freelance science journalist and author
Medical reporting
From The Saturday Paper, 5 July 2025: Standing ovations are rare at scientific conferences. Infectious diseases physician Professor Sharon Lewin, director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, still gets “tingly” at the memory of about 10,000 attendees surging to their feet at the 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich a … Continue reading Will miracle HIV drug go on the PBS?
From Medscape Medical News, 18 June 2025: At the recent World Congress on Osteoarthritis (OARSI) 2025 Annual Meeting in Incheon, South Korea, speaker after speaker presented on studies that were carefully designed to identify even the smallest benefit of interventions, including drugs, physical therapy, exercise therapy, and even surgery, compared with placebo. And in many cases, the … Continue reading Osteoarthritis has a placebo problem, and it’s challenging both research and clinical practice
From Medscape Medical News, 13 June 2025: An app that alerts bystanders trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to a nearby out-of-hospital cardiac arrest can increase survival if volunteer responders arrive before emergency medical services (EMS), according to an Australian study. The analysis of more than 9000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Victoria, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, showed that, … Continue reading Early smartphone-activated bystander CPR can boost survival
From Medscape Medical News, 19 May 2025: Australia has recorded its highest number of cases of the tropical bacterial infection melioidosis, which is thought to have been triggered by major rainfall and flooding. The outbreak has placed pressure on already strained hospitals in the area. The northeastern state of Queensland has recorded an unprecedented 215 … Continue reading Flooding triggers major melioidosis outbreak in Australia
From the Guardian, 29 April 2025: You walk into a room and forget why. Someone introduces themselves at a party and within seconds you’ve forgotten their name. You can’t remember where you parked the car. You’ve put your phone in the fridge. You can’t recall your granddaughter’s name. Your best friend dies and you keep … Continue reading Signs of dementia or normal forgetfulness? How to tell the difference
From Medscape Medical News, 6 May 2025: A shoe-based biomechanical intervention worn for a short time each day may achieve greater improvements in low back pain and greater reductions in the risk for total knee replacement surgery than standard physical therapy, according to two studies presented at the World Congress on Osteoarthritis (OARSI) 2025 Annual … Continue reading Novel shoe intervention may cut low back pain, delay knee arthroplasty in osteoarthritis
From Medscape Medical News, 10 March 2025: Medicare, Australia’s national health insurance scheme, is set for its biggest boost in funding since its creation half a century ago, as both major political parties promise billions ahead of this year’s federal election. The incumbent Labor government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, announced an AU$8.5 billion … Continue reading Australian politicians promise billions for healthcare
From Medscape Medical News, 14 February 2025: Junior doctors in Australia’s largest state are on the brink of strike action over working conditions, after a hospital administrator derided them as “clinical marshmallows [sic]” in a leaked email. The email from an administrator at John Hunter Hospital in New Lambton Heights, Australia, was commenting on a … Continue reading Australian junior doctors protest working conditions
From Medscape, 22 January 2025: More than half of psychiatrists working in public mental health in Australia’s largest state have resigned in response to what they say is years of unresolved workforce shortages and underresourcing. The mass resignations encompass more than 180 of the nearly 300 psychiatrists in New South Wales. The clinicians left their … Continue reading Australian public psychiatrists resign en masse
From The Saturday Paper, 18 January 2025: Psychiatrist Prachi Brahmbhatt likens the current state of public mental healthcare in New South Wales to battlefield medicine. “When the clinical leader is so pushed that they don’t have time to stop and think about the decisions that they’re making… while you’re trying to do seven things at … Continue reading The crisis in the NSW mental health system
Bianca Nogrady 