From professional diver and turtle rookery CEO to cosmetic physician and skincare formulator to space exploration commandeer and quantum biologist, Dr Gabrielle Caswell’s parallel careers have taken her on roads less travelled.
It’s an interesting question, that one, about where my interests lie,’ says Dr Gabrielle Caswell, the current president of the Aesthetic Medicine College of Australasia and previous president to the CPCA. ‘I would have to answer “just about everywhere”.’
As a postgraduate medical student, completing her MBBS in the first intake of postgraduate medicine with the University of Queensland, this was not to be her first (nor final) career.
The aim at that stage was to complete her medical degree and move into general surgical training. However, she says, the medical degree was pretty boring (epecially considering she had spent the previous 10 years as a professional diver and was keenly missing the sea, her ‘office’ for so long).
In the years before beginning medical studies at UQ, Dr Caswell had managed The Raine Island Corporation, a self-funding statutory authority established under the auspices of the Meaker Trust (Raine Island Research) Act 1981, and responsible for the world’s largest turtle rookery. Technically this made her the the youngest female CEO of a government agency. The Act taught Dr Caswell the machinations of the Westminster parliamentary system from the inside.
‘It was’, she says, ‘at the time, a revolving door of ministers, with Craig Emerson and Wayne Swan seated within the Queensland Department of Environment. It taught me about government, budgetary drawdowns, how to structure and manage researchers, and about the deep affection that people hold for the mammals and reptiles of the seas.
‘Most importantly, the experience taught me how good legislation leads to good governance with minimisation of unintended downstream consequences. I learnt the skills of preparing White Papers – skills I never thought I would deploy in medicine!’
Pioneering cosmeceuticals
After giving away surgical training, and opening her clinics in the early 2000s, Dr Caswell put her research skills to good use, starting with a focus on skin health, well before the curve. It wasn’t long until her skills as a molecular biochemist led to the creation of Eyra Care, with partner-in-formulation Dr George Marcells, after a day of bemoaning the cosmeceutical quality that was available and that any segment of the clinic market could stock the same, without discrimination.
Her solution was to create their own ranges, with the added bonus of being able to read the biochemical papers, understanding the chemistry and complete the actual formulations. Happiest, some days, just to puddle around in the laboratory, Dr Caswell extended her knowledge, looking for even more effective ingredients and skincare formulations that would help reduce sun damage and, the magic grail, reduce skin cancers.
‘A girl needs a hobby’
Dr Caswell’s undergraduate degrees all harbour triple majors. A love of archaeology and anthropology saw her finishing her BA in Egyptology in her last year of medical school.
She completed her Master of Arts (University of Wales, Trinity Saint David College) in Astroarchaoelogy and Cultural Astronomy, and then her Masters of History, due to a perceived knowledge deficiency of ancient Middle Eastern and Greek cultures. Her thesis analysed the Gemma Augestea, re-identifying the supporting cast to Emperor Augusta’s Jupiter. In her words, ‘a girl needs a hobby’.
Space: the final frontier
Bubbling in the background has been a long fascination with space and space exploration.
In her medical career Dr Caswell trained in Aviation Medicine, assessing many pilots for federal authority. She took the opportunity to leap into the space sector, and met the most welcoming NASA flight surgeons along the way.
Slowly the genesis for Space Port Australia (SPA) was born, predating the Australian Space Agency. Dr Caswell commandeered a farm paddock, and created an independent research hub. As the foundations and plans were synthesised, the pandemic hit and the project mothballed.
Fast-forward and SPA is waiting for accreditation from the EU on its postgraduate degree, and its CPD in space medicine is being championed by the AMA. Most recently SPA has been accepted for full membership by the Global Space Port Alliance, an exclusive group of active and developing space ports spanning the globe.
In 2024 Dr Caswell’s skills are being sort after for multiple joint venture partnerships, and she has been nominated for three Australian Space Awards.
Being a practitioner-scholar has suddenly becoming a rare and valuable contribution to humans in space. A cardinal paper released in 2020 smashed the metrics, and has been cited by NASA already.
Multiple peer-reviewed papers are set to follow, and an experiment has moved through first-round scrutiny with Space X.
Dr Caswell’s latest research interest has moved to quantum biology. ‘There is not a lot room for hubris in science, but never in a million light years, did my physics teacher ever think I would be capable of puddling around this garden,’ she laughs. ‘To me, it’s a marriage of molecular structural biochemistry, microgravity and quantum physics, all perfectly sensible. But regardless of what you achieve, you still need to send the elevator down, get the younger doctors thinking of aviation and then space. Get them excited about what they will have the opportunity to contribute to. I find it really interesting to lecture to post-graduate law students about medical ethics, telehealth and medical situations in space – they will be the future regulators in this tough arena.
‘Space is truly the final frontier, and I am not 100% sure humans will make it. As an aside, skin is the most reported medical complaint on the International Space Station! So, in some respects, I have come full circle. I am enjoying working with such an array of people, so talented and intelligent, and all focussed on a single purpose, each with a role to play and a contribution to make.’
Any final words? ‘Learn everything because you really don’t know when it will contribute.’
