Oliver Jacques
Oliver Jacques focuses on the health consequences of environmental and policy failures, using local reporting on motor neurone disease and other community health pressures to expose systemic gaps in care and accountability.
Health investigations anchored in Riverina’s MND crisis
Jacques’ defining strand of work is his sustained coverage of the unusually high rates of motor neurone disease in the Riverina, and the efforts to understand why this pattern exists. In his reporting on the establishment of a world-first NSW motor neurone disease register, he explains how mandatory notification of diagnoses is intended to generate the data needed to uncover the causes of elevated MND incidence in the region and to inform future public health responses. He follows the story beyond announcement, documenting calls for urgent research into the Riverina cluster and detailing concerns that prolonged exposure to blue-green algae in waterways could be contributing to the burden of disease. Across these pieces he combines community impact, clinical detail and the design of new surveillance systems, positioning the Riverina’s experience within the wider trend of rising MND rates while maintaining focus on what this means for local patients and families.
Community health, rural inequity and political accountability
Jacques regularly frames health stories through the lens of rural inequity and political decision-making, treating individual conditions as evidence of broader failures. In his commentary on government indifference to the Riverina’s “astonishingly high” MND rates, he argues that the slow policy response signals that rural lives are valued less, contrasting the neglect of inland communities with the hypothetical urgency that would accompany similar risks in major metropolitan areas. He profiles community-led efforts to raise awareness of MND, including an 800 km trek on a ride-on lawnmower that culminates in the heart of the illness’s local epicentre, and uses these narratives to show how residents themselves are forcing health issues onto the political agenda. His coverage consistently links health outcomes to governance, funding priorities and regulatory oversight, making clear that clinical statistics are inseparable from decisions taken in parliament and by agencies.
Editor shaping local health coverage and public debate
Jacques serves as the Griffith-based editor of Region Riverina, where he combines commissioning responsibilities with his own reporting on health and public policy. He has been recognised as a finalist for both the Walkley and Kennedy Awards in 2024, reflecting the national impact of work that began as community journalism. In profiles about his role, he is described as enjoying telling the stories of everyday people, and his health pieces reflect that approach by centring patients, families and local advocates rather than institutional voices. His broader professional bio notes that he works as a freelance journalist whose writing has appeared in major outlets including The Guardian, ABC, Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, SBS and Eureka Street magazine, giving him experience in translating regional health issues for state and national audiences while maintaining the specificity of local evidence.
Investigative reporting on health-related misconduct and systems
Alongside his health coverage for Region Riverina, Jacques has built an investigative track record within the wider Region network that carries strong implications for public services and regulation. His exclusive reporting on a large-scale tax fraud case, uncovering allegations totalling $32 million and detailing the lifestyle and spending of those involved, demonstrates his capacity to interrogate complex financial and governance matters that sit adjacent to service delivery and public trust. This investigative temperament is visible in his health work, where he treats epidemiological anomalies like the Riverina MND cluster as problems requiring rigorous scrutiny of data, environmental exposures and administrative responses. Across his pieces he writes in a direct style, drawing on interviews, official documents and community testimony to build clear, accessible accounts of how health systems and policies are functioning for the people they are meant to serve.
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.