Congratulations to Flinders NT academic Leigh Moore who was awarded a Master of Public Health at the Charles Darwin University graduation ceremony on the 25th May.

Leigh’s thesis, ‘Aboriginal infants living in remote communities: antimicrobials prescribed and the appropriateness of prescribing for otitis media during the first year of life’ was completed under the supervision of Professor Amanda Leach from Menzies School of Health Research.

Primary results from this study indicated that Aboriginal infants in remote communities were exposed to at least seven times the number of oral antibiotics when compared to infants of a similar age from another region more closely representing the ‘average’ Australian population. Leigh still has many research questions that she hopes to investigate as a result of this study and of her many years practising pharmacy in the Northern Territory. She firmly believes that we need more community-based inhabitants, practitioners and students to become involved in local research to make a difference to the health and well-being of our remote people.