Purple Pen Podcast

Kristin chats to Dr Emma Gray, consultant respiratory physician and visiting medical officer at Royal Prince Alfred. She is also a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. There have been some big changes in asthma management in recent years, and Emma talks us through the key points.

Kristin caught up with Leanne Teoh, a pharmacist, dentist and research fellow from the University of Melbourne and Sophie Beaumont, head of Dental Oncology at the Peter Mac to discuss all things oral cancer. We learn about diagnosis, presentation, vaccination and red flags - as well as the critical value of saliva! Sophie recommends the Oral cancer hub as a great learning resource: https://www.oralcancerhub.org.au/

We’re back for 2022 and now that’s school is in session we spoke to Prof Brendan McMullan about COVID19 in children. We discussed what COVID19 is like for kids, vaccination, current treatments and transmission. 

In our last episode for 2021, Kristin chats with Professor Ian Hickie, co-Director of the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney. We chat about treatment-resistant depression and learn all about the “happy accident'“ of esketamine.

Dan is joined by Professor Robyn Guymer AM from the Centre for Eye Research in Australia to discuss Age-related macular degeneration (AMD). 

We’re back! And Dan is joined by Professor Dave Coghill, a Child Psychiatrist and  Chair of Developmental Mental Health at the University of Melbourne. We discuss ADHD - an overview of its epidemiology and diagnosis, as well as existing and emerging treatments.

Kristin caught up with Conjoint Professor Michael Bennett AM (Academic Head, Wales Anaesthesia and Dept. Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Prince of Wales Clinical School) to discuss Hyperbaric Medicine. It is used to treat decompression illness, carbon monoxide poisoning, necrotising infections, soft tissue & bony radiation injury and chronic non healing wounds.

Dan and Jane caught up with our friend Dr Nisha Khot, who is the Clinical Director of Obstetrics at Djerriwarrh Health Service in Victoria. We discuss the screening, management and impact of a wide variety of infections in pregnancy, including CMV, syphilis, COVID-19 and GBA. We briefly discuss listeria, to Nisha’s chagrin. You should definitely follow Nisha on twitter

In a bumper episode, Kristin talks with ID physician and clinical microbiologist with Westmead Hospital and the Institute Of Clinical Pathology And Medical Research (ICPMR) Dr Indy Sandaradura. They discuss all things clinical microbiology, from how tests are run to how microbiologists decide what to report, in terms of sensitivities and positive results. Indy helps us understand why we still do Gram staining, first developed by Danish scientist Hans Christian Gram in 1884.

Kristin caught up with Dr David Woo, an Ophthalmic and Oculoplastics surgeon from the Sight Foundation at the Sydney Eye Hospital and the Sydney CBD eye clinic. We chat about orbital and periorbital cellulitis and other serious eye infections - including the red flags that differentiate these from common eye infections. To find out more about Dr David, visit his website

Kristin was joined by Prof Sam Berkovic, Laureate Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, and Director of the Epilepsy Research Centre at Austin Health. They discuss the diagnosis, treatment and management of epilepsy, including emerging therapies. Visit Prof Berkovic’s University profile or the Epilepsy Research Centre’s website for a list of his research.

Kristin chats to Professor David Kissane about psycho-existential symptoms in Palliative Care. David is a consultant psychiatrist in psycho-oncology and palliative care at Monash Health and the Department of Psychiatry at Monash University. We talk about: the current state of palliative care in Australia why patients are are often scared of commencing palliative care Differences in palliative care patient experience in the context of oncology An exploration of the terms psycho-oncology and the existential approach the role of pharmacotherapy in psycho-oncology

Today we talk all things oral health with Mark Schifter with a particular focus on Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) and antibiotic use in dentistry 

We welcome back Simon Lewis, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, who talks to Kristin about dementia. They discuss the multiple types of dementia, as well as established and new treatment options. You can learn more about Prof Lewis and his research at his website

Jane talks to Karlee Johnston, a pharmacist and PhD candidate at the Australian National University in Canberra. We talk about Karlee’s recently published paper: Burnout and the challenges facing pharmacists during COVID‑19: results of a national survey (International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-021-01268-5) Keep an eye out for the repeat survey through our social media channels and your professional organisation. If this episode raises any issues for you or someone that you care about, contact: Pharmacists Support Services: https://www.supportforpharmacists.org.au/ Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au/

Kristin spoke with Dr Eli Dabscheck and Dr Johnson George about all things Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) including: Risk factors  Management Exacerbations of COPD and the issues around the appropriate use of antimicrobials in this situation  The Therapeutic Guidelines and COPD-X Guideline recommendations Asthma and COPD overlap  The benefits of medication reviews and COPD action plans 

Kristin and Dan caught up with Associate Professor Vincent Lee for a discussion on all things Chronic Kidney Disease.   You can visit Vincent’s Uni website here

Dan and Jane spoke to Dr Amy Bohren about recruitment for early career graduates. Amy is the Principal Consultant and Director of Red Careers Australia. We asked Amy for some tips to help interns and early career pharmacists navigate the recruitment process. We discussed: Where to look for your dream job Whether you should directly call an employer about a job? How long an application letter and CV should be Tips for a successful interview Our favourite fonts (!) If you’d like to contact Amy for some more advice or access the articles we discussed, you can contact her via https://redcareersaustralia.com/. You can mention the podcast for a special rate.

In our second episode for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2020, Dan and Kristin spoke to Dr Brendan McMullan. Brendan is a Paediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist and Microbiologist, working at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, and a Conjoint Senior Lecturer in the School of Women’s and Children’s Health at UNSW. We discuss: the reasons why choice of antimicrobial can be different for children special considerations for paediatric antimicrobial use why kids get more infections than adults strategies for explaining a decision not to prescribe an antimicrobial how Kristin ruined her kindergarten Christmas play

In a bumper episode for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2020, Jane and Kristin spoke to Tony Lai. Tony is the Senior Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney. Here’s a list of the medicines that Tony discussed (and Jane and Kristin struggled to pronounce): cefidericol eravacycline rezafungin ibrexafungerp MAT2203 (Oral Ambisome)