Professor Michele Rumsey has dedicated her career to improving population health across the Pacific region. In this episode of Talking Health, Professor Debra Anderson explores how Michele and her team at the the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Development at UTS are collaborating with partners to strengthen healthcare capacity and further develop the leadership potential of health workers across the region to ensure Pacific Island Countries can address the healthcare needs of their peoples, now and into the future.

From attending one of the most prestigious art colleges in the United Kingdom, to now leading a team of health researchers at UTS, Professor Angela Dawson brings colour, flair and a different perspective to her role as Associate Dean of Research at the Faculty of Health at UTS.  

In this episode, Professor Debra Anderson explores the connection between visual arts and health promotion and uncovers Professor Dawson’s interesting journey from artist to influential health researcher, who has made a remarkable impact on improving the health and wellbeing of priority populations in Australia and low and lower-middle-income countries across the globe.  

How do we measure the health and wellbeing of communities? In this episode, Professor Debra Anderson explores the world of health economics with Professor Rosalie Viney, the Director of the UTS Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation – CHERE.

Professor Viney talks about why it’s important to understand what matters most to people when we’re designing health services and policies and why improving social and physical wellbeing isn’t necessarily just about addressing ‘health’ outcomes.

Ever wondered where a career in nursing could lead you?

In this episode, Associate Professor Lynn Sinclair, the Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning at the Faculty of Health at UTS, shares how her journey as a clinician in intensive care, mental health, midwifery and neonatal nursing has led to designing digital technologies to enhance remote and online learning.

Join us for this interesting discussion with our host, Professor Debra Anderson.

In this episode, Professor Debra Anderson is joined by the inaugural Director of the UTS Research Institute for Innovative Solutions for Wellbeing and Health (INSIGHT), Professor Susan Morton.  

Susan is an internationally-recognised life course health researcher and public health clinician who says that we need to take a multidimensional approach to solving complex health issues and look at the range of factors affecting health and wellbeing – from the connections families have with communities, the way they access services, through to the way we design our services and our environments and so many other factors affecting health and wellbeing. 

In this episode, Professor Debra Anderson speaks with Professor Megan Williams, a Wiradjuri woman, and the Associate Dean Indigenous at the University of Technology Sydney.  

Megan has worked for more than two decades advocating for the use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s expertise in health service design and evaluation, research, ethics and university curriculum, especially to improve access to health care for people in prison and to prevent incarceration.

Megan tells us how her history teacher in high-school influenced her career and life’s mission and why education is a way we can start to proactively change the possibilities of what the future health workforce might be able to achieve.

Research shows that healthcare professionals that show empathy can improve patient outcomes. So do we all have it?

In this episode, Professor Debra Anderson speaks with Distinguished Professor Tracy Levett-Jones, the Head of School, School of Nursing and Midwifery at UTS about empathy and whether it’s something we all inherently have or whether it’s a skill some of us need to work on.

Distinguished Professor Levett-Jones also shares some of the latest research from the School of Nursing and Midwifery and talks about how this research is guiding teaching and learning for students studying health at UTS.

In this episode, Professor Debra Anderson talks to Professor Toby Newton-John, the Acting Head of School for the Graduate School of Health at UTS, about how we experience pain and the power of our minds in helping us manage chronic pain conditions. Toby also shares some insights into the latest research, in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering and IT, where teams are using artificial intelligence to support people with spinal cord injury. He also talks to the relationship between chronic pain and addiction in his latest work with Odyssey House NSW.  

In this episode, Professor Debra Anderson talks to Distinguished Professor Aaron Coutts, the Head of School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation at UTS, about UTS’ long history of excellence working with professional athletes to improve performance and wellbeing. Aaron also tells us about some of the leading researchers within the School focusing on using physical activity in the community to implement long-term lifestyle changes for people with Type 2 Diabetes, cancer and other chronic illnesses.

In our first episode of Talking Health, we speak to Professor David Sibbritt, the Head of School of Public Health at UTS. David is a Professor of Epidemiology and a world-leading health researcher. He has spent most of his career focusing on chronic diseases, particularly stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. He is a strong advocate for supporting people to implement long term, sustainable, self-management solutions to address chronic diseases and to help people get the most out of their lives.

In this episode, David shares his thoughts on how Covid-19 is continuing to shape our approach to public health and gives us an insight into some of the big health studies that are going to help improve the lives of people after stroke and with diabetes in our communities.