her journey into research, as well as her experience in navigating a PhD that had more than its fair share of challenges. Wendy was a delightful guest, we hope you enjoy the conversation. If you want to read more about Wendy’s work, please click here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/wendy-feng As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 81 - Paediatric Medicine And Surviving Septic Shock With Dr Brad MacDonald

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 08:05:21 GMT

We’re back with another great chat, this time with Dr Brad MacDonald from Perth Children’s Hospital. Brad currently works in paediatric medicine as a paediatric trainee as well as being enrolled in a PhD at the UWA School of Population and Global Health. Brad discusses his journey from being a science student, through to enrolling in Medicine and now specialising in paediatrics. We talk in depth about rheumatic heart disease (the subject of Brad’s PhD) which is a major problem in many rural and remote communities in Australia. There is also a twist part way through our chat with Brad when he recounts his own experience of being diagnosed with septic shock and how he was lucky to make it through after an extended stay in the intensive care unit and months of hospitalisation and rehabilitation. Based on the unique combination of his clinical knowledge and lived experience, Brad is called on to provide evidence relating to septic shock to a range of different forums with the aim of improving how septic shock patients are managed from diagnosis and treatment, through to recovery and rehabilitation. You can read more about Brad and his research here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/bradley-macdonald Previous episodes of the podcast that we mention during our conversation are: Episode 64 – StoP Trial, Aboriginal Skin Health: https://soundcloud.com/meaningofhealth/episode-64-stop-trial-aboriginal-skin-health?si=b5f7b585b29e41ddb98add459c553bd8&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing Episode 77 – Treating Septic Shock with Dr Stephen MacDonald and Jono Burcham: https://soundcloud.com/meaningofhealth/episode-77-treating-septic-shock-with-dr-stephen-macdonald-and-jono-burcham?si=144da226cf0f42f7afe42ea57170bd04&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 73 - Living with HIV and Hepatitis C with Pete Townsend

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 07:32:53 GMT

Imagine for a second what it would be like to be reaching adulthood as a gay man in the early 1980s in Perth and be diagnosed with HIV, a new virus with no known treatment that was responsible for many deaths, particularly amongst your peers in the gay community. This is exactly the situation that our guest in this episode, Pete Townsend, found himself in. In the decades that followed, Pete was able to overcome this and other incredible health challenges (such as being diagnosed with Hepatitis C), and now works at HepatitisWA as a volunteer co-ordinator, with the service helping people who have contracted blood-borne viruses, by providing clean needles and syringes as well as a range of other supports. Pete generously sat down and shared with us stories of some of his experiences living in places such as Sydney and different parts of Europe for many years. We discuss at length the stigma Pete and his peers had to navigate as members of the gay community, and how times have changed. We also hear some of the loss and grief that Pete has experienced, losing loved ones to illness over the years. We discuss themes such as drug use and death in this episode, so this may be one to avoid if those topics are likely to cause you distress. We discuss Pete’s poetry during the episode, you can visit here to read more about this: https://www.nopantspetey.com/ For information on HepatitisWA you can visit here: https://www.hepatitiswa.com.au If this episode has caused you any concerns, you can contact Lifeline Australia on 131114 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 44 - Social Work with Dr Stephan Lund

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 01:24:42 GMT

Welcome back to the podcast after a short break. We are very happy to bring you a conversation with Dr Stephan Lund from the University of Western Australia School of Allied Health. Stephan is a social worker and lecturer, qualified both academically and by a wide range of life experiences which he discusses with us. Stephan's work as a social worker has largely focused on assisting young people at risk of homelessness, and those who have experienced out of home care growing up. Stephan maintains strong connections to the social work profession working as a consultant, alongside his work at the University. You can read more about Stephan and his work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/stephan-lund As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 41 - Health Consumers Council with Pip Brennan

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 05:05:11 GMT

Hello and welcome back for another edition of the Meaning of Health. We chat with Executive Director of the Health Consumers Council of Western Australia (HCCWA), Pip Brennan. Pip draws on a wealth of different life experiences in her role and discusses how she ended up working in advocating on behalf of health consumers. We discuss Pip's experience as a victim of crime, and the journey that took her on through the justice system, and ultimately through to her current work as a consumer health advocate and head of the HCCWA. Pip documented some of her experiences in her memoir (see links below for details). Please excuse a slight break in transmission part way through our conversation with Pip, we had an unexpected visit from one of the cleaners! You can read more about Pip on her website: https://www.pipbrennan.com/ where you will also find some information about her published memoir: https://www.pipbrennan.com/my-books/ For more information on the HCCWA and their excellent work: https://www.hconc.org.au/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 36 - Christmas 2020 with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 08:06:35 GMT

Join us for a chat about the year that was and a bit of a light hearted discussion about some of the articles from the BMJ and MJA Christmas issues. You can find the articles we discuss here: https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4467 https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2020/213/11/what-forks-longitudinal-quality-improvement-study-tracking-cutlery-numbers We wish everyone a happy holiday season and look forward to joining you again in 2021 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 37 - Leadership in Public Health with Prof Tarun Weeramanthri

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 04:19:18 GMT

A big welcome to everyone for our first episode of 2021. We start the year with a bang with a conversation we recorded late last year with Adjunct Professor Tarun Weeramanthri. Tarun holds an adjunct position at the School of Population and Global Health at UWA, and has an extensive and impressive CV. Tarun is a medical doctor, and also completed a PhD. He practiced medicine in the Northern Territory, and has been extensively involved in Public Health research, as well as working in the public sector as the Chief Health Officer (CHO) in both the Northern Territory, and most recently in Western Australia. Tarun is the current president of the national branch of the Public Health Association of Australia. As you will hear from our conversation, Tarun's experience is vast, and there was plenty to discuss about the many events and initiatives that he has been involved in over the years. Tarun talks us through the process of drafting the Public Health Act 2016 that came into force during his time as WA CHO, and how the Act is intended to operate. Tarun also discusses some of the challenges he had to tackle whilst CHO in WA, particularly around the approval he signed off on for the opening of the children's water park at Elizabeth Quay, and the process of addressing high levels of lead in the water at the Perth Children's Hospital. You will hear how Tarun and his team managed to do what numerous construction engineers could not; identify the source of the lead in the water, and make the necessary changes to ensure that the problem was resolved. We initially had invited Tarun onto the podcast to discuss the Climate Health WA Inquiry Final Report that was table in the WA Parliament in December, but Tarun has agreed to come back and discuss that in a future episode as our conversation about his previous work quickly filled up our time. We hope that you enjoy the conversation as much as we did, and look forward to bringing you part 2 soon! Some info and links: The Climate Health WA Inquiry Final Report: https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/-/media/Corp/Documents/Improving-health/Climate-health/Climate-Health-WA-Inquiry-Final-Report.pdf A blog post from Tarun outlining the key findings and themes of the report: https://intouchpublichealth.net.au/2020/12/04/wa-must-take-urgent-action-towards-health-impacts-of-climate-change/ Tarun's research profile: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/tarun-weeramanthri/publications/ Bill Gammage's book "The Biggest Estate on Earth": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13041243-the-biggest-estate-on-earth As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 29 - Preventing Cardiovascular Events with Dr Charley Budgeon

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 00:26:45 GMT

In this episode we have a chat with Dr Charley Budgeon, biostatistician and lecturer at the School of Population and Global Health at UWA. Charley talks us through her education and career, and a long-term collaboration with Dr Stefan Mark Nidorf as the lead biostatistician analysing data for trials that he has led investigating whether anti-inflammatory drug Colchicine could be used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in people with chronic cardiovascular disease. This work has resulted in the publication of a recent paper Colchicine in Patients with Chronic Coronary Disease in the top-ranked Medical Journal, The New England Journal of Medicine. Charley discusses how the study was conducted, and the many collaborators and challenges involved in conducting the study across 2 countries, and using data that were not originally in English. We also talk about life as an academic and the importance of collaborations and managing sometimes tricky relationships. We both enjoyed the conversation with Charley and hope you do too. You can find the recent paper Charley had published in the New England Journal of Medicine here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2021372 You can read more about Charley and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/charley-budgeon You can find information about the original LoDoCo study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23265346/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 27 - Gastroenterology, Viruses and Academic Leadership with Prof Jon Watson

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 02:06:26 GMT

In this episode we have a conversation via Zoom with Professor Jon Watson, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Western Australia. Jon is a practicing gastroenterologist who has also done extensive research into viruses, with his primary focus being on better understanding and treating Hepatitis C. This work has led to Jon being heavily involved in the Australian response to the current COVID19 pandemic, and Jon talks us through the makeup of viruses and the challenges different viruses pose. We have a great conversation with Jon about his journey from an undergraduate medical student in the UK, being mentored by Sir David Weatherall, completing a PhD, and then moving to Australia and working as both a senior academic and a practicing clinician. We also discuss the philosophy of medical practice, a possible link between practicing medicine and being musically inclined, and how attitudes and expectations about the practice of medicine have changed during his career. Jon's career has seen him take on a wide range of roles within the health and academic sectors and he has a very interesting story to tell. We were very fortunate to have an hour of Jon's time recently whilst he was in hotel isolation after returning to Perth. You can read more about Jon and his work here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/profile/jon-watson and https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/jon-watson As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 25 - Addiction Medicine Part 2 with Dr Michael Christmass

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 04:42:39 GMT

This episode is part 2 of our chat with Dr Michael Christmass, a drug and alcohol addiction Dr from the Next Step Clinic in East Perth. In this part of our conversation we continue our discussion about dopamine and the different types of drugs that Mike's clients have used and are seeking assistance with including cannabis and methamphetamine. We also discuss the challenges in treating cannabis and methamphetamine addiction with no approved effective pharmacotherapy currently available, as well as the available treatments for opioid and alcohol addiction. We also discuss why Alcohol is still the most prevalent drug among people seeking assistance with addiction, as well as how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the drug market in Western Australia. You can find out more about Next Step here: https://www.mhc.wa.gov.au/about-us/our-services/next-step-drug-and-alcohol-services/ Contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 19 - Homeless Healthcare with Dr Andrew Davies and Professor Lisa Wood

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 09:12:45 GMT

In this episode we talk with Dr Andrew Davies, CEO and founder of Homeless Healthcare and Associate Professor Wood, who works closely with Homeless Healthcare to evaluate the impact of its services and build evidence to improve health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness. The episode includes a chat about the additional challenges the COVID-19 pandemic poses for people who are homeless, who are particularly vulnerable due to comorbidities, and not being able to stay home. To find out more about Homeless Healthcare and how you might be able to support their work, you can visit their website: https://homelesshealthcare.org.au To find out more about the work that Professor Lisa Wood is doing: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/lisa-wood If you have any feedback about this, or any other episode, you can contact us at meaningofhealth@outlook.com or tweet us @healthmeanswhat

Episode 15 - PhD Projects with Courtney & Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 22:39:50 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. In this episode your hosts Courtney and Craig interview each other about their respective PhD projects and provide a bit of background about what they are studying and why. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Feel free to get in touch meaningofhealth@outlook.com or @healthmeanswhat on Twitter

Episode 13 - Honours 2019 with Maddie Ford, Treasure Agenson, and Julian Ming

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 01:41:55 GMT

Hello and welcome to epsiode 13 of the Meaning of Health. In this episode we have 3 guests on the podcast, Maddie Ford, Treasure Agenson, and Julian Ming, who all completed honours projects at the School of Population and Global Health at UWA in 2019. They discuss their projects with us in detail, and reflect on the process of completing honours. They also update us on where they are heading with their careers now. If anyone is interested in finding out more about doing honours at the School of Population and Global Health at UWA, you can read more about the course here: https://handbooks.uwa.edu.au/undergraduate/honoursdetails?code=HON-PPHLH and if you have any further questions, you can email the honours coordinator Dr Karen Martin: karen.martin@uwa.edu.au

Episode 8 - FASD with Hayley Passmore and Natalie Kippin

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 02:19:50 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Meaning of Health. This episode was recorded at the Telethon Kids Institute, with Courtney joining in remotely from Sydney. We have an in depth chat with Hayley Passmore and Natalie Kippin, both PhD candidates who work in the area of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), an emerging area that until recently has not been well understood. During the conversation Hayley and Natalie provide a thorough explanation of FASD and what the reality is for people who live with this condition. We hope you enjoy this episode! You can find out more about FASD and the work that Hayley and Natalie and their research group are doing via the following links: General FASD information: https://www.fasdhub.org.au/ Telethon Kids FASD research: https://alcoholpregnancy.telethonkids.org.au/

Episode 6 - The Raine Study with Ms Aggie Bouckley and Dr Juliana Zabatiero

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 02:02:05 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. This week's episode is extra special as we interview Ms Aggie Bouckley and Dr Juliana Zabatiero from the Raine Study, a birth cohort study that is celebrating it's 30th anniversary currently! We delve into what a cohort study is and what it is like to manage, developing and maintaining relationships with the participants, and how the study now involves multiple generations of people from the families that are involved. We also discuss a few of the more than 500 journal articles that have been published over the years using data generated by the study. For more information on the Raine Study and the research they support, you can visit their website: https://rainestudy.org.au/ and their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheRaineStudy/ also also find them on twitter @rainestudy

Episode 3 - Prevention with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 03:57:39 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. Today we discuss the prevention of a range of illnesses and diseases and how this can be done in different ways. We touch on infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and mental illness, as well as discussing the role that vaccination plays in preventing some diseases. Some links that may be of interest to people looking for more information on some of the issues we discuss are below: The Medical Research Future Fund Budget: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/budget/publishing.nsf/Content/budget2019-factsheet51.htm How the polio vaccine has performed in reducing polio: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/poliomyelitis The Australian Government's strategy for improving mental health outcomes: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-policy Cardiovascular disease statistics for Australia: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-conditions-disability-deaths/heart-stroke-vascular-diseases/reports MDMA as a therapeutic aid for the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: https://adf.org.au/insights/mdma-ptsd/ As always you can tweet us at @healthmeanswhat or email us at meaningofhealth@outlook.com

Introduction - The Meaning of Health Podcast

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 07:12:00 GMT

Introduction to a new podcast that looks at different areas of health and health research and what it all means for you and your health

Episode 130 – Diabetes Medication to Prevent Heart Problems w Dr. Juliana De Oliveira Costa

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:19:24 GMT

In this episode, Craig chats with Dr Juliana de Oliveira Costa, Research Fellow at the Medicines Intelligence Research Program, UNSW Sydney. Juliana is a pharmacist and pharmacoepidemiologist who uses big health data to study and improve medicine use across populations. They discuss SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists—modern type 2 diabetes medicines now known for heart, kidney, and weight-loss benefits. Juliana explains how cardiovascular benefits were discovered by accident, leading to major changes in treatment guidelines and PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) access. Topics include how these medicines work, recent PBS changes enabling earlier use in high-risk patients to be cheaper for patients, medication costs, private prescribing, and research showing underuse—especially in older adults—despite strong evidence of benefit. They also touch on safety concerns, long-term use, and the value of real-world data in guiding policy and practice. Learn more about Juliana’s work here and get contact details for the cardio-metabolic team: https://www.unsw.edu.au/medicine-health/our-schools/population-health/research/transforming-health-systems/medicines-intelligence/cardiometabolic-medicines Learn more about Juliana: https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/juliana-de-oliveira-costa As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Or visit our website: www.meaningofhealth.com.au

Episode 84 - Mental Health Advocacy with Taryn Harvey

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 04 May 2023 08:09:49 GMT

We are delighted to bring you a fascinating conversation with Taryn Harvey, the CEO of the West Australian Association for Mental Health (WAAMH). Taryn is a tireless advocate for people who are often left disempowered by our health and social systems. She worked for many years as an advocate in the disability sector before taking up the role of CEO at WAAHM in 2018. Taryn discusses the role that WAAMH plays in helping individuals who are navigating the community mental health system in WA, as well as agitating at the highest levels of government for meaningful policy change. Taryn and others contributed to a major policy win recently with the passing of the Criminal Law (Mental Impairment) Bill 2022 which repeals the much criticised Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act 1996 that resulted in the indefinite detention of people who may not have the mental capacity to participate in the legal process, for often long periods of time, without them being found guilty of an offence. Taryn discussed the famous case of Marlon Noble who was detained for around 10 years based on allegations which were never tested in court, with those who made them later admitting that they were in fact false. We were struck by Taryn’s passion and drive and really enjoyed this chat, we hope that you do too. To find out more about WAAMH and the work they do: https://waamh.org.au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 4 - Trauma Informed Care with Dr Karen Martin

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 06:41:35 GMT

Hello and Welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. This week we have a chat with Dr Karen Martin, a researcher and lecturer from the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia. Karen has worked in a range of health research areas and is currently working to introduce trauma informed care practice principles into West Australian schools. You can read more about Karen and her work here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/profile/karen-martin You can also read more about childhood trauma and development here: https://www.dcp.wa.gov.au/ChildProtection/ChildAbuseAndNeglect/Documents/ChildDevelopmentAndTraumaGuide.pdf

Episode 80 - Occupational Therapy Using Music for Serious Mental Illness With Andrew Miller

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 08:47:31 GMT

A belated welcome to the Meaning of Health 2023! After a bit of a hiatus we bring you a conversation that we had late in 2022 with Mr Andrew Miller, an occupational therapist working at Graylands Hospital both in the main hospital and also in the Creative Expression Centre for Arts Therapy (CECAT). CECAT is also located on the hospital grounds. Andrew chats with us about the work he does with people with serious mental illness, often using music to help them express themselves, and in the process experience a therapeutic benefit as they navigate living with their mental illness and related trauma. Andrew is a musician himself and gives us a brief history of his journey through playing in different bands and playing different genres of music. This makes him the perfect person to assist clients looking to express themselves through music, with plenty of inspiring and high quality music being produced by clients with his assistance. You can read more about CECAT here: https://www.nmhs.health.wa.gov.au/Hospitals-and-Services/Mental-Health/Community/CACAT Here is a story on the remarkable journey of one of Andrew’s clients Mark Dark and the impressive music he has created: WA's Graylands Hospital music program helps Mark Dark battle schizophrenia, inspiring others - ABC News You can also see a promotional video from the WA Department of Health featuring Andrew here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knsdGhjskEw As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 67 - Indigenous Research with Professor Megan Williams

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 09:05:06 GMT

Welcome to a very special NAIDOC week episode of the Meaning of Health. We have a virtual sit down with Indigenous researcher Professor Megan Williams from the University of Technology Sydney about her journey into academia and the many fascinating people she has met and worked with along the way. We discuss the importance of Indigenous voices having a central role in research, and how much we all have to learn about each other across the different parts of Australia. We also touch on some of the crucial work that Megan has been involved with investigating Indigenous deaths in custody, and what needs to change to improve things moving forward. You can read more about Megan and her work here: https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Megan.Williams As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 1 - Screening with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 02:49:24 GMT

This episode looks at some of the cancer screening programs that are available in Australia and explores the success and areas for improvement for each. For additional information on cancer screening you can visit these websites: https://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/early-detection/screening-programs/bowel-cancer-screening/ http://www.cancerscreening.gov.au/internet/screening/publishing.nsf/Content/bowel-screening-1 http://www.cancerscreening.gov.au/internet/screening/publishing.nsf/Content/cervical-screening-1 http://www.cancerscreening.gov.au/internet/screening/publishing.nsf/Content/breast-screening-1

Episode 31 - Thoughtful Schools with Dr Karen Martin

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 23:23:37 GMT

This episode sees the return to the podcast of Dr Karen Martin, lecturer and researcher from the School of Population and Global Health at UWA. Karen chats without us about her experience leading the Thoughtful Schools Program, a pilot study aiming to support schools to be more trauma informed in their response to dealing with challenging behaviour of some children. We discuss the many ways that trauma manifests in children and their behaviour, as well as how Karen and her team will support schools and teachers to be more "trauma informed" in their responses. We also chat about how the success of the program will be measured. You can read more about Thoughtful Schools here: https://thoughtfulschools.org.au/news-updates/ Karen's UWA profile is here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/profile/karen-martin As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 62 - Cannabis Treatment for Cancer and Obesity with Professor Marco Falasca

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 06:37:56 GMT

What if we told you that cannabis may help people survive pancreatic cancer? Or that cannabis could possibly be used to treat obesity? This is precisely what Professor Marco Falasca from the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute at Curtin University is working on at the moment. Marco specialises in cell metabolism research, with a lot of his recent work focussing on cannabis as a treatment for cancer and obesity. We chat with Marco about his impressive international CV that saw him leave his native Italy and includes stints at New York University, University College London, and Queen Mary University of London. Marco chats with us about how advanced his research into cannabis is, and some of the legal and funding challenges that cannabis research poses. You can read more about Marco and his work here: https://chiri.curtin.edu.au/research/researchers/professor-marco-falasca/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-15/can-cannabis-be-used-for-weight-loss/100829496

Episode 56 - Let’s Present at the UWA School of Population and Global Health

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 05:46:15 GMT

Join us in this episode as we chat with attendees and presenters from the recent "Let's Present" event held at the UWA School of Population and Global Health. We have an impromptu chat with several researchers about their work and cover a range of health related topics. A big thank you to Tina Cameron, Kevin Murray, Charley Budgeon, Anna Gannett, Courtney Weber and Craig Cumming who were part of the organising committee for the event, as well as all the people who came along to present, and also watch. As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 60 - COVID and the Law with Dr Murray Wesson

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 00:05:13 GMT

This week we change direction and bring you a conversation with Dr Murray Wesson from the Law School at the University of Western Australia. Murray brings a wealth of experience having studied legal systems from around the world, starting in South Africa, spending some time in the UK, and now Australia. Murray is an expert in human rights and constitutional law, and talks us through how these areas of law have played a part in the various State and Commonwealth Government responses to the COVID19 health emergency in Australia. Murray talks us through how the law has operated to permit the various restrictions that were in place during the pandemic including lockdowns, state border closures, citizens being banned from returning home and vaccine mandates. To read more about Murray and his work you can go here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/murray-wesson As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 10 - Pragmatic Trials with Professor Merrick Zwarenstein

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 05:26:13 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. In this episode we are fortunate to chat with Professor Merrick Zwarenstein who visited Perth recently to run a short course on pragmatic randomised trials, something that he does across a number of countries, as well as contributing to the development for reporting tools for randomised trials such as CONSORT and consulting to the WHO. Our conversation with Merrick covers his pathway from Medical Doctor in South Africa, through to today where he is based at the Schulich Medicine and Dentistry school at the Western University in London, Ontario. For more information on Merrick and his work, you can visit: https://www.schulich.uwo.ca/familymedicine/research/csfm/people/bios/zwarenstein_merrick.html and find him on twitter @MzwarEn

Episode 9 - Cardiovascular Disease with Dr Emily Atkins

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 04:23:48 GMT

Helllo and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. This week Courtney has a chat with Dr Emily Atkins, a cardiovascular disease researcher from the George Institute in Sydney. Courtney and Emily discuss a range of different projects that Emily has worked or is working on. You can read more about some of the work Emily is doing here: https://sydney.edu.au/research/volunteer-for-research-study/other/quartet-quadruple-ultra-low-dose-treatment-for-hypertension.html and here: https://www.georgeinstitute.org/people/emily-atkins and you can find Emily on twitter @EmilyRAtkins

Episode 5 - Health and Justice with Professor Stuart Kinner

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 03:55:50 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Meaning of Health. This week we are lucky to have a special guest Professor Stuart Kinner from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Stuart is one of the hardest working and most travelled researchers around, and is working to improve the way we run our prisons, and how health and related services are provided in prison, and during the transition back to the community. The conversation with Stuart covers a range of topics and looks at how he got started in research and what motivated him to focus on prisoner health. We hope you enjoy the chat! To find out more about the work that Stuart and his team do, and see a list of recent publications visit: https://mspgh.unimelb.edu.au/centres-institutes/centre-for-health-equity/research-group/justice-health-unit tweet @JHU_UoM or @KinnerStuart

Episode 69 - Christmas in July with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 01:24:26 GMT

Hello and a belated Merry Christmas (in July). Join us as we catch up for chat about what is happening in the world of health at the moment, and Craig’s recent travels to the UK. We touch on the recent Australian election and what that means for health and the climate as well as what we both have coming up for the rest of the year. We will be back soon another conversation with our next guests. Stay safe and dry! As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 102 - Cardiovascular Disease And Finishing A PhD With Ingrid Stacey

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 05:53:51 GMT

In this episode Craig sits down in the outdoor studio (a park bench) to chat with Ingrid Stacey, a cardiovascular epidemiologist and biostatistician from the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Centre at the UWA School of Population and Global Health. Ingrid, a finalist in the 2023 Premier’s Student Science of the Year Award, talks through her education and career, which started doing lab research involving animal models, and has progressed through different roles in government, to where she is today, an emerging leader in acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) research. Ingrid submitted her PhD earlier this year and talks through what it was like beginning a PhD during COVID as well as having parental responsibilities. Ingrid also discusses the importance of working collaboratively and respectfully with Indigenous communities and how this results in higher quality research being done. This is something Ingrid has extensive experience in as ARF and RHD are diseases that disproportionately affect Indigenous communities in Australia. Relatedly, Ingrid talks through how the health system often overlooks Indigenous people, which Ingrid’s PhD work finding a considerable amount of missing cause of death data from death records relating to Indigenous people. As Ingrid discusses, she has been a long-time listener of the podcast, so it was great to have her on as a guest, we hope you enjoy our conversation. You can read more about Ingrid and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/ingrid-stacey As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 12 - Urban Transport and Public Health with Prof Mark Stevenson

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 08:03:18 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. In this episode we chat with UWA School of Population and Global Health alumnus Prof Mark Stevenson from the University of Melbourne. Mark is an expert in Urban Transport and Public Health and has worked at many places around the world over the course of his career. We talk with Mark extensively about a number of different aspects of transport, including safety and efficiency, as well as how our cities currently function and should function in the future. We hope you enjoy this episode, and as always, feel free to contact us via Twitter @healthmeanswhat or via email meaningofhealth@outlook.com If you would like to read more about Mark and his work: https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/about/our-people/academic/mark-stevenson https://thud.msd.unimelb.edu.au/

Episode 21 - Hearing Voices And Loneliness with Professor Jo Badcock

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 04 May 2020 08:07:08 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. In this episode, we chat with Professor Jo Badcock, a psychologist and researcher from the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia, and the Perth Voices Clinic. Professor Badcock’s work focuses on people who hear voices, also known as auditory hallucinations, with a particular focus on how this group is impacted by loneliness. Our conversation includes a discussion about the work that the Perth Voices Clinic does to assist people hearing voices, both by providing treatment, and conducting research. We also discuss how loneliness and social isolation differ, and how COVID-19 may exacerbate these problems. Professor Badcock also talks us through how COVID-19 has changed the way Perth Voices Clinic provides treatment to its clients. You can find out more about the Perth Voices Clinic here: https://perthvoicesclinic.com.au And more about Jo's research here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/jo-badcock Finally, about the Australian Coalition to End Loneliness "Ending Loneliness Together" initiative: https://www.endloneliness.com.au As always you can contact us via email at meaningofhealth@outlook.com and on twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 116 - PHAA Australian Public Health Conference Part 6

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the sixth and final episode of our special series we recorded at the Public Health Association of Australia’s (PHAA) Australian Public Health Conference in Perth in September 2024 #AustPH2024. We had many guests come through our pop-up studio over the 3 day conference to chat about their career and recent work. In this episode we feature conversations with: A/Prof Hayley Christian from The Kids Research Institute Australia: https://www.thekids.org.au/contact-us/our-people/c/hayley-christian/ A/Prof Jacqueline Stephens from Flinders University: https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/jacqueline.stephens A big thank you to the wonderful PHAA team, and Anise Clarke who helped arrange the logistics for us to record during the conference As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Ep 140 - Christmas 2025

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:43 GMT

This is our traditional annual Christmas episode, a rambling chat about the highs and lows of the year and some truly awful Christmas jokes with Ingrid, Leah, Dorinda and Craig, with a musical surprise from the 2025 edition of Let's Present. Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing festive period, and looking forward to brining you some more interesting conversations with people about different aspects of health in 2026. As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 117 - Christmas 2024

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

We have made it to our final episode for 2024! As is now Meaning of Health tradition, we get together for a recap of the year that was, and chat about things that went well, badly, or otherwise in 2024. Ingrid talks us through a journal article that looks at whether ChatGPT is “BS”: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-024-09775-5 Leah talks us through Chonkus, an algae that could assist with slowing climate change: https://www.synbiobeta.com/read/meet-chonkus-the-algae-that-eats-carbon-and-sinks-like-a-rock We finish with an uplifting chat about what lies ahead in 2025, which is shaping up to be another eventful year (we predict). Thank you for your support again in 2024 and we will look forward to bringing you more interesting conversations about health in 2025! As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 121 - Music, Addiction, Meditation and Mindfullness with Joe West

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

We bring you a chat with Sydney-based musician Joe West in this episode. Joe talks about his upbringing in regional New South Wales, and his life working as a musician for many years. Joe discusses the challenges that the lifestyle can pose for many, often resulting in a strained connection with society. Joe shares his own experience struggling with mental heath challenges and issues with substance use and addiction. He talks us through how he came to understand the problems he was having, and what he was able to do to address and overcome them. As part of this, Joe discusses how gaining a greater understanding of the neuroscience and neuropsychology behind mental health problems and addiction was a key step on his journey to better health and wellbeing today. Joe discusses the part that meditation and mindfulness have played in assisting him and how having structure and discipline is essential to overcome poor mental health and addiction in the longer term. You can see more about Joe on Instagram @joewestau and his latest project @analogamoeba

Episode 111 - Shaping Youth Mental Health Research

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

We recently returned to the Uni Club at the University of Western Australia to record a live event for World Mental Health Day from the Breakfast by the Bay series “Voices of Tomorrow: Shaping Youth Mental Health Research”. The event was hosted by Prof Andrew Page from the UWA School of Psychological Science, and featured panellists: Ben Quick – UWA Student and Youth Engagement Officer at Thriving in Motion A/Prof Elaine Chapman – https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/elaine-chapman Prof Ashleigh Lin - https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/ashleigh-lin A/Prof Jennifer Rodger - https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/jennifer-rodger Thank you to the WA Suicide Prevention and Resilience Research Centre (SPARRC) and the Perron Institute who collaborated with us for this episode. As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Twitter/X @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 52 - What is it like to do a PhD? with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 06:44:59 GMT

Hello everyone and welcome back after a brief hiatus. In this episode Courtney and Craig chat about their experiences so far of doing a PhD. They discuss their learnings on many pieces of the PhD puzzle, and provide a few tips on things to look out for an consider if you are thinking about doing a PhD yourself. As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 32 - Dancing and Social Bonding with Joshua Bamford

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 04:10:03 GMT

In this episode we chat with Joshua Bamford from the School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford. Joshua talks us through his background in music, and how seeing the silent disco at the Fringe Festival in Perth some years ago provided the inspiration for his current research, which looks at how dancing with other people impacts on social bonding. Joshua grew up in Western Australia, and his work has taken him to Finland, and now the UK. We discuss his journey from starting out as an opera singer in Perth, through to being a current DPhil candidate at Oxford University. You can read more about Joshua and his work here: https://joshua.bamford.id.au And here: https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/people/joshua-bamford As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 77 - Treating Septic Shock with Dr Stephen MacDonald and Jono Burcham

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 25 Nov 2022 03:41:49 GMT

In this episode we sit down for a chat with Dr Stephen MacDonald and Jono Burcham from the ARISE fluids study. Stephen is an Emergency Doctor and clinical researcher and Jono is a research nurse, both based at Royal Perth Hospital. ARISE fluids is investigating two different approaches to treating patients who are diagnosed with septic shock, a life-threatening condition that kills thousands of people in Australia each year, and leaves many others living with a range of symptoms after recovery. The study is investigating two treatment approaches, one which involves administering a greater amount of IV fluids to a patient before commencing vasopressors if required, versus the other which introduces vasopressors earlier on in treatment after a smaller amount of IV fluids have been administered. The study will enrol 1000 patients in ED's across Australia and NZ, and hopes to provide evidence about which of the two treatment approaches may be more effective. You can read more about the ARISE Fluids study here: https://www.arisefluids.org As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 82 - Weight Stigma with Jeni, Blake, Kristy and Clare

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 03:22:59 GMT

Weight Stigma, what is it and how to does it affect people and the healthcare they receive? Listen as we get some answers from lived experience experts and advocates Jeni and Clare, along with lived experience expert and academic Dr Blake Lawrence from Curtin University, and dietician and PhD candidate Kristy Law from the George Institute. They talk us through the social and psychological determinants of overweight and obesity, and how this often leads on to weight stigma, which is alarmingly common among health professionals and often has a negative impact on both the quality of care and health outcomes for patients who experience it. We talk about what is currently being done to combat this serious public health issue, and how each of us has a role to play in spreading awareness and understanding of the problem to hopefully change attitudes and approaches to overweight and obesity in the community and healthcare settings. If you would like to read more about what the Health Consumer’s Council are doing in this space, you can go here: www.hconc.org.au For more information on the WELL Collaborative go here: https://www.thewellcollaborative.org.au You can find more about the Weight Issues Network here: www.weightissuesnetwork.org Blake’s research profile is here: https://staffportal.curtin.edu.au/staff/profile/view/blake-lawrence-aefbaab6/ Kristy’s research profile is here: https://www.georgeinstitute.org.au/people/kristy-law As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 122 - Perinatal Mental Health with Dr Jacquie Frayne [Women's Health Series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 00:01:00 GMT

We kick off our new series on women’s health with a chat with Dr Jacquie Frayne, a GP and researcher at the University of Western Australia who specialises in mental health for women during pregnancy and in the period after birth. Jacquie discusses the work herself and colleagues do at the Childbirth and Mental Illness Service located at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Subiaco: https://www.kemh.health.wa.gov.au/Womens-Health/Mental-Health/CAMI We chat with Jacquie about the range of mental health challenges that women giving birth can face, and the importance of a range of different healthcare workers working together as part of a multidisciplinary team to assist women with their mental health during this critical time. We also touch on some of the other challenges that some women face during pregnancy, relating to social and socioeconomic issues, such as family and domestic violence and homelessness that Jacquie and her colleagues often have to help with. You can read more about Jacquie and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/00077092 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 16 - 100 Families with Jeannie, Alex and Ellie

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 04:28:44 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. For this episode we have a chat with Jeannie, Alex and Ellie from the 100 Families project. 100 Families is a project that seeks to help people and families experiencing entrenched disadvantage. The project conducts research to learn more about the circumstances that people doing it tough in our community are facing, and then uses that information to inform efforts aimed at taking action and making changes to address the key problems. One key aim of the project is to have the research lead to change in a relatively quick timeframe, something that does not happen often in research. We will be checking in with 100 Families again in a future episode to hear an update on what the project has found, and what changes have been made possible by its work. You can read more about the project here: https://100familieswa.org.au/ https://100familieswa.org.au/resources/ and as usual, you can email us at meaningofhealth@outlook.com or tweet us @healthmeanswhat

Episode 17 - The Emergency Department with Dr David McCutcheon

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 07:22:16 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. In this episode we have the privilege of sitting down with Dr David McCutcheon, an emergency consultant at Royal Perth Hospital. We chat extensively about what life is like working in the emergency department, and some of the challenges that doctors face dealing with patients with complex medical needs. We also touch on some of the interesting work David has done in the past overseas and interstate, and discuss the PhD that he is currently completing, looking at novel psychoactive substances. As always, we love hearing from you with feedback and any suggestions for ideas for podcast episodes. Email us at meaningofhealth@outlook.com and tweet us @healthmeanswhat

Episode 23 - Alcohol Marketing with Hannah Pierce

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 06:46:17 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health where we are joined by Hannah Pierce, the Alcohol Policy and Research coordinator at the Cancer Council of Western Australia, and the current president of the West Australian Branch of the Public Health Association of Australia. Hannah's work looks at how alcohol is marketed in Australia. This includes ads on billboards that you might see when you are driving, ads shown during sports broadcasts on television, or posts marketing alcohol that appear on social media. We discuss how alcohol marketing is regulated in Australia, who this marketing tends to impact the most in our society, and some of the areas where things could be improved. We also discuss an interesting report that Hannah's team at the Cancer Council recently produced that looked at how alcohol was being marketed on social media during the recent COVID19 restrictions. You can find the recent report that Hannah helped produce here: https://fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020-05-08-CCWA-FARE-An-alcohol-ad-every-35-seconds-A-snapshot-final.pdf Numerous articles that Hannah has authored can be found here: http://drinktank.org.au/author/hannah-pierce/ Contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 146 - Managing Health Ageing w Jo-aine and Cheng

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 05:36:45 GMT

Continuing our aged care series, Dorina chats with Jo-aine Hang, a research fellow at the University of Western Australia and private physio therapist, and Cheng, a Health sociologist at the University of Western Australia. They speak on healthy aging, managing fall risks and keeping up cognitive function. Interestingly, they discuss how hospitals can be a cautionary environment for elderly patients, as well as individual issues that arise with aging and considering cultural dimensions for exercise recommendations and diets. Research is fundamental into allowing people with concerns with activity and being stationary to find a balance. They further talk about the aging population in Australia and the importance of understanding ageing in Australia. You can read more on Jo-aine Hang and her work here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jo-Aine-Hang#:~:text=About&text=Dr%20Jo%2DAine%20Hang%20is,University%20of%20Notre%20Dame%20Australia. You can read more on Chang and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/cheng-yen-loo/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 43 - Adolescent Mental Health and Addiction with Associate Professor Mathew Coleman

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 13 May 2021 09:12:10 GMT

Welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health, where this time we chat with Psychiatrist Associate Professor Mathew Coleman. Mathew practices in the town of Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia and lectures at the Rural Clinical School of WA. He specialises in adolescent and addiction psychiatry. Our conversation touches on a range of areas around health and health policy, and the future of psychiatry. Mathew recently had a review published that looked at the effectiveness of mandatory treatment for problematic methamphetamine use which we chat about as well. Mathew is also very passionate about healthcare in rural settings, a topic that we agreed to delve into in more detail in a future episode. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did! You can see Mathew's publications here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/mathew-coleman/publications/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 34 - Body Image Law with Dr Marilyn Bromberg

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 08:03:09 GMT

In this episode we chat with Dr Marilyn Bromberg from the UWA Law School about Body Image Law and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Marilyn has had an interesting career that has spanned journalism, legal practice and academic legal research. The conversation touches on how health can be impacted by the media and we talk about how society's approach to discussing body size and body image could help to reduce the risk of people developing body dysmorphia and associated eating disorders. We hope you enjoy the conversation. You can read more about Marilyn and her work here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/profile/marilyn-bromberg You can see Marilyn's FaceBook page, Beauty is Only Photoshop Deep here: https://mobile.facebook.com/beautyisonlyphotoshopdeep/about/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 58 - Christmas 2021 with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 01:14:51 GMT

We have made it to the last episode of 2021! As is becoming a bit of a tradition, we bring you a rambling recap of the year and throw in some discussion on some of the light hearted pieces that are published in the BMJ and MJA Christmas issues. We had a couple of issues with our recording for this episode, so we have gone with our backup recording which sounds a little different to usual, but hopefully no less entertaining. You can see more of the BMJ Christmas issue here: 39 articles published between 13 Dec 2021 and 19 Dec 2021 | The BMJ And more of the MJA Christmas issue here: Volume 215, Issue 11 | The Medical Journal of Australia (mja.com.au) (scroll down) As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat Thank you for your support this year and we look forward to bringing you some new episodes in 2022, Happy Holidays!

Episode 79 - Christmas 2022 with Dr Dani Barrington

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 03:27:45 GMT

Join us as we sit down for a special Christmas chat with our colleague Dr Dani Barrington from the School of Population and Global Health. We go through some of the winning articles from the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) Christmas competition and review what has been quite a year in 2022. We finish off our Christmas episode with a musical number "Research Utopia" that Craig first debuted at the recent "Let's Present" event at the School. We'd like to thank all of you who listen to the podcast for your ongoing interest and wish everyone a happy and safe holiday period. We will look forward to bringing you more interesting health-themed conversations in 2023. To read any of the MJA articles we discuss you can go here: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/217/11 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 30 - End of Life and the Law with Associate Professor Meredith Blake

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 00:28:12 GMT

In this episode we chat with Associate Professor Meredith Blake from the University of Western Australia Law School. Meredith talks to us about starting out as a government lawyer, and then moving to the UK and the beginning of her career as an law academic. We touch on human rights law as our conversation focuses on the legal and ethical issues that arise when people have either completely or partially lost the capacity to make decisions about their own health, wellbeing, and day to day living arrangements. We also talk about how voluntary assisted dying is handled in different parts of the world and discuss the recent passage of legislation legalising this in Western Australia. You can see an example of some of the work Meredith has been involved in this "A Real Bucket of Worms" article that comes up in our conversation here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6937221/ You can read more about Meredith and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/meredith-blake As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 26 - Live Lighter with Kelly Kennington

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 03:36:57 GMT

Have you ever wondered how those often graphic health promotion campaigns that you see on television, or on billboards around the city are made? In this episode we chat with Kelly Kennington who is the manager of the Cancer Council of Western Australia’s Live Lighter Campaign that aims to address the growing rates of obesity in the community. We discuss how and why health promotion campaigns are run, and how we know if they work or not. We even touch on some of the psychology involved in knowing what to include in health messaging, and why certain things are either left out or included in these campaigns. You can read more about the Live Lighter Campaign here: https://www.livelighter.com.au/ and access some of the resources and calculators that they provide to assist people with diet, exercise and weight calculations here: https://livelighter.com.au/The-Facts/Weight-and-Cancer?gclid=EAIaIQobChMImNahlZSI6wIVmX4rCh0UzAHcEAAYASAAEgKLq_D_BwE As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 14 - LGBTQIA+ with Kai Schweizer

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 22:03:35 GMT

Thank you for checking out The Meaning of Health Podcast. Just a quick mention that if you are looking for our COVID-19 related episode you can find it here https://soundcloud.com/meaningofhealth/episode-18-covid-19 Hello and Welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. In this episode we chat with Kai Schweizer from the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia. Kai is an expert in LGBTQIA+ issues, and runs workshops creating awareness among people working with young people from his community. Kai talks to us about some of the challenges that transgender people face in their lives day to day, providing insight into what life is like when someone’s sex at birth is incongruent with their gender identity, and how our society, legal and health systems still have a long way to go in this area. Kai is also completing a masters in sexology. If you would like to know more about Kai and the the work that he does, please follow the links below: https://theyepproject.org.au/team/kai-schweizer/ https://www.kaischweizer.com https://www.yacwa.org.au/youth-leadership/youth-pride-network/ As always you can contact us on meaningofhealth@outlook.com and @healthmeanswhat on twitter

Episode 75 - The Ig Nobel Prizes 2022 with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 02:10:44 GMT

Welcome to a special episode where we take a look at research that won prizes as part of the 2022 Ig Nobel Prizes. Courtney looks at a study into the physiological effects of blind dating and Craig looks at a study that investigates whether eating ice cream could help to minimise some of the side effects of cancer treatment. For more on the Ig Nobel Prizes go here: https://improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2022 The study Courtney reviewed can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01197-3 The study Craig reviewed can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02002-x As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 51 - Vaccination with Dr Katie Attwell

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 07:55:25 GMT

Welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health where we discuss vaccination policy with Dr Katie Attwell, a researcher from the University of Western Australia. You may have heard Katie speaking about vaccinations and vaccine hesitancy in the media recently as she heads up Coronavax: Preparing Community and Government project as is a member of number of Australia and international committees and advisory groups that provide advice on vaccination policy. We were excited to get an opportunity to hear about where it all began for Katie, researching the Middle East conflict for her PhD, before getting involved in looking at vaccination policy, and mandatory vaccinations in particular. Katie's work has taken her to some interesting parts of the world, which we also discuss. We hope you enjoy the conversation. If you would like to read more about Katie and her work, you can go here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/profile/able/katie-attwell and here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/katie-attwell As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 110 - PHAA Australian Public Health Conference 2024 Part 3

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the third episode of our special series we recorded at the Public Health Association of Australia’s (PHAA) Australian Public Health Conference in Perth in September 2024 #AustPH2024. We had many guests come through our pop-up studio over the 3 day conference to chat about their career and recent work. In this episode we feature conversations with: Dr Sylvester Nyadanu from Curtin University, an expert in perinatal and environmental health and spatial epidemiology: https://staffportal.curtin.edu.au/staff/profile/view/sylvester-nyadanu-bbbc5482/ Ms Kwanruethai Ngampromwongse, a proud Wiradjuri and Ngemba-Wailwaan woman, who’s work looks at family and domestic violence, mental health, suicide, and the health of LGBTQIA+ populations: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngampromwongse/?originalSubdomain=au A big thank you to the wonderful PHAA team, and Anise Clarke who helped arrange the logistics for us to record during the conference As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Twitter/X @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 101 - "Does The Federal Budget Allow For a Fair Go?" With Geoff Hutchison And Greg Jericho

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 19:08:48 GMT

We partnered with the Equity Project (https://www.equityproject.org.au) in Perth to bring you another live episode, this time looking at whether the recent federal budget allows for a “fair go”. To help answer this important question, at an event MC’d by lived experience advocate Charlie Octavia (https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-octavia-675b984a/), ABC Perth radio legend Geoff Hutchison (https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-hutchison-654b6053/) sat down with economist from the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work, and Guardian columnist Greg Jericho (https://australiainstitute.org.au/expert/greg-jericho/) in front of a live audience at the Refuge Small Bar (https://refugesmallbar.com.au) in Subiaco in late May 2024. Geoff and Greg talk through what a fair go means, and that fact that governments are not short of money to help those in society who are struggling the most, in spite of the claims that politicians make that would have us believe that this isn’t the case. Greg discusses how governments often make conscious decisions to direct funding towards people, companies and industries that need it the least, instead of trying to address the inequities that exist in almost all societies around the world. Greg discusses a recent successful campaign to have the Federal Government’s stage 3 tax cuts changed to be more fair and equitable, and how the case was successfully made for this to happen. Many thanks to Alex Hughes and Charlie Octavia from the Equity Project for inviting us to collaborate for this episode, Geoff Hutchison and Greg Jericho for generously giving their time, and the Refuge Small Bar for providing a wonderful venue. As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 63 - Addiction and Recovery Part 3 with Tania

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 03:24:37 GMT

We bring you part 3 of our series chatting with peer support workers from Doors Wide Open in Bunbury. In this episode we sit down with Tania, originally from New Zealand and recovering from methamphetamine addiction. Tania talks us through her experience working in the pharmacy sector, and also challenges she has faced such as family and domestic violence, being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and working in the sex industry. Tania also chats to us about what it has been like to be separated from her children over the years. Tania has had an interesting journey through recovery, and talks us through what it was like starting off in a faith-based recovery service before finding her way to Doors Wide Open. Tania also discusses her future aims and plans. A big thank you to Dr Jane Anderson for making this episode possible. If this episode raises any issues for you, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 You can read more about Doors Wide Open here: https://www.doorswideopen.net As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 105 - Public Health And Prevention with Prof Terry Slevin

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 02:27:28 GMT

This episode features a fascinating conversation with CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) Prof Terry Slevin. Terry was over in Perth recently for the PHAA’s Australian Public Health Conference, and generously took some time to chat about his career in health promotion and public health. Terry has worked in numerous areas of health promotion and prevention including alcohol, cancer, gun control and most recently as a fearless advocate against the proliferation of gambling advertising which has exploded across Australia in recent years. Terry shares just a few of many stories that he has to tell. Terry shares his experience walking the corridors of power in Canberra in recent years, and his efforts to get the attention of policymakers and politicians to ensure that public health and prevention remains high on the agenda when the government is making decisions about policy and allocating taxpayer funds during each budget. Terry also provides some insight into the commercial interests that wield a disproportionate amount of influence among our politicians, and how they do this. This episode kicks off a series that we recorded with guests at the recent conference in Perth that we will look forward to bringing you soon. Read more about Terry here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-slevin-a55702117/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 91 - Improving Cancer Treatment And Academic Leadership With Prof Anna Nowak

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 23:57:39 GMT

Prof Anna Nowak joins us in the studio for a chat about the many strings to her bow. From studying music and playing the violin during school (and learning the flute more recently), through to treating cancer patients and investigating how to improve treatment outcomes, Anna’s career is a source of inspiration for many people. Anna talks us through what drew her to practicing cancer medicine, getting involved in cancer research, and the many national and international collaborations that Anna has been a part of (including plenty of early Saturday morning calls!). The conversation progresses to Anna’s current role as the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) (DVC-R) at UWA. We discuss Anna’s pathway from clinician and research through to becoming one of the most senior academic leaders at UWA. Anna shares with us what her current role as DVC-R involves, and her observations on the current state of the university and research sector more broadly. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. You can read more about Anna’s work and career here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/anna-nowak As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 74 - Data Privacy and Anonymisation with Professor D’Arcy Holman

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 02:39:02 GMT

Data privacy has been in the news recently due to a recent large-scale customer data leak involving Optus in Australia. Another key area where data privacy applies is the area of population level health data, with these data often being used in research to investigate issues such as health problems and potential ways to prevent and treat them. Our guest in this episode is Emeritus Professor D’Arcy Holman, an accomplished and much awarded epidemiologist and law scholar who has worked across the academic and public sectors during his career. During his time in the public sector, D’Arcy was one of the architects of Western Australia’s Data Linkage System that launched in the mid 90’s, he was then the foundation Head of School for what is now the UWA School of Population and Global Health, and also served as the first Chair in Public Health at the School. D’Arcy’s interest in law came later in his career, when he completed a law degree, with the key focus of his legal research being the legal framework that regulates and permits individuals’ health records to be accessed for the purposes of health research. A key element of this being made possible is the anonymisation of these health records. D’Arcy outlines for us the legislation and common law that are relevant to this area of data privacy, as well as what needs to be done in order for anonymisation of data to be legally effective. He also discusses the Commonwealth Data Availability and Transparency Act which came into effect in 2022. You can read more about D’Arcy here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/Profile/DArcy-Holman D’Arcy has also published a book about his initial findings on data privacy and anonymisation in 2012, you can read more about this here: https://www.cherel.org.au/news/new-book-available/i As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 132 - Menstruation Goes Mainstream with Ina Jurga [women's health series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 00:08:30 GMT

In this episode we bring you a conversation with Ina Jurga, International Coordinator for Menstrual Hygiene Day and Technical Lead for Menstrual Health and Hygiene at WASH United. Ina joined hosts Leah Roberts and Dr. Dani Barrington to share her journey from working as a civil engineer to becoming a global advocate for menstrual health, shaped by her experiences in countries such as India, Uganda, and Burundi. Ina talked us through the creation of Menstrual Hygiene Day in 2014 and the importance of raising global awareness about menstruation. We discussed systemic approaches to menstrual health, including education, access to products, disposal solutions, and supportive policies. We also chatted about innovations such as reusable pads, menstrual cups, and period swimwear, and how conversations around menstruation are evolving in high-income countries. Finally, we reflected on engaging men and boys, and the importance of broadening the discussion to include perimenopause and menopause. Read more about Menstrual Hygiene Day: https://www.menstrualhygieneday.org Read more about WASH United: https://www.wash-united.org/mhm-guide/mhm-guide As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 129 - PBAC Sub-committees with Prof Richard Norman and Prof Chris Etherton-Beer

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 06:27:57 GMT

In this episode we chat about the sub-committees that provide advice to the main Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. We are joined by Prof Richard Norman from the Economic Sub-Committee (ESC), and Prof Chris Etherton-Beer, Chair of the Drug Utilisation Sub-Committee (DUSC). Richard is a health economist, so talks us through some of the health economic measures and considerations that go into ESC deciding whether to recommend that a medication should be subsidised through the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS). Chris is a clinician at Royal Perth Hospital and pharmacology researcher at UWA. Chris talks us through some of the questions that around expected utilisation of drugs that are being considered for inclusion on the PBS. These include how many people would be likely to use the drug, and the health needs of populations that the particular drug may help. You can read more about Richard here: https://staffportal.curtin.edu.au/staff/profile/view/richard-norman-6fd5494b/ Read more about Chris here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/christopher-etherton-beer For more information about the PBAC and its sub-committees: https://www.pbs.gov.au/info/industry/listing/participants/pbac As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Or visit our website: www.meaningofhealth.com.au

Episode 113 - Health Research in Manitoba, Canada with A/Prof Nathan Nickel

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

All the way from Manitoba, Canada, Associate Professor Nathan Nickel joins us for this episode, recorded a few weeks ago during a visit to Perth, Western Australia. Nathan chats about his journey from church pastor in California, all the way through his time in the deep south, to where he is now as the Director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy at the University of Manitoba in Canada. Nathan talks about some of the research happening at his centre, the similarities between Western Australia and Manitoba with respect to both the vast geographic spread, and also the focus on the health of Indigenous populations. We also touch on methamphetamine as a drug of concern in both places, and the use of linked administrative data to conduct health research. You can read more about Nathan here: https://umanitoba.ca/medicine/faculty-staff/nathan-nickel And about the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy here: https://umanitoba.ca/manitoba-centre-for-health-policy/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Blueksy @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 135 - Doing Things Differently in Disability w/ Mark Fitzpatrick [disability series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:00:49 GMT

In this episode we sit down for a chat with Mark Fitzpatrick, CEO of PeopleKind Group. Mark has an extensive career working in the disability sector, including roles as Deputy President of the Deafness Council and a member of the Executive of the Hearing Health Sector Alliance. This range of experience, along with previous CEO roles at Telethon Speech and Hearing and St Vincent de Paul Society has given Mark a unique perspective on how things can be done differently to achieve the best possible outcomes for clients with disability who have a range of disability and non-disability-related needs. This philosophy in part drives PeopleKind Group, who are a for-purpose company that act as a parent company for a range of different organisations that provide a range of different services including learning, behaviour support, housing and disability support. By taking this approach, PeopleKind Group are able to assist clients with multiple needs that they may have. Additionally, Mark discussed the importance of collaboration with others in the sector to ensure that client care remained person-centred regardless of the client’s needs. Mark also touched on the work that PeopleKind do with people who have had justice system involvement through Outcare, as well as providing us his thoughts on the NDIS in its current form. Read more about Mark here: https://peoplekind.org.au/about-us/mark-fitzpatrick/ Read more about PeopleKind here: https://peoplekind.org.au/about-us/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 76 - From Prison to a PhD with Damien Linnane

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 02:56:44 GMT

We sit down for a virtual chat with Damien Linnane, a exhibited artist, published author and PhD candidate at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales. Damien discusses his lived experience of being in prison, and why he is focusing his research on how being excluded from receiving health services funded by Medicare impacts on the health and wellbeing of people incarcerated in prisons across Australia. Damien generously shares a range of life experiences with us, including serving in the army, living with autism, studying, and the events that led to him being incarcerated. He also describes how he discovered his talent for illustrating whilst in prison, as well as how he managed to write a novel at the same time, which has since been published. In addition to completing a PhD, Damien is now an in-demand artist who has had his work exhibited in Australia and the United States and has collaborated with the award winning Ear Hustle podcast in the USA. We hope you enjoy the conversation. To read more about Damien and his work you can go here: https://www.damienlinnane.com and here: https://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/library/experience/exhibitions/broken-chains-prisoners-unlocking-potential/damien-linnane-bio As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 78 - Ageing and Cognitive Decline with Prof Romola Bucks

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 07:16:32 GMT

We sit down with Prof Romola Bucks in the studio for a chat about her work over the years and her current roles. Romola is currently the Pro Vice Chancellor of Health and Medical Research at UWA and has a background in neuropsychology and has focussed a lot of her practice and research on cognitive decline with ageing, as well as the impact that sleep issues have on cognitive decline. In recent times Romola has also taken up a position as Director of the Raine Study, a long-running birth cohort study that has been going for over 30 years and counting. Romola generously shares her experience and views on a range of issues in academia, including the need for greater equity between female and male researchers, and how students and emerging academics can give themselves the best possible chance in the very challenging funding climate that currently exists. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. To read more about Romola and her work, you can visit: https://www.uwa.edu.au/Profile/Romola-Bucks https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/romola-bucks As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 106 - PHAA Australian Public Health Conference 2024 Part 1

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 23:00:09 GMT

In this episode we kick off a special series of episodes we recorded at the Public Health Association of Australia’s (PHAA) Australian Public Health Conference in Perth in September 2024 #AustPH2024. We had many guests come through our pop-up studio over the 3 day conference to chat about their career and recent work. This episode features: Dr Jacquie McGraw from the University of Queensland - https://issr.uq.edu.au/profile/4708/jacquie-mcgraw who chats with us about Men’s health Ms Ramya Krishnan from the University of Sydney - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramyark30/?originalSubdomain=au who discusses her PhD work looking at antipsychotic medication prescribing Dr Leon Booth from the George Institute at the University of New South Wales- https://www.georgeinstitute.org.au/people/leon-booth who talks through public health campaigns to reduce alcohol related harms A big thank you to the wonderful PHAA team, and Anise Clarke who helped arrange the logistics for us to record during the conference As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Twitter/X @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 112 - PHAA Australian Public Health Conference 2024 Part 4

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 01:10:56 GMT

Welcome to the fourth episode of our special series we recorded at the Public Health Association of Australia’s (PHAA) Australian Public Health Conference in Perth in September 2024 #AustPH2024. We had many guests come through our pop-up studio over the 3 day conference to chat about their career and recent work. In this episode we feature conversations with: Ms Hyatt Narsh from the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hyatt-narsh/?originalSubdomain=au Prof Alexandra Barratt from the University of Sydney: https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/about/our-people/academic-staff/alexandra-barratt.html Dr Sharon Campbell from the University of Tasmania: https://discover.utas.edu.au/Sharon.Campbell A big thank you to the wonderful PHAA team, and Anise Clarke who helped arrange the logistics for us to record during the conference As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Twitter/X @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 85 - Youth Mental Health With Shane Thomas

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 26 May 2023 04:04:14 GMT

Podcast episode 85 has us sitting down with Shane Thomas an occupational therapist from Youth Axis, a mental health service in Wembley for people aged 16-24 years who are at high risk of developing psychotic illness or an emotionally unstable personality disorder. Shane discusses how Youth Axis is designed to provide early support and treatment to help people manage their mental health with the aim of preventing more serious problems later on. Typically clients access the service for 6 months or so and are then able to have their mental health managed by their GP from that point on. Shane discusses a range of issues around mental health including the historical siloing of mental health and alcohol and other drug (AOD) services, something which he sees as improving as practitioners up-skill so that they can assist clients with co-occurring mental health and AOD problems. Shane also talks about the need to slow down sometimes and do the things that help keep you grounded, particular in the current climate where there are a lot of stressors due to economic and other factors post-COVID which make life challenging for a lot of younger people. We also discuss how music is a key part of Shane's life and his role as the co-ordinator of the Arts and Mental Health Network exhibition event which sees mental health consumers perform live each year, something he is in awe of, and that has also inspired him to face his own fears and start playing music live himself recently. Shane's passion and enthusiasm for working with people with mental health challenges to help them have the best quality of life possible is infectious, we hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

Episode 108 - PHAA Public Health Conference 2024 Part 2

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:02 GMT

Welcome to the second episode of our special series we recorded at the Public Health Association of Australia’s (PHAA) Australian Public Health Conference in Perth in September 2024 #AustPH2024. We had many guests come through our pop-up studio over the 3 day conference to chat about their career and recent work. In this episode we feature conversations with: Dr Sarah Carmody from the Centre of Research Excellence in Enhanced Dementia Diagnosis at Monash University: https://www.monash.edu/medicine/sphpm/units/health-and-social-care/about-us/profile-sarah-carmody Dr Linda Murray from Massey University in New Zealand: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-murray-297a6922/?originalSubdomain=nz Dr Megan Bell from the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/megan-bell A big thank you to the wonderful PHAA team, and Anise Clarke who helped arrange the logistics for us to record during the conference As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Twitter/X @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 109 - Health During a Crisis with Dr Maria Tanyag and Dr Ari Jerrems

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

We recently sat down with Dr Maria Tanyag from the Australian National University and Dr Ari Jerrems from the University of Western Australia for chat about what happens to health systems during a crisis (such as a pandemic or war). Ari talks us through his work studying the Spanish health system during COVID and how policies were implemented in different parts of Spain. Maria talks us through some of the issues in the Philippines, and also discusses her recently published book “The Global Politics of Sexual and Reproductive Health”. Maria focuses particularly on how sexual and reproductive health rights are impacted during a crisis, and the role different factors such as religion and morality play in this. You can read more about Ari and his work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/ari-jerrems You can read more about Maria and her work here: https://researchportalplus.anu.edu.au/en/persons/maria-tanyag You can find Maria’s book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-global-politics-of-sexual-and-reproductive-health-9780197676332?cc=au&lang=en& As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Twitter/X @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 33 - 100 Families Part 2 with the 100 Families project team

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 22:45:27 GMT

We sit down with members of the 100 Families project team for the second time to discuss the findings of their snapshot report looking at the Social impacts of COVID-19 on families living in hardship. We discuss the many ways in which COVID-19 and the associated restrictions have impacted on the 100 Families participants, which included disruptions to their normal medical care and social support services, and greater home schooling responsibilities with their children. We also talk about how receiving the additional COVID-19 supplement payments through Centrelink has helped to lift many people above the poverty line during the pandemic, and concerns for what the future holds in light of the Commonwealth Government announcement that this is being substantially reduced and potentially removed altogether in 2021. We hope you enjoy the conversation. You can access the snapshot report here: https://100familieswa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/100-Families-WA-Covid-19-Findings-Snapshot.pdf You can read more about the 100 Families Project and access a range of online resources relating to the project here: https://100familieswa.org.au You can also connect via their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/100FamiliesWA As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 64 - SToP Trial, Aboriginal Skin Health with Dr Hannah Thomas

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 10 May 2022 01:43:59 GMT

In this episode we chat with Dr Hannah Thomas from the Telethon Kids Institute. Hannah talks to us about her work in the See, Treat, Prevent (SToP) trial which aims to treat and prevent skin problems associated with scabies and skin sores in regional and remote Aboriginal communities in the north of Western Australia. Hannah completed a PhD in wound healing mechanisms, before then going on to do a Master of Science Communication, both skills that she has utilised in her work with SToP. We discuss the role that art has played in communicating the main findings that have come out of the SToP trial, and how empowering the community members to take a leading role in conducting the research, and getting the main messages out to the community has been successful. As with all of our guests, we thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and hope you do too! To read more about Hannah: https://www.telethonkids.org.au/contact-us/our-people/t/hannah-thomas/ To read more about the SToP Trial: https://www.telethonkids.org.au/projects/the-stop-trial/ The HipHop2SToP video we discuss during the podcast: https://youtu.be/7eLLO9EuOiI To see the painting we discuss during the podcast: https://twitter.com/healthmeanswhat/status/1523845975022125056/photo/1 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 28 - Financial Stress with Amanda Ghouse

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 02:47:09 GMT

In this episode we travel to the Midlas offices in Midland to speak with Amanda Ghouse, a financial counsellor, about the work Midlas does in assisting people who find themselves in financial distress. Amanda explains the range of services that Midlas provides to their clients, in addition to financial counselling they offer legal and tenancy advocacy and support, and have recently starting assisting people with food and other essential items. During our conversation Amanda provides numerous examples of the types of situations that people find themselves in, what role poor physical and mental health can play in people's financial circumstances, and how the team at Midlas has been able to help people get themselves back on track financially. We also discuss the fact that many people seeking assistance from Midlas are not people who have been experiencing long-term or entrenched disadvantage, and that falling on hard times happens to a range of people in the community. We also discuss the impact COVID19 on Midlas and the way it provides its services, as well as the government responses have had for people receiving Job Seeker and Job Keeper payments, and how things might look for them in future as we navigate our way out of the pandemic. This was a truly enlightening conversation, we hope you enjoy it. You can read more about Midlas and the services they provide here: http://www.midlas.org.au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 61 - Addiction and Recovery Part 2 with Miranda

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 02:04:28 GMT

We bring you our second episode in our series from the peer support team from Doors Wide Open in Bunbury, this time chatting with Miranda. This conversation was particularly intense, as Miranda discussed some very heavy issues and experiences with us, after navigating her way from a pretty successful career in real estate through drug addiction, domestic violence, suicide, homelessness and contact with the justice system. Despite all the extreme situations Miranda has faced, her story is ultimately inspiring as she discusses how she ended up in her current role at Doors Wide Open, working in the housing first program. If hearing someone have a frank discussion about any of the topics mentioned may cause you some issues, this may be one to skip, but if not, then we hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation. A big thank you to Dr Jane Anderson for making this episode possible. If this episode raises any issues for you, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 You can read more about Doors Wide Open here: https://www.doorswideopen.net As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 57 - The Public Health Workforce with Dr Rory Watts

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 00:52:02 GMT

We are joined in this episode by Dr Rory Watts who recently graduated with a PhD from the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia. Rory has had an interesting journey through academia and the private sector that has seen him study in the areas of medical science and public health, ultimately focusing on the area of health economics. Rory is currently employed by the World Health Organization (WHO) where he works designing mathematical models that can be used to respond to global health issues as they occur. Rory also runs his own consulting firm Forecast Health Australia that assists decision makers in the health sector to make decisions about health policy and resources. If all of this wasn't enough, Rory is also an accomplished lecturer who has taught a range of units in the medicine and public health degrees at UWA. Rory discusses his current work, and also the work he did during his PhD looking at various aspects of the public health workforce in Australia. We hope you enjoy our conversation As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 59 - Addiction and Recovery Part 1 with Adam from Doors Wide Open

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 07:13:36 GMT

Welcome to our first episode back for 2022 after a bit of a break. This episode is the first in a series of conversations that we will bring you from people who have experienced and are now recovering from drug addiction who all work at Doors Wide Open, a drop in service for people dealing with drug or alcohol problems in Bunbury, Western Australia. To kick off the series, we have a fascinating conversation with Adam, the peer-support team leader at Doors Wide Open. Adam frankly discusses his experiences using drugs at different stages during his life and his journey through recovery to where he is today, a peer support worker assisting others dealing with addiction. Adam openly discusses many aspects of his drug use and situations he found himself in that involved violence, so if you may find these topics upsetting, this one may be one to skip. But if not, then please enjoy our conversation with Adam and we will be back with another episode for you soon. A big thank you to Dr Jane Anderson for her support in arranging this episode. If this episode raises any issues for you, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 You can read more about Doors Wide Open here: https://www.doorswideopen.net You can read more about Palmerston here: https://www.palmerston.org.au/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 71 - ARC Lifeblood and Research Ethics with Dr Peter Bentley

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 03:13:45 GMT

In this episode we are lucky enough to chat with Dr Peter Bentley. With a history practicing as a GP before moving across to telephone triage service Health Direct, Peter also spent time as a Medical Director in Perth hospitals. Peter currently works with the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood service that facilitates blood donates and ensure that hospitals are supplied with much needed blood products, and also currently serves as the chair of the WA Department of Health’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). Peter’s wide range of experience makes for a fascinating conversation about the various roles he has worked in, and he talks us through a major policy shift in blood donation that allows many former residents of the UK to donate blood in Australia for the first time in decades. Peter also shares some insight into the activities of an HREC and some of the issues they have to consider when assessing new projects for ethics approval. You can find out more about the Lifeblood service here: https://www.lifeblood.com.au/lifeblood-of-australia?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjbyYBhCdARIsAArC6LIagZ0qIpCCPo44ETLZwuRJbnwlT6M8sEbOQ-93rf3BktxyQLLHxcAaAnzYEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Read about Health Direct here: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 70 - Learning With Indigenous Communities with Dr Emma Haynes and Mr Caleb Rivers

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 02:40:39 GMT

We are back with some more interesting guests as we round out our mini-series of episodes exploring working in research with Indigenous communities. We are joined by Dr Emma Haynes from the University of Western Australia and the Indigenous Knowledges Collaborative, and Mr Caleb Rivers, an Indigenous researcher from the University of Western Australia. We discuss Emma’s PhD work in rheumatic heart disease (RHD) as well as a range of work she is involved in with the Indigenous space, including with the Southwest Aboriginal Medical Service (SWAMS), and work with the Yolnu People up in the Northern Territory. Emma also talks us through the concept of both-way learning that brings western and Indigenous knowledges together, which has guided (and continues to guide) a lot of her work. Caleb talks us through his work on a systematic review looking at aged care for Indigenous people, and what he has seen in this area within his own family and community. To view a presentation that Emma and colleagues gave to medicine students about RHD click here: https://echo360.org.au/media/2d905da8-606d-4876-9a7c-7c6db97f2584/public You can read more about Emma and her work: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/emma-haynes As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Ep 138 - Complex Clinical Care & Disability with Caroline Yates [disability series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 01:38:53 GMT

Dorinda and Craig sat down for a chat with Caroline Yates, a registered nurse, educator and Director of SN Services for this episode. Caroline talks through her background as an RN, as well as an educator, and how she came to start a company that provides complex clinical care for people living at home with a disability. She also discusses the formation of the WA Complex Care Alliance, aimed at improving complex care in WA. Caroline and colleagues identified that disability support staff were being asked to handle complex clinical treatment for their clients with disability without having sufficient training or education. To address this, Caroline and her business partner decided to provide this upskilling themselves and started SN Training to help support workers develop the knowledge and skills they needed for these important tasks, culminating in SN Training becoming a Registered Training Organisation (RTO). Caroline discusses her thoughts on the NDIS, and how just simply improving communication between government departments, and listening to feedback from families and carers could make a world of difference in the outcomes experienced by people with disability. You can read more about: SN Services here: https://www.snservices.com.au SN Training here: https://www.sntraining.com.au The WA Complex Care Alliance here: https://www.snservices.com.au/wa-complex-care-alliance As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 66 - Comic Book Contracting with Professor Camilla Andersen and Mr Peter Corner

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health where we “sit down” for a virtual chat with Professor Camilla Andersen from the UWA Law School/Comic Book Contracts and Mr Peter Corner from Comic Book Contracts. Both our guest hail from Denmark originally and now call Perth home. We discuss how they have been assisting clients with visual contracts, an alternative to the long and wordy documents that often leave people’s eyes glazed over. We discuss some notable examples where large corporations are turning to visual contracts to communicate more effectively with their customers, and naturally turn our attention to how these contracts are being used by both health service providers, and also health researchers. We found this conversation fascinating and hope that you enjoy it. You can read about Professor Andersen’s work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/camilla-baasch-andersen You can read more about Comic Book Contracts Here: https://www.comicbookcontracts.com As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 68 - Building Remote Indigenous Housing with Kristian Rodd and Jara Romero

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 08:44:20 GMT

Following on from NAIDOC week, we bring you another Indigenous-themed conversation as we chat with Kristian Rodd and Jara Romero from the Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health (FISH). Kristian and Jara share with us how they ended up traveling to the remote Indigenous community of Bawoorrooga in the Eastern Kimberly region of Western Australia to work with the community members to build a much needed house. They talk about the sub-standard accommodation that existed when they arrived, and the 3-year process of consulting with community members, sourcing mostly free or low-cost materials and co-designing and co-building a house that met the specific needs of the community. We also discuss some of the cultural, environmental and health challenges that needed to be navigated to get the project done, as well as the additional cultural, social and health benefits that have flowed from the housing project for the community. This was a truly inspiring conversation about a project that is aiming to address a fundamental need (sustainable housing) in communities where achieving lasting positive changes have often proven very difficult. We hope you enjoy the conversation. You can read more about FISH and their activities here: https://fish.asn.au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Ep 144 - International Women's Day 2026 [women's health series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:26 GMT

We celebrate International Women’s Day in this special live episode, recorded at the University of Western Australia on 9 March 2026. The panel was hosted by Prof Fiona McGaughey, Pro Vice Chancellor Academic Advancement & Diversity at UWA. The panel featured UWA academics Prof Pat Dudgeon, Prof Caitlin Wyrwoll, Prof Tanya Fitzgerald and Dr Dani Barrington. You can read more about the panellists here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/article/2026/march/meet-the-panellists-for-international-womens-day The conversation covers a range of issues that have created challenges for women in public and private life over several decades, and contributed to a gender imbalance which has made it more difficult for women to advance in their careers and across society generally. The panel share their own experiences, and their thoughts on where they would like meaningful change to be made to address the historical gender imbalances that still persist today. The event was supported by Graduate Women WA: https://graduatewomenwa.org.au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Ep 142 - Anxiety UK with Nicky and Jason

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 05:50:27 GMT

Leah and Craig are joined by Nicky and Jason from Anxiety UK as we continue our mental health series. Nicky and Jason talk us through how Anxiety UK came about, and the many and varied activities it carries out to help provide support for people living with various forms of anxiety in the UK. We discussed how as a peer-led organisation, Anxiety UK’s approach is informed by people who are living with anxiety themselves. We also touched on Anxiety UK’s leadership of the Global Anxiety Alliance, which brings Anxiety organisations across the world together with the aim of “furthering understanding of anxiety through sharing of good practice, knowledge, information, research, and where possible, resources”. Read more about Anxiety UK here: https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/ Read more about the Global Anxiety Alliance here: https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/global-anxiety-alliance/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 136 - Creating Opportunities for People w/Disability w/Erin Marshall [disability series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:32:50 GMT

In this episode Dorinda sits down for a chat with Erin Marshall, co-Deputy Chair of Disability Assembly WA. Erin discusses her experience living with cerebral palsy among other health challenges, as well as the impact that hidden disabilities and employment challenges can have on people living with disability more broadly. She highlights the need for better disability education and support for employers. Erin shares her journey of self-awareness and the importance of joining a disability employment provider. She emphasizes the role of the Disability Assembly of WA in advocating for better opportunities for people with disabilities, particularly in employment and housing. Erin also discusses the impact of her health conditions on her daily life and future goals, including the need for support to live independently and the desire to travel. You can read more about Disability Assembly WA here: https://disabilityassemblywa.org You can connect with Erin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-marshall-jp/?originalSubdomain=au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 124 - Abortion Decision Making with Dr Dorinda 't Hart [Women's Health Series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:56 GMT

We continue our women’s health series with a chat with Dr Dorinda ‘t Hart from the School of Population and Global Health at UWA. Dorinda has a background in sociology originally, with her PhD focussing on post-abortion narratives of women who had an abortion in Western Australia since 1998 when abortions were fully legalised in the state. Dorinda talks us through her PhD research and covers many aspects of the decision-making process that women who choose to proceed with an abortion go through before reaching their final decision. This includes what female bodily autonomy actually means, the relationship between motherhood and abortion, the pre-conditions that many women feel they need to meet to proceed with a pregnancy, and the role that their partners and other family members may play in helping them to reach their final decision. To finish, Dorinda gives us some key findings that may assist people working with women facing a decision about whether to proceed with, or terminate a pregnancy, and how they may best support them during that process. You can read more about Dorinda and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/00102012 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Ep 143 - Narrative Therapy with Marnie, Mark & Greg

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 05:17:43 GMT

We continue our mental health series as Courtney and Craig chat with Marnie, Mark and Greg about their work using narrative therapy to help people navigate life’s challenges. Our guests compare and contrast how narrative therapy and western medical approaches can differ. The conversation covers themes such as respectful practice, group work, addressing violent behaviour and working with people with alcohol and other drug issues. Our guests also talk through how they working with clients can help therapists to reflect on their own experiences and lives. Some useful resources: https://www.metaphortraining.com/about-5-4 https://dulwichcentre.com.au https://dulwichcentre.com.au/product/telling-our-stories-in-ways-that-make-us-stronger-barbara-wingard-jane-lester/ https://dulwichcentre.com.au/product/collective-narrative-practice-responding-to-individuals-groups-and-communities-who-have-experienced-trauma/ https://dulwichcentre.com.au/holding-our-heads-up/ And some references that support the work being talked about: https://dulwichcentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/finding-the-voice-to-speak-by-Dion-Anderson-Bea-Anderson-Mark-Hammersley-Marnie-Sather-Greg-Smith.pdf https://dulwichcentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Crossing-the-River-A-Metaphor-for-Separation-Liminality-and-Reincorporation.pdf As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 125 - Hormonal Health with Prof Bronwyn Stuckey and Dr Kharis Burns [Women's Health Series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 14 May 2025 03:20:53 GMT

Continuing our series on women’s health, Ingrid and Craig sat down for a chat with respected endocrinologists Prof Bronwyn Stuckey from the Keogh Institute and Dr Kharis Burns from Royal Perth Hospital. We discussed a range of women’s health issues that endocrinologists help their patients deal with, such as diabetes, and reproductive health issues ranging from menstrual issues through to IVF and menopause. Bronwyn and Kharis talked us through some of the treatments that they prescribe, as well as stressing the importance of women checking in with their Dr when they feel like reproductive health issues are impacting negatively on their quality of life, so that their Dr can discuss the available treatment options. They discussed some of the common risk factors that they help their patients manage during pregnancy, and addressed some of the misleading headlines about supposed risks associated with treatments such as menopausal hormone therapy. We also touched on the challenges that many women face as they navigate peri-menopause. You can read more about Bronwyn and Kharis’s work here: https://kimr.org https://api.research-repository.uwa.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/390220199/THESIS_-_DOCTOR_OF_PHILOSOPHY_-_BURNS_Kharis_Alicia_-_2024_.pdf As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 98 - PeopleWA With Natalia Kacperek And Prof David Preen

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 07:41:12 GMT

In this episode we sit down for a chat with Natalia Kacperek from the WA Office of Digital Government and Prof David Preen, the Chair in Public Health at the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia. We discuss the issue of linked administrative data and PeopleWA, the WA Government’s new platform launched in late 2023 for making a range of government data accessible to Government Departments and academic researchers. Natalia talks us through her role in leading the rollout of PeopleWA and takes us through what to expect from the platform and the current limitations. David talks to us about the historical context of linked data, how it has been game-changing in improving understanding the health of the community, where there have been some recent challenges, and his hopes that PeopleWA will mark an end to some of the key issues that were causing blockages and delays in obtaining linked data for important health research. We are planning a follow-up episode to hear how successful the first year or two of PeopleWA has been, and any future changes that may be planned. If you would like to read more about the Office of Digital Government, you can visit here: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/office-of-digital-government If you would like to read more about PeopleWA, you can visit here: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/office-of-digital-government/peoplewa If you would like to read more about David and his work, you can visit here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/schools/research/david-preen As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 123 - Global Maternal and Child Health with A Prof Tim Roberton [Women's Health Series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 00:00:10 GMT

In this next episode in our series on women’s health we sit down for a conversation with global health expert A/Prof Tim Roberton from the School of Population and Global Health at UWA. Tim’s discusses his interesting pathway into public and global health, from working for international aid organisations in the middle east and the Caucasus in the old Soviet region, to doing his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in the USA. Tim also talks us through the health systems in lower and middle income countries, and how they provide healthcare in the child and maternal health space, often in very challenging circumstances with limited resources. Tim also touches on the impact of the recent changes in US policy that have seen USAID funding completely cut, and the impact that this is having on many child and maternal health services in some of the world’s poorest countries, as well as healthcare workers and health researchers who have dedicated their careers to this important area. You can read more about Tim and his work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/00109849 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 96 - Diabetic Foot Disease With Mariam Alessa

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 00:37:24 GMT

We return with our first episode for 2024, and bring you a great conversation with Mariam Alessa, a podiatrist from Kuwait currently completing a PhD investigating diabetic foot disease at the School of Allied Health at UWA. Mariam takes us through her journey which has seen her study in Malta and the UK, before practicing in Kuwait and doing research in Abu Dhabi. Mariam talks through some of the consequences of diabetes, and how complications such as diabetic foot disease can arise, often with quite serious consequences such as major limb amputations and even death. We finish our conversation with Mariam describing the amputee crisis currently unfolding in Gaza with thousands of children losing limbs as a result of the conflict there, often having amputations performed without anaesthetic due to a lack of supply. We hope to have Mariam back on in the future to discuss her PhD findings, in the meantime we hope you enjoy this chat as much as we did! You can read more about Mariam and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/mariam-alessa-2 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 137 - Managing Complex Healthcare & Disability w/Barbara Goodwin & Mia Hagbro-Tedeschi

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 04:55:21 GMT

In this episode Craig and Dorinda sat down with Barbara Goodwin from Care Corner and Mia Hagbro-Tedeschi from Mechanical Rock to discuss the Care Corner app, which was designed to help with care coordination for individuals with complex disabilities. Barbara, a part-time UWA employee and mother to a son with multiple disabilities, discusses the many challenges that she and many families of people with disability face while trying to manage the care of their loved ones. Barbara’s experience was the motivation behind her idea to streamline care documentation and reduce the mental load on families, which led to the creation of the Care Corner app. Mia, Director of Client Strategy at Mechanical Rock, explains how she got involved in helping to design the app's features, including real-time updates, voice-to-text progress notes, and integration with NDIS goals. The app, which has over 300 users, aims to improve care continuity and reduce hospital visits for people with disability who are also managing complex health care needs in the home. Barbara also discusses how Care Corner has been funded (self-funding, an innovation booster grant, and support from Mechanical Rock), and shares some great news about a recent decision that means that people using Care Corner can have the cost of the subscription covered under their NDIS plan now. For further information about Care Corner, you can contact: Barbara – barbara@carecorner.net.au Mia – maria@mechanicalrock.io As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 119 - Health Education in Early Childhood with Dr Ruth Wallace

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode we chat with Dr Ruth Wallace, a senior lecturer in the School of Medical and Health Sciences at Edith Cowan University. Ruth is an expert in nutrition and early childhood education, which has led her to co-write and publish the “Little Aussie Bugs” series of books with her collaborator Dr Amelia Ruscoe. These innovative books are aimed at young children, typically in childcare, and help them to learn about different aspects of health and healthy behaviours. The books are designed to be dialogic, which means that an adult helps the child to become the story teller, helping children improve their literacy skills in the process. To aid in this process, Ruth and her team have produced training materials to assist early childhood educators to use the Little Aussie Bugs books to help the young children they work with. We had a great chat with Ruth about the books, as well as how her team has been working with childcare centres to use the books in their programs to help improve literacy and health literacy for children from an early age. You can find out more about Little Aussie Bugs here: https://www.ecu.edu.au/newsroom/articles/news/little-aussie-bugs-goes-to-uni And about Ruth and her work here: https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/medical-and-health-sciences/our-staff/profiles/senior-lecturers/dr-ruth-wallace As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 120 - Maori Health and Health Research with A Prof Bevan Erueti

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode we bring you a conversation we had with A/Prof Bevan Erueti from Massey University in Aotearoa/New Zealand in late 2024. Bevan discussed health and health research from a Māori perspective. Bevan talked us through the concept of pūrākau (Māori realities and narratives) and how this guides culturally competent health care and health research in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Bevan took us through the great effort that had gone into establishing a world-leading Māori health service in Aotearoa/New Zealand in 2022, which was then dis-established in the first half of 2024 after a change of government in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We chatted with Bevan about his journey from teaching into academia in Aotearoa/New Zealand, as well as his interest in sports providing a pathway for upward mobility for people in society. Read more about Bevan and his work here: https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/expertise/profile.cfm?stref=831630 As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth

Episode 55 - Drugs Prison and Peer Support with Shane Thompson

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 08:23:30 GMT

Welcome back, this week we have a chat via Zoom with Shane, a peer support worker from Bunbury in Western Australia. Shane talks at length with us our his journey through life which has included periods of heavy drug use and a few stints in prison, and sees him now in recovery and working as a peer support worker at Doors Wide Open, a drop-in service in Bunbury helping people experiencing homelessness and substance use problems and a range of other issues. We hear how Shane has been able to put his past struggles behind him, and now has a number of goals he is looking to achieve in the future. We also hear how he is helping others to navigate some of the problems he has faced in the past. He also shares with us some of his strategies for coping with the challenges that being in recovery poses. You can read more about Doors Wide Open here: https://www.doorswideopen.net As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 38 - Mental Health Matters 2 with Margaret Doherty

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 05:03:30 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode, this time with Margaret Doherty, founder of Mental Health Matters 2. We visited Margaret at her home, enjoyed her hospitality and had a fantastic chat about a range of issues around mental health, justice and advocacy. Margaret gave us a brief history of her journey starting out aspiring to a career in economics in Europe, to becoming an accomplished and effective advocate for improvements to the mental health system in Western Australia, and many other interesting pursuits in between. This episode is one of our longer ones, but once you start listening, you will understand why, Margaret has a wealth of knowledge and experience and was kind enough to share a little with us. We hope you enjoy the conversation! You can read more about Margaret's work with Mental Health Matters 2 here: https://www.mentalhealthmatters2.com.au https://www.facebook.com/mentalhealthmatters2WA If you want to contact Margaret you can reach her at: mentalhealthmatters2@gmail.com As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 99 - Art Therapy For Head Injury And Mental Health With Angela And Barbara

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 31 May 2024 06:45:34 GMT

In this episode you will hear a conversation that took place at the Creative Expression Centre for Arts Therapy (CECAT). Craig spoke with Angela, a previous client of the service who has experienced a head injury and mental health challenges, and Barbara, an art therapist who has worked with Angela. Angela talked about how art therapy has helped her deal with challenges resulting from an accident that she had resulting in a head injury and mental health challenges. Angela talks through the types of art that she has created and continues to create, and how she has found this to be beneficial and therapeutic. Barbara gives us some insight into her career as an art therapist, and how she came from a teaching background originally before upskilling to add the therapy component to her skillset. Barbara also helpfully talks us through what art therapy is, and also how it is something that requires specific training and qualifications. This was a fascinating conversation, and a great privilege to be involved in, we hope that you enjoy listening. Find out more about CECAT here: https://www.nmhs.health.wa.gov.au/Hospitals-and-Services/Mental-Health/Community/CACAT Visit the ANZACATA website here: https://anzacata.org As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 50 - Tackling Smoking and Big Tobacco with Prof Mike Daube

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 07:37:49 GMT

We celebrate our 50th episode in style with a chat with Emeritus Professor Mike Daube from Curtin University. Mike has an impressive CV that includes serving at the Director General of the West Australian Department of Health, and being named the 2018 West Australian of the year. Mike is probably best known however for his work shining a light on the health impacts of smoking, and the tactics that tobacco companies employ to try and subvert the public health measures aimed at preventing people from taking up smoking, and encouraging them to quit. Mike shares numerous stories with us about his experiences during his impressive career in public health, and discusses some of the current and future challenges we face in combating corporations who profit from marketing products that have a detrimental effect on the health of many in the community. You can read a bit more about Mike here: https://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/events/events/2017/06/who-european-meeting-of-national-ncd-directors-and-programme-managers/biographies/professor-mike-daube As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 53 - Living with Schizophrenia with Susie Hincks

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 06:50:53 GMT

In this episode we sit down with lived experience expert Susie Hincks to chat about living with schizophrenia. Susie chats candidly about her journey through life, and the period leading up to her schizophrenia diagnosis in her 20s. We talk about some of the challenges she has faced, as well as the success she has had in managing her illness, and creating awareness about it through her work in advocacy and research. Susie gives us some background on her involvement with Meeting for Minds, the Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry (CCRN), and the Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology Research Unit (NERU), and how her experience contributes to informing and improving research into mental illness and schizophrenia in particular. Susie was very generous with her time and we hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. For more information about meeting for minds: https://meetingforminds.com For more information on the NERU: https://mcusercontent.com/de69743f1f0972cd991e62505/files/60a6d78f-62e0-4398-adb4-11f652c280b8/NERU2020_SPGH_CHSRwebsite_Final.01.pdf For more information on the CCRN: https://www.uwa.edu.au/facilities/centre-for-clinical-research-in-neuropsychiatry As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 47 - Mental Imagery and Depression with Dr Julie Ji

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 07:57:14 GMT

Thank you for joining us for another episode where we continue a recent theme of psychology and mental health with Dr Julie Ji, a Forrest Research Fellow based on the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia. We chat with Julie about her career pathway that has taken her from China to the UK, USA, and now Australia. We have an interesting conversation about how mental imagery, and our ability to generate positive mental imagery and expectations for the future impact on mental health, and the treatment of issues such as depression. There was plenty more to be discussed that we weren't able to get to, so look out for a future episode with Julie. You can read more about Julie and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/julie-ji and here: https://www.forrestresearch.org.au/portfolio-item/julie-ji/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 48 - Climate Health with Prof Tarun Weeramanthri

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 06:14:22 GMT

Welcome back to another great episode where we continue our conversation with former NT and WA Chief Health Officer Prof Tarun Weeramanthri. Tarun was our guest in episode 37, however we were so interested in talking about his career in medicine and public health that we ran out of time to discuss what we originally invited him onto the podcast to talk about which was the Climate Health WA inquiry, and the report which followed. Tarun shares his experience leading the inquiry, as well as his thoughts on the urgency with which we all need to act to address the impacts of climate change, suggesting that we are likely to see global warming occur at a much faster rate than previously thought without meaningful action now. Citing our global response to COVID19 and the speed at which vaccines have been developed, Tarun suggests that globally we have the capacity to act to address climate change before it is too late, but that the clock is ticking and we need to start the race now. To read more about the Climate Health WA Inquiry and access the report you can visit: https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Improving-WA-Health/Climate-health-inquiry/Climate-Health-WA-Inquiry-Final-Report To read more about Tarun you can visit: https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/~/media/Files/Corporate/general-documents/Climate-Health-WA-Inquiry/Tarun-Weeramanthri-biography.pdf As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 54 - Rebroadcast: Health and Justice with Prof Stuart Kinner

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 07:03:35 GMT

In this episode we revisit a conversation with Prof Stuart Kinner that was originally published back in 2019. This conversation took place prior to the COVID19 pandemic so like everywhere, the way prisons function is likely to have changed significantly. A lot of what is discussed in this episode however will be as relevant today as ever, as managing the health and wellbeing of people who move through our prisoners remains one of society's biggest public health challenges. We hope that you enjoy this rebroadcast conversation and we look forward to bringing you a new episode soon. To find out more about the work that Stuart and his team do, and see a list of recent publications visit: https://mspgh.unimelb.edu.au/centres-institutes/centre-for-health-equity/research-group/justice-health-unit tweet @JHU_UoM or @KinnerStuart As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 46 - Self Harm with Associate Professor Rohan Borschmann

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 02:11:21 GMT

Welcome to another episode where we chat with Associate Professor Rohan Borschmann from the University of Melbourne and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. Rohan is a psychologist who has worked extensively in the area of self-harm, primarily amongst adolescents, and also in populations who have a history of contact with the justice system. He has worked in clinical practice, and is now primarily a researcher, and collaborates widely with research partners around the world. You will hear Rohan discuss a few of the many projects he has been involved in with us in this conversation, recorded via zoom whilst Melbourne was in lockdown recently. You can read more about Rohan and some of his recent work here: https://www.mcri.edu.au/users/rohan-borschmann and here: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/679936-rohan-borschmann As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 18 - COVID19 with Dr Barbara Nattabi

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 00:41:26 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. We talk to infectious diseases expert Dr Barbara Nattabi in this episode. We discuss what infectious diseases are, and how they can spread throughout the population. Barbara also discusses the COVID-19 pandemic with us in detail, and gives us her view on how the situation is being handled by health authorities, and the part that we can all play in limiting the spread of the virus. You can find out a bit more about Barbara and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/barbara-nattabi If you have any feedback about this, or any other episode, you can contact us at meaningofhealth@outlook.com or tweet us @healthmeanswhat

Episode 22 - Family and Domestic Violence with Professor Colleen Fisher

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 18 May 2020 08:18:39 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaning of Health. In this episode we speak with the head of the School of Population and Global Health at UWA, Professor Colleen Fisher. We have an interesting conversation with Colleen about her career in research, focusing mostly on family and domestic violence. We discuss the work that Colleen has done with migrant communities in particular, and how this work can be both challenging and rewarding. We also touch on the impact that the current COVID19 pandemic is having on family and domestic violence, and how this might be addressed. Our conversation with Colleen highlighted many of the challenges people in our communities face every day and was very enlightening, and we hope you find it interesting. To read more about Colleen's work visit: https://www.uwa.edu.au/profile/colleen-fisher https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/colleen-fisher https://www.anrows.org.au/publication/best-practice-principles-for-working-with-men-from-refugee-backgrounds-who-use-domestic-and-family-violence-key-findings-and-future-directions/ For assistance with family and domestic violence-related issues: https://awava.org.au/support-services?doing_wp_cron=1589789641.3009510040283203125000

Episode 11 - Christmas Special with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 04:07:00 GMT

Hello and welcome to our special Christmas episode of the Meaning of Health, where we focus on a selection of more light-hearted studies that were published in the Medical Journal of Australia’s Christmas issue. We finish off with a discussion of what we felt were some of the big health issues in 2019, and what we think will be some of the big issues in 2020 (and beyond). Apologies to any baby boomers who may be offended. The articles that we discuss in this episode are: Yuki Furuse (2019). What would happen if Santa Claus was sick? His impact on communicable disease transmission R John Massie (2019). Repurposing medical equipment Dennis Zetner et al. (2019). Blondes do not have more fun: a non‐blinded crossover field study You can find these articles here: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2019/211/11 Thank you for listening this year, and we wish you an excellent break over the holiday period. We look forward to bringing you more episodes in 2020. As usual, you can reach us at the following places: email: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Twitter: @healthmeanswhat

Episode 7 - Ignobel Prize with Courtney and Craig

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 05:56:06 GMT

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Meaning of Health. This week we delve into the Ig Nobel Prize, a satirical set of awards given each year to research that makes us laugh, and then think just a little bit. A chat that covers such topics as cat ownership and health, whether pizza might just be good for you, and how music might just be good for us in utero. For more information on the Ig Nobel Prize, you can visit: https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/winners/ As always, please contact us with any questions or comments at the following: E: meaningofhealth@outlook.com T: @healthmeanswhat

Ep 147 - Dental Public Health w/Dr Mohammed Junaid

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 22 May 2026 05:31:46 GMT

Ingrid and Craig chat with Dr Mohammed Junaid from the UWA Dental School and Oral Health Centre of Western Australia. Junaid is a practicing public health dentist, lecturer and researcher, who trained in India and obtained professional qualifications from Royal Colleges of Glasgow and England before completing his PhD at UWA. As part of his role, he organises the Clinics to Communities program in Perth. His previous clinical work has seen him travel different regions in India. Junaid discusses the importance of oral health, and the impact it can have on other aspects of a person’s life if it is not taken care of. He also talks through his philosophy of treating the person rather than just their teeth, as many people have a range of life challenges that impact on their oral health, and need to be understood before helping them make decisions about their oral health care. Junaid also shares his thoughts on the oral health system generally in Australia, and challenges created by funding and resourcing issues, in part due to the fact that oral health care is not funded by Medicare for a majority of Australians. You can read more about Junaid and his work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/mohammed-junaid-2/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 88 - Homelessness In Regional WA With Alex Hughes

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 23:46:23 GMT

We sit down with Alex Hughes to have a chat about the current homelessness crisis in regional Western Australia. Alex previously worked for the 100 Families project and was a podcast guest all the way back in Episode 16, and is now working with Just Home Margaret River, a community-led grass roots organisation that assists people in and around Margaret River who are experiencing, or at risk of homelessness. Alex takes us through some of the contributing factors, such as a lot of the available accommodation being offered as short-term holiday accommodation on sites such as Air BnB, and governments failing to plan and fund sufficient public housing in communities such as Margaret River and the surrounding areas. Alex also discusses some upcoming fundraising events and installations aimed at raising awareness around the issue, planned to coincide with National Homelessness Week which runs from 7-13 August 2023. You can find out more about Just Home Margaret River, and their fundraising event which is being held on Sunday 13 August 2023 between 2-6pm here: https://justhome.org.au You can read more about National Homeless Week here: https://www.shelterwa.org.au/homelessness-week-2023/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 89 - Introducing New Host Leah Roberts

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 02:50:17 GMT

In this brief episode we welcome Leah Roberts as a new host to the podcast. Leah joined us as a guest in episode 87 and we are delighted to have her join the hosting team. Our introduction touches on a couple of contemporary issues that are receiving media coverage at the moment (corporate misbehaviour and the Voice to the parliament) which Leah provides looks at with her political science hat on. We’ll look forward to bringing you new episodes featuring Leah in the hosting chair soon. As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 45 - Breast Cancer and Genetics with Associate Professor Jennifer Stone

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 04:50:06 GMT

Welcome back to the Meaning of Health. In this episode we chat with Associate Professor Jennifer Stone, a biostatistician working in the area of genetic epidemiology at the School of Population and Global at the University of Western Australia. Jennifer's work focuses on breast density and the role this plays in women developing breast cancer, and the role that certain genes, or combinations of genes can play in this process. One key aim of Jennifer's work is to provide data that will assist the health system in identifying who is most at risk of developing breast cancer, and what the warning signs are, so that steps can be taken as early as possible to ensure breast cancer is identified and the necessary treatment provided to give individuals the best chance of surviving and living long and healthy lives. As you will hear from our conversation, Jennifer's work touches on many aspects of breast cancer, including breast cancer screening, educating people on what to do to ensure the best outcomes, and understanding the perspectives of consumers. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. If you would like to read more about Jennifer and her work, you can go here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/jennifer-stone As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 40 - Live Lighter Menu App with Jasmine, James and Gael

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 00:21:34 GMT

Welcome back to another episode of the Meaning of Health, number 40! The mark the occasion we welcome Jasmine, James and Gael from the Cancer Council of Western Australia's Live Lighter campaign. They discuss their latest Menu App campaign (the first new locally produced Live Lighter content for several years) that was launched recently to create awareness around the link between eating fast food, a build up of toxic fat, and 13 different types of cancer. We discuss each of their pathways into their current roles, what the difference between a nutritionist and a dietician is, and why the campaign is needed, and what it aims to achieve. We also take a deep dive into how campaigns are run, and the increasing importance of social media in reaching as many people as possible with health messaging. You can read more about Live Lighter, the new campaign, and access a range of resources at their excellent website: https://livelighter.com.au As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 39 - Home Stretch with Andy Kazim

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 03:34:46 GMT

Hi everyone, thank you for joining us. In this episode we chat with Andy Kazim about the Home Stretch project. Home Stretch is a current pilot initiative aimed at ensuring that children who have been in out of home care in the child protection system in Western Australia have the option of continuing to receive support between 18-21 years of age rather than abruptly aging out of the care system once they turn 18. Andy discusses the evidence that contributed to the initial idea and design of Home Stretch, and how the project has been co-designed using the perspectives of young people who have experienced out of home care and been part of the child protection system. We also discuss what the future holds for the project and some of the other work that Andy has done in the youth work space during his career. You can find out more about Home Stretch here: https://www.anglicarewa.org.au/news/2020/10/14/joint-announcement-with-yorganop-aboriginal-young-people-to-co-design-home-stretch-wa-mode http://thehomestretch.org.au/news/wa-state-government-announces-home-stretch-trial/ As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat

Episode 94 - Dreambuilders Part 2 With Dave And Kylie

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 07:07:40 GMT

In part 2 of our conversations with Dreambuilders Care, we chat first with Dave, a service user at Dreambuilders, followed by Kylie, the day manager of the service. Dave discusses his challenges with alcohol dependence and how he recently reached the milestone of being 1 year sober. Dave talks about the importance of asking for help when you need it, how Dreambuilders has been a great help to him and many others, and his relationship with his family. Kylie discusses her role at Dreambuilders and some of the challenges she has faced during her life, raising her kids as a single mother, and re-entering the workforce, firstly as a volunteer, and then as an employee at Dreambuilders. Kylie discusses going to TAFE and completing her Diploma in Community Services, and talks about the satisfaction she gets from seeing people in need get assistance from Dreambuilders and how it brightens their day. These were two inspiring conversations with people who have overcome various adversities and come out the other side stronger for it. You can read more about Dreambuilders Care here: https://www.dreambuilderscare.org.au/getinvolved As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 95 - Christmas 2023

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 04:41:42 GMT

We’ve made it through to Christmas 2023! In this special Christmas episode, Craig, Courtney and Leah are joined by special guest Doug Maclaurin from the UWA Media and PR team, who is also the host of the brand new Research on the Record podcast at UWA. In addition to the usual discussion about an article from the BMJ Christmas issue, we all reflect on what has been quite an incredible year for many reasons, as well as discussing personal milestones and experiences from throughout the year. We finish up with some predictions and hopes for 2024. Thank you everyone for listening again in 2023 and we’ll look forward to bringing you some more interesting conversations in 2024! You can find the BMJ article we discuss here: https://www.bmj.com/content/379/bmj-2022-072839 You can find the Research on the Record podcast on all podcast platforms, as well as here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/topics/podcasts As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 93 - Dreambuilders Helping To Feed The Community With Ursula Dixon

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 09:11:00 GMT

We travel to Midland to chat with Dreambuilders Care CEO Ursula Dixon for this episode, which is the first of 2 that we will release about Dreambuilders. Dreambuilders are a charitable organisation that operates a low cost supermarket, a café, and a community kitchen, to help feed people in Midland who may be struggling to help ends meet. Ursula chats with us about a lot of the challenges Dreambuilders’ clients face, and also how they are starting to see a change in the people use their service, with people who have full time jobs who have never needed assistance to feed themselves and their families now struggling to make ends meet in the current cost of living crisis. Ursual chats with us about her work history, and journey raising a family, as well as the amazing Christmas hampers that Dreambuilders provides for their clients to lift spirits on Christmas Day. Ursula’s passion for the work Dreambuilders are doing in the community is infectious, we encourage anyone who is interested in helping to check out the website and to consider going down and volunteering at 10am on 16 December 2023 to help pack the Christmas Hampers. You can read more about Dreambuilders Care here: https://www.dreambuilderscare.org.au/getinvolved As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

Episode 133 - Disability & Early Childhood Education & Care w Monique Power [disability series]

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 01:46:27 GMT

To kick off our new series that explores disability from a range of perspectives, Dorinda ‘t Hart sits down for a chat with Monique Power, founder and Director of Ripple Ability, a company set up to help families caring for young children with disability to navigate the National Disability Insurance Scheme to ensure that both the children and their families can lead fulfilling and healthy lives. Monique discusses her lived experience as a mother and carer of a child with a rare disability, and the gaps that currently exist for early childhood education and care for young children diagnosed with complex, lifelong disabilities. She also shares examples of some of the work being done to identify the issues, and potential strategies for improving the services on offer to ensure that people diagnosed with disability at early ages are given the best possible opportunities to lead fulfilling and productive lives in the community. Read more about Ripple Ability and Monique here: https://rippleability.org As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram Twitter/X Bluesky @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth Visit our website: https://meaningofhealth.com.au/

Episode 115 - Learning From the Past to Tackle Climate Change w A/Prof Aditya Vyas/Dr Melandri Vlok

The Meaning of Health Podcast — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode we are joined by: A/Prof Aditya Vyas a Public Health Physician and Researcher from the University of Canberra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityavyas15/?originalSubdomain=au and Dr Melandri Vlok a bioarchaeologist and palaeopathologis from Notre Dame University Australia: https://www.notredame.edu.au/staff/teach/teaching-at-nda/faculties-and-schools/school-of-health-sciences/fremantle/staff/dr-melandri-vlok Aditya talks us through what it is that a public health physician does and the role they have in advising health systems and governments on how to navigate challenges associated with climate change. Melandri tells us about how we can learn a lot about our current climate change challenges and public health issues by studying how ancient cultures lived, and navigated health challenges thousands of years ago. We discuss a broad range of health issues, such as diseases spread by mosquitoes, through to how modern farming practices are impacting on our environment, and also public health across the world. As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com Instagram or Blueksy @healthmeanswhat FaceBook @MeaningofHealth