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A First Nations University of Queensland academic is aiming to help address the under representation of Indigenous people in Australia’s pharmacy workforce.

Proud Yuwi man  from Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­'s  is the first recipient of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­’s Indigenous Educator Award for Teaching Excellence since 2010, for his work mentoring the next generation of Indigenous pharmacists.

“Indigenous people make up just 0.3% of the pharmacy workforce and we are incredibly underrepresented,” Dr Miles said.

“Part of my work as a researcher is looking into why this is the case, and what we need to do to change that.”

As a teacher, his own experiences as an Indigenous pharmacy student encouraged him to consider how he could create a supportive environment for his first-year students.

“When I was an undergraduate student, I found aspects of the university experience really overwhelming, and it was challenging to find other Indigenous students in such a big cohort,” Dr Miles said.

“When I took up my teaching role, I wanted to ensure that incoming students had opportunities to connect with each other, and since then, the number of Pharmacy students identifying as Indigenous has grown from four students to nine students.”

A Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ alum, Dr Miles has been teaching within the Bachelor of Pharmacy program since 2021 and is the school’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Liaison.

“At the start of each semester intake I reach out to the Indigenous students and introduce myself, let them know of the current scholarship opportunities and travel funding opportunities, and offer to be their support person at Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­,” he said.

Dr Miles also played an integral role in the restructure of the Bachelor of Pharmacy program, developing a ‘blended’ teaching model that has replaced traditional lectures with interactive activities.

“I wanted to develop a model that allowed our students to easily apply the core concepts to the real world,” he said.

“Using online videos, quizzes, and other interactive activities to teach the core concepts allows for the students to engage with them in their own time and creates a more attractive learning experience.

“When they get into the face-to-face element of the class, it’s then taught in a seminar format where we can discuss how the science can be applied in a real-life pharmacy setting.”

Strengthening Indigenous health outcomes

Earlier this year, Dr Miles was awarded funding through the Australian Research Council Discovery scheme, for his research that will address gaps in knowledge surrounding how nicotine is metabolised by Indigenous women during pregnancy.   

“We’re running a community program with Indigenous Health Services, coincidently in Maryborough where I’m from, to improve literacy and health pregnancy around nicotine exposure,” Dr Miles said.

“We don’t know how pregnant women actually metabolise nicotine, and therefore don’t know what the health impacts can be for both mother and baby.

“We are analysing the blood and urine samples from women in this community, looking at not just the impact of traditional nicotine products, but other factors including vaping and second-hand smoking from partners.

“It’s only a small study currently, but the idea would be to partner with other communities across Australia, to try and paint a bigger picture of different mobs and see if the impacts are consistent.”

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