100 years of medical practice and research

One hundred years of continuous publication of a journal is a fine record and worthy of rich reflection

Milton J Lewis BA(Hons), MA, PhD

How medicine in colonial Australia developed and grew despite the “tyranny of distance”

Milton J Lewis BA(Hons), MA, PhD

Disadvantaged communities are at the front of continually evolving threats to health

Yvonne E Cossart MB BS, BSc(Med), FRCPA

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people strongly assert that health research has contributed little to improving their health, in spite of its obvious potential. The health concerns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were largely ignored in early research published in the MJA, which reflected broader colonial history and racial discourses. This began to change with the demise of scientific racism, and changed policies and political campaigns for equal treatment of Indigenous people after the Second World War. In response to pressure from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations, in parallel to broader political struggles for Indigenous rights since the 1970s, there have been significant and measurable changes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research. Many of these changes have been about the ethics of health research. Increasingly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, communities and organisations are now controlling and decolonising health research to better meet their needs, in collaboration with non-Indigenous researchers and research organisations.

David P Thomas MB BS, PhD, AFPHM · Roxanne Bainbridge PhD, BSocSc(Hons) · Komla Tsey BA(Hons), PhD

Australian medical education, accreditation and governance was influenced by social, political and educational change

Laurence Geffen MD(Hon), FRANZCP, FRACP

A post-war struggle between politics, medical science and social progress finally lead to increased access to medicines

Martyn S Goddard

Specialisation has thrived in the framework of medical colleges, but has it outgrown need?

Catherine E Storey OAM,MB BS, MSc, FRACP

Understanding how these diseases have grown to become of such clinical and public health importance

Justin McNab PhD, MPhil, BSc · Carmen Huckel Schneider PhD, GradCertHealth, BInstStud · Stephen Leeder MD, PhD, FRACP

An active, broadening, and more systematic health and medical research effort has improved the lives of Australians

Timothy Dyke BVSc, PhD, MBA · Warwick P Anderson PhD

Accelerated specialisation has led to recognition of the value of the generalist and current general practice

Mark F Harris MB BS, FRACGP, MD · Nicholas A Zwar MB BS, MPH, PhD