People In Health Care; Dr Gaj Panagoda,
empowering underprivileged communities
Xstitch Health takes project based approach to
creating community-driven,
sustainable health outcomes
Dr Gaj Panagoda, CEO of Xstitch Health, has a diverse medical background and is working to improve health systems for underprivileged communities. In the Australian Health Journal’s People In Health Care series, he talks about the changes needed in community-based care using a project based approach,
According to Dr Panagoda, there is a need for a shift towards community-based care and collaboration with stakeholders in the healthcare system, and the potential to create a new kind of socially conscious, inspired, community-informed medical specialist is the future of medical specialty care.
Project-based job outcomes are clear, post-COVID community-based health systems are innovative, and the six pillars of Xstitch involve working with communities to identify strengths and challenges, collaborating with stakeholders, and deciding what’s needed.
Communities, including underprivileged ones, have untapped strengths that can be harnessed for their own healthcare journeys, and Xstitch Health aims to do something different by focusing on change management, policy, and governance.
“We are looking at a unique model to fund health projects based on community-defined issues and deliverables, with most interest coming from schools”, says Dr Panagoda.
He’s seen, schools in underprivileged areas that are providing services for students with particular needs, are interested in working better with health systems, to address acute issues.
Dr Panagoda believes medical specialists in Australia have untapped potential to address the wider needs of patients and can start taking action on their collective knowledge without waiting for higher positions.
Xstitch Health offers a new kind of job for doctors, combining patient care with system improvement and the opportunity to work in various locations.
Health professionals need support in their role in communities and a collaborative model for medical specialists is being developed to have a big impact across Australia.
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Dentist creates app to democratise oral health care
In this People In Health Care segment, Dr Gadiyar spoke to Australian Health Journal on how she hopes the app will help increase the number of people seeking dental treatment from the current 47% level in Australia. To date, 120,000 users have downloaded the app with more than 50 dental practices signed up with Smilo.ai to receive individual enquiries or seek dental treatment.
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Brain cancer Professor mentors Tasmanian researchers
Rosemary Harrup trained in Victoria and Tasmania in Medical Oncology and Clinical Haematology, completing a dual Fellowship in 2001. She is the current Director of Cancer and Blood Services at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH), a role she has held since 2009.
Australian Health Journal spoke to Rosemary about her journey in medicine and specifically her work in Clinical Trials in Brain Cancer and the value she placed on her senior clinicians as mentors and how she now mentors others.
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ICTD: Why negative results in clinical trials matter
To mark International Clinical Trials Day 2026, Australian Health Journal commences a 4 part special series leaving up to 20th May. Through conversations with leading researchers, clinicians and trial organisations, the series highlights achievements in the year that was for clinical trials.
Negative results in a clinical trial can be extremely valuable — both scientifically and ethically. A “negative result” usually means the treatment being tested did not work better than the standard treatment, placebo, or expected outcome.Negative results in a clinical trial can be extremely valuable — both scientifically and ethically. A “negative result” usually means the treatment being tested did not work better than the standard treatment, placebo, or expected outcome.
