MAIN AUTHORS

Kate Marie

At the age of 40, Kate felt fat and frumpy, hardly exercised, ate poorly and drank too much. With a marriage and business failure, Kate was referred to a psychiatrist.  A diagnosis of postnatal depression triggered her journey through the healthcare system and her own self- development.  A bad reaction to anti-depressant drugs initiated a need to seek alternative solutions.  What started with a visit to a GP specialising in nutrition and hormone replacement, comprehensive testing and a hormone and supplement plan, resulted in her body awakening and leaving her with a desire to consider her future and strategy for the next 30 years. She wanted a long-term plan for staying well.

Seeking guidance to help her look good, stay healthy, avoid disease and age slowly, Kate encountered a lack of accepted best practice guidelines. She found no industry-validated and globally-recognised best practice protocols to guide practitioners in delivering anti-ageing medicine or advice. She also found there was no reputable body that accredits, educates or examines doctors or other practitioners in anti-ageing medicine.

Kate came to a realisation that she had no chance of slowing ageing trying to use the healthcare system as it was. Our healthcare system is designed to help us only when we are sick. Evidence indicates that you can increase the length of time that you are healthy, and help fend off disease and disability associated with age. As a result, Kate set out to create her own information source to guide her through the ageing process. She sought to establish a set of principles to help herself and others stay well, knowing that her money, time and effort on was focused on activities that actually work. As a busy professional and working mum, Kate wanted to do things literally ‘by the book’ to stay well but couldn’t find a book that was actually up to the task.

Kate has had a long-term interest in healthcare. She started her working journey as a registered nurse 30 years ago.  A diverse range of professional roles include sales and strategic marketing, publishing and business development in the health and medical and aged care sectors. An early exposure to health stimulated her interest (and frustration) in wanting to better support consumers and facilitate empowerment to get more from our healthcare system and enjoy a relationship based on equality with practitioners.  Having a background in business, marketing and communications in the publishing and health industries was an asset in putting together the collaboration and taking an evidence-based approach to the development of the book.  Kate’s professional path has also included the development of major websites that seek to engage and educate healthcare professionals and consumers to more efficiently and effectively engage with the health system.

Ageing is a wonderful process that should be positive and one we feel empowered about. Reflecting her own journey to good health, Kate shares the tools for planning your own slow ageing process.

Kate is also a mother of two lovely and healthy boys, Raphael 11 and Sebastian 9, who are tired of hearing about the book, their health and how to protect their prostate by eating cooked tomatoes every day!

Dr Christopher Thomas, MD PhD

Professor Christopher Thomas is a physician and a scientist. His work links the complex disciplines of biochemistry and biology to the real needs of real people.

His research laboratory is situated at the JDRF/ Danielle Alberti Memorial Centre for the study of Diabetes Complications at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne. Their work is focused on reducing the burden of diabetes and kidney disease in Australia. They explore the underlying mechanisms of how these two conditions damage key organs in the body, essentially leading to accelerated ageing. In particular, their work focuses on advanced glycation, inflammation, oxidative stress and obesity, the four main elements of ageing.

Dr Thomas has published over 150 articles in many of the worlds leading medical journals. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Diabetes Australia, the Australian NHMRC, Kidney Health Australia and the National Heart Foundation also support the work of Dr Thomas.

Christopher is co-author of the book ‘Fast Living, Slow Ageing’ which provides an opportunity for the general public to get into the mind of a real scientist; to discover how things really work and how to make the most of our choices based on evidence and understanding. Dr Thomas has a unique knack for being able to make the most complex science seem common sense. Without avoiding the details, he has been able to fashion a logical and likable narrative that everyone can follow.