A Warm Welcome to Dr Harry Chow

We are pleased to welcome Dr Harry Chow, Occupational and Environmental Physician to the Red Health Network.

It’s a common sentiment, that the work an Occupational Physician does couldn’t be more varied in a given day, week, or year. The specialty name itself makes that clear, it’s not about a particular body part (orthopaedics) or developmental milestone (paediatrics) but is instead about work. And we know work differs, a lot. Dr Harry Chow, OEP, loves that about his work.

Dr Harry Chow’s wide career spans clinical practice, government, academia and corporate advisory roles. A Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, he has developed expertise in workplace injuries, return to work, worksite assessments, occupational lung disease, medical negligence and medicolegal reviews.

His current roles include advising major Australian companies (three of the biggest you can name) and working as an occupational physician in private practice. He’s previously supported workplace risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic with the Victorian Department of Health and taught at Monash University.

We had a brief discussion with Dr Chow about his career, his accomplishments, and how much pineapple, if any, belongs on a pizza.

For Dr Chow the allure of occupational medicine was allowing him to maintain the wide diagnosis skills of clinical work, while exploring the context of diagnosis in the wide and varied situations we find ourselves in for work. While this means he never quite sees the same case twice, that adaptability means it’s not a problem.

“In these unprecedented times” is a phrase you’ve heard enough of, but pulls to mind the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19. The organisational might that rallied together to minimise harm for everyday Australians is something that Dr Chow holds close as a highlight in his career. Dr Chow worked at the Victorian Department of Health during the pandemic. He was part of a team of OEPs that managed workplace COVID-19 risks and supporting safe return to work for Victorian businesses and the employees under their care.

In between juggling three corporate advisory roles, his current specialty practice, and a young child, Dr Chow doesn’t have much free time at the moment. But the beauty of that lost independence? His young child turns that into family time. His perfect dinner guests? Having dinner with his family, while enjoying a home cooked meal.

Occupational medicine attracts doctors who are comfortable with ambiguity. Unlike specialties focused on a single organ system, occupational physicians must understand the interaction between health, work, environment and function. For Dr Chow, that variety remains one of the profession’s greatest attractions.

For those with complex matters involving workplaces, including, but not limited to, some of the largest white collar Australian corporations, Dr Harry Chow can provide concise, clear, and reliable medico-legal reports.