Interviews from the Frontline Queensland Clinical Senate

Dr Lachlan McIver grew up in the small rural Queensland town of Millaa Millaa. A family tragedy led him to a career in medicine, and medicine has since taken him on a journey from working in Queensland hospitals to some of the most remote and underprivileged countries around the world. Lachlan is now in Geneva as the Tropical Diseases and Planetary Health Advisor for Doctors without Borders. We spoke with Lachlan about his journey from Millaa Millaa to Switzerland, and, on the back of the Senate’s climate change meeting, about his drive to make a difference to climate change and the impact it is having on human health.

Sepsis is a global health emergency. And diagnosing it is like 'trying to find a needle in a haystack', according to Intensive Care Physician and Digital Sepsis Clinical Lead for Clinical Excellence Queensland, Dr Paul Lane. Paul is hoping to change that with the help of artificial intelligence. Paul is leading a team that is developing an artificial intelligence model that could support doctors to predict sepsis and diagnose it earlier.

Dr Allison Hempenstall was first introduced to life on Thursday Island and the Torres Strait during a rotation as a junior doctor. This experience fuelled her interest in remote health and before long she was 'hooked'! Allison returned to the island as a rural generalist, spending a number of years working one-on-one with patients before turning her focus to the health of entire communities as the Public Health Medical Officer for the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service. Allison talks to the Senate about her work on the island, her new long-term focus on the health of remote communities, and her passion for research, particularly studying infectious diseases, and why she involves First Nations people in every step of the process.

As a long jumper, Bronwyn Thompson made it to the top her her game, representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games and the Sydney
2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics. Among her many career highlights is making a come back to win gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne after being told she'd never jump again following a knee injury. Bronwyn's 'I'll prove you wrong' attitude, along with her incredible support team, is what she credits for her recovery. Bronwyn now uses all of the lessons and experience as an elite athlete in her work as a paediatric physiotherapist to ensure every child has the best chance of success and reaching their potential.

Professor Ted Weaver has been an obstetrician and gynaecologist for more than three decades and still finds the process of pregnancy and birth ‘endlessly fascinating’. Throughout his career, he’s developed a number of maternity units on the Sunshine Coast, along with building his own private practice. He’s held the prestigious role of President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and is the Clinical Sub-Dean for Griffith University’s Sunshine Coast School of Medicine. We spoke with Ted about his career and why we need to focus on the first 2000 days of life.

As a young registered nurse, Josh Stafford took a six-week contract in the Far North Queensland town of Aurukun to make a bit of money. But by day 3 on the job, he'd fallen in love with it and knew this was the type of nursing he was meant to do. So while money took him there, it was the people, the diversity, the freedom and acuity that has kept him nursing in remote communities for close on 16 years. Today, Josh is the Director of Nursing for Lockhart River and Coen, a small, predominantly Indigenous community in northern Queensland with a population close to 700. We talk to Josh about his job as a nursing leader in a rural town, his early career nursing in big cities and how he spends his days off.