In the compilation post below, Croakey contributors look back on how their professional practice changed in 2013, and look forward to the headlines they would like to see in 2014, as well as sharing their professional goals for the New Year.
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Sydney GP Dr Tim Senior
Q: Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
I have come to understand better the widespread experience of racism and other forms of discrimination in the health sector – the subtle ways people are excluded and insulted, usually, though not always, unintentionally, by institutionalised policies and practices. And that the only way I can learn about this is from listening closely to those who experience it, because I, as a privileged straight white male will never experience it myself.
It has led to a fuller understanding of my own cultures, and liberation from thinking “This is the way of doing things” to “Look at all these different approaches to doing things.”
Q: What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Government sees sense on climate action
In a shock move today, Tony Abbott said he was instituting plans to dramatically cut carbon dioxide output. ‘All the advice I have received points in the same direction – our greenhouse gas emissions need to come down drastically. Not only is this important for future generations of Australia, the infrastructure we have just approved at Abbot Point in Queensland is becoming worthless, as nobody is buying coal, and the mining companies need our help. This is a truly Conservative policy direction – the preservation – conservation, if you like – of our natural environment’, said an upbeat Prime Minister Abbott.
Q: What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
I am involved in setting up an outreach clinic from an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and so my goal is to get that established and really trusted by all sections of the community.
Q: What personal New Year’s resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
Be better at maintaining a work-life balance.
Q: What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
Croakey should maintain its coverage of climate change and health, social determinants/health in all policies and Indigenous health. It’s a must read in these areas.
I wonder if there is room for tracking the health implications of government policy. We have seen the Abbot Point decision, which will have a health impact locally, nationally and internationally, through the impact of increasing mining and burning of coal. We have seen Holden make the decision to leave Australia, and Qantas shed jobs, which will have health implications for those made unemployed, potentially lasting decades. And the decisions made about people seeking asylum have horrific implications for their health. We can expect to see more of this – in decisions to come about the NBN, the Australian National Health Preventive Health Agency etc. etc. This is very pessimistic. Of course, policies that will be beneficial should also get a good outing.
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Dr Ginny Barbour, Editorial Director, PLOS I Chair, COPE
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
Well I have moved from the UK to Australia – which is a pretty big change. It’s made me aware of the rather different health issue there are here, which has been really interesting. I have also had the chance to meet lots of academics from across Australia, which has helped me think about priorities we need to focus on in journal publishing
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Government votes to provide funds for all children to join a sporting club
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
I’d like to feel established in Australia, and well connected in the health research community here.
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
I’m going to learn about Australian plans and animals. I walk past all these beautiful plants every day and have no idea what most of them are!
I’d also like to write more.
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
My background is publishing so I’d like to see the issue of lack of access to high quality health information at all levels be covered prominently.
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Sharon Friel, Professor of Health Equity, ARC Future Fellow, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, ANU
Q: What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
More on how societal level factors affect human health and wellbeing and equity. Things like macroeconomic and trade policy, taxation, labour issues, gender equity – these are all structural drivers of health inequities.
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Professor Guy Marks, University of Sydney
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
Personally, I am becoming more focused on global versus local health issues, and programmatic versus clinical management. My personal interests in TB, asthma, COPD and air pollution remain.
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Emissions trading scheme to continue!
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
Early career researchers have a really tough time. I would like to be able to help my recent PhD students transition to independent research careers.
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
Lose weight (same for the last several years).
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
Australia’s contribution to regional and global health problems.
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Associate Professor Peter Sainsbury, University of Sydney
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
Become even more cynical in general, more sceptical about the capacity of western democracies to make the decisions necessary to avoid a wipe out of humanity, and more radical and active.
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
World governments agree immediate action to achieve environmental sustainability. Cautious cheers heard from future generations.
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Professor Tarun Weeramanthri, Chief Health Officer, Executive Director, Public Health and Clinical Services Division, Tasmanian Department of Health
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
Started using Twitter regularly using @tarunw for mix of professional and personal posts. 250 million users, and $20 billion in market value suggest Twitter is not a passing fad.
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Gap closing in Aboriginal health
Floor price for alcohol introduced
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
Do more to realise our divisional mantra ‘Put the public back in public health’.
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
‘Stay present’.
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
e-cigarettes (the glamour factor around puffing sticks is being rapidly re-invented); health of prisoners; old debates in new skins (fluoridation, immunisation).
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Alison Verhoeven, Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
Yes, we have aimed to be more accommodating of policymakers’ requests regarding research – both in terms of the issues we cover, and in presenting research as succinct evidence briefs. We have also worked hard at building a solid evidence base for our advocacy work to ensure that our messages are underpinned by sound research, not just opinion.
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
COAG signs off single funder agreement for health
Government dedicates funds to health policy research
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
Innovation and quality will be key messages from AHHA in 2014, articulated through both our recently introduced Lean in healthcare training programs and the Congress we will stage together with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards in September.
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
An aim to be resilient in the face of change!
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
With our focus on innovation and quality, we are keen to see Croakey talk more about these issues, and how they can be achieved within the current economic context, and as sustainable goals into the future.
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Public health advocate Rosemary Stanton
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Prevention given big funding boost
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
To work less (I have only a few months of my 60s left and I want to take time for things other than work)
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
Keeping up with what the government is doing and how (or whether) Labor would do things differently.
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Dr Brad Farrant, UWA Adjunct Research Fellow, ARACY child and youth representative, Climate and Health Alliance
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
I have put a lot more time and effort into researching, writing and campaigning on the urgent need to do our fair share to protect the children of today and tomorrow from dangerous climate change.
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Australian commits to doing its fair share to prevent dangerous climate change and implores the rest of the world to do the same.
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
To win funding to continue to do research in 2015!
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
To live in a more socially just and environmentally sustainable way.
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
Health implications of changing government climate policies.
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Dr Gemma Carey, CEIPS
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
I’ve tried to engage and communicate with a wider audience. This has meant publishing on a range of blogs and other non-peer review publications. This has been immensely satisfying on a number of levels: I get to develop new skills, I get to share my research with a broader audience, I have made new connections across different sectors.
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Government decides to commit an extra $10 billion to preventative health initiatives
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
My new years resolution is to slow down and stress less!
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
Same as above.
Q: What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
No suggestions, the content is always fantastic.
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Professor Ric Day, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, UNSW
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
More use/reliance on computer accessed tools to use in the consultation e.g. Medicines information
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Major project to provide infrastructure to render bicycle riding/commuting safe from cars
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
Make significant progress towards a public health intervention to treat gout
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
Ramp up time spent with grandchildren
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
Smoking, exercise including reducing the preventable dangers associated with cycling, Aboriginal health, PCEHR
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Sebastian Rosenberg, Senior Lecturer, Brain and Mind Research Institute, Sydney Medical School
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Private Health Insurance Rebate Abolished to Create Mindcare – a new National Insurance Scheme for Mental Illness
Q: What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
PhD complete – or my wife will kill me.
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
Working hard is good for your mental health – but not too hard. I need to make sure I get the balance right.
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
Maybe Croakey could provide synopses of key conferences or meetings for all of us who cannot attend or don’t get invited. I realise this would be labour intensive but worth considering?
(Note from Croakey – please check the new Croakey Conference Reporting Service).
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Ross Green, Centre for Community Child Health, Melbourne
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Any one of these:
Health budget’s prevention focus saves billions
Government invests heavily in early childhood
Abbott: I believe the children are our future
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
Create a professional interest group for people working in or with an interest in health communication and knowledge translation.
Q: What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
Stop and smell the roses a bit more.
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
Early childhood. We talk so often about the need to focus on prevention – investing in early childhood is the best prevention effort we can make.
Health literacy and health communications. These are now coming onto the national agenda, which is pleasing.
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Luke van der Beeke, Managing Director, Marketing for Change
Q. Have you changed or developed your professional practice in any way this year? Could you please describe how and why you changed it, and what difference this has made?
I still consider Marketing for Change to be in start-up mode so we are in a constant state of development. I’m pleased we’ve established a high calibre network of associates and partnering organisations, which was really important to us from a quality of delivery standpoint. It means we can work with clients to identify and deliver what they need, rather than offering a one-size fits all solution.
Q. What is the newspaper headline you would most like to see in 2014?
Strategic Review to Address Health Inequalities in Australia launched.
Q. What professional goal would you like to achieve in 2014?
I’d be happy if Marketing for Change to consolidate its revenues and begin to turn a small profit (for reinvestment of course). We are a social business after all.
Q. What personal New Years resolution would you like to share with Croakey readers?
To make radical improvements to my lifestyle, particularly diet and exercise.
Q. What issues would you like Croakey to cover next year?
As you were.
My Dream Headline:
“Tony Abbott to introduce great big new tax on all daily food consumption in excess of 8000 kiloJoules.”