North Shore Living sat down with some of the area’s most innovative medical changemakers to understand the crucial work they are doing to improve local medicine – and our lives – over the coming years.
PROFESSOR PAUL GLARE, CHAIR OF PAIN MEDICINE
SPECIALIST PHYSICIAN IN PAIN MEDICINE | ROYAL NORTH SHORE HOSPITAL
Professor Paul Glare can pinpoint the moment he decided to enter pain medicine.
“I had a wonderful mentor during my training who taught me that, although hospital treatment was technically excellent, there was a lot of suffering that could be better relieved.”
That lesson laid the groundwork for over two decades working in palliative care in Australia and New York, prior to his current chapter at the University of Sydney and on the wards at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH).
With chronic pain affecting one in five Australians, and only a ‘small fraction’ seeing a pain specialist, the father-of-two decided to take a fresh look at how to help. Enter a new wave of research into digital health technology co-designed with patients, which aims to lower dependence on medication.
“We think text messages can offer support that will help patients and their GP to better manage pain and reduce reliance on painkillers,” Dr Glare explains.
It was this commitment to ‘treating pain properly,’ plus the training he and his ‘second inspiration’ –Professor Michael Cousins –gave to future doctors through the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, that inspired him to expand his reach.
He now sits on the council of the Hoc Mai Foundation, which has partnered with RNSH to help Vietnamese healthcare workers improve care across Vietnam.
“I’m also excited that a Ukrainian pain clinic has requested access to our digital health technology to help refugees who have chronic pain and limited access to services,” he adds.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SARAH GLASTRAS
STAFF SPECIALIST IN ENDOCRINOLOGY AND SENIOR RESEARCH | ROYAL NORTH SHORE HOSPITAL AND THE NORTHERN SYDNEY ENDOCRINE CENTRE
“Enjoying the journey is always key to happiness,” says Associate Professor Sarah Glastras, who describes her life as an endocrinologist as the ‘perfect mix’ between clinical medicine and research.
A ‘fascination’ with hormones, and the way they crosstalk to influence bodily functions, has been the cornerstone of her work, with a focus on diabetes, obesity, and pregnancy at Royal North Shore Hospital and the Northern Sydney Endocrine Centre.
“My work has established maternal obesity as a contributor to the long-term risk of chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity risk,” explains Dr Glastras.
With diabetes being the fastest growing chronic disease in Australia, affecting almost 1.3 million, delving deep into the developmental origins of health and disease, as Dr Glastras is doing, is essential to progress.
“I am particularly interested in how diabetes and obesity are transferred from one generation to the next, and affect an unborn baby,” she says.
Looking ahead, the doctor – whose down-time involves cheering on her four children at sports – lists the education of research students and improving treatments for women with diabetes in pregnancy, as being at the top of her agenda.
“Children require regular, high-quality sleep to develop well across every aspect of their lives. Dr Rifat Chaudry
“I would also like to understand the mechanisms of developmental programming – what happens in utero to influence a baby’s metabolism and metabolic outcomes,” she adds.
DR RIFAT CHAUDRY
PAEDIATRIC GENERAL, RESPIRATORY AND SLEEP SPECIALIST | NORTHERN BEACHES HOSPITAL
“Sleep is crucial for every aspect of life, yet it remains completely undervalued,” says sleep specialist Dr Rifat Chaudry.
The doctor, who trained in the UK and moved to Sydney in 2015, has long been a proponent of the importance of a good night’s sleep to health and happiness, especially in children.
In line with this belief, Dr Chaudry recently led the development of a new Paediatric Sleep Service at Northern Beaches Hospital to investigate the causes behind sleep issues.
“Children require regular, high-quality sleep to develop well across every aspect of their lives. If we can intervene and change the trajectory of a child’s development early on, this can have a huge impact on their emotional and physical well-being.”
Sleep issues in children can be medical, such as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) or behavioural, such as night waking, and entire families are impacted.
“When a child is having sleep issues, parents struggle to find the right help to understand causes and potential solutions,” says the doctor, whose own daughters both suffered from OSA and needed surgery to attain better sleep.
Looking ahead, Dr Chaudry hopes to link specialist psychology elements to the service to achieve a holistic care goal.
Sleep medicine is a hot topic following a 2019 Australian Government inquiry which revealed that four in 10 Australians were getting inadequate sleep, a problem keeping the economy up at night to the tune of $26.2 billion annually.
Sleep, the inquiry said, must be recognised as the ‘third pillar’ of a healthy lifestyle alongside exercise and diet. It’s a belief shared by Dr Chaudry, who hopes to encourage families across the Beaches and beyond to place a “strong emphasis on quality sleep for children’s health and the wellbeing of the entire family.”
DR ANTONIA PEARSON
MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST, ONCOLOGY CLINICAL TRIALS LEAD | NORTHERN BEACHES HOSPITAL
A desire to care for people during difficult times set Dr Antonia Pearson on the path to becoming one of our most innovative local oncologists. The mother-of-three is heading up the development of the first clinical trials at Northern Beaches Hospital, with the aim of providing Beaches-based cancer patients with access to the latest treatments on their doorstep.
Clinical trials –which range from chemotherapy and other new drugs to diet or psychology classes –aim to help alleviate treatment symptoms or boost chances of curing or controlling the disease.
At the heart of Dr Pearson’s approach is her belief that every patient is unique and requires a ‘patient-centred and collaborative approach’.
“I enjoy working with each person to achieve the best outcome for them,” she says.
Collaboration and community are crucial. With the Australian Government’s Institute of Health and Welfare projecting that 162,163 people will be diagnosed with cancer across the country in 2022, the ‘world-class cancer care’ that Dr Pearson hopes to bring to the Beaches, is much needed.
Funding remains a thorn in her side, as research trial projects are considered beyond essential medical care and not Government-funded.
“We rely largely on grants and charities to help,” says the doctor.
Enter local charities Fight on the Beaches and Northern Beaches Community Cancer Charity, whose vital cash injections have been used to fund clinical trial coordinators at the hospital for the first time, green-lighting these essential studies.
“Other Sydney hospitals already have these trial units established, but as we are a new hospital, we had to kickstart this,” Dr Pearson explains.
Looking ahead, the doctor has a long wish-list, with funding for both a cancer care coordinator to support patients and families and a clinical trials pharmacist to expand the trials, near the top.
“Trials take time and dedication, but even little increases in quality of life can make a huge difference,” Dr Pearson adds.
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CLIENT FEATURE
By Catherine Lewis