Sara Baqar Editor

Dr Ralph Junckerstorff is a General (Internal) Medicine and Infectious Diseases physician at Monash Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He graduated from undergraduate medicine from the University of Western Australia in 2000 and became a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 2010. He also holds a Diploma of Tropical Medicine from the University of Liverpool (UK). He is a co-editor of the book Beyond Evidence-Based Medicine: Clinical Pearls from Experienced Physicians.            

Dr Junckerstorff has worked in a public teaching hospital his entire career. He has shared an office with former and current Directors of General Medicine and is married to a healthcare leader. He fully appreciates how difficult, time-consuming and at times, thankless a task being a leader is. He understands the complexities and challenges of the hospital environment and the significant impact effective leadership in healthcare can have.

Prof. Sara Baqar is an experienced endocrinologist and healthcare leader, currently serving as the first female Director of Endocrinology at Austin Health. Prior to this, she served as the Director of Medicine at Monash Health and the Clinical Director of Internal Medicine at Northeast Health Wangaratta.   After graduating from Monash University in 2003, she specialized in endocrinology. With the support of the National Heart Foundation Health Professional Scholarship and the University of Melbourne Faculty Research Scholarship, she completed her PhD on the effects of salt on diabetes and cardiovascular health.  Alongside her clinical leadership, she remains actively involved in research as a principal investigator and supervises PhD candidates.   To further develop her understanding of effective leadership and management, she completed an MBA at Melbourne Business School. Beyond her clinical and research contributions, Sara is passionate about cultivating strong and authentic leadership in public healthcare. Recognizing that many healthcare professionals are often thrust into leadership roles with little preparation, sometimes without even considering themselves as potential leaders, she is committed to bridging this gap by equipping clinicians with the skills and confidence needed to navigate leadership effectiv