Australia is a country burdened by the tyranny of distance. AMSA represents the interests of medical students all across Australia, from those in major cities to those in small country towns and clinics. Being scattered so far and wide makes it very difficult for students to communicate with their representative body.

With such physical separation in mind, the duties of the Publications Officer become central to connecting the work of AMSA with its members. Panacea, Embolus, and the rest of the publications portfolio represent the face of this organisation to medical students. The many hours of effort AMSA puts in to represent medical students is wasted if little of it is communicated to its members. Indeed, it frightens me when my own medical student friends have no idea who or what AMSA is, and need to be reminded of those "bright, orange bags" they received on the first day of their degree. Further, without a doubt for other students, AMSA is synonymous with Convention only, and the many other projects and initiatives of AMSA remain unknown.

Hence the role of AMSA Publications to inform and entertain has never been more important – a goal which I will strive to fulfil. However, with increasing medical student numbers and hence increasing distribution and printing costs, AMSA must look to utilise other methods of publication. Online publications are an ideal method of saving costs whilst keeping information accessible, and there is a vast potential for re-inventing the format of information distribution. Content can be delivered to all medical students instantly, using interesting and interactive mediums such as short videos for lecture bashing, blogs and Flash games and features, all of which our team has the capability of creating.

I look forward to transferring my knowledge and skills to the duties of the AMSA Publications Officer. Having previously designed and created several websites from the ground up, I have the technical and creative experience required to develop and expand what AMSA can do online and off it. I want to take the standard of all AMSA publications up another notch. As a national organisation which advocates to professional bodies, the quality of design must reflect the standard of AMSA, and I hope to achieve this through strong and professional design, consistency between the various publications and mediums, and the highest quality editorship and content.

With my background in creative industries, I eagerly anticipate the challenge of taking every AMSA publication to the next level of visual appeal and interest, while creating new, exciting and efficient channels of distribution.