ACADEMIC STAFF

Associate Professor Dimity Pond is head of the Discipline of General Practice. Dimity has been in General Practice in Berowra, on the northern outskirts of Sydney, for 16 years. She has taught general practice at the University of New South Wales as well as at Newcastle, and she has also been a GP supervisor for students and GP registrars. Her research interests include disadvantaged groups: the elderly, those with mental health disorders and the unemployed, as well as ethics in General Practice and models of primary care.

Dr Helen Tolhurst is part time (0.4) Fellow in General Practice Research. She is currently responsible for co-ordinating the initiatives being developed under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) project. She has a strong background in rural health and in particular rural general practice. She worked for over 20 years in rural general practice, in Alice Springs for 5 years and Cessnock for 16 years. From 1995 to 2000 worked as Senior Lecturer in Rural General Practice at the University of Newcastle and was responsible for the development of the RUSC, including the development of rural health curriculum and rural placements for medical undergraduates. Her research interests include emergency medicine in rural practice, rural medical workforce and in particular the role of women in rural general practice.

Kevin Sweeney comes from a background in rural General Practice. He is currently a part-time Senior Lecturer with the Discipline of General Practice with a particular interest in practice-based teaching and GP Supervisor support. He holds a joint position as a Medical Educator with the RACGP Training Program and practises as a General Practitioner in Newcastle.

Parker Magin is a part time (0.3) Senior lecturer at the Discipline of General Practice, and a partner in a group general practice in Hamilton.

Parker’s areas of involvement at the Discipline include Problem-based learning tutorials, the second and fourth year clinical attachments in general practice and the Unemployment and Health study of retrenched BHP workers.

Nayan Shah has trained in the UK and Australia, having graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is a Senior Lecturer in General Practice and Tutor for the Division of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. He is involved in teaching and assessments at all stages of the medical course including the working problems and medical interviewing. He is also engaged in building research capacity in general practice through the PHCRED project. In addition, Dr. Shah works as a GP in Newcastle.

Background in General Practice, Hospital medicine (accident and emergency), and health administration. Spends a lot of time fiddling with computers. Currently employed in Discipline of General Practice under both GP/PHCRED scheme and RUSC, Works half time in General Practice at Port Stephens. Major interests are (shock horror!) use of computers for quality assurance in general practice, evidence based health practice and evidence based health planning.

Mary commenced with the Discipline of General Practice in 2001 as a Lecturer in Rural Medicine. Mary graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1986 and has worked in General Practice in Queensland and rural Western Australia for the past 12 years. The last 7 years she has worked in the Kimberley region. First in Derby Regional Hospital where part of her duties included working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. More recently Mary has worked with the East Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service in Kununurra. She now works part time in General Practice at the Swansea Medical Centre.

Andra commenced with the Discipline of General Practice in 2000 as a part time lecturer, working on development of curriculum for teaching gender issues in rural medicine. Dr Helen Tolhurst is supervisor of the project.

Andra works in general practice with the Southlakes Medical Group and as a medical officer for Newcastle and Hunter Cardiac Services. She graduated MBBS (Hons) from Sydney University in 1979 and completed FRACGP in 1989, and has worked in general practice since 1982. Andra was a full time lecturer in Anatomy and Physiology with the Faculty of Science at Avondale College 1985-1986.

Usha Parvathy is a part time senior lecturer at the Discipline of General Practice (0.2). Usha delivers tutorials in Problem Based Learning, Population Medicine and Medical Communications (interviewing). She has a general practice at Charlestown

RESEARCH STAFF

Amber Sutton has worked for the Discipline of General Practice since 1998 and is currently working as a project officer on the BHP Health and Employment project. Amber has a background in psychology and is also currently undertaking her Master of Psychology (Clinical) through the University of Newcastle.

Sarah graduated from the University of Newcastle in 1998, with a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in biology and psychology. During and after completing her degree she was employed with the Research Institute for Gender and Health at the University of Newcastle, where she was involved in a number of projects including the Women's Health Australia study. She has also worked as a research data manager for the Department of Veterans' Affairs Preventive Care Trial, with the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Newcastle. Sarah is currently working as a Project Officer on the Local Evaluation of the Central Sydney and Broken Hill After Hours Primary Medical Care Trial, which is evaluating different approaches to the provision of after-hours care.

Susan Heaney graduated from the University of Newcastle in 1999 with a Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics). She is currently employed by the Discipline of General Practice as a research assistant and is currently working on the GPRED project (a project aimed at encouraging research in General Practice and Primary Health Care).

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Margaret Boden has been the Discipline secretary since 1993. Since 1997 she has also taken over the role of Administration Officer. Along with her secretarial duties, Margaret is responsible for organising the rural GP placements for Year 5 medical students and is involved with the Year 3 country term. She is also responsible for the Discipline accounts as well as reimbursements to students for expenses incurred while undertaking rural attachments and administration of the newly-introduced PIP payments for GPs.

Kerrie Bissett has a background in teaching English and Communication Skills at secondary and tertiary institutions. Her role at the Discipline is to support the student Rural Health Club and promote and implement rural health and general practice initiatives. Some of the initiatives are organising and financially supporting student rural electives, conducting workshops for rural high school students and organising the local GP placements for year 2 and 4 students.

Amanda’s current duties at the Discipline of General Practice included general office work and compiling the web sites for the town profiles for the Rural Undergraduate Placement Program students to view on the Internet. Amanda is also studying the Bachelor of Arts (Communication Studies) at The University of Newcastle, having previously graduated from a Diploma of Fine Art, majoring in photography, at the Newcastle Institute of Technology. Included in this study is web page design and digital photography.

Louise was employed by the Discipline of General Practice between 1989 -1994 as the Discipline secretary to the founding Professor Sandy Reid and has returned in 2001 as a clerical officer. Louise was appointed to oversee Practice Incentive Payments and allocation of Professional Development Activity points to GP teachers as well as helping out with Discipline accounts and contracts.

POST GRADUATE STUDENTS

Having always wanted to study nutrition, but having never tried to get into University straight out of school, Lisa chose to do Open Foundation as a mature age student to open the door to the Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics). She completed the degree in 2000. Lisa decided that she was interested in research, and is currently doing a PhD at Newcastle University. Lisa’s supervisors are Professor Dave Roberts from Nutrition and Dietetics and Professor Dimity from General Practice, both of whom are helping her to address the question "What is the most effective way to provide nutrition support in the primary care setting?"

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21 June, 2001
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