AMA VICDOC Summer 2024 - Magazine - Page 40
T H E F U T U R E O F T H E P RO F ESS I O N
The Future Leaders Scholarship is one of
17 awarded by the trust and is valued at
$120,000. Seamus has been awarded the
scholarship for his studies and research
within the Trust’s key priority area, Australia
in Asia, identified by Westpac Foundation
as central to the nation's future prosperity.
“I am particularly interested in neglected
tropical diseases, a group of infections that
disproportionately affect areas of the world
with the least capacity to treat and control
them,” says Seamus, who is undertaking
a Master of Public Health and Master
of Global Health at the University of
New South Wales.
Seamus completed his medical degree
at Monash University in 2020. He is a
resident doctor at the Royal Melbourne
Hospital and has a keen interest in
infectious diseases. He also volunteers
as a respite carer.
“The scholarship means that this year I
can really focus on furthering my interests
in global health and infectious diseases.
In April I attended the World Health
Summit Asia-Pacific meeting, which was
held in Melbourne, and in July I went to
the World AIDS Conference in Munich.”
“One thing that really struck me at both
these events was the core focus on equity.
At the World AIDS Conference, which
is ostensibly looking at a single disease,
there was so much focus on the social and
political structures that contribute to illhealth. One of the most striking messages
from activists who spoke at the conference,
including people living with HIV, was that
communities are experts – they need to
be listened to and put at the centre of
decision-making.”
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AMA VI C TO RIA
“In September I returned from
Vanuatu, where I'm assisting a World
Health Organization and Vanuatu
Ministry of Health-run neglected
tropical diseases program, supported by
the Kirby Institute. I’m spending most
of my time assessing a population-wide
antibiotic administration program that’s
trying to eliminate yaws – a bacterial skin
infection that the WHO are targeting
for eradication by 2030.”
INCREASING ENGAGEMENT WITH DOCTORS
IN TRAINING AT AMA VICTORIA
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In his role as Chair of the AMA Victoria
Doctor in Training Subdivision, Seamus is
keen to increase junior doctor engagement.
He’s driving a shift in junior doctor
communications, organising in-person
meets, and homing in on the Enterprise
Bargaining Agreement (EBA).
“A big focus in our early EBA
discussions is junior doctor wellbeing.
Ultimately you need well doctors to be
able to treat patients well. But we know
that often the hospital system is not set up
to support the wellbeing of junior doctors.
That’s what we’re hoping to change,” says
Seamus. The subdivision is also getting
involved in wider collective advocacy.
“We recently brought a motion to the
AMA Council in support of safe injecting
rooms in response to the Victorian
Government reneging on its promise to
create a second safe injecting room in the
City of Melbourne. While the government
hasn’t yet budged, it was pleasing to see
their announcement of a pill-testing trial
in Victoria.”
