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SCS research and awards news

For all our research and awards news, please visit our news page.

Thursday 7 March 2024

Welcoming Wendy Wei, Budgeting and Reporting Accountant

Posted on behalf of Amanda McFarlane, Manager, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

Please join me in welcoming Wendy Wei, our new Budgeting and Reporting Accountant.  

Wendy has extensive background in financial management with over 15 years of experience across the private sector and higher education. Prior to joining the Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Science, Wendy worked in the Financial Operations team at Monash University in central finance supporting staff and students with reimbursements, managing credit cards and all other payment services. 

Wendy's primary responsibility is to provide support to the school across all aspects of our finance function to include payments, expense approvals, invoicing, fund transfers, reimbursements and management accounting services (budgeting and forecasting).  Wendy is a full time staff member.

Please kindly note that moving forward, Finance Manager Mus Ahmed and Wendy will be contactable via the newly established role accountscs-finance@monash.edu.   This shared email will ensure business continuity and retain valuable IP moving forward.

In the meantime, if you see Wendy around the grounds, please say hello. 

Welcome - New SCS School Manager - Amanda McFarlane

Posted on behalf of Professor Peter Ebeling AO, Head, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

I am delighted to announce that after an extensive search, Ms. Amanda McFarlane has been appointed as SCS School Manager, effective 26 February 2024

Amanda brings with her more than 25 years of expertise across the higher education, public and private sectors. 

Amanda is committed to achieving optimal levels of service delivery through system and process enhancements that strengthen governance and promote alignment between strategic and operational initiatives. 

She has management and leadership experience in the higher education sector, with 11 years at Monash University and nearly two years at RMIT University where she was the Manager, Planning and Operations within the School of Management, College of Business & Law and was the key point of contact for all operational, financial and pedagogical-related administrative queries for 200 academic staff and led a team of 5 professional staff. 

Prior to Amanda's role at RMIT University, at Monash University she gained extensive experience in HR as a Business Partner, worked in eSolutions as an Innovation Project Manager, with the final role as Operations Manager within the Monash Business School. During her time at Monash, she spearheaded a substantial change to the service delivery model within Monash Business School in response to a significant faculty restructuring. Her solution involved re-evaluating the service delivery model, which resulted in an extensive uplift in skills across the team, supporting the academic departments.

Between Amanda's two higher education roles, she worked in the Strategic Transformation and Delivery Command at Victoria Police as a Continuous Improvement Lead. There she initiated and delivered an Investment Logic Map at the program level as part of a holistic transformation project plan for the Command. Her most significant achievement in this role was the development and delivery of a five-year transformation strategy paper for the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police. 

I am certain Amanda will be in touch and get to know everyone as she settles into her new role as SCS School Manager.

Please make her feel welcome here at SCS!

Thursday 15 February 2024

Call to update Honours and Graduate Research projects for 2025

It is that time of year when we ask you to update your projects in Supervisor Connect, ahead of our BMedSc(Hons) and Hons/PhD recruitment season which begins in May. Supervisor Connect is our primary Higher Degree by Research (HDR) recruitment tool.

Supervisor Connect is our primary tool for Honours and Higher Degree by Research (HDR) recruitment.

All projects in Supervisor Connect have now been unpublished so we don’t advertise outdated projects.

Please update the projects by Friday 29 March 2024.

The first step is to update your Pure profile (using the links below for reference).

The second step is to update your projects in Supervisor Connect by Friday 29 March 2024. For instructions on how to update, publish and/or create projects please refer to the Supervisor Connect Handbook.

For further information, please contact Vithya Premkumar on vithya.premkumar@monash.edu.

We need your help again!

We are close to undertaking training sessions for our new Master of Clinical Embryology (MCE) students (all 42 of them!) assessing semen parameters in human sperm.  In order to provide a good training experience, we are seeking a number of sperm donors for set dates (between 13-26 March). 

If you are able to help us by donating, or recruiting donations from partners/friends/family, it would be greatly appreciated. As part of this, you will receive a free basic semen analysis assessment (if you would like one), and also a $20 Coles voucher for each donation . 

Please complete the Semen Sample Donation for Andrology pracs form and choose the date(s) you can donate. You can donate once, twice or even 3 times but best to leave a 3 day gap between samples. Please make your selection at the bottom of the form (most days we need 5 samples!).

For any questions that are not clear in the form, please email Sally Catt, MCE course Coordinator (sally.catt@monash.edu).

Once the form is submitted, Sally  will be in touch with you early march to coordinate.


Thursday 18 January 2024

Minister's visit to SCS

In his capacity as Minister for Medical Research, Deputy Premier, the Honourable Ben Carroll visited our labs and met with several leading scientists and clinician-scientists. Hosted by Professor Eric Morand, Dean Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Minister Carroll learned of our translational research and its subsequent clinical impact. He referred to us as a ‘mini-Stanford’ – which we are. We look forward to future visits where we can showcase more of our work. 

Monash Staff Zoom Start Of Year Checklist

Did you know that Monash has hosted over 2 Million meetings via Zoom last year? that's a lot of minutes, it also means there are many recordings.

To meet the university’s increased Zoom storage needs as usage of the platform grows, Monash will implement a 12-month retention limit for Staff Zoom recordings starting on Feb 5th, 2024. Consequently, Zoom recordings older than 12 months will be permanently removed.

What do you need to do?

Please transfer recordings older than 12 months to a suitable storage location before 5th February 2024.

Additionally, please be aware that in the future, all Zoom recordings older than 12 months will be subject to automatic deletion. We also urge you to delete any recordings from your profile that are no longer required. If you need to keep recordings, please refer to this guide for alternative digital storage options.

To review and take action on your Zoom recording, please log in to your Zoom account, and go to the Recordings page.

If you need extra help, please refer to the instructions on how to manage your Zoom recordings

If you require any further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us via the IT Service Request Portal

Au Revoir Christine

Sadly, this week saw the departure of SCS School Manager, Dr Christine De Nardo, who next month moves to the Olivia Newton John Wellness & Research Centre as Chief Operating Officer.

In a very eventful 15 months in the role here Christine has worked with endless energy and positivity to improve all things SCS. Christine has excellent leadership skills, brilliant strategic skills and can run in heels. We will miss Christine enormously and know she will blitz at Olivia Newton John.

Monday 8 January 2024

Inspiring STEM students in upper primary school - we need you!

The STEMpal program is looking for scientists at any level to join a pen pal program that pairs Grade 5-6 students with 'their own' scientist for an exchange of three letters throughout the school year. Dr Kate Scull from the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash University has been involved and says. “It's wonderful to have such a personal impact on a student's understanding of science, as well as literacy and numeracy. The program is looking to recruit over 500 scientists by February. 

See brochure.

Tuesday 19 December 2023

Improving stroke care nationally

A new report across six states and territories shows data from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (AuSCR) is improving clinical outcomes for patients with stroke. The registry encompasses a range of targets in line with international best practice. Professor Dominique Cadilhac, custodian of the Registry said, “These targets are designed to improve access to life-saving stroke care in Australia, by 2030, including in remote and rural areas.”

One such target is to treat people eligible for clot-busting treatments within 60 minutes of arrival to hospital. The data shows that in 2022 only five of the 61 Australian participating hospitals were able to meet the target with at least half of their patients. However, two leading hospitals achieved marked improvements over a short period of time.

The registry plays a vital role in monitoring progress, and the researchers involved use the data to lobby governments and support hospitals to improve their stroke care.

Keep up the good work, Dominique and team.

NHMRC grant announcements

Several SCS staff were awarded National Health and Medical Research Council grants. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Investigator Grants

Ideas Grants

Pictured: L-R: Top row - Jessica Biesiekierski, Gareth Gregory, Stuart Hooper Bottom row - Shayanti Mukherjee, David Nikolic-Paterson, Daniel Lorber Rolnik

See here for a full list list of Investigator grants winners.

See here for a full list of Ideas grants winners.

SCS end of year party rocks. And rolls.

There was a plethora of celebrities and characters in attendance at the end of year party. Food and ambience were great and our in-house band were superb. Thanks to Jin Graham for her tireless hard work as party planner extraordinaire. 










Stellar Student

Final year PhD student, Brendan Gillespie, is the first author of a paper accepted in Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews.

This is a systematic review of the impact of maternal infection during pregnancy on the developing inhibitory (GABAergic) neurons of the infant. 

Brendan is a translational and clinical researcher working under the supervision of Rachel Hill and Suresh Sundram in the Department of Psychiatry, Brendan’s research is focused on understanding how infections in pregnancy impact early brain development and contributes to the development of autism and schizophrenia later in life. Brendan has performed a variety of behavioural assessments in rodents considered relevant to both conditions, and has attempted to link these behavioural changes to differences within the brain using a range of biochemical techniques.  

Great job, Brendan!


Tan, Coffee - Coffee Tan

Join a SCS walk around the Tan on Saturday 30 December at 11am. Meet at Oak Lawn Gate (AKA Entrance F) on Birdwood Avenue for a walk around the Tan and perhaps a coffee and a bite afterwards. Any queries, contact Karen Sims, Communications Manager, on 0438 310 866. [Caveat: it’s a no go if heavy rain is forecasted.]

Monday 18 December 2023

Tools of the Trade

Prof Melissa Southey
Professor Melissa Southey is to receive $50,000 from NHMRC Equipment Grant funding to go towards purchasing a TubeWriter 400, which is a full-feature labelling system for printing on curved surfaces, including tubes, vials, slides, plates, and custom labware. The TubeWriter 400 is used in labs all over the world, including in police investigations.  

Dr Sarah Marshall

Dr Sarah Marshall is also to receive $50,000 from NHMRC Equipment Grant funding. Sarah will purchase a wire myograph, which is the gold standard in measuring the function of isolated blood vessels with high precision and sensitivity. The equipment is extremely versatile and allows for the investigation of endothelial and smooth muscle mediated constriction and relaxation. Sarah said, “I will use the myograph to investigate the vascular dysfunction underpinning common pregnancy disorders including preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, and use it to assess potential therapeutics to protect and improve blood vessel function.”

Congratulations Melissa and Sarah. 

Thursday 7 December 2023

SCS excellence recognised in Vice-Chancellor’s Awards 2023

Three SCS staff have been recognised for their excellence in the 2023 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards.

Dr Nicola Rivers was awarded Vice-Chancellor's Education Excellence Award for her Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (Early Career Researcher).

Read more about Dr Rivers’s work

Dr Liza Barbour and her team were awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Award for Community Education Programs for their Little Food Festival work.

Read more about the team’s work

Professor Katrina Williams, along with Professor Mark Bellgrove, won the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research Engagement and Impact for their Development of Australia’s first NHMRC-approved evidence-based clinical practice guideline for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Read more about the guideline

See list of all recipients in the Faculty.



Getting their scrubs ready

Congratulations to the 2023 Graduating Year 5D MD students as they finish their student life and head off to their intern programs. This graduating cohort had many challenges along the way, including the restrictions to their placements during the Covid years, but have proven themselves to be resilient and focussed on their journey to being a doctor, and we wish them all well as they continue on the next steps in their careers. The students were asked to wear fascinators for this photo and unfortunately only one complied. 

Well done Sue

Medical student, Sue Liu won the Medical Student Prize in the 2023 Victorian Scientific Research Awards. Sue said, “It is an honour to receive this award for my work with Dr Maurizio Pacilli, Associate Professor Ram Nataraja and the wonderful support of the nursing team. Many of the parents and patients were extremely excited about the technology and I hope to see this in practice in the future.”

Throw it on the floor – but then pick it up

The mice at Monash desperately need toilet rolls – not toilet paper – toilet rolls. They need cardboard to rest on and play with, and used toilet rolls are perfect. Please bring all your finished toilet rolls to the level 5 kitchen in Block E and put them in the box near the door. The rolls must not have any glue or paper on them. It makes the mice sick. Thanks in advance.

Sub-Faculty meeting

Inaugural Dean of the Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Medicine (SF-CaMM), Professor Eric Morand, spoke at the first hybrid meeting of the Sub-Faculty after a catered lunch on 1 December.

Eric spoke of the opportunities available by being a sub-faculty and showed graphical representation of SF-CaMM’s vast breadth and depth. Eric also presented the results of the recent online survey and highlighted avenues for improvement in how we interact and operate as a united front. The critical point was made that if you have something to say about the sub-faculty, you are welcome to say it to Eric. Get on it!


More photos from the meeting:





Front of mind – Developmental Regression

Developmental regression experts, Professor Katrina Williams and Dr Kirsten Furley assisted in the preparation of this article for The Australian Parenting Website. raisingchildren.net.au.

The article explains in simple terms how developmental regression is defined and identified.

Read the article.