The Meaning of Health Podcast The Meaning of Health Podcast

Episode 97 - Finishing A PhD With Courtney And Craig by The Meaning of Health Podcast

We return with our first episode for 2024, and bring you a great conversation with Mariam Alessa, a podiatrist from Kuwait currently completing a PhD investigating diabetic foot disease at the School of Allied Health at UWA. Mariam takes us through her journey which has seen her study in Malta and the UK, before practicing in Kuwait and doing research in Abu Dhabi. Mariam talks through some of the consequences of diabetes, and how complications such as diabetic foot disease can arise, often with quite serious consequences such as major limb amputations and even death. We finish our conversation with Mariam describing the amputee crisis currently unfolding in Gaza with thousands of children losing limbs as a result of the conflict there, often having amputations performed without anaesthetic due to a lack of supply. We hope to have Mariam back on in the future to discuss her PhD findings, in the meantime we hope you enjoy this chat as much as we did!
You can read more about Mariam and her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/mariam-alessa-2
As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

We’ve made it through to Christmas 2023! In this special Christmas episode, Craig, Courtney and Leah are joined by special guest Doug Maclaurin from the UWA Media and PR team, who is also the host of the brand new Research on the Record podcast at UWA. In addition to the usual discussion about an article from the BMJ Christmas issue, we all reflect on what has been quite an incredible year for many reasons, as well as discussing personal milestones and experiences from throughout the year. We finish up with some predictions and hopes for 2024. Thank you everyone for listening again in 2023 and we’ll look forward to bringing you some more interesting conversations in 2024!
You can find the BMJ article we discuss here: https://www.bmj.com/content/379/bmj-2022-072839
You can find the Research on the Record podcast on all podcast platforms, as well as here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/topics/podcasts
As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

In part 2 of our conversations with Dreambuilders Care, we chat first with Dave, a service user at Dreambuilders, followed by Kylie, the day manager of the service. Dave discusses his challenges with alcohol dependence and how he recently reached the milestone of being 1 year sober. Dave talks about the importance of asking for help when you need it, how Dreambuilders has been a great help to him and many others, and his relationship with his family. Kylie discusses her role at Dreambuilders and some of the challenges she has faced during her life, raising her kids as a single mother, and re-entering the workforce, firstly as a volunteer, and then as an employee at Dreambuilders. Kylie discusses going to TAFE and completing her Diploma in Community Services, and talks about the satisfaction she gets from seeing people in need get assistance from Dreambuilders and how it brightens their day. These were two inspiring conversations with people who have overcome various adversities and come out the other side stronger for it.
You can read more about Dreambuilders Care here: https://www.dreambuilderscare.org.au/getinvolved
As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

We travel to Midland to chat with Dreambuilders Care CEO Ursula Dixon for this episode, which is the first of 2 that we will release about Dreambuilders. Dreambuilders are a charitable organisation that operates a low cost supermarket, a café, and a community kitchen, to help feed people in Midland who may be struggling to help ends meet. Ursula chats with us about a lot of the challenges Dreambuilders’ clients face, and also how they are starting to see a change in the people use their service, with people who have full time jobs who have never needed assistance to feed themselves and their families now struggling to make ends meet in the current cost of living crisis. Ursual chats with us about her work history, and journey raising a family, as well as the amazing Christmas hampers that Dreambuilders provides for their clients to lift spirits on Christmas Day. Ursula’s passion for the work Dreambuilders are doing in the community is infectious, we encourage anyone who is interested in helping to check out the website and to consider going down and volunteering at 10am on 16 December 2023 to help pack the Christmas Hampers.
You can read more about Dreambuilders Care here: https://www.dreambuilderscare.org.au/getinvolved
As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat

In this episode we venture out to Royal Perth Hospital for a chat with Dr Erika Bosio, Laboratory Head in the Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine, and a senior lecturer at the UWA School of Biomedical Sciences and Graduate Research Coordinator at the UWA Medical School. Erika talks us through her career in research, which took her to Italy and back again. She has conducted research in immunology, transplantation, diabetes and stem cells. Erika is currently working with UWA and the Harry Perkins Institute using a live human model of tiny blood vessels to try and improve our understanding of how sepsis and anaphylaxis work to make people acutely unwell. Erika also discusses our reliance on the use of animal models in early-stage laboratory research, a complex and often controversial topic.
You can read more about Erika’s work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/erika-bosio
As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat or via FaceBook @MeaningofHealth or via Instagram @healthmeanswhat