Pathologically Speaking

Forensic Mortuary Technician Abby‑Lee Honeysett takes you inside NSW Health Pathology's state-of-the-art Forensic Medicine facility at Lidcombe. She explains the day-to-day work of a forensic mortuary technician and how they support the work of Forensic Pathologists. Abby-Lee also talks about how she and a colleague have started a special service creating precious keepsakes for families grieving t...

In this episode of Pathologically Speaking, we sit down with Robyn Seberry, the long-serving lab manager and supervising scientist at NSW Health Pathology’s Forbes Laboratory. Robyn talks about her passion for pathology and the joy of living and working in a close-knit regional community. She shares the variety that comes with her role, from working in the lab, seeing patients face-to-face in the...

For four decades Neil Horton has been a driving force behind the quality of NSW Health Pathology laboratories across the New England region and beyond. A respected leader and mentor, Neil has dedicated his career to strengthening pathology services and supporting the people who deliver them. In this episode, Neil reflects on what great leadership really looks like, how he brings out the best in hi...

Meet Danny Nugus, Senior Forensic Medicine Social Worker here at NSW Health Pathology, based in Newcastle. Our team of specialist social workers provide a crucial service right across New South Wales when a death has been reported to the coroner. Danny and his colleagues support families navigating a sudden or unexplained death. They assist families in the early hours, days and weeks of their grie...

Dr Wieslawa Wielebinski is NSW Health Pathology’s Local Pathology Director for Western NSW and Far West Local Health Districts. It’s a role that spans some of the most remote and geographically vast regions in the state, taking in Broken Hill, Dubbo, Orange, Cowra, Forbes, Mudgee, Walgett, Bathurst and Bourke. But her story begins far from rural Australia. In this interview, Wiesia reflects on her...

Pharmacogenomics is transforming the way we think about medicine. It explores how a person's genetic makeup affects the way their body responds to certain drugs, whether they will benefit from a treatment, experience side effects, or gain no benefit at all. In this episode, we sit down with Professor Ron Trent, NSWHP’s Clinical Director at the Department of Medical Genomics at RPA to find out how...

Bedbugs, ticks, maggots and mozzies. Sounds like the holiday from hell, right? Not for Stephen Doggett. The medical entomologist based at NSW Health Pathology’s Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead spends every working day with these tiny creatures and loves his work. In this episode, Stephen explains why bedbugs are making a comeback worldwide, what really happens when a...

Meet Gayle Warnock – NSW Health Pathology’s Associate Director for Point of Care Testing. As one of the largest providers in Australia, NSW Health Pathology has more than 850 Point of Care Testing devices in use at rural, regional and metropolitan hospitals around the state. Gayle talks about how this incredible technology is being used to help deliver pathology services 24/7 even when there’s no...

Meet Daniel Arnold, an early career scientist who has gone from collecting pathology samples at our Wagga Wagga laboratory to researching virology and pandemic preparedness at Oxford University in the UK. We chat with Daniel about growing up in regional NSW, studying at a local university during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking his studies overseas and eventually landing a once-in-a-lifetime scholars...

In this episode, NSW Health Pathology mycologist Dr Catriona Halliday shares her insights into the fascinating and sometimes dangerous world of fungi. From life-saving antibiotics to life-threatening infections, fungi play a complex role in human health. Dr Halliday discusses emerging fungal threats like Candida auris, the challenges of diagnosing fungal infections, and why immunocompromised patie...

Ever wonder how DNA is actually used to crack cold cases? Dr David Bruce is a forensic DNA specialist and the Cold Case DNA Casework Coordinator at NSW Health Pathology’s Forensic & Analytical Science Service (FASS). He talks about the remarkable advances in this field over the past few decades, takes us behind the scenes of some high-profile cases that police have solved thanks to DNA breakth...

We're back with a new season of Pathologically Speaking!   It's the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the science, the stories, and the people powering NSW Health Pathology.   We’re kicking things off on International Pathology Day with our first episode featuring forensic DNA specialist Dr David Bruce, who explains how our experts help police to crack cold cases using the latest in DNA...

A landmark cancer treatment program is underway in Australia. Known as Prospect, the study is opening up new, potentially life-saving treatment pathways for 23,000 Australians with advanced, incurable or an earlier diagnosis of poor prognosis cancers. We talk to Prof Rob Lindeman and Louise Carey about the vital services NSW Health Pathology is providing for Prospect, from genomic sequencing to bl...

Edwin Kirk is a genetic pathologist and clinical geneticist at NSW Health Pathology and Sydney Children’s Hospital. Over the years his work has focused on rare childhood diseases, reproductive genetic carrier screening and cardiac genetics. He is the co-lead of the Australian Government funded project Mackenzie’s Mission. Edwin talks about what sparked his interest in genetics, explains the scienc...

From being the first in the family to go to university to creating a virtual hospital service treating hundreds of thousands of patients during the COVID pandemic, Vanessa Janissen has carved out an incredible career in the health sector spanning more than 25 years. Ms Janissen was appointed Chief Executive of NSW Health Pathology in 2023. Here she shares her leadership secrets, and her plans for...

The importance of our statewide public pathology service has never been more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the beginning, NSW Health Pathology has been at the forefront of our public health testing response. Meet the people who were on the frontlines of our pandemic response, from growing the live virus, sequencing its genome, delivering millions of results to patients and even t...

Susi Guinane is a midwife. She loves her work and is good at her job. In 2019 she was named NSW Midwife of the Year. But when she meets new people, she thinks twice before deciding whether to tell them what she does. That’s because she’s ‘not that kind of midwife’. Susi works for NSW Health Pathology’s statewide Perinatal Postmortem Service, assisting parents through one of the hardest experiences...

Associate Professor Cameron Webb is a medical entomologist at NSW Health Pathology’s Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR) at Westmead. His specialty is mozzies – catching them, counting them (yes, thousands of them!) and testing them to see if they are carrying the pathogens that make us sick. Cameron’s work helps to keep all of us safe from dangerous mosquito-borne disease...

Professor Richard Scolyer is a world-leading pathologist who specialises in the diagnosis and treatment of the deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma. He and his colleagues have used immunotherapy to revolutionise the treatment of melanoma and are now applying that knowledge to treat Richard’s own brain cancer, after he was diagnosed in 2023 with incurable glioblastoma. Richard and his oncologist...

Sarah Dimmock is the Hospital Scientist in charge of NSW Health Pathology’s Blood Transfusion laboratory at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital. It’s a daunting job, managing blood supplies not only for the state’s busiest trauma hospital, but also for the smaller regional hospitals across the Hunter New England. Sarah talks about what led her to a career in a laboratory, why she developed a love of...

Sairita has been a forensic pathologist for more than 15 years. Originally from South Africa, she now works in one of Australia’s busiest forensic medicine facilities at the Forensic Medicine and Coroner’s Court Complex in Sydney. She’s passionate about finding answers for families and wants to inspire a new generation of forensic pathologists. 

He became the public face of pathology services during the COVID-19 pandemic and was the only Australian selected by the World Health Organisation to travel to China to investigate the origins of the virus. Prof Dwyer retired in 2023 after more than 40 years dedicated to researching, diagnosing and treating infectious diseases. Here Dominic speaks about his most rewarding work and how working in w...