The Medical Journal of Australia

Today we are discussing heart valve disease as part of Heart Valve Disease Awareness Week. My special guests are Dr James Roy and Associate Professor Kaleab Asrress, who are structural and interventional cardiologists from Sydney. This podcast is sponsored by Medtronic Australasia Pty Ltd. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 17 mins.

Today we are discussing the prevalence of Australians exposured to potentially cardiotoxic cancer medications. My special guests are Dr Benjamin Daniels and Dr Maria Aslam. Read more: https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/44/listen-to-your-heart-how-cancer-medications-affect-cardiovascular-health/ With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 16 mins.

Today we are discussing a supplement published in the Medical Journal of Australia about tracking the health and wellbeing of children and young people. The supplement is sponsored by Vic Health. My guest is Dr Kate Lycett, a senior research fellow at the Faculty of Health in the School of Psychology at Deakin University, who co-authored the supplement. Read more: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/219/10/supplement With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 14 mins.

Today we are discussing socio-economic status and water fluoridation in Queensland. My special guest is University of Queensland biostatistician, Mr Christopher Sexton. Read more: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2024/220/2/socio-economic-status-and-access-fluoridated-water-queensland-ecological-data With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 11 mins.

Today we are discussing Australia’s health system from the perspective of health economics, including the problems in the system, the challenges to reform, and how to improve affordability. My special guest is Professor Tony Scott, the Director of the Centre for Health Economics at Monash Business School.With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 12 mins.

Today we are discussing the updated position statement on chronic cough in Australia. My guest is Associate Professor Julie Marchant, a paediatric respiratory physician at the Queensland Children’s Hospital and a research fellow at the Centre for Children’s Health Research in Brisbane.Read more: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2024/220/1/cough-children-and-adults-diagnosis-assessment-and-management-cicada-summaryWith MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 19 mins.

The importance of medical record management – including legal obligations, codes of conduct covering patient records, and key things for doctors to remember. My special guests are David Maddocks, a senior lawyer and partner with Perry Maddocks Trollope, and Dr Owen Bradfield, the Chief Medical Officer for the Medical Indemnity Protection Society, which sponsored this podcast. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 25 minutes.

Today we are discussing iron deficiency in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, with Dr Sam Heard, the medical director of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress. This podcast is sponsored by Viatris. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 15 minutes.

Today we are discussing iron deficiency in the general Australian population, with Professor Arumugam Manoharan, a specialist physician in clinical haematology at St George Private Hospital in Sydney. This podcast is sponsored by Viatris. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 23 mins.

How clinicians can help improve the care and treatment of culturally and linguistically diverse patients. My guest is Associate Professor Reema Harrison, a Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellow from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University. Read her article: https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/34/clinicians-must-adapt-their-approach-to-culturally-or-linguistically-diverse-patients/ With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 18 mins.

Today we are discussing new Australian guidelines for diabetes related foot disease. Associate Professor Pete Lazzarini is a podiatrist and a conjoint Principal Research Fellow at Metro North Hospital & Health Service and QUT in Brisbane. Professor Stephen Twigg is a Clinical Academic, and the Kellion Professor of Endocrinology and Stan Clark Chair in Diabetes at the University of Sydney. Read more: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/219/10/australian-evidence-based-guidelines-prevention-and-management-diabetes-related With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 24 mins.

Today we are discussing the new Australian Cancer Plan, released last week by Australia’s national cancer agency Cancer Australia. The plan aims to improve cancer outcomes for all Australians, and particularly for people have the poorest health outcomes. My special guest is Cancer Australia CEO, Professor Dorothy Keefe Read more: https://www.australiancancerplan.gov.au/ With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 20 mins.

Today we are discussing the urgent need to improve access to dental care for Australia’s children to diminish the burden of disease. My guests are Professor Sharon Goldfeld, a paediatrician, and Dr Mihiri Silva, a consultant paediatric dentist. Read their article: https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/33/improving-australian-childrens-access-to-dental-care-vital-to-diminish-burden-of-disease/With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 17 minutes.

Today we are discussing the experiences of Australian and New Zealand doctors who have received disciplinary notifications or have been investigated by the regulator due to alleged mental health impairment. My special guest is Dr Owen Bradfield, the Chief Medical Officer for the Medical Indemnity Protection Society, which sponsored this podcast. Read more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160252722000838 With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 32 mins.

Today we are discussing the National Indigenous Kidney Transplantation Taskforce, featured in the latest MJA supplement published on Monday 16 October 2023. My special guests are the National Indigenous Kidney Transplantation Taskforce (NIKTT) deputy chair, Professor Jaquelyne Hughes, and NIKTT National Community Engagement Coordinator, Ms Kelli Owen. Read the supplement: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/219/8/supplementWith MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 26 mins

Today we are discussing the new cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk guidelines and calculator. My special guests are Professor Garry Jennings AO, the Chief Medical Advisor of the Heart Foundation, and Professor Mark Nelson, chair of the Discipline of General Practice at University of Tasmania. Learn more: https://www.cvdcheck.org.au/ With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 14 mins.

Today we are discussing improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. My special guest is Professor Fiona Stanley, a prominent epidemiologist, public health researcher and former Australian of the Year. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 21 mins.

Today we are discussing new research into breast cancer and rare cancers. My special guests are Professor Peter Baade, a biostatistician and the senior manager, of descriptive epidemiology and Dr Kou Kou, the senior research officer (epidemiology), both at Cancer Council Queensland. Read their breast cancer research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.5694/mja2.52091Read about their rare cancer research in InSight+: https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/30/rare-cancers-result-in-unique-challenges/ With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 15 mins.

Today we are discussing improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander outcomes and the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. My special guest is Professor Ian Anderson who is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Tasmania. He trained as a medical doctor and was the first Indigenous Australian to be appointed as Deputy Vice Chancellor of an Australian university. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 23 mins.

Today we are discussing a recent study looking at lower urgency care in the emergency department, and the suitability of general practice care as an alternative. My special guest is Associate Professor James Mallows, who is director of emergency medicine research at Nepean Hospital and is also a senior emergency physician there. Read his research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.5694/mja2.52034 With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 18 mins.

Today we are discussing the mental health of young Australians and what can be done to change the health system. My special guest is Professor Pat McGorry, a psychiatrist and executive director of Orygen. He was named Australian of the Year in 2010. Read his research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.5694/mja2.52047 With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 16 mins.

Today we are discussing improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes and the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. My special guest is Professor James Ward, an infectious diseases epidemiologist and the Director of the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Queensland. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 15 mins.

Today we are discussing organ donation after voluntary assisted dying. My special guests are Associate Professor Neera Bhatia in the faculty of business and law at Deakin University and Associate Professor James Tibballs, a retired intensive care physician. Read their research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/mja2.52016 With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 15 mins.

Today we are discussing hospital utilisation in Australia, with a focus on use by people over 75 years of age. My special guests are Dr Natasha Reid, a research fellow, and Professor Len Gray, a Professor of Geriatric medicine, both at the centre for health services research at the University of Queensland. Read their research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/mja2.52026 With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 13 mins.

Today we are discussing the supplement in the Medical Journal of Australia from the Office of the Rural Health Commissioner on the theme: building a rural and remote workforce with place-based education. My guests are the National Rural Health Commissioner, Adjunct Professor Ruth Stewart and Professor Richard Murray, who is the Dean of Medicine and Dentistry at James Cook University and the immediate past president of the Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand. Read the supplement: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/219/3/supplement With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 20 mins.

Today we are discussing clinical practice guidelines for deprescribing opioids. My specialist guests are Aili Langford, a research fellow and pharmacist, and Associate Professor Carl Schneider, a pharmacist and registered nurse. Read more in the MJA: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/219/2/clinical-practice-guideline-deprescribing-opioid-analgesics-summary With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 13 minutes.

Today we are discussing artificial intelligence and the potential consequences for medicine and health care in Australia. My special guest is Professor Enrico Coiera, the Director of the Centre for Health Informatics at Macquarie University. Professor Coiera trained as a medical doctor and leads the Australian Alliance for AI in Healthcare. Professor Coiera and his colleagues wrote on this topic in The Medical Journal of Australia recently: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/mja2.51992 With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 17 mins.

Today we are discussing the issues doctors face when running their own practice, whether they are starting out or are running a large practice. We will also look at what doctors can do in their own practice to save time and money. My special guest is Associate Professor David Williams, a neurologist and the general manager of Avant practice solutions, which sponsored this podcast. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 18 mins.

Today we are discussing the future of food and nutrition, in the context of a rising global population and the need for nutrition from sustainable sources. My specialist guest is Professor Johannes le Coutre, a professor of food and health at the UNSW Sydney’s School of Chemical Engineering. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 14 mins.

Today we are discussing new research into the barriers and facilitators to voluntary assisted dying in the state of Victoria. My special guests are Professor Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation, and Ruthie Jeanneret, a PhD Student, both in the Australian Centre for Health Law Research, at the Queensland University of Technology. Read their research in the MJA: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/mja2.52004 With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 21 mins.

Today we are discussing how to handle challenging patient interactions with some tried and tested methods. My special guest is Dr Owen Bradfield, Chief Medical Officer for the Medical Indemnity Protection Society, which sponsored this podcast. Dr Bradfield is a general practitioner and a lawyer. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 17 mins.Photo supplied by the Medical Indemnity Protection Society.

Today we are discussing 3D printing and its uses in limb reconstruction, deformity correction and complex arthroplasty. My special guest is Dr Mustafa Alttahir, an orthopaedic surgeon at Macquarie University Hospital which sponsored this podcast. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 14 mins. Photo supplied by Macquarie University Hospital.

Today we are discussing how to improve health outcomes in regional Australia. My guests are A/Prof. Bernadette Ward and Dr Pam Harvey, both at the School of Rural Health, at Monash University in Bendigo. You can read more about this topic at: https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/8/doctors-not-used-efficiently-in-the-bush/ With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 17 mins.Photo by Shutterstock / Taras Vyshnya

Today we are discussing advances in breast cancer treatment and how innovation can lead to earlier detection, more effective treatments and better quality of life. My guests are Dr Negin Sedaghat, a specialist breast surgeon and surgical oncologist, and A/Prof. Jeremy Hsu, a specialist breast cancer surgeon. Both my guests practice at Macquarie University Hospital in Sydney, which sponsored this podcast. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 19 mins.Photo by Shutterstock / BigmanKn

Today we are discussing innovations in hand and wrist surgery. My guest is Dr Matt White, an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in hand and wrist surgery from Macquarie University Hospital (MUH), which sponsored this podcast With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 13 mins.Photo by Jennifer Taylor, vividity.com.au

Today we are discussing innovations in robotic-assisted surgery. My guests are Prof. David Gillatt, a specialist urological surgeon and the director of medical services at Macquarie University Hospital (MUH), and Professor Michael Wilson who is a specialist cardiothoracic surgeon at MUH, which sponsored this podcast. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 19 mins.

Today we are discussing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) with Prof. Jennifer Smith-Merry, who is the Professor of Health and Social Policy and the Director of the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at the University of Sydney. She has written about the need for better equity in the NDIS in the Medical Journal of Australia: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/mja2.51899 With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 19 mins.

Today we are discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted medical staff on the frontline. Dr Marion Mateos was juggling being a new mother and her first consultant role, as the pandemic began. Marion is a paediatric oncologist based at the Kids Cancer Centre in Sydney, a clinical academic at the University of New South Wales and a clinic research fellow at the Childrens Cancer Institute. You can read more here: https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/4/balancing-oncology-and-motherhood-in-a-pandemic/ With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 16 mins.

Today we are discussing doctors at war, as part of ANZAC Day commemorations, with Colonel Robert Likeman (Retd). Colonel Likeman served in the Australian Army for 24 years as a medical doctor. You can read more at: https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/14/doctors-at-war-stories-from-the-frontline/With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 19 mins.

Today we are discussing Long COVID with Dr Danielle Hitch, an occupational therapist and a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University in Geelong and Western Health in Melbourne. Dr Hitch and her team have published the first Australian study into lived experience of Long COVID and COVID recovery. You can read more at https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/8/long-covid-why-isnt-anyone-listening/ With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 21mins.

Today we are discussing the importance of investing in mental health care to help improve economic and social participation with Associate Professor Jeffrey Looi, a clinical academic psychiatrist and Head of the Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine at the Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology. With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt. 19mins.

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study is published as a supplement in the 3 April 2023 edition of The Medical Journal of Australia. We are joined by researchers David Lawrence, who is Professor of Mental Health in the School of Population Health at Curtin University, and Associate Professor Holly Erskine, who leads the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Epidemiology and Services research stream at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research.With MJA news and online editor, Sam Hunt.

Vol 217, Issue 11: 12 December 2022. Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff is a neurosurgeon with The Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne. He talks about the role of spinal surgery, particularly spine fusion, in the treatment of low back pain, to accompany his coauthored narrative review published by the MJA. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.

Vol 217, Issue 11: 5 December 2022. Professor Anne Kelso AO will be stepping down as CEO of the National Health and Medical Research Council in 5 months' time after 8 years in the role. She talks about gender equity in medical research funding and a new program introduced by the NHMRC, to accompany her MJA article on the subject. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.

Vol 217, Issue 11: 5 December 2022. Dr Sandro Demaio is Chief Executive Officer of VicHealth. He wrote recently for InSight+ about five design principles which should be the foundation of any national centre for disease control, and in this podcast he expands on those ideas. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.

Vol 217, Issue 11: 30 November 2022. Dr Violet Kieu, Dr Antoinette Anazodo and Professor Kate Stern are coauthors of new COSA guidelines for fertility preservation for people with cancer, and of a guideline summary published in the MJA. They talk about options for preservation, recent advances, and the importance of early referral to fertility specialists after cancer diagnosis. With MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell.

Vol 217, Issue 11: 28 November 2022. Professor Markus Schlaich is Director of the Dobney Hypertension Centre in Perth, and Dobney Chair of Clinical Research at the University of Western Australia. His recently published research on dual endothelin antagonist aprocitentin for resistant hypertension can be found at The Lancet. His op-ed for InSight+ is free to access and can be found here. With MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell.

Voice of the GP Episode 7: 21 November 2022. Associate Professor Louise Stone is a GP, researcher, and medical educator. She is a vocal advocate for her GP colleagues through her articles at InSight+, other media and her Twitter account, @GPswampwarrior. Her new coauthored book on sexual abuse between doctors is in the works. For more information about the book and how you can help make it open access, visit ofdoctorsbydoctors.com ... With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.

Vol 217, Issue 10: 14 November 2022. Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska is Director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health at QUT in Brisbane, a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. Her coauthored MJA Perspective on the need for Australian standards for indoor air quality is available here. Prof Morawska is a member of OzSAGE. Their advice on ventilation and air quality is available here. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.

Vol 217, Issue 10: 14 November 2022. Professor Eddie Holmes is an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow and one of the world's leading experts on emerging viruses and zoonotic diseases. He talks the need to fix the politics before we can fix pandemics, the toxicity of conspiracy theories and the three viruses that worry him the most. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.