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Professor John Murtagh AM MBBS, MD, BSc, BEd, FRACGP, DipObstRCOG Emeritus Professor in General Practice, School of Primary Health, Monash University, Melbourne Professorial Fellow, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne Adjunct Clinical Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Western Australia John Murtagh was a science master teaching chemistry, biology and physics in Victorian secondary schools when he was admitted to the first intake of the newly established Medical School at Monash University, graduating in 1966. Following a comprehensive postgraduate training program, which included surgical registrarship, he practised in partnership with his wife, Dr Jill Rosenblatt, for 10 years in the rural community of Neerim South, Victoria. He was appointed Senior Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Community Medicine at Monash University and eventually returned to Melbourne as a full-time Senior Lecturer. He was appointed to a professorial chair in Community Medicine at Box Hill Hospital in 1988 and subsequently as chairman of the extended department and Professor of General Practice in 1993 until retirement from this position in 2010. He now holds teaching positions as Emeritus Professor in General Practice at Monash University, Adjunct Clinical Professor, University of Notre Dame and Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne. He achieved the Doctor of Medicine degree in 1988 for his thesis ‘The management of back pain in general practice’. He was appointed Associate Medical Editor of Australian Family Physician in 1980 and Medical Editor in 1986, a position he held until 1995. In 1995 he was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for services to medicine, particularly in the areas of medical education, research and publishing. One of his numerous publications, Practice Tips, was named as the British Medical Association’s Best Primary Care Book Award in 2005. In the same year he was named as one of the most influential people in general practice by the publication Australian Doctor. John Murtagh was awarded the inaugural David de Kretser medal from Monash University for his exceptional contribution to the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences over a significant period of time. Members of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners may know that the honour of the namesake of the College library was bestowed upon him. In 2018 he will host the 40th Annual John Murtagh Update Course for General Practitioners at Monash University. Today John Murtagh continues to enjoy active participation with the diverse spectrum of general practitioners – whether they are students or experienced practitioners, rural- or urban-based, local or international medical graduates, clinicians or researchers. His vast experience with all of these groups has provided him with tremendous insights into their needs, which is reflected in the culminated experience and wisdom of John Murtagh’s General Practice. Dr Jill Rosenblatt MBBS, FRACGP, DipObstRCOG, GradDipAppSci Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Primary Health Care, Monash University, Melbourne Jill Rosenblatt graduated in medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1968. Following terms as a resident medical officer she entered rural practice in Neerim South, Victoria, in partnership with her husband John Murtagh. She was responsible for inpatient hospital care in the Neerim District Bush Nursing Hospital and in the West Gippsland Base Hospital. Her special interests were obstetrics, paediatrics and anaesthetics. Jill has also had a special interest in Indigenous culture and health since she lived at Koonibba Mission in South Australia, where her father was Superintendent. After leaving rural life she came to Melbourne and joined the Ashwood Medical Group, where she practised comprehensive general medicine, and care of the elderly in particular. She was appointed Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of General Practice at Monash University in 1980 and a teacher in the GP registrar program. She gained a Diploma of Sports Medicine (RACGP) in 1985 and a Graduate Diploma of Applied Science in Nutritional and Environmental Medicine from Swinburne University of Technology in 2001. Jill Rosenblatt brings a wealth of diverse experience to the compilation of this textbook. This is based on 50 years of experience in rural and metropolitan general practice. In addition she has served as clinical assistant to the Shepherd Foundation, the Menopause Clinics at Prince Henry’s Hospital and Box Hill Hospital and the Department of Anaesthetics at Prince Henry’s Hospital. Jill has served as an examiner for the RACGP for 39 years and for the Australian Medical Council for 16 years. She was awarded a life membership of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in 2010 and a Distinguished Service award of the College in 2014. Dr Justin Coleman MBBS, FRACGP, MPH General Practitioner, Inala Indigenous Health Service, Brisbane Senior Lecturer, Griffith University Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland Editor, Diabetes Management Journal Chair of Choosing Wisely working group, RACGP Justin Coleman graduated from Melbourne University medicine in 1992 and spent the next two decades as a rural GP in Victoria and the remote Northern Territory before settling in Brisbane, where he works in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Soon after graduating, Justin began writing for the GP newspaper Medical Observer and hasn’t stopped since. One of his weekly columns, ‘Handy Hints for GPs’, ran for 13 years. He even wrote 40 humorous columns until the editors lost their sense of humour. Justin is a prolific writer for medical and non-medical readerships; he has published well over 1,000 medical articles in around 50 different newspapers, magazines, books and journals. For five years he served as President of the Australasian Medical Writers Association and he regularly runs writing workshops for medical writers and academics. Since completing a Master of Public Health (UQ 2011, first class hons), Justin has dedicated much of his career to educating other GPs about how to improve various aspects of medical practice. His interests include evidence-based medicine, the rational use of medical tests and treatments, and dealing with uncertainty during a GP consultation. He represents the RACGP on matters pertaining to conflicts of interest and fiercely guards his own independence, never having accepted payment from a pharmaceutical or medical device company. For the past quarter of a century, Justin has supervised hundreds of medical students and GP registrars. He has taught in the medical schools of three universities and for a dozen medical education organisations. Justin edited his first medical book 20 years ago and has remained a medical editor ever since. He completed a Writing and Editing program in 2010 (UQ, first class hons). He currently edits Diabetes Management Journal, writes and does peer reviews for the MJA, AJGP (formerly AFP) and BMJ, and is a member of the Australasian Health and Medical journal Editors’ Network (AHMEN). Justin was honoured to be invited by Professor John Murtagh to help edit Australia’s seminal textbook on general practice. This represents the grand intersection of every one of his aforementioned interests. Dr Clare Murtagh MBBS, FRACGP General Practitioner, Your Doctors, Leichhardt Clare Murtagh completed her medical studies at Monash University in 2007 and spent her early career working in hospitals in Geelong and rural Victoria. Following experience as a medical officer for trekkers in Nepal, she moved to Sydney where she completed her General Practice training in 2013. A passionate generalist, Clare has special interest in dermatology, travel medicine, women’s health and paediatrics. She holds a Diploma of Dermatology and Certificates in Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Medical Education. In her practice at Your Doctors in Sydney’s inner west, she cares for a wide variety of patients and is an antenatal shared care provider. In recent years, Clare has gained increasing experience in medical education as a supervisor of training GPs and as an examiner for the RACGP. She has worked as a medical educator at GP Synergy and is a lecturer on dermatology. Clare has been an enthusiastic contributor to the ‘Women’s health’, ‘Sexual health’ and ‘Problems of the skin’ sections of the sixth and seventh edition of Murtagh’s General Practice. As the daughter of co-authors John Murtagh and Jill Rosenblatt, she has benefited from their mentorship and appreciates the genesis and philosophy of the editorial direction of the textbook.
