At the recent Screening Conference 2025 in Sydney, hosted by Public Health Association, Dr Rachael Dodd, Senior Research Fellow at The Daffodil Centre, spoke about the information and educational resources created to increase awareness in the healthcare workforce and community on the upcoming Australia’s National Lung Cancer Screening Program commencing in July 2025.
The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare (the Centre) is calling on the Australian Government to prioritise healthcare access for children in out-of-home care.
“We have many amazing young people in care with huge potential, but they’re not set up for success,” said Deb Tsorbaris, CEO “Young people and workers tell us that access to health and education assessments is a huge disadvantage.”
The newly established Australian and New Zealand Board of Cosmetic Plastic Surgery (ANZBCPS) has highlighted a concerning lack of confidence among cosmetic surgery patients in selecting qualified surgeons based on available online information.
In response to these challenges, the ANZBCPS has introduced the Board Certified Program to ensure patients have access to trustworthy information about qualified surgeons. Participating surgeons may use the title “ANZBCPS Board Certified,” indicating they meet stringent quality and safety standards, and adhere to the continuing professional development (CPD) requirements set by AHPRA.
There is limited emphasis being placed on perinatal oral health by prenatal care providers in Australia. Pregnant women have no system in place that can offer them regular oral assessment during pregnancy and prompt dental treatment at minimal or no cost as experienced in other countries. To address the oral health needs of pregnant women, a unique midwifery initiated oral health (MIOH) model was developed to promote and maintain maternal oral health.
Inklings – led by The Kids Research Institute Australia – is a program for babies aged 6-18 months whose communications skills are developing differently to expected milestones. In early 2025 it has completed the first year of a pilot program.
At the time of filming (Nov 2024), Inklings has received more then 300 enquiries across WA and started to deliver services to 160 children, with almost 60 who have completed the program.
Perinatal depression and anxiety (PNDA) impacts 100,000 Australians each year, equating to one in five mums and one in ten dads, with PNDA costing Australia $877 million annually. To address the nationwide shortage of specialist perinatal mental health clinicians, Gidget Foundation Australia has partnered with Federation University to launch the Graduate Diploma in Perinatal Mental Health.
Brooke Charters is a dynamic Paediatric Emergency Nurse who works at the Gold Coast University Hospital in Queensland. Brooke’s research became the world’s largest study of its kind and in May 2024 the results of the study were published in JAMA Pediatrics. Her mission is to drive change and enhance the hospital experience for children globally.
Identifying a gap in the healthcare of vulnerable people in New South Wales, Dr Daniel Nour founded Street Side Medics in August 2020, a not-for-profit, GP-led mobile medical service for people experiencing homelessness.
Dr. Daniel Nour is a cardiology advanced trainee at Royal North Shore Hospital and the founder of Street Side Medics, a mobile medical service dedicated to providing GP-led care to individuals experiencing homelessness. The initiative started from a customised van, which serves as a medical clinic, visiting food services and shelters across New South Wales and recently Victoria. Street Side Medics offers free medical care without requiring documentation, ID, or a Medicare card.
Launched in 2022, the Australian Teletrial Program is an initiative designed to improve access to clinical trials for people living in regional and remote areas of Australia. It uses telemedicine and digital technologies to enable patients to participate in clinical trials without needing to travel long distances to major metropolitan centres, which can often be a barrier to participation for those in rural and isolated locations.
Recently Australian Health Journal met with Kaye Hewson, Director, Australian Teletrials Program, who spoke about the program’s recent achievements.
Dr Marg Rogers is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, New South Wales. She is a prominent figure in early childhood education New South Wales, and is also a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Manna Institute, a mental health research organisation within the regional university network across Australia, that is building place based research capacity to improve the mental health of regional, rural and remote Australia.
