Andie Noonan
Andie Noonan is a visual journalist at the ABC who specialises in bringing complex public health stories to life through data-led, image-rich coverage. Their work focuses on how large-scale health risks and policy decisions translate into everyday consequences, often using graphics, photography and social video rather than traditional text-only reporting.
Translating global disease threats into local consequences
Noonan works on coverage of emerging infectious diseases and large-scale health risks, helping audiences understand how global outbreaks intersect with conditions in Australia. In stories examining the spread of Ebola and other so-called “biblical” diseases, their work traces the links between international health emergencies, climate and environmental stresses, and the vulnerabilities in Australia’s health preparedness. The focus is on risk, not alarmism: they highlight how shifting disease patterns, population movement and health system capacity shape the likelihood and impact of outbreaks, and what public health authorities are doing in response. Their visual approach makes it easier to see how abstract epidemiological concepts – transmission, exposure, compounding risks – play out in real communities.
Health impacts of sport, recreation and everyday life
Noonan contributes to coverage that examines how everyday activities intersect with physical and psychological health. In reporting on research into interpersonal violence in children’s community sport, they help document the scale of harm experienced by young participants, including psychological, physical and sexual violence and neglect, and how these patterns differ by gender. Their work draws out the health and wellbeing implications of these findings, linking data to lived experience and the need for safer sporting environments. Across similar stories, they focus on research-based evidence and use strong visual elements to show how seemingly routine environments can carry long-term health consequences.
Data, consumer behaviour and public health
Noonan frequently works on stories that sit at the intersection of consumer behaviour, economic pressures and health. In an ABC investigation into “skimpflation”, they contribute data journalism and visual coverage showing how supermarket products change over time – not just in size, but in ingredients and quality – and what that means for consumers’ nutrition and household budgets. These stories often use detailed product comparisons, graphics and packaging close-ups to reveal changes that are otherwise hard to spot on crowded shelves. The through-line is a concern with how market practices and cost-of-living pressures affect what people eat, how healthy their choices really are, and how transparent companies are with the public.
Visual and social storytelling for news
Across the ABC News operation, Noonan’s byline and credits appear on a wide range of visual projects, including social video, TikTok explainers and archival or documentary-style pieces. They film and produce for business coverage, such as profiles of high-profile company leaders and supermarket chains, and collaborate on social-first narratives that connect news topics to people’s daily routines. They also work on projects that repurpose and contextualise archival footage, using history and nostalgia to illuminate present-day issues and trends. This cross-platform role means health and risk stories are often told in short, visually driven formats designed for digital audiences, with clear, accessible framing and a strong emphasis on evidence, data and on-the-ground visuals.
4 more health journalists.
Abida Tasnim
Abida Tasnim is a health writer for The Daily Star who focuses on clear, practical guidance that helps readers recognise risks early and act before everyday illnesses turn into wider public health problems. She reports on infectious disease prevention, using measles coverage to show how outbreaks start with individual decisions and behaviours, not just hospital statistics. Her work explains what happens during an outbreak and then anchors the story in simple steps people can take, such as avoiding crowded places when symptoms appear, practising good hygiene, and seeking medical advice early. She writes direct, action‑oriented health explainers that turn clinical questions about contagion and disease burden into everyday choices. Across her beat, she stresses early recognition, timely care, and prevention as the foundations of healthier communities.
Adrián Carballo Casla
Adrián Carballo Casla stands out for turning complex cohort data on ageing into clear, food‑level advice on what older adults should eat to protect brain health and slow chronic disease. He is a researcher in nutritional epidemiology focused on ageing and chronic disease prevention and a postdoctoral researcher in geriatric epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet, writing health explainers for The Conversation. He reports on how diet quality, especially Mediterranean and Mind‑style patterns, shapes dementia risk, grey matter loss and neurocognitive ageing, and how healthy versus pro‑inflammatory diets alter multimorbidity trajectories. His articles translate findings on flavonoids, polyphenols, folate, omega‑3 fats and dietary nitrates into specific food choices and small, practical changes. Much of his coverage is anchored in his own studies on multimorbidity, high‑risk older adults and tailored dietary recommendations, often syndicated to other outlets.
Ahmed Elbediwy
Ahmed Elbediwy brings a lab-based understanding of cancer biology and clinical biochemistry to public-facing health reporting, linking drug mechanisms and molecular pathways to everyday choices about medicines and products. He writes for The Conversation on weight-loss injections, cancer overdiagnosis and anti-ageing supplements, focusing on obesity medicine, cancer signalling, screening trade-offs, skincare and supplement science. His pieces on GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro explain why some people do not respond, how gut hormones and appetite signals work, and where psychological support and nutrition fit alongside prescriptions. He co-authors explainers on cancer risk and overdiagnosis and on whether supplements can reverse ageing, separating established knowledge from emerging research. An award-winning senior lecturer at Kingston University, he favours clear, structured explainers, careful definition of key terms and evidence-based appraisal over hype.
Amanda Sheppeard
Amanda Sheppeard is a managing editor and health journalist known for long, detailed explainers that connect complex clinical research, disability policy and political narratives with the daily realities of doctors and patients. She works at The Medical Republic across editorial leadership and commercial content while reporting widely on medicine for its specialist titles. Her real beat spans autism, disability policy, autoimmune disease, infectious threats and system pressures in primary care and hospitals. She covers subjects such as autism diagnosis and the NDIS, rheumatology’s clinical shifts, weight-loss agents in rheumatoid arthritis, infection control, antimicrobial resistance and new modalities like CAR T-cell therapy and microneedles. She reports by doing the synthesis inside the story, linking trial design, molecular targets, funding rules and policy changes to concrete decisions and workflows in clinics and hospitals.