Newsletter | Issue 1 | 2024
Dear colleagues,
Welcome to the first issue of our newsletter for 2024.
March is Australian Women’s History month and I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate one of our very own living legends, Professor Kelsey Hegarty. Kelsey is an internationally renowned academic and a leading figure in the field of primary care research, specialising in interventions to prevent violence against women and the identification of domestic and family violence in primary care settings. One of Kelsey’s most notable contributions to this field has been the creation of the Composite Abuse Scale, which is a multidimensional measure of intimate partner abuse that has been adopted for use worldwide and is now available in 10 languages. Kelsey is passionate about addressing domestic and family violence as a health issue not just a social justice problem. She is a force to be reckoned with and an inspiration to us all. I encourage you to read the article in the newsletter and discover more about her substantial contributions and achievements.
It is wonderful to see the Department come alive as more and more of us return to campus life and settle in to our new location in the medical building. I extend a hearty welcome to Dr Robert Kristiansson, a general practice specialist working as a Chief Medical Officer ad Quality Director in Primary Care in Uppsala, Sweden. He is undertaking a PhD and his main interest is effective care processes involving more than one healthcare provider. He will be with us until the 4th of April. We also have many new additions to our Department team, starting with Anna Withanage Dona who joins the Primary Care Cancer Team as a Research Fellow in Cancer Genomics and Health Service Research. Anna will be combining her expertise in molecular diagnostics and oncology clinical trials to conduct a new study on personalised breast screening. Welcome Anna. Also joining the team are five new GP Registrars and 11 Honours students! Please take the time to read their bios and discover their fields of interest in the new staff section of the newsletter. Welcome everyone!
Congratulations go to Dr Christine Longman, who was recently honoured in the Australia Day celebrations with the OAM Award. This is well deserved recognition for a lifetime of exceptional service to medicine through her dedication to disadvantaged and marginalised patients, education and research. A fantastic achievement.
2024 is shaping up to be a good year for primary care research with a number of our research teams achieving grant success. Dr Sibel Saya from the Primary Care Cancer Team has received a Victorian Cancer Agency fellowship to find the best way to offer general practice patients a new cancer screening DNA test and A/Prof Caroline Johnson and Dr Cath Kayor-Hughes from the Primary Care Mental Health Team have received MRFF funding for their project that looks at Clinician Researchers: Applied Research in Health. Indeed, there appears to be more grant success on the embargoed horizon but you will have to wait until the next edition to find out the details!
Finally, I wish to advise that we have decided to discontinue our X/Twitter account and have moved all our social media content to our Instagram. You can find us there by searching @unimelbdgppc. We will be posting about research impacts, teaching and learning updates, new VicREN studies, links to recent publications, upcoming events and more. We would be delighted if you could check out our profile and follow us to stay informed.
Warm regards,
Lena.