Our Practitioners
Dr Peter Sharman
Director/Consultant Occupational Physician
MBBS FAFOEM FAICD
Dr Sharman is a fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM). He has worked in the field of occupational medicine for more than 30 years. He is passionate about making improvements to our workers compensation system to achieve better health outcomes for those unfortunate to be injured at work.
After studying medicine at the University of Adelaide, he commenced his occupational career as the on-site doctor on Hydro Tasmania’s West Coast Construction in the mid-1980’s. He went on to a managerial role in workplace health & safety with the Hydro, before branching out into rehabilitation management in his own business during the 1990’s. For the last 25 years Dr Sharman has worked as a Consultant Occupational Physician in Hobart.
For further information about Dr Sharman’s career as an occupational physician, here is a link to an article on his blog: Occupational Medicine – ‘Why Do I Do It’ !
Mark Stipic‘s programmes on RTW Nation now include two Podcast interviews with Dr Sharman:
- Complex Case Management includes a summary of his work history
- How to Communicate Effectively with GPs includes advice for rehabilitation providers about how to communicate with doctors
Dr Sharman has expertise in the management of musculoskeletal injuries and occupational diseases with a particular interest in low back pain, upper extremity pain related to use of computers, occupational respiratory disorders and the management of rehabilitation programmes. He is an experienced independent medical examiner and an accredited impairment assessor with competency to assess upper and lower limb, spinal, nervous system, ENT (including hearing), respiratory and skin impairments. He has a research interest in brachial plexus neuropathy, as a cause of upper limb pain in computer operators.
Dr Sharman is the Tasmanian Representative on AFOEM Federal Council, the AFOEM representative on the Medical Advisory Panel to the Tasmanian WorkCover Board and Secretary of theTasmanian Foundation for Occupational Medicine Inc. In the past he has convened the Tasmanian AMA’s Worker’s Compensation Subcommittee invited to join Safe Work Australia’s advisory group on GP engagement in RTW. In March 2017 he was appointed as the representative of the Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) on the Safe Work Australia National Permanent Impairment Coordinating Committee and during 2021 he represented AFOEM on the RACP Rural & Remote Physicians Working Group. He also writes a blog “Insult & Injury” about issues affecting our workers compensation systems.
Dr Louise Edwards
Registrar – Occupational & Environmental Medicine
MBBS MFM(clin) FRACGP
Dr Louise Edwards has provided medical care to many workers throughout her twenty- six years of General Practice. Her early career was in rural and regional Western Australia before following her family to Hobart in 1999. She has always been interested in the jobs that people do and the environments where their work is carried out. She enjoys working with patients and rehabilitation teams in a collaborative manner which is built on shared decision making and promotes patient self-efficacy and achievement of individual goals for wellbeing in their health and their workplace.
Alongside her General Practice role, she has worked as a provider of preemployment medicals for Defence Force Recruiting, as a medical officer for Garrison Health Services and currently provides medical services for a national occupational medicine organisation. She has additional experience in musculoskeletal medicine and psychological medicine and is currently completing the Monash University Graduate Diploma in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
She is delighted to be able to work with the team at Hobart Occupational Medicine and is looking forward to meeting the patients.
Updated April 2023