Natalie challenging what’s possible
Sometimes you just never know where life is going to take you.
Or at least that’s what Ellinbank local Dr Natalie Thorne thinks, after recently being recognised as one of 25 women nationally with a ‘2022 Brilliant Women in Digital Health’ award for her work in genomics.
The awards profile and story the careers of women doing outstanding work in digital health, inspiring future leaders and contributing to greater gender diversity in the field.
Fresh out of high school, Natalie knew that she was interested in genetics through her work on the family farm breeding sheep and cattle. Combining that interest with her love of maths, she undertook a science degree specialising in statistics, embarking on a journey that nobody could have predicted.
Genomics is the study of a person’s genome, which is an individual’s complete set of genetic information. Using the information gained from a person’s DNA, Natalie and her colleagues at Melbourne Genomics aim to help patients gain a better understanding of the conditions that may be affecting them and an improved quality of care. It’s been a particularly useful tool for helping families diagnose issues with their children and get the proper help as early as possible, changing the course of their lives for the better.
Like many of the patients it helps, however, the field itself is still in in its infancy, leaving Natalie to marvel at she ended up as one of the people leading the charge for it in Australia.
“We didn’t even know about (genomics) when I went to school,” she says.
“When I was in school we didn’t even have an email. I had to learn how to type on an old-fashioned typewriter.
“At that point the concept that you could sequence a person in everyday life and then use that information about their DNA to help solve their medical problems was so far-fetched, you wouldn’t have imagined it.
“Now every year I’m writing new job titles I wouldn’t have imagined would be a job last year.”
One of the larger issues facing genomics is just how complicated it can be. For every person that has their DNA sequenced, the resulting data is intimidatingly large.
“This data is huge. Your DNA is like a thousand copies of War and Peace, that’s how big it is,” Natalie says.
Interpreting the results of a test, much less storing it somewhere, can appear a near insurmountable task for most people. But that’s where Natalie comes in.
Working as Melbourne Genomics’ genomic information management lead and managing a team of experts in the field, Natalie has spent most of her time recently developing systems that allow the data to be stored safely, in a manner that is more accessible for the average pathology clinic and allowing patients to control if, when and how their DNA information is used for their care. The hope is that with a person’s genetic information more readily available and decipherable, proper healthcare will be too.
Natalie’s ultimate dream is that there will one day be a standardised data system across Australia, allowing patients and doctors to have easy access no matter where they go.
“If we use it wisely and safely and with people having the right choices we can really make a difference. Actually make a difference to people, not just theoretically,” says Natalie.
It was the second time Natalie had been nominated for the Brilliant Women in Digital Health award, and despite being unsuccessful the first she time she says her colleagues refused to let her work go unnoticed.
And though Natalie says the recognition is great for genomics coming into the public eye, she says it’s equally if not more pleasing that young girls with an interest in science can now see a clear path for their aspirations, something that Natalie says wasn’t so readily apparent when she was younger.
While Natalie always showed an interest in the sciences, on more than one occasion she says it was disappointing to hear people tell her she should look at other avenues. Her hope is that with more awards like Brilliant Women in Digital Health, that more girls will be unafraid to pursue what they love.
“What it means to make a difference to people is what can inspire and give hope to younger people, particularly younger girls when they decide what they want to do,” she says.
Another difficulty that has presented itself for Natalie has been the travelling to and from Melbourne. Living in Ellinbank with three schoolaged kids, she describes leaving early in the morning and getting home late at night as “definitely challenging.”
Although she only heads into Melbourne a couple of times a week these days, the demand for her work has meant that she’s become used to travelling all around Australia and even internationally at the drop of a hat.
“It’s certainly not a life everyone would choose,” she says with a laugh.
But while she admits to the challenges she’s had to overcome, she also says she hopes her story can provide some inspiration to others like her.”You can come from a rural area and you can go to a public high school and follow the path you’re interested in and can contribute in ways you couldn’t even imagine,” she says.
Natalie also added that though some schools have had her come in and talk to students, she’d love the chance to talk to some local kids and show them just what’s possible.
The one thing she’d change about her journey though? The people along the way who tried to put a limit on her possibilities.
“You get asked when you’re 18 ‘what are you going to do?’ or ‘what are you going to be?’ and it’s such a boring question, because no-one knows,” she says.
“So if we could take away the people who ask those questions all the time and replace that with ‘here are all the things that could be possible’ and ‘these are the different types of things that might happen in the future’ I’d love that.
“No matter what you are interested in there is a way that you can mould that or evolve that into different things that emerge out there.”