Our Team

James DowlingScience and Health Reporter

James Dowling is a reporter in The Australian’s Sydney bureau. As an intern at The Age he was nominated for a Quill award for News Reporting in Writing for his coverage of the REDcycle recycling scheme. When covering health he writes on medical innovations and industry.

James Dowling

Latest

Higher Education

Monash University biologist Dr Laura Phillips studied Springtail bugs in Antarctica as part of an Australian Research Council grant. Photo Richard Jones/Monash University.

Biologist’s ‘alien’ adventure to Antarctica

For biologist Laura Phillips, the Morozumi Range in Antarctica’s east was an ‘alien’, beautiful region to study.

James Dowling

ExplainerHealth

As wait times for ADHD diagnosis blowout, some Australians are turning to illegal drugs.

Why can’t I pick up my prescription? Australia’s medicine chaos explained

ADHD drug shortages wreak havoc on patients returning to work and school. It is just one symptom of Australia’s ailing medicine access systems, explained here.

James Dowling

healthcare reformHealth

CANBERRA, Australia - NewsWire Photos - September 23, 2024: Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Labor to invest $573m in women’s health

Improved access to birth control and treatments for UTIs, menopause and endometriosis will reform care for a health area ‘shrouded in shame and stigma’.

James Dowling

Submarine greenlightDefence

Defence Minister Richard Marles meets with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington D.C. on Saturday.

‘Unique’ AUKUS deal earns Trump approval

President Donald Trump has flagged his support for the complex defence arrangement with Australia after the Albanese government delivered a $798m payment.

James Dowling and Clareese Packer

Exclusivewellbeing

Melissa Hughes used the federally backed Saver Plus program to recover from the financial loss of a relationship wracked by domestic violence. Picture: James Elsby/The Photo Pitch

Five-year funding lifeline for ‘crucial’ savings support program

Expanding a charity savings support program marks the latest cost-of-living support from the Albanese government; for Melissa Hughes it allowed her to ‘start from scratch’.

James Dowling

ExclusiveHealth

Director of the campaign group Unharm, Will Tregoning in Kings Cross. A safe injecting room is being considered for Liverpool. Picture: John Appleyard

Naloxone shortage puts lives in danger

Access to lifesaving overdose medicine has become ‘critically’ precarious, foregrounding the shortcomings of a federal program in a crisis of stigma, stimulants and supply issues.

James Dowling

ExclusiveHealth

Doctors divided on digital records fix

Doctors will likely soon be obligated to provide patients with digital access to test results, provoking appeals not to crack down on noncompliance.

James Dowling

Mental healthHealth

Headspace flails under demand

The majority of headspace users see no improvement to health outcomes, and its chief executive is appealing for structural reform to change that.

James Dowling

Trans youthHealth

A new transgender flag will fly permanently outside Treasury Place just days after an anti-trans rally took place in Melbourne. Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday announced the Progress flag would be a permanent fixture outside the Victorian government offices.

Labor’s blocking move on gender

Labor’s plan to take nearly two years to review transgender medicine for children and teens has been condemned as ‘just a device to avoid dealing with the issue’ as the new federal probe effectively halts any attempts by states to ban puberty blockers.

Sarah Ison and James Dowling

proof of lifeNation

Australian man Oscar Jenkins was captured by Russian forces in Ukraine. Picture: Screengrab

Authorities want to meet Jenkins in person to prove he is alive

Australian diplomats want Ukrainian and humanitarian counterparts to meet in-person with Oscar Jenkins in Russia, as Anthony Albanese says he refuses to take ‘the Putin regime at face value’.

James Dowling and Joanna Panagopoulos

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/james-dowling/page/9