Visionary professor becomes the first woman editor for esteemed journal and prepares to deliver UK oration; talented staff reveal a new novel and a screenplay set to star Handmaid’s Tale actor; eating disorder expert wins further recognition for latest book; and Port Power dynamo takes up with team Flinders.
Visionary professor first woman editor, set to deliver UK oration
Professor Justine Smith has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology. Her appointment represents the first time a woman has led any of the Q1 ophthalmology journals. In her role she is processing 150-200 papers per month, with the journal seeing more than the usual number of submissions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read Professor Smith’s first editorial: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ceo.13746
Professor Smith will also deliver the UCL’s (University College London’s) Institute of Ophthalmology (IoO) Annual Award Lecture, established in 2018 to honour scientists who have contributed greatly to ophthalmology and visual science. The lecture is part of a significant day for the UCL’s IoO, with several awards announced on the occasion.
Flinders University’s internationally renowned Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor in Eye & Vision Health will speak on the topic ‘Mechanisms of Ocular Toxoplasmosis’.
The lecture will be livestreamed for anyone to attend free of charge. It will be held on 24 June at 10am UK time, which is 7:30pm Australian Central Standard Time (SA and NT.) Those interested are asked to email j.english@ucl.ac.uk and request the link to the online event. Find out more
Awarded eating disorder expert recognised for latest book
Professor Tracey Wade and fellow authors on a 2019 publication have been selected to receive the 2020 Academy of Eating Disorder (AED) Outstanding Clinician Award, which honours contributions made by AED members for contributions to the care and wellbeing of individuals with eating disorders through clinical contributions to the field. The award recognises the applications of their book, Brief Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Non-Underweight Patients: CBT-T for Eating Disorders, which has the potential to change clinical practice worldwide by halving the time it takes to deliver CBT from 20 sessions to just 10.
Speech educator tells a compelling tale
Speech pathology placement educator Sonya Bates has released her debut adult novel, Inheritance of Secrets, published by HarperCollins Australia.
The murder mystery was shortlisted as an unpublished manuscript in the inaugural Banjo Prize in 2018, and since its book release in April has received rave reviews on Goodreads.
Inheritance of Secrets tells the tale of Juliet, whose elderly grandparents are killed in their Adelaide home. The only clue is her grandfather Karl’s missing signet ring.
The novel is described by Nadia L King as “A tense compelling read; think Jane Harper’s The Dry meets Heather Morris’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz … fast-paced story-telling with plenty of heart-stopping moments. If you want to lose yourself for several hours, this is a wonderful book to do it in”. Read more
Graduate’s screenwriting debut secures famed actor
After two novels, including her award-winning 2013 debut Burial Rites, Flinders University graduate Hannah Kent has written a screenplay that will star Elisabeth Moss of The Handmaid’s Tale fame.
Run Rabbit Run is an original story developed with Snowtown producers Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw and their company Carver Films. Moss will portray a fertility doctor whose understanding of life and death is shaken by the strange behaviour of her daughter, and a “ghost from her past”. The film, described as a ‘ghost horror thriller’, will be produced by Moss and her partner Lindsay McManus and will be partially shot in South Australia. Read more
New footy star on team Flinders
Port Power star Xavier Duursma commenced a Bachelor of Sport, Health and Physical Activity at Flinders University this year, foreshadowing a great start to the year with his team. The teenager has won much praise from AFL commentators since drafting to Port in 2018. He starred in Port’s recent showdown win where they beat the Crows by a record 75 points, with Duursma’s three goals lauded as instrumental to the team’s biggest showdown victory yet.
With a remarkable 22 games out of a possible 25 played over the last season and a bit, this last weekend may see a change of pace for Duursma. A hamstring injury suffered during the game against Fremantle is likely to put him out of action for a few weeks, but the talented youth will no doubt be back to full form soon.