Great Australian Lives

Join Laura Turner and her guest tonight Dr Alex Wodak. This program is proudly supported by Tobin Brother's Funerals - celebrating lives. Produced, engineered and edited by Jane Nield for SEN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Laura Turner and her guest this week Sarah Todd. Sarah is a former high-end fashion model whose love of food culture began when she was travelling the world modelling. She returned to Australia as a contestant on Masterchef, reappearing on the show recently in the Fans V Favs series where she was runner up. For more about Sarah's food journey head to her website www.sarahtodd.com.au This show is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Turner is chatting with two very special guests: Associate Professor Michael Woodward AM, one of Dementia Australia’s Honorary Medical Advisors, and Russell Martin, who is a Dementia Advocate and is living with dementia. Dementia Actions Week starts on September 19th - for more information and resources head to www.dementia.org.au This program is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. Associate Professor Michael Woodward AM is currently Director and Clinical Head of Aged Care Research at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Director of the Memory Clinic and Director of Chronic Wound Management Clinic, all with Austin Health. As well as an Honorary Medical Advisor to Dementia Australia, Michael is a Board member of the Dementia Australia Research Foundation and former Chair of the Dementia Australia Dementia Research Foundation, Victoria. In 2016, he was awarded Membership of the Order of Australia for his work, and is an undeniably valuable resource for information relating to dementia, including the process of diagnosis, prevalence, treatment, and more. Russell Martin is also an expert in Dementia, though in his case it’s through a lived experience, and through his work as an advocate with Dementia Australia. Earlier this year he appeared on an ABC episode of ‘You Can’t Ask That’ focused on people living with Dementia, and their responses to confronting questions. Russell is a passionate speaker, sharing his story with others to reduce stigma and give an honest insight into what life is like following a diagnosis of Dementia. Listen in to learn more about Dementia, from prevention to diagnosis and treatment options, to what it’s really like to live with it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Laura Turner and her guest this week Kellie Curtain. This show is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals. Kellie is the author of ‘What Will I Wear to your Funeral’, an enthralling and deeply moving book about the Curtain family finding the ‘good’ in goodbye as they navigate Kellie’s mother’s passing of cancer. In Kellie’s own words, “everyone has a story to tell, it’s the story telling that sets them apart. And every story has an audience, my experience is in finding the right medium and platform to reach them.” Kellie hosts the podcast series UpFront about Breast Cancer for the Breast Cancer Network Australia - you can listen to the podcast HERE. For more info on the BCNA head to their website www.bcna.org.au Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Turner catches up with specialist Rural and Remote Physician and former military officer – Dr Jamie Phillips, who has spent most of his career pushing medicine to the extreme. This show is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. As a commando trained medical officer, Jamie spent the majority of his career as an embedded doctor and medical commander within elite military units. Tasked with providing advanced point-of-wounding care on combat and counter terrorism operations around the globe, he learned to lead in the most challenging environments on the planet. Seeking to transfer the lessons he learned in combat to a new environment, Jamie started working in remote communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea. It was while working in Remote Medicine that he met the founders of a workplace safety and wellbeing company and learned about their mission. Dr Jamie is deeply passionate about ensuring patients can access quality medical care when and where they need it. Recognising these shared set of values, he joined the team as Medical Director. Listen to his fascinating career, including some of his most recent observations on the connection between financial wellbeing and workplace wellbeing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Turner catches up with Australian zoologist and television personality – Chris Humfrey. This program is bought to you by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. Chris Humfrey was born on the outskirts of rural Melbourne, Australia, he grew up with a childhood of chasing lizards, catching tadpoles and bird watching. In fact he spent very little time inside the family home. Chris could usually be found in the great outdoors searching for new and wonderful wildlife. Chris has completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in Zoology at Melbourne University and is also a keen adventurer and athlete and a self-confessed adrenalin ‘junkie’, representing Australia in numerous World Championships in extreme wild water kayaking throughout the world. Chris’ dedication to learning more about wild creatures in their natural habitat has inspired many of his travels around the world, including searching for leopards in Sri Lanka, following rhinos in Nepal, watching pumas in Belize, and studying death adders in the outback of Australia. Chris particularly loves discovering new remote locations, because that’s usually where the most incredible animals are! In 1994 Chris founded Wild Action, an organisation committed to teaching children about animals through its multi-award winning ‘The Zoo Comes To You’ mobile education program. A winner of the Telstra Victorian Business of the Year, the Wild Action team continue to teach well over 250,000 school children each year about Australia’s amazing biodiversity. Chris’ environmental ethos is simple: “How can we save something if we don’t know anything about it? Creating empathy and awareness is the key to conservation”. With his desire to share his knowledge and passion for our wildlife, Chris’ unique and highly entertaining style has engaged with people of all ages, from young children and teens, through to adults who also share a curiosity for Australian animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Laura Turner and her guest this week Keren Ludski. Keren is the CEO of Red Nose Australia. www.rednoseday.org.au Every day, 9 babies and young children die suddenly and unexpectedly in Australia that’s a heartbreaking 3,000 little lives lost every year and our guest tonight is part of an incredible team at Red Nose Australia hoping to change that – her work spurred on by her own horrific loss. On Valentine’s Day 1988 Keren lost her 12 week old son Ben to SIDS. Listen to Keren’s story: How the tragic loss of her own Son Ben inspired her to save little lives and support families impacted by the death of a baby or child. This show is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Turner catches up with Australian interior design mega-star, dedicated father and husband and one of the judges on ‘The Block’ – Darren Palmer. Darren was raised in Gladstone in Central Queensland, where from a young age he used both his upbringing and surrounds to inspire him to his dream of creating houses. After his studies, Darren started his own business, working side-by-side with his clients and slowly building up his reputation as a generational interior designer. Darren has worked alongside some of Australia’s biggest, and the worlds biggest companies and organisations, and has dedicated much of his life to working with and alongside charities, which he continues to do so regularly. When Darren isn’t working, he is ensuring his physical and mental health always get a good workout, and Darren cultivates his time creating a loving and amazing environment for him and his family - his husband Olivier, their son and dogs! Listen to his insights on this year’s season of The Block, how he was able to move and leave a lucrative career behind to move back to Sydney, and step back into his ultimate passion in life - interior design. This program is proudly presented by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Laura Turner and her guest Dr Ben Bravery. Dr Ben Bravery is a fascinating man whose experience as a patient lead him down a different life path and a huge career change from patient to doctor. It was his mission and calling to shake up the medical field and change lives – Author and doctor, Dr. Ben Bravery. In his eye-opening memoir ‘The Patient Doctor’ (released July 2022), Ben goes through his journey of how his initial cancer diagnosis moved him to become a doctor and an advocate in change within the healthcare system. At just 28 years of age, Ben Bravery awoke from a colonoscopy, only to be told that he had stage three colorectal cancer. As a scientist, Ben understood the seriousness of this prognosis, and was a literal cancer-kick to the guts. His life was forever altered with what he discovered as a patient, and a young one at that, is that the system was fundamentally flawed in key areas, and is not built for young people like him. During his arduous eighteen month process of ridding himself of cancer, between his treatments of aggressive chemotherapy and other treatments, Ben would often find himself scared, overwhelmed, sometimes invisible and often alone. It was through Ben's recovery process that it struck him! He could no longer go back to his former career, and decided that he would need to lead the helm in the change he wished to see for others. Ben changed careers, on a mission to become a doctor, and after passing his entrance exam; he then dove headfirst into the challenges of medical school and beyond. Ben’s journey is not your typical cancer memoir, it is so much more, and delves into what happened afterward his cancer treatment had been completed. It was through his mission and his inspiration driven by his own experience that he would tirelessly work to change both sides of the healthcare system. This patient-turned-doctor gives a gloves-off account of how Ben managed to overcome the trauma of his illness; to studying medicine; and the challenges he faced along the way. Ben's mission is to tirelessly work to change the approach and the levels of care and service within the medical field, and to remember that the patient's welfare, care and journey is the centre and the beating heart of the medical system. Listen to his unbelievable journey, challenges along the way, revelations and findings, all detailed in his new book ‘The Patient Doctor’. Connect with Ben via his website www.benbravery.com.au Great Australian LIves is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. This show is produced, engineered and edited by Jane Nield for SEN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Laura Turner and her guests this week for Donate Life Week. Dr Helen Opdam is the National Medical Director for the Oran and Tissue Authority and David Reilley was the recipient of a life saving liver transplant in May 2021. For more information or to register to be a donor go to www. donatelife.gov.au HERE Great Australian Lives is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. This show is produced, engineered and edited by Jane Nield for SEN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Laura Turner and her guest Professor Michael Parker. This program is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. Laura Turner catches up with an exciting world biochemistry and pharmacology expert working tirelessly to eradicate Alzheimer’s disease - Professor Michael Parker from the St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research. Michael and his team have just been awarded the Faye Williams Innovation Grant, worth $375,000, to further research into a new drug treatment with Alzheimer’s disease. With just under half a million Australians living with dementia, it is key and important work that could improve the lives of many. The research projects will show how acoustic sleep technology, paired with a new drug treatment may work to help reduce the toxins associated with the development and onset of Alzheimer’s disease. In Professor Parker’s research, there will be a new drug trialled that can help enhance the brain’s ability to clear the toxins associated with the development in Alzheimer’s disease. It is with this ground-breaking drug that there is new hope in delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and removing previous negative consequences that came from some similar trials beforehand. This new experimental drug has shown positive preliminary breakthroughs in not only slowing down the onset and effects of Alzheimer’s disease, but may in fact reverse some of the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Great Australian Lives is produced, engineered and edited by Jane Nield for SEN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Turner catches up with inspiring author and humanitarian – Zaheda Ghani. Arriving with her family to Australia from Afghanistan as refugees in the 1980’s, Zaheda, known as Zoe, handwrote her first novel using a HB pencil in a scented diary with a lock and key. It was the heart of what Zaheda wrote, through her determination, change and growth through this time, that flourished into her first novel ‘Pomegranate & Fig’, which was shortlisted for the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Also a recipient of Western Sydney Emerging Writers Fellowship, Zaheda served on the board of Australia for UNHCR, a private sector partnered with the UN Refugee Agency from 2017 to 2021. Today Zaheda is an Ambassador for Australian for UNHCR, where she is a part of a team that is passionate about their ongoing humanitarian work. Tune in to listen to her insightful, inspiring and amazing life and stories that she has accumulated on her journey. Great Australian Lives is supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Laura Turner and her guest Tim Peck. After an esteemed and well established career as a detective in the Victoria Police, Tim seemed to be the very embodiment of a competent and successful police officer who threw everything into his career. However in 2014 he had reached breaking point that nobody was able to foresee – he was struggling and willing to commit suicide. In this discussion, Laura speaks with Tim about his path to recovery and how he uses his experiences to assist others going through similar circumstances, and that help is available. June 27 was post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Awareness Day, and Tim has dedicated his life to become a part of Phoenix Australia, an organisation dedicated to supporting and assisting those who suffer from PTSD. Phoenix Australia is Australia’s National Centre of Excellence in Posttraumatic Mental Health. Listen to his courageous and insightful story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Laura Turner and her guest June Factor. June is a much loved children's book writer responsible for titles like Far Out, Brussel Sprout! and All Right Vegemite! She's also a highly respected folklorist and social historian. Her new book Soldiers and Aliens explores some of the lesser know stories of World War Two and the men who served in the Australian Employment Companies. For more information about June's work and book click HERE. This program is proudly supported by Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives. Great Australian Lives is produced, engineered and edited by Jane Nield for SEN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

aura Turner catches up with mental health pioneers who are working to remove the stigma of complex mental health issues and support families in need as the leaders of SANE – CEO of SANE Rachel Green & SANE Founder Dr. Margaret Leggatt. For more information about SANE head to www.sane.org SANE was born out of a movement of people looking to remove stigma and create better support and opportunities for people and families facing schizophrenia and other complex mental health difficulties. This came after the deinstitutionalisation of many vulnerable patients, without the integration knowledge to allow for them to thrive, where SANE worked to remove stigma from those families and patients that were vulnerable, working to improve services and improve awareness of mental health issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices