Dr Mohit Shahi Senior Lecturer and Pathologist
Mohit Shahi joins the CMPH as Senior Lecturer (Teaching Specialist) in Pathology.
He is a medical doctor and an Anatomic Pathologist by training, with over 15 years of clinical and teaching experience in various countries across variety of curricula. As an academic pathologist, his special interests in medical education include implementing adaptive learning tools that provide an individualised learning experience, restructuring pathology education by flipping the classroom and use of reality technologies to enhance learning experience. He has held leadership roles including Discipline Coordinator, e-learning team leader, Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) co-ordinator at his previous appointments. He joins from the University of Queensland where he was a Senior Lecturer- Molecular and cellular Pathology.
Dr Brett Slarks Senior Lecturer, General Practitioner and Sports Doctor
Brett Slarks has recently joined the MD team as a Senior Lecturer (Teaching Specialist) in General Practice. He completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from The University of Adelaide, graduating with an Adelaide Graduate Award in 2018.
Brett completed his initial medical training across the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, and at multiple medical practices within the Southern Adelaide and Adelaide Hills regions. Brett was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) at the beginning of 2023.
Brett currently works within both General Practice at a Family Medicine Practice in the Eastern Adelaide suburbs and as a Sports Doctor within the Adelaide CBD. Within General Practice, his area of interest lies is within the speciality of Sports and Exercise Medicine. With an emphasis on sports injury prevention, managing sports-related injuries, managing general musculoskeletal injuries, arthritis care, concussion management and aiding athletes to achieve their maximal potential using a multi-disciplinary approach. Currently Brett is completing his Professional Certificate of Musculoskeletal and Sports Medicine.
Brett has previously been involved in Medical Education at the University of Adelaide as a Clinical Associate Lecturer, and as the founding chair of the Adelaide Students’ Society of Critical Care. More recently he has been working as a lecturer for the South Australian Sports Medicine Association. Brett also has a strong background in STEM education within the secondary education sector, having worked within multiple roles, including on the Governing Council, for the National Youth Science Forum.
Dr Dominique Caprani Evaluation Coordinator and Family Medicine Physician (Argentina)
Dominique Caprani is the newly appointed CMPH Evaluation Coordinator, focussing on student wellbeing.
Medical Students have reported higher levels of distress and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicides than the general Australian population.1 Approximately one in five medical students had thoughts of suicide in the previous 12 months.1
Females and Indigenous students tend to be more affected by mental health distress than males and non-Indigenous students1 and there is also strong evidence that international students are a risk group for low feelings of life satisfaction, depression, and associated distress, relative to Australia’s adult population.2
Some Medical schools around the world and in Australia have put a lot of effort into improving student’s mental health wellbeing by providing accessible resources and reducing the stigma and other barriers to mental health problems3.
Flinders University offers several resources such as counselling and mental health support to all Medical Students. However, there is uncertainty on whether students are familiarised with these resources, how accessible these are, how often medical students use them and what barriers do they find.
The aim of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of the resources offered by Flinders University to support Medical Student’s Mental Health Wellbeing on their Journey to becoming Doctors and Beyond. To do so, a Mixed Method investigation will be undertaken including a survey as well as semi-structured interviews to medical students and interns.
This project was made possible by a generous financial contribution from a philanthropic donor who has a strong interest in student wellbeing. I am very grateful to be part of such an important initiative.
References: 1Wu, F., Ireland, M., Hafekost, K., & Lawrence, D. (2013). National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students. Beyond Blue. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/research-project-files/bl1132-report—nmhdmss-full-report_web. 2 Tomyn A, (2019) Mental Wellbeing Survey of Prospective International and Overseas Students, Melbourne: Bupa, 2019. 3 Kemp, S., Hu, W., Bishop, J. et al. Medical student wellbeing – a consensus statement from Australia and New Zealand. BMC Med Educ 19, 69 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1505-2