Josephine Quattrocchi
Josephine Quattrocchi is a journalist in the News Corp Australia editorial cadet program who writes for The Australian and other group mastheads. She focuses on health coverage that turns expert warnings about viruses and vaccination into clear, timely updates for general readers. Her recent work also extends to property markets, local communities and digital culture, moving between public health, everyday economics and the social impact of online influence.
Winter viruses and vaccination campaigns
In her coverage of winter respiratory viruses, Quattrocchi reports on influenza and RSV case trends and amplifies the warning that the season’s peak is still ahead.
She centres the state chief health officer’s message that rising infections make vaccination urgent, highlighting the statement that “it’s not too late” for people who have delayed getting their shots. The story tracks how school holidays shape transmission and explains that peaks can shift between early winter and late September, grounding the warning in calendar dates and expected case patterns. Through this reporting she aligns public health advice with everyday behaviour, framing vaccination as a concrete step readers can take before the highest‑risk weeks.
House prices in Melbourne’s west
Quattrocchi covers sharp house price falls in Melbourne’s western suburbs, describing the region as a “buyers market” after significant declines over a three‑month period. The property coverage sets out how particular suburbs have borne the brunt of the downturn, tying local price movements to the changing balance of power between buyers and sellers. She writes with attention to both percentage falls and on‑the‑ground effects, showing how the market shift alters options for households looking to enter or exit the area.
This strand of her work reflects an interest in how economic trends manifest at street level rather than as abstract national figures.
Micro‑influencers and ethics of online influence
In a feature on Melbourne’s micro‑influencer scene, Quattrocchi examines how small creators navigate authenticity and ethical dilemmas as social media activity turns into a business. She reports on the pressures these influencers feel to stay “real” while managing brand deals and viral content, capturing the tension between personal values and commercial demands. The piece surfaces the “moral grey areas” that emerge when online reach carries responsibility, treating influencers as subjects grappling with influence rather than as simple marketing channels.
This reporting adds a digital‑culture dimension to her portfolio and sits alongside her health work in exploring how risk, responsibility and trust play out in contemporary life.
Innovation and untold wartime stories
Quattrocchi also contributes to innovation coverage with a story on the revelation of the identities of previously “unknown soldiers”, bringing attention to individuals who had remained unnamed. The piece runs in a technology and innovation vertical, placing human stories of wartime loss and recognition within that reporting frame.
This work shows her interest in the intersection of historical memory and contemporary capabilities, extending her reporting beyond present‑day health and economic concerns.
Across these strands of work, Quattrocchi brings together health alerts, property shifts, digital‑culture features and innovation stories, building a portfolio that spans public health, economic conditions and the social impact of technology. She foregrounds authoritative sources such as health officials, market data and interviewees describing ethical pressures, keeping attention on how broader trends reach people’s daily decisions. Within News Corp’s editorial cadet program she works across The Australian and related mastheads, using that network to publish stories in the section most suited to their focus.
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.