The RACGP’s annual conference in Melbourne was a real WA-fest with major gongs being awarded to local doctors. Long-serving GP and educator E/Prof Max Kamien was awarded the College’s most prestigious honour, the Rose-Hunt Award for outstanding service. Max was one of the foundation professors of Community Practice at UWA in 1976.
As well, the Collie River Valley Medical Centre was the recipient of the 2015 RACGP General Practice of the Year Award, acknowledged for its supportive culture, strong ties to its local community and high-quality training. And in another nod to rural practice in WA, Dr Cathryn Milligan, of Margaret River, is the 2015 General Practice Supervisor of the Year Award. UWA student Ms Maureen Krasnoff was awarded the National Rural Faculty’s Student Bursary.
The Earbus Foundation of WA, whose patron is Prof Harvey Coates and CEO is Mr Paul Higginbotham, has been awarded a $4.8m contract from the Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) to provide Newborn Hearing Screening Services at nine WA Private Maternity Hospitals. It is expected to cover the Peel, Metropolitan, Pilbara and South West regions.
Dr Daryl Kroschel is the inaugural medical director of Silver Chain’s Hospital in the Home service. He was previously deputy director of Cabrini Health’s HITH in Victoria.
West Australians on the recently announced NHMRC committees for 2015-2018 are Prof Peter Leedman (Research), A/Prof Daniel McAullay (Ethics and Research), Prof Steve Webb (Health Translation) and Prof Con Michael (Embryo Research).
Mr Peter House, regional sales manager for Caltex Australia, has been appointed a director of Breast Cancer Care WA.
The State Government and Lotterywest have granted the Lions Eye Institute $4m over the next five years for a new mobile service for rural and remote areas.
The UWA Science library has been renamed after Nobel Laureate Prof Barry Marshall, 10 years after he and Dr Robin Warren won the Nobel Prize for their discovery of the bacterium H.pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.
Dr April Armstrong, from the Collins St Surgery Kalgoorlie is a finalist in the Start-up category of the 2015 Telstra WA Business Women’s Awards; Dr Kylie Sterry, from the Plaza Medical Centre, Kalgoorlie, is a finalist in the Entrepreneur category.
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p class=”MsoNormal” style=”margin-bottom: 6.0pt;”>Primary Health Care founder Dr Edmund Bateman died last month after a year-long illness. Having started with one medical practice in 1986, Primary Health Care has grown into a $2.1b national concern. There are four PHC centres in Perth, one in Bunbury, Karratha and Boulder. Dr Bateman had stepped down from the board in January passing the leadership to former Qantas executive Mr Peter Gregg.