Dr Sean Taylor is a leading First Nations healthcare professional, working to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders across Australia.

Dr Taylor is also on the Diabetes Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Expert Reference Group.

First Nations Australians are up to four times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than other Australians.

He wants to change the diabetes outlook for people in remote communities to increase the uptake of self-management.

“It was all around seeing with the naked eye how diabetes, or poorly-managed diabetes, can destroy a population,” he says.

“Some of the secondary complications are renal disease, cardiovascular disease like heart attacks, we have eye problems, we have poor sensation in our feet – so a lot of people who have family member with diabetes will have seen some of this.”

Dr Taylor graduated with a public health doctorate, specializing in improving diabetes care and management in remote health care settings. His study included overseas internships at universities in the USA, Canada and Germany.

He hopes NAIDOC Week and its theme to ‘Heal Country, heal our nation’ will bring attention to the diabetes epidemic in indigenous communities.

“In terms of health, and diabetes specifically, to heal country we need to be able to heal ourselves. That means ensuring First Nations people with diabetes have the resources and knowledge to take charge of their own healthcare,” he said.

“I think there is an important message for health professionals working with First Nations people and that is you need to communicate effectively in a way people understand and interpret.

“First Nations people want to heal but they need to be supported appropriately and in partnership with health professionals.”