Australian doctor
George Jelinek is an Australian doctor who is professor and founder, Neuroepidemiology Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. This unit expressly evaluates modifiable risk factors that predict the progression of Multiple sclerosis. He has served since 2017 as the Chief Editor for Neuroepidemiology in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, and he was Founding Editor – and is currently the Editor Emeritus – for Emergency Medicine Australasia. Jelinek also has the distinction of being the first Professor of Emergency Medicine in Australasia. Between 1987 and 2018, he published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, seven book forewords and eight books, and received more than 20 research grants. He is a frequent invited speaker.
In 2012, Jelinek supported the establishment of the Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis charity in the UK, with registration with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit commission (ACNC) following in December 2014 and then not-for-profit 501(c)(3) registration in the United States in 2015.
Biography.
Jelinek received his MBBS at the University of Western Australia in March 1979, and a Doctor of Medicine in 1995. The focus of his doctoral thesis was Casemix classification of emergency patients. His internship and residency were at Fremantle Hospital. He passed the first part of his Fellowship at the Faculty of Anesthetists, Royal College of Surgeons in 1983, and gained the Fellowship of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine in 1986. He was appointed as Professor and Chair of Emergency Medicine at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth, Western Australia, and Winthrop Professor and Head, Discipline of Emergency Medicine at the University of Western Australia, beginning in 1997; Director of the Emergency Practice Innovation Centre at St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne beginning in 2007 and took his position as Professor and Head at the University of Melbourne Neuroepidemiology Unit in 2015.
Jelinek was diagnosed in 1999 with MS, a condition that also afflicted his mother. In 2011, he founded the non-profit Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis organization.
He is married to Dr. Sandra Neate, a specialist in emergency medicine with experience in coronial and forensic medicine and medical research. She is one of several trained professionals who run retreats for people with MS through the non-profit.
Research.
Grants.
Grants since 2015 amount to more than AUD 5,000,000 in funding from various anonymous philanthropic donors and competitive funding bodies that support MS research.
Emergency medicine.
While Vice-President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and a member of the Court of Examiners, Jelinek established the first academic department of emergency medicine in Australia at the University of Western Australia in 1997, ushering emergency medicine into the mainstream of academic medicine in Australia.
He published 50 papers in the specialty and introduced emergency medicine into the undergraduate medical curriculum at the University of Western Australia by the time he left this appointment in 2010.
He was awarded the Medal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, its highest honor, for services to emergency medicine in 2003.
Multiple sclerosis.
In 2012, Jelinek began an ongoing study entitled HOLISM (Health Outcomes and Lifestyle In a Sample of people with Multiple sclerosis) that investigated the association of lifestyle with health outcomes in people with MS.
Based on his work, Jelinek devised a dietary-based program, "Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis". The medical community and some organizations that specialize in MS remain unconvinced of the results of dietary regimens and await higher level evidence before making definitive recommendations. Jelinek asserts that there is little downside to the adoption of such lifestyle behaviors while he and others continue to pursue a more robust evidence base.
Jelinek's non-profit organization conducts live-in workshops, seminars and self-help groups for MS patients around the world. Jelinek is active in fundraising for the continuing activities of the Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis charity.
References.
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