A BENDIGO health scientist's poetry has been recognised internationally, part of a growing body of creative expression in the health field.
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Michael Leach's poem about his late mother's experience in an intensive care unit was recently commended as part of the 2021 Hippocrates Prize.
It's a work he will perform at an upcoming Bendigo Writers Festival event.
Dr Leach said poetry could offer a different perspective, complementing his work in health science.
Trained as a pharmacist, he later completed his doctorate in pharmacoepidemiology.
He now works as a lecturer and researcher at the Monash University School of Rural Health.
Dr Leach said he had dabbled in poetry for several years, before his work was first published in a medical journal in 2015. This was a piece inspired by reflections on people behind the data he was then working with.
He said growth in health humanities appeared to be in part driven by a recognition of the need to be interdisciplinary, because of the complexity of the real world.
Dr Leach said poetry offered him a way to think about the people behind the data and the clinical side of healthcare.
"Usually I'm inspired by the real world. Most of my pieces are non fiction poems, they're inspired by scientific facts, research studies, news stories, personal experiences in my own life and the lives of those I know," he said.
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The poem commended in the Hippocrates Prize was 'I recall when the kind ICU staff kept calm', drawn from the experience of Dr Leach's mother, who passed away last year.
Dr Leach said it was humbling to have such a personal poem commended among internationally recognised poets and specialists in the field of health humanity.
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