Need Some Socks?
We are delighted that Sock Me is donating $2 to us for every pair of socks purchased through May and June 2021! Simply visit them to buy your socks, knowing that you are helping the work of Crazysocks4docs at the same time!
Our event this year on June 4, 2021 at 0745 was virtual – here’s the link to watch the video of the panel discussion:
We are delighted to announce our panellists for Crazysocks4docs Day 2021!
Dame Clare Gerada
NHS PH, Medical Director and Chair of Doctors in Distress
Having first trained in psychiatry at the Maudsely hospital, Dr Clare Gerada followed her father’s footsteps and became a general practitioner, working in her practice in South London for thirty years. Over this time, alongside her clinical practice, she has held a number of national leadership positions including in 2010, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, only the second women in its 55-year history to hold this position. She has led the way in reforming how drug users are managed in general practice and was awarded an MBE for his services to medicine and substance misuse in the 2000 Birthday honours. Since then she has led the way in developing services for doctors and dentists with mental health problems, establishing and leading NHS Practitioner Health since 2008. This has been, not only a world first, but massively impactful, particularly on young doctors and consequently on the patients they look after and the teams in which they work. The service was awarded Outstanding by CQC rating in March 2019.
Currently Clare not only still leads NHS Practitioner Health but has, in 2020 established a service for problem gamblers; Chairs the newly formed registered charity, Doctors in Distress, is now co-chair of the NHS Assembly. In 2020 she was made a Dame in the Queen’s birthday honours, making her the first Maltese person to be knighted. She is a highly respected NHS professional, whose views are listened to by NHS professionals and patients alike.
Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM
Dinesh was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland, and the second person to graduate medical school with quadriplegia in Australia. Dinesh is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate, and researcher. Halfway through medical school, he was involved in a catastrophic motor vehicle accident that caused a cervical spinal cord injury. Dinesh has completed an Advanced Clerkship in Radiology at the Harvard University. As a result of his injury and experiences, Dinesh has been an advocate for inclusivity. He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia.
Dinesh works in the emergency department at the Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a senior lecturer at the Griffith University and adjunct research fellow at the Menzies Health Institute of Queensland. He has research interests in spinal cord injury. He is a doctor for the Gold Coast Titans physical disability rugby team.
Dinesh was the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service’s Junior Doctor of the Year in 2018. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019. He was the third Australian to be awarded a Henry Viscardi Achievement Award. Dinesh was the Queensland Australian of the Year for 2021.
Dr Mukesh Haikerwal AC
Mukesh graduated and trained in general practice in Leicester, UK gaining additional Diplomas in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Immediate Medical Care. Mukesh has supported his profession and advocated for better health for all at every stage of his medical career, as student leader, junior doctor and GP principal. This work has seen him become State and National President of the AMA and Chair of the Council of the World Medical Association. In 2011 he became a Companion of the Order of Australia. He supports the not-for-profit organisation Her Heart and is a strong advocate for better working conditions for medical staff. He is a well-known GP practising in the Melbourne suburb of Altona North.
Indrani Tharmanason & Graeme Port
Indrani and Graeme are proud parents of their daughter, Tasha, who was a beautiful, courageous, skilled and compassionate third year junior doctor, who died of depression on 4 June 2020. She wanted to be a paediatrician.
“Tasha was a beautiful, courageous and compassionate third year junior doctor. She liked rock climbing, running, travelling, reading, jigsaw puzzles and coffee. She loved helping children, and wanted to specialise in paediatrics and help sick children every day. She grew up in Melbourne, studied Science at Melbourne University, and moved to Queensland for her medical degree, graduating in 2017. She was an intern at Royal Brisbane Hospital, started second year at Gold Coast Hospital, and transferred to Monash Health so that she could return to Melbourne. Tasha was a skilled doctor – reliable and trustworthy, very good at procedures, and warm and engaging with her patients and their families.”
“Tasha died of depression on 4 June 2020. She had suffered from depression for many years while still continuing to achieve high results. With her smile and laughter, very few people realised the challenge she faced.”
“Medicine was her love, but the work demands of the job, the isolation interstate, the stigma associated with mental health within the medical profession leading her to keep silent, all contributed to a deepening of her depression and loss of self-worth. Tasha’s suicide came as a complete shock to us, our family and to those she was working with.”
Indrani and Graeme are involved in Crazy Socks 4 Docs to help raise the awareness and reduce the stigma of mental health amongst doctors, and to support changes to hospital culture and work practices so that fewer doctors and their families follow the same pathway as Tasha and they have.