LIVED EXPERIENCE with SPONTANEOUS CORONARY ARTERY DISSECTION (SCAD) Uncommon condition more prevalent in younger women
with
Jen O’Neill, Patient &
Board Member
SCAD Research Australia Inc &
Social Worker, Central Coast, NSW
LIVED EXPERIENCE SEGMENT
Filmed in Sydney | June 2026
Jen O’Neill is a Social Work Program Manager and mother of two from the Central Coast, NSW.
At 36, she experienced her first spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) heart attack and has since survived two further SCADs before age 43.
Her lived experience has driven a strong commitment to heart health advocacy, focusing on improving education, research, and clinical understanding of cardiovascular disease in women without typical risk factors.
Jen is a board member of SCAD Research Australia and serves on the Women’s Health Program Consumer Panel at The George Institute for Global Health.
She is an ambassador for Heart Research Australia’s Red Feb campaign and participates in studies including with the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and Mayo Clinic.
She also supports community fundraising initiatives, including the Central Coast SCADaddle for Research Walk. She is recognised for leadership in advocacy and advancing cardiovascular health informed by lived experience.
Source: MTAA Women’s Health MedTech Summit program
Media access credit: Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA)
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New option for management of high-risk soft tissue sarcoma of the limb
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Connected Health Systems
Challenges in health care delivery have compounded, with clinical staff being exposed to the Omicron COVID variant. Reduced staffing has brought on its challenges to most already-strained state health care systems and the people working in them.
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A New Era in Primary Health Care Nursing
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The Federal Budget delivered on 9th May 2023, APNA believes will strengthen Australia’s primary health care (PHC) system by addressing growing nursing shortages, seeing more nurses hired where they are needed, and better utilising the largest workforce in PHC of nearly 100,000 nurses to their full potential to reduce the pressure on the health system.
