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ALUM2120 Gradlife Summer VOLUME 9 ISSUE 2 SUMMERSPRING 2017 2017 INSIDE LEADINGINSIDE BY EXAMPLE Prominent Indigenous FRESH IDEA GOES Australians, Professor COCO-NUTS Michael McDaniel and Dr AnitaTake Heiss, three reflect siblings with on theirWestern careers, Sydney the University powerBusiness of education and Commerce and the profounddegrees, impact add a dollop of of positiveentrepreneurial role models. spirit and a truckload of coconuts. MISSION POSSIBLE NEW CAMPUS UNVEILED Dr Sameer Dixit reflects on how muchBusiness can educationbe achieved has throughreceived education, an innovative GradLife determinationshake-up andwith refusing the opening to takeof noWestern for an answer.Sydney University’s flagship DynamicHealth, changemakersReimagined HEALTHYParramatta CHUCKLE: City campus. USING LAUGHTER TO IMPROVELISA’S LIVES MARS MISSION A badA case Martian of the gardener, giggles space is goodeducator for the and mind, aspiring bodyastronaut, and soul. ForLisa one Stojanovski graduate,took herthe firsteffect steps has towards beenextraterrestrial positively life- life at changing.Western Sydney University. IN THIS EDITION 4MESSAGE FROM . VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRESIDENT, PROFESSOR BARNEY GLOVER 5OK, SO WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘WELLBEING’? 10PROGRAM LURES DOCTORS BEYOND THE Dr Anthony Brown explores what wellbeing CITY means to him. Over the past week working at Bathurst 14HEALTHY CHUCKLE: USING LAUGHTER TO Base Hospital, Dr Ross Wilson has delivered IMPROVE LIVES babies, treated pneumonia, dealt with two A bad case of the giggles is good for the cases of kidney stones and anesthetised an mind, body and soul. For one graduate, the assault victim. effect has been positively life-changing. 11WHERE BRIGHT FUTURES BEGIN 6LEADING BY EXAMPLE Prominent Indigenous Australians, 16CHESTERFIELDS TO COMPUTERS: THE Professor Michael McDaniel and Dr Anita RISE OF ONLINE MENTAL HEALTH Heiss, reflect on their careers, the power From apps as effective as anti-depressants of education and the profound impact of to real-time emotional mapping through positive role models. social media, e-mental health offers life- changing possibilities for the one-in-five Australians who experience mental illness each year. 12MISSION POSSIBLE 8SCHOOL OF MEDICINE CELEBRATES Dr Sameer Dixit, Western Sydney University DECADE OF ACHIEVEMENT Graduate and Alumni of the Year Award winner, reflects on how much can be achieved through education, determination 18PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE TO FIGHT and refusing to take no for an answer. DIABETES 20DESIGNING A BETTER LIFE 30AWARD HONOURS HUMBLE COMMUNITY HERO Exploring why good design really can be a matter of life and death. 31STAY CONNECTED 21BONDING WITH BUB IN THE DIGITAL AGE 27MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE Trailblazing maestro Sarah-Grace Williams wants all Sydneysiders – not just the privileged few - to experience the magic of orchestral music. Front Cover Photo: Dr Sameer Dixit, PhD 22SISTERS IN SUN, SURF AND SAND Science and Health, 2005, International Alumni of the Year Award winner, 2017 One Western Sydney University graduate is demonstrating that all women are entitled GradLife Enquiries: Advancement and to the delights of sun, surf and sand, Alumni, Western Sydney University regardless of how they dress. GradLife, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith NSW 2751 Australia Website: westernsydney.edu.au/alumni Email: [email protected] Tel: +61 2 9685 9500 ADVENTURER’S28 WILD RIDE TO THE TOP INSPIRATIONAL23 LEADERS: THE 2017 Design: Celia Zhao, Western Sydney ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS Whether he’s travelling down the Amazon or building a pioneering company, MBA University graduate Steve Crombie is unstoppable in life and business. Photography: Sally Tsoutas, Western Sydney University Journalist: Laura Albulario Copyright 2017 26KOKODA A PATH TO POSITIVE CHANGE MESSAGE FROM VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRESIDENT, PROFESSOR BARNEY GLOVER In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the School of Medicine, this issue of GradLife showcases the discipline, featuring some of the outstanding work that the University and our alumni are doing in this area. Since its first intake of students in 2007, the School has produced close to 700 medical practitioners. The opening of the Macarthur Clinical School in August shows that we are building on the school’s innovative history and creating outstanding opportunities for clinical education, alongside benefitting the Western Sydney community. The University has more than 44,000 students who are engaged in an expanding range of courses. They look to you, our alumni, when they think about their professional and personal lives after graduation. Our key mission is to develop the University’s growing national and international reputation for teaching, learning and research excellence. Often the best way to do this is to highlight the work of our alumni. We want to hear your stories, share your successes and learn from your challenges after graduation. Take Genevieve Nelson, our Alumni Award winner, for example. Her story is a reminder that our graduates are the University’s ambassadors to the world, and part of a strong network of global citizens. The work you do is integral to our progress as a vibrant university with local, national and international impact. Students have always been our focus and are at the centre of everything we do. The University is building technologically- advanced campuses and developing a new curriculum to prepare our students for the future. This year’s launch of the new state-of-the-art Peter Shergold Building, the School of Medicine’s 10th anniversary, the opening of the Macarthur Clinical School and the National Protected Vegetable Cropping Centre at Hawkesbury are all part of the bigger plans we have for Western Sydney University. This issue of GradLife keeps you up to date on your fellow graduates’ achievements and University news. I encourage you to share your own stories and learnings in future issues. Professor Barney Glover FTSE Vice-Chancellor and President 4 OPINION OK, So What Do You Mean ‘WELLBEING’? Dr Anthony Brown, Adjunct Not surprisingly, there are innumerable ways Resource Centre, who believes that when we Fellow, Men’s Health Information academics use the word ‘wellbeing.’ separate health and wellbeing we are creating an artificial distinction. Prof. Macdonald and Resource Centre, explores Scholars with an interest in health tend to use believes health is a dynamic interaction what ‘wellbeing’ means to him. ‘wellbeing’ to describe positive psychological, between a person and their environment. physical and social states1, which is the basis This issue of GradLife explores health and for the positive psychology movement. For This goes beyond just the interaction wellbeing. No doubt you’ll see articles on them the concept “incorporates a sense of between our physical health and the physical various topics as you read through. That’s satisfaction, contentment, personal fulfilment environment. These interactions are between because ‘wellbeing’ means different things to and existential calm”2. the whole person and their physical, mental, different people. social and spiritual environments. They require Yet some philosophers fear that this misses meaningful connections to other people and So, how do we pin down this elusive word? the point. include a sense of contributing to and being What is wellbeing? part of something bigger than ourselves4. For example, if we just focus on trying to feel I attended a networking function recently and good and achieving positive physiology states as an icebreaker exercise we were all asked to we might miss the central purpose of life! MORE INFO: write a topic we wanted to talk about on our To put it simply, if we only focus on ‘feeling Men’s Health Information and Resource name tags. good’ without exploring how to live a life with Centre: westernsydney.edu.au/ssh/school_of_ meaning and purpose, we cannot really achieve science_and_health/research/mens_health I wrote ‘health’ and I saw someone write true ‘wellbeing’3. ‘wellbeing’. I’d been thinking about writing this Dr. Anthony Brown article, so I asked him “what does wellbeing All of these definitions create a distinction Anthony Brown has been full-time Executive mean to you?”. For him, wellbeing was about between health and wellbeing. ‘Health’ has to do Director of Health Consumers NSW (HCNSW) keeping a balance between those things that with physical, and perhaps mental, health. While since April 2014. He is passionate about sustain us and those that deplete us. To him ‘Wellbeing’ has to do with everything else that is consumer and carer engagement and was a wellbeing was an active, balancing act. beneficial to ones self. member of the Steering Committee which helped establish HCNSW in 2012. He is an adjunct Wellbeing is used by other people to describe But is this helpful? Is wellbeing a different thing fellow for the Men’s Health Information and alternative and complementary health from health? Resource Centre at Western Sydney University, practices and beliefs. and also worked at the Council for the Ageing Personally, I don’t think so. Wellbeing Expos have become increasingly before joining HCNSW. His vision is to ensure popular and tend to be a mix of alternative I agree with Professor John Macdonald, the health providers really listen to and show respect medicine and new age spirituality. Director of our Men’s Health Information and to health consumers, their families and carers. 1 Huppert, F. A. (2009). Psychological Well-being: Evidence Regarding its Causes and Consequences†. Applied Psychology: Health and
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