{"id":18672,"date":"2022-06-07T10:52:58","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T01:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/?p=18672"},"modified":"2023-08-11T12:27:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T02:57:13","slug":"in-touch-with-justine-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/2022\/06\/07\/in-touch-with-justine-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"In touch with &#8230; Justine Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>With her article having recently become the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/one-in-three-people-are-infected-with-toxoplasma-parasite-and-the-clue-could-be-in-our-eyes-182418\">most read piece<\/a> published on The Conversation by a Flinders University academic, Professor Justine Smith has had a busy few weeks sharing her research. We caught up with her to ask about the importance of communicating with the public and how research wasn&#8217;t always on the cards for her ophthalmology career.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your role and what does your work focus on?<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By title, I\u2019m a Strategic Professor in Eye &amp; Vision Health and a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor in the College of Medicine and Public Health. I\u2019m also Deputy Director of the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI) for Clinical Translation and a senior consultant at the Flinders Medical Centre.<\/p>\n<p>My primary job is leading a research team that focuses on inflammatory eye disease in the broadest sense, including infections, non-infectious inflammatory eye diseases and masquerading cancers. I also supervise students, which includes placements in my lab for Honours through to PhD students, as well as teaching medical students.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m also Editor in Chief of the journal <em>Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology<\/em>. It\u2019s the first time a woman has ever led a Q1 journal in my field of ophthalmology, so I\u2019m very proud of that role.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can you briefly describe the journey that took you to this point in your career?<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think I can describe it briefly! I started my academic role at Flinders in 2012 but I did my PhD here before that, and I took an interesting path to get to where I am.<\/p>\n<p>While I was doing medicine in my undergraduate years, I had little interest in doing research. Others would do it in their holidays but instead I spent my holidays working in John Martins (the now defunct department store) to earn some money for travelling.<\/p>\n<p>After I finished my ophthalmology training, I had the opportunity to meet Keryn Williams (now an Emeritus Professor) and by then I was quite intrigued about the possibility of doing research. But I didn\u2019t have the research track record that others had, and I wasn\u2019t very competitive for a scholarship \u2013 and without one I wouldn\u2019t have been able to pursue a PhD.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, Flinders Foundation offered to support me and they generously provided a scholarship for the first year of my PhD at Flinders. I was later awarded an NHMRC postgraduate scholarship. So, I have a lot to thank the Flinders Foundation and philanthropy in general for, because if I had not got that scholarship, chances are I wouldn&#8217;t have gone ahead with a PhD and be here today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is something you love most about your work?<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Working with lots of different people is a real highlight of research. Being able to work with, collaborate with, supervise, be supervised by, teach, learn from people of different ages, different genders and different cultural backgrounds.<\/p>\n<p>It is a real privilege in my work that I have so many opportunities to interact with so many different people. I also have a wonderful research team and I just love coming into work each and every day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your recent Conversation article is now the most read by a Flinders University author \u2013 why do you think it&#8217;s important to communicate research to a wide audience?<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The taxpayer funds our research and it\u2019s our responsibility to share it with them. We owe it to the public to tell them about our research because they&#8217;re paying for it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also really important to educate people about STEM and how STEM impacts their lives. In my area in particular, we can actually make people\u2019s lives better if we can educate them about health-related matters and directly influence their health behaviour. Also, there is an opportunity to attract a wide range of people into STEM disciplines.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also fun to talk to the media! You get asked really interesting questions and it makes you think about your science differently. That\u2019s something I find quite enjoyable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you do with your spare time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I have a partner and a 14-year-old who\u2019s absolutely delightful, plus a very cute dog who\u2019s about 8-years-old.\u00a0So, if I\u2019m not working I\u2019ll be spending time with them. We like going to cafes \u2013 although now we have to be a bit more careful! \u2013 and just having fun and enjoying the simple things really.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With her article having recently become the most read piece published on The Conversation by a Flinders University academic, Professor Justine Smith has had a busy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4154,"featured_media":18673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7560,57368],"tags":[41938],"class_list":["post-18672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-of-medicine-and-public-health","category-in-touch-with","tag-professor-justine-smith"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In touch with ... 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