The team behind Media Doctor consists of a group of academics and clinicians from the Newcastle Institute of Public Health, who have an interest in promoting better and more accurate reporting in the area of medical treatments. There is only one funded position which is the part-time (one day per week) position of Research Officer Amanda Wilson. The Media Doctor Australia team consists of:
David Henry
David Henry is the CEO of the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, Canada. He is adjunct professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada. His interests include health services research, evaluation of drugs, the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry, lay news reporting of new drugs, and availability of drugs in developing countries.
Amanda Wilson
Amanda Wilson is a Research Academic in Public Health with the University of Newcastle. Her PhD thesis examined how the media deals with various aspects of health using an evidence-based appraisal of the quality of content and data from the Media Doctor website. Amanda was a co-founder of the Media Doctor website and in 2005, she and David Henry and were awarded the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for 'Critical Thinking' for their work in this area. Her research current area of interest includes health and the media, research using web-based platforms, and improving health literacy in the Australian community.
David Smith
David Smith is a general practitioner who has worked in the Lake Macquarie region of NSW for nearly 20 years. He is the director of the Hunter Urban Division of General Practice's ethics program and is also a conjoint senior lecturer in the Discipline of Ethics and Health Law at the University of Newcastle. Prior to his entry into general practice he spent a decade conducting epidemiological research in Papua New Guinea. He has also had extensive experience practicing psychiatry. His current interests centre on considerations of quality and equity in the provision of health care.
Ben Ewald
Ben Ewald is a General Practitioner in Newcastle NSW and PhD scholar at the University of Newcastle. Research interests have been in the assessment of new technology in primary care, with a study of the economics of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. He is now running a study into the diagnostic accuracy of a blood test measuring B Natriuretic Peptide for heart failure in general practice patients. He teaches in the epidemiology masters program at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Newcastle.
Patricia McGettigan
Patricia McGettigan is a former senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, and a consultant physician at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Newcastle. She trained at Trinity College Dublin and moved to Australia in 1997 to learn about pharmacoeconomics. Her interests include quality use of medicines, evidence based medicine, and drug evaluation. She recently moved to Hull in the UK but retains an interest in Media doctor and contributes actively to the reviews.
Julia Lowe
Julia Lowe is an endocrinologist and internal medicine physician who has trained in public health and epidemiology. Formerly the director of diabetes services in the Hunter New England Health Service (New South Wales) and Julia now works at the University of Toronto medical school. Like other members of the team at Media Doctor, she has a strong interest in how the lay media convey important messages about new treatments.
Jane Robertson
Jane Robertson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at The University of Newcastle, Australia. She teaches the postgraduate pharmacoepidemiology courses at The University of Newcastle, and has technical expertise in drug evaluation and pharmacoeconomics. Jane is a member of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Medicines, with research interests in measurement and patterns of drug use, access and affordability of medicines, and influences on prescribing.
David Newby
David Newby is Acting Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy at the School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Newcastle. A/Prof Newby took up the position of Director of the Hunter Drug Information Service (HDIS) in Newcastle in 1992 and completed a graduate diploma in pharmacoepidemiology at the University of Newcastle. In 1995 he joined the Discipline of Clinical Pharmacology at the university and completed a PhD investigating public participation in health care decisions. A/Prof Newby has been an investigator on several research projects, including chief investigator on a Commonwealth-funded project examining consumer drug information, and a National Prescribing Service funded study of the potential negative impacts of computerised prescribing on antibiotic use in the community.
Ian Kirkwood
Ian Kirkwood is an award winning senior reporter with the Fairfax publication The Newcastle Herald. Ian has worked as a journalist and COS in his 20 year history in the media and reported across many specialist areas.
Roseanne Peel
Roseanne Peel is a Senior Research Officer at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Newcastle. Roseanne has a strong background in public health and clinical research having managed many research projects. Her qualifications include Registered Nurse, Graduate Certificate in Intensive Care Nursing and Master of Public Health specialising in research methodology.
Billie Bonevski
After completing her PhD with the Discipline of Behavioural Science in Medicine at the University of Newcastle, Billie worked with the Cancer Council NSW in the areas of cancer control and prevention and improving the psychosocial care of people with cancer. In 1998 she joined the Newcastle Institute of Public Health as a Senior Researcher concerned primarily with research into ways of improving the quality of health services. Her main research interests include quality and equity in health and public health education, cancer prevention and tobacco control. Billie is currently working with the Centre for Health Research and Psycho-oncology (CHeRP) as a Senior Research Academic in the areas of smoking cessation, social equity in health and the prevention of skin cancer.
Pauline Chiarelli
As an Associate Professor of the Discipline of Physiotherapy at the University of Newcastle. Pauline has made a significant contribution to the development of the successful undergraduate Bachelor of Physiotherapy Program. After almost 30 years in clinical practice she completed a Research Master's Degree in Medical Science in Health Promotion , followed by a PhD. Pauline has diverse professional interests but the focus of her research has been continence promotion. She has taught both nationally and internationally, is well published in the scientific literature and is a member of the editorial Boards of the Australian Journal of Physiotherapy and the Australian and New Zealand Continence Journals. An inaugural Board member of the Continence Foundation of Australia, Pauline has advised the Federal Government as a member of National Continence Management Strategy since its inception in 1988 and she is a theme leader within the Centre for Research in Gender Health.
Lisa Wood
Lisa Wood is a Research Fellow in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at the Hunter Medical Research Institute, NSW, Australia. She is also a lecturer in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle, Australia, Chair of Nutrition Society of Australia (NSA) (Newcastle group) and a member of NSA National Council. Dr Wood is a Registered Nutritionist and her research focuses on nutrition in relation to chronic inflammatory diseases, in particular respiratory disease.
David Williams
Dr David Williams is Director of Neurology and Deputy Chairman of the Division of Medicine at John Hunter Hospital. He is also a Conjoint Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health at the University of Newcastle, responsible for Neurology teaching. He is a member of the National Examiners' Board of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and a member of the NSW Ombudsman's Advisory Committee on Reviewable Disability and Deaths. His doctoral research was in the genetic epidemiology of motor neuron disease, and his interests include the genetics and epidemiology of neurodegenerative disorders (particularly motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis and Huntingtons disease), cognition and consciousness, and medical education.
Dom Willson
Dom Willson is an optometrist in Newcastle NSW. After graduating from the University of NSW he worked in Sydney, Canberra and the UK before establishing his practice in Newcastle West in 1999. In 2008 he was the first optometrist in Newcastle & the Hunter to obtain his Graduate Certificate of Ocular Therapy. Dom is a member of the Optometrists Association of Australia (OAA), the Australasian College of Behavioural Optometrists (ACBO), and the Cornea and Contact Lens Society of Australia (CCLSA). He lectures to university masters students, pharmacists, GPs, school teachers, and community groups. He is a visiting clinical supervisor at the UNSW Optometry Clinic, and in 2011 commenced ICEE Aboriginal Vision Clinics in rural & remote areas of Australia.
Adam Carroll
Adam Carroll is a PhD scholar in the discipline of Molecular Neurobiology at the University of Newcastle. In addition to his research into schizophrenia, Adam is interested in the vital role that the media plays in creating social awareness by communicating scientific and medical research to the general public. He believes it is essential for researchers to become actively engaged in science communication within the community.