The classic reason for wanting to pursue a career as a doctor is to help people. Have you ever thought that you wanted to go even further, and help those less fortunate or in a limited resource setting? In this panel, hear from those who have done just that! Learn how you too can become involved in projects and organisations who help those overseas, as well as the steps required to start and pursue an international project.
Speakers:
Dr Samantha Hargreaves
Dr Samantha Hargreaves graduated in medicine with honours from Monash University in 1990 and obtained her fellowship in obstetrics and gynaecology in 2000. Her interests include high risk obstetrics, minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery and menstrual disorders. She is currently in private practice and holds a specialist appointment at The Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne in the advanced laparoscopic unit. She is part of a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses and midwives who have travelled to Mongolia annually since 2010 to provide teaching in women’s health to their Mongolian colleagues. With support from the Epworth Medical Foundation she has established a Melbourne-based scholarship program for selected Mongolian doctors. She is deputy Chair of the Barbara May foundation, an Australian-based NGO committed to improving maternity outcomes for poor women in Ethiopia and Tanzania. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company directors.
Dr Hamish Graham
Dr Hamish Graham is a Consultant Paediatrician and Research Fellow at the Royal Children’s Hospital and Centre for International Child Health (University of Melbourne). Dr Graham works for the Centre for International Child Health, where he currently coordinates a multi-country project introducing oxygen into small hospitals in Papua New Guinea and Nigeria (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant). He also works clinically in the RCH Tuberculosis clinic and Immigrant Health clinic, and has an outspoken passion for the health of asylum seeker and refugee children. Dr Graham has previously lived and worked in diverse settings, including: as a paediatric registrar in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory working predominantly with Indigenous children; as a clinical researcher in paediatric and maternity hospitals in Kabul, Afghanistan, exploring the use of clinical guidelines and their impact on quality of care; as a field doctor with Medecins Sans Frontieres in Darfur, Sudan, coordinating a hospital and clinics for 30,000 people displaced by civil war. Dr Graham completed his medical training at Monash University, and studied International Development through RMIT University, subsequently returning to lecture on refugee health. Dr Graham’s research interests are in improving the quality of care for children, understanding refugee health and developmental issues, and developing models of care for children with chronic health conditions. He has led systematic reviews on Refugee Child Health, Oxygen Therapy, and Care of Children with Chronic Health Conditions. He is currently co-investigator for a multi-million dollar project seeking to scale up oxygen therapy in Nigeria and Papua New Guinea, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr Graham has contributed to policy on oxygen therapy in Nigeria (state and national), Ethiopia (national) and through the World Health Organization. He has contributed to the Human Right’s Commission report on the health of children in Immigration Detention, Victorian immunisation policy, and Victorian tuberculosis guidelines.
Dr Michelle Scoullar
Dr Michelle Scoullar is an international health specialist with extensive experience in health system strengthening, health worker training, maternal, newborn and child health, and operational and implementation research. Michelle has practical clinical and public health program experience in remote Australia, Lao PDR and Papua New Guinea (PNG) and is a practicing medical doctor specialising in neonatology and paediatrics, with additional postgraduate qualifications in international health and obstetrics and gynaecology. Michelle is a Principal Investigator on Burnet’s flagship Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB) program based in East New Britain (ENB), PNG, and a PhD candidate. She established the HMHB field site. She has managed the successful completion of a large longitudinal cohort study, which is the first of its kind in PNG, following women and their infant from early pregnancy through to twelve months postpartum.