President’s Message
Hello Colleagues,
As we move into spring it seems that for many of us life and work is returning to a more normal pattern, following the demands and pressures placed on us by the COVID pandemic. I have been chuffed to receive ’out-of-office’ email replies when I have tried to contact various colleagues in recent weeks, especially heads of departments. A good sign that people are finally taking a break.
Since my last message in July, a real highlight was attending the ANZSGM Queensland Division meeting in Brisbane in person. It was a real joy to be in a room with geriatricians, talking face-to-face and hearing about their impressive achievements in the last 10 years. Have a read of Shaun Pandy’s article in this newsletter about how the Queensland Division were able to increase the number of trainees in Geriatric Medicine within a short-time frame. Benny Katz and team did the same in Victoria a few years ago. Attending the meeting reminded me about the value of sharing ideas about the way we practice, on models of care and how we see things in the future. ANZSGM’s core activity is to help with this. After having some great chats with the next generation of leaders I returned from the meeting inspired and optimistic about the future. Mind you being the President was no protection from receiving a good old-fashioned roasting during the light-hearted debate – trust me we have geriatricians with great oratory skills!
In the next few weeks South Australia and New Zealand will hold their face-to-face meetings – another good sign that things are returning to normal.
I attended the Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty research meeting (virtually). I heard impressive and informative talks by geriatricians includeding Andrea Maier, Renuka Visvanathan, Sarah Hilmer, Sue Kurrle, Maria Fiatarone Singh, Rob O’Sullivan and Benignus Logan.
We are delighted by the news that Professor Ruth Hubbard (University of Queensland) was successful in obtaining a NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) Grant that will focus on improving hospital outcomes for frail patients across different disciplines. Professors of Geriatric Medicine, Sarah Hilmer (University of Sydney) and Christopher Etherton- Beer (University of Western Australia) are coinvestigators on the CRE. The previous frailty related CRE was also led by a geriatrician, Renuka Visvanathan (University of Adelaide) – have a look at the website. We also congratulate Professor Richard Lindley (Geriatrician at University of Sydney) who was successful in this CRE round and will establish A Centre of Research Excellence to Accelerate Stroke Trial Innovation and Translation. Read more about the CREs in this newsletter.
In more member news, we congratulate Renuka Visvanathan – Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Adelaide – who has been recognised by the UN amongst fifty individuals from around the world as part of the first ever Healthy Ageing 50: leaders transforming the world to be a better place to grow older.
With the change of Federal Government in Australia and overhaul of the New Zealand Health structure, ANZSGM Council and subcommittees are building strategies around the best way to influence policy. The Out of Hospital Care Special Interest Group had their first meeting on 10 August. It is likely what the group will have four working groups focusing on models of care, education, minimum dataset and advocacy. We will be asking for people to put their hands up to lead these groups.
Finally, now that life is returning to ‘normal’ more frequent face-to-face meetings will start to happen. Rob O’ Sullivan (President-Elect), Alison King (our Executive officer) and I look forward to seeing more of you in person and hearing your views on the society’s activities.
Vasi Naganathan
