health@thewestsider.com.au
February’s the month for Women in Science. What a great thing to talk about and celebrate! With a world that has been pummelled by anti-scientific ideas, rhetoric and solutions, over the last 4 years, it’s key to the future of all life on Earth, that we promote scientists, their work, their achievements and the brilliance of what science can bring us.
So for your illumination, I have picked three of our own awesome Women in Science from Western Health Collective for you to meet. At school I was all about Jane Goodall, Hedy Lamarr, Amelia Earhart and Marie Curie. Now it is the Australian Women Scientists that excite us like Elizabeth Blackburn (who won the Nobel prize), Suzanne Cory, Sharon Lewin. Science is amazing, exciting and the reason why health clinics like ours even exist – so let’s hear it for Women in Science.
Jennifer Cook
Director of WHC / Fan of WIS
Dr Clare Faux
Clare Faux is our resident acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist. Prior to her career in Chinese medicine, Clare completed a PhD in neuroscience; studying how the brain develops, in particular how neurons first form and connect. Clare has always loved learning and is fascinated by how the body works. Her personal experience with acupuncture and her curiosity in how it might work led her to studying Chinese medicine. With a background in research Clare approaches everything she does with an analytical view. She likes to follow the evidence, whether that be the thousands of years of Chinese experience or more recent clinical trial research.
Vanessa Shribman
Vanessa Shribman is our holistic physiotherapist. Her Bachelor of Physiotherapy is coupled with 30 years’ experience as a certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, positioning her uniquely. Vanessa spent six years living in Israel and recently relocated from Adelaide to Melbourne. Vanessa believes the body has complex healing patterns and when faced with chronic pain, the body regains vitality best with listening, support and direction. In her years of experience, Vanessa has witnessed the profound healing that comes through supporting the body with hands on therapies and Iyengar yoga. She has studied extensively since completing her degree, and now utilizes Muscle Energy Technique, Viscreral manipulation in the Barral tradition, and Cranio Sacral Therapy.
Awadia Osman
Awadia Osman is one of our Mental Health Care Social Workers and Counsellors. Awadia grew up in Ethiopia and Sudan, before moving to Australia and completing her Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Melbourne. She has been an accredited interpreter for more than 14 years and speaks Arabic, Tigrigna and Amharic, as well as English. In her over ten years of practice, Awadia has worked in the areas of homelessness, substance misuse, refuges and adolescent mental health. Awadia is focused on compassionately working within her community, on the issues that it faces.
