People In Health Care
Professor Rosemary Harrup, Tasmania
Rosemary Harrup trained in Victoria and Tasmania in Medical Oncology and Clinical Haematology, completing a dual Fellowship in 2001. She is the current Director of Cancer and Blood Services at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH), a role she has held since 2009.
External to the RHH she is a member of the board of the Cancer Council of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Cancer Registry Advisory Group and the RHH Research Foundation Scientific and Advisory Committee.
Rosemary is currently Deputy Chair of the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro oncology (COGNO), a member of the Australian Brain Cancer Mission Steering Committee and the Australian Cancer Plan Tasmanian jurisdictional representative. She has a strong interest in clinical research, particularly in the areas of Clinical Trials in Brain Cancer, Malignant Haematology and Late Effects and is an active mentor for early career researchers.
Australian Health Journal spoke to Rosemary about her journey in medicine and specifically her work in Clinical Trials in Brain Cancer and the value she placed on her senior clinicians as mentors and how she now mentors others.
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Child Dental Benefits Schedule needing greater awareness
Since its launch in 2014, the Child Dental Benefits Schedule has seen a gradual increase in participation year on year. The impact of COVID-19 and related shutdowns saw participation fall sharply in 2020. Though it increased 2021, the national target of 41% participation was not reached in 2021-2022, with the total (35.4%) more than three percent below 2018 participation rates.
In an opinion segment, Australian Health Journal spoke with Abano Healthcare Group Clinical Director, Dr Fred Calavassy, with over 30 years of clinical experience, about his observations of the Child Dental Benefits Scheme ways to increasing participation rates.
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Awareness, diagnosis and treatment of Congenital Hypothyroidism
Australian Health Journal spoke to Associate Professor MIchelle Jack about congenital hypothyroidism and newborn screening and her concerns in the varying thresholds for across different states in Australia. Despite the existence of newborn screening programs since the 1970s, there is still controversy surrounding the appropriate screening levels. Congenital hypothyroidism, affecting about one in 3500 infants, can lead to severe intellectual and physical impairment if not diagnosed early. The condition is mainly caused by the thyroid gland’s failure to develop properly, resulting in insufficient thyroid hormone production.
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Developing the next generation of medicines to target and enhance the microbiome
Australian Health Journal spoke to Associate Professor Sam Forster, Research Group Head
Microbiota and Systems Biology, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Team Leader, Australian Microbiome Culture Collection & Chief Scientific Officer, BiomeBank and Dr Sam Costello, Co-Founder and CEO of BiomeBank about the microbiome, partnering and some of the breakthroughs in recent years.
