ACvA member Dr Andrew Goodman is passionate about bringing the right people together to solve complex health challenges.

A new project led by Dr Goodman and his team has just received an ACvA Clinical Themes Initiative Seed Funding Grant. The project will focus on developing an action plan for hypertension management that is specifically tailored to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The initiative takes a knowledge-sharing approach. “This project is taking an approach that partners with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge holders and practitioners to co-develop viable and practical activities to shift the needle in hypertension management in Australia,” Dr Goodman explains.

The ACvA were looking for innovative projects to take their Clinical Themes to the next stage of implementation and action. Dr Goodman’s project Preventing, detecting and effectively treating hypertension in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples supports the National Hypertension Taskforce Roadmap by convening Knowledge Sharing Councils with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders. These councils are about “co-design and co-creation in action,” says Dr Goodman. “They bring people together with different skill sets and knowledge to sit down and work out the best way forward.”

Dr Goodman’s work is grounded in experience. He began his career as an Indigenous Health Worker in Central West Queensland, later joining a cardiac outreach team that delivered specialist care to rural and remote communities—essentially bringing Brisbane’s cardiac clinics into the field.

Blood pressure testing and management were central to that work and eventually led him to complete a PhD and his current work around Hypertension as a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Australian E-health Research Centre at the CSIRO.

Over the past five years, Dr Goodman has been active with the ACvA and is grateful for the opportunities that have come from that experience, including becoming a member of the National Hypertension Taskforce Steering Committee.

"ACvA is a beautifully broad access point for people across different disciplines," he says. "That openness is matched by a real commitment to supporting the leaders of tomorrow."

Dr Goodman is clear about what success of this project looks like: meaningful collaboration and practical impact. “When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are meaningfully involved in creating and implementing policies, programs and services that impact their lives, the outcomes are more successful.”

The phased approach of the project includes meeting with communities to refine the roadmap and offering seed funding for innovative hypertension initiatives.

“We want to open up to the experts in the space and are looking for innovative ideas on hypertension management,” Dr Goodman says. “The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce are driving changes on the ground and this also provides a space to capture and evaluate what’s being done.”

Dr Goodman is keen to get his project under way. “Let’s walk together to find solutions for better blood pressure management,” he says.

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