AAAPC Annual General Meeting - July 30 2020

The AAAPC Annual General Meeting of 2020 will be held at 5:00 pm on Thursday the 30th July via a Zoom webinar. It would be great to have as many members there as possible.

The meeting will involve the election of President, Vice President, Chair of the Conference and Professional Development Subcommittee and Editor. The agenda, explanatory documents, nomination form and proxy voting forms are all available on the website in the Association Meetings section, under Events.

The 2020 Bridges Webb Medal will also be presented at the end of this meeting.  This is a highlight of our meeting honouring one of our members who has excelled in primary care.

AAAPC Annual Research Conference - to be held virtually August 14-15 2020

We are pleased to announce the line up for the COVID symposium which will be held as part of our virtual conference in August.

Chaired by Prof Michael Kidd, we have five excellent speakers who will update us on innovations relating to research, education and clinical practice in primary care in Australasia.

Registrations are open and we look forward to welcoming you online in August.

Membership and Marketing Subcommittee #ourprimarycare Campaign

AAAPC is launching #ourprimarycare campaign to promote what academic primary care means to you. The campaign will run from July to mid-August, with activity focussed during the AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference. 

The campaign will involve two challenges:

• A <15 sec video challenge
• A 10-word Twitter challenge 

We want to hear your challenges, goals and passions in academic primary care. Be creative, zany and inspiring. Put your thinking caps on, talk to your colleagues and start uploading your videos here. For more inspiration and help, visit aaapc.org.au/ourprimarycare.

AAAPC Charles Bridges Webb Medal Nominations Open

The Bridges-Webb Medal is awarded to an AAAPC member who has made, and will continue to make, sustained high level contributions to academic primary care. This prize is one of the ways AAAPC's commits to fostering and supporting career development in academic primary care. 

Nominations for the 2020 Medal are now open and close on the 15th of July.  The winner will be announced at the Annual General Meeting on the 31st July 2020.

Further information and nomination forms are available on the website. Completed nomination forms and a CV of the nominee need to be emailed to aaapc.secretariat@anu.edu.au by close of business on 15th July 2020.

AAAPC Member Announcement - International Primary Health Care & COVID-19 Study

AAAPC member Prof Felicity Goodyear-Smith and colleagues recently conducted a multinational survey aimed to understand characteristics and strategies employed by different countries to deal with COVID-19 from a primary health care perspective. A summary of key findings from this work is now available in the Members Only section of the website.

AAAPC Member Announcement - Improving access to early medical abortion amid COVID-19

A newly formed Coalition of key stakeholders and clinician experts is advocating rapid policy and practice-based changes to improve the accessibility of early medical abortion (EMA) in Australia during COVID-19 and beyond. 

EMA has been declared an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic but it is not always easy to access. The Coalition, brought together by the NHMRC-funded SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence in Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care and led by Monash University’s Professor Danielle Mazza, is advocating for a range of changes to support women who could potentially be affected by these challenges. 

AAAPC Executive Committee Announcement - Policy Update

AAAPC's Primary Care Research, Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee have helped the Executive Committee recently update its policy regarding distribution of information from AAAPC members. The policy is that we will be happy to distribute information on research projects or other relevant activities from AAAPC members. We need however submitters (AAAPC members) to agree that:

a) (In the case of research projects), submitters need to include the project's ethics approval number.

b) (In the case of advertisement of other initiatives) submitters acknowledge that the distribution will not bring financial or other material benefits, or result in disadvantages to the public or other groups.

Please note that both the AAAPC Member Announcements in this month's newsletter have complied with this policy.

FACES 2020 had their second event in June with an interactive presentation (one slide shown below) with Dr. Liz Sturgiss discussing Research Impact. The FACES group provides a peer-support space for students, ECRs and experienced researchers. Our next event will be held at AAAPC 2020 Annual Research Conference in August when we will be discussing “Tips and tricks for conducting research remotely”. Applications for FACES 2020 are now closed but if you would like more information contact the AAAPC ECR and Capacity Development Chair Dr Rita McMorrow rita.mmcmorrow@unimelb.edu.au.

Vale Founding President Emeritus Professor Neil Carson AO

We grieve the loss of Emeritus Professor Neil Carson AO, our founding president, who died recently aged 92. Neil Carson was a key early leader in academic primary care; who pursued quality multidisciplinary community medicine, skilled and qualified general practitioners, talented research and education teams, all for the growth and improvement of general practice and primary care.

He was a visionary leader who grew his unit into one the largest Departments of General Practice in the country, mentored many current leaders in primary care today, helped establish foundational qualifications and examinations in general practice, created one of the first electronic medical record systems and was part of international growth in general practice and primary care.

Over his career, Neil was the foundation Professor of Community Medicine (now General Practice) at Monash University (1975-1980), head of a newly established Department of Community Medicine at Monash University (1980-1992), founder of the Blackburn Clinic in Melbourne (1952), Censor-in-Chief at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (1973-1976). He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1993, awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Medicine (MD) by Monash University in 1994 and made a Life Fellow of the RACGP in 2004.

Of particular relevance to us, from 1983-1989, Neil was appointed the founding president of the Australian Association for Academic General Practice (now known as the Australasian Association for Academic Primary Care). We continue to benefit from his legacy to general practice and primary care today. A full tribute by Monash University can be found here, and a tribute from Emeritus Professor John Murtagh is here.