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Monday 22 August 2016

Douglas Blank from The Ritchie Centre wins Faculty's 3MT competition

Watch Dr Douglas Blank's award winning 3MT performance.

10% of all babies born worldwide require assistance to breathe in the first few minutes of life. 800,000 babies die annually from birth asphyxia. 

Douglas' study will help design and conduct two clinical trials to determine if cord clamping improves hemodynamic stability in newborn babies at birth.

WATCH DOUGLAS' VIDEO HERE.

Another excellent pass rate in the RACP clinical exam at Monash Health

(L-R) Dr Emma Lightbody, A/Prof Henry Ma, Dr Sanduni Fernando, 
A/Prof Darren Mansfield,  Dr Gina Tuch, Dr Damien Tharmaratnam
Monash Health trainee physicians, the majority being Monash University medical graduates, have achieved another excellent pass rate in the recent Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) clinical examinations with 19 out of 22 candidates passing the exam. 

Director, Physician Training at Monash Health Associate Professor Henry Ma together with Associate Professor Darren Mansfield, Consortia Director of Physician Education, believe is it the strong culture of education and training that delivers this success.
                     
“We emphasise a mutually supportive environment—we encourage trainees to support each other with the help of individually assigned mentors throughout this very difficult exam,” said Associate Professor Ma, who is also Director of Stroke Unit at Monash Health.

The comprehensive exam preparation program at Monash Health includes individually scheduled long cases, short case tutorials, a mentorship program (every candidate has a personal mentor), a linguistic workshop, sub-specialty days, mock exams, and lots of input from consultants, fellows and advanced trainees.

“We also have seven RACP national examiners at Monash Health, all of whom have extensive experience in RACP clinical examinations,” said Associate Professor Ma. 

Successful trainee and Monash University MBBS graduate Dr Sanduni Fernando said the physicians at Monash Health were integral in their preparation. 

“Not only were the physicians individually assigned to mentor us, they provided feedback for long cases, ran short case sessions almost daily, and volunteered countless after hours sessions on week nights and weekends,” said Dr Fernando.

Dr Damien Tharmaratnam also attributes the supportive atmosphere and structured education program to the remarkable success rate.

“There were a number of specialty days organised throughout the year which focussed on each specialty in detail,” said Dr Tharmaratnam, another Monash University MBBS graduate.

“The mock exams simulated the real exam very closely and helped us know what to expect on the day.  We even had a speech therapist conduct individual sessions to work on our presentation style.”

“Dr Ma is one of the most dedicated doctors I’ve come across, spending his weekends listening to long cases and staying back as late as midnight on some days to hear group long cases,” said Dr Tharmaratnam.

Dr Gina Tuch completed her medical degree and internship in Perth but decided to move to Melbourne to complete her physician training.

“It’s been a hard 18 months, but I couldn’t have had a better opportunity nor been more supported,” said Dr Tuch. 

Associate Professor Ma said he sees the physician training as a journey we travel together with the candidates.

“I would absolutely recommend physician training through Monash Health, although the results really speak for themselves,” said successful trainee Dr Emma Lightbody.

All the candidates acknowledge Associate Professor Henry Ma, Associate Professor Darren Mansfield, Dr Andy Lim, Dr Chris Daley, Dr Marcus Robertson, Mr Damian Burns, and Ms Carol Low for their organisation and commitment to the program.

SCS/Hudson PhD student wins Faculty's 3MT final competition

Dr Douglas Blank
Congratulations Dr Douglas Blank who has taken out first place in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences' 3MT finals.

A PhD candidate at the Ritchie Centre (Monash University and the Hudson Institute of Medical Research), Douglas' research focuses on umbilical cord management during neonatal resuscitation.

This is the second consecutive year a student from the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) / Hudson Institute has won the Faculty's final competition.  Last year, Zoe Marks won first place.

Douglas will compete in the university's final 3MT competition on 13 September.

Watch Douglas' award winning 3MT performance here.

Black Start at MMC / MHTP Sunday 28 August 7am - 5pm

Monash Medical Centre has scheduled a planned Code Yellow "Black Start" next Sunday 28 August 7am - 5pm.  The entire MHTP site will be affected.

Generators will provide power to all ESSENTIAL services connected to RED or BLUE coloured power points and lighting switches.  Beige power points and white coloured light switches will have no power supply.

Please ensure that your fridges and freezers are plugged into a red or blue coloured power point.

For more information please read the attached FAQs HERE

Monash Medical Orchestra's Spring Concert - The American Dream! 25 September

 
On the back of a tremendously successful Churchill Tour, "Music For the Valley", in rural Victoria, you are invited to the Monash Medical Orchestra's Spring Concert, The American Dream!

We would love to see you at the orchestra's final concert of 2016 as a full orchestra! 

Sunday September 25th, 5pm
James Tatoulis Auditorium, Methodist Ladies' College, Kew

Friends and family are most welcome to attend, and we hope to see you there!

CiiiD seminar 23 August: Dr Virginie Deswaerte and Dr Belinda Thomas

23 August, 1-2pm, seminar room 1, TRF

Dr Belinda Thomas will speak on TGFβ-mediated innate immune suppression during lung infections.

Dr Virginie Deswaerte will present a talk on the Anti-apoptotic role for the ASC inflammasome and IL-18 in gastric cancer.

Dr San Lim will chair the seminar.  

At 2-3.30pm, a special MHTP Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases event will take place.  All members of CiiiD not attending the the ICI are strongly encouraged to participate. 


EMR Grand Round Presentation “Craftsmanship in the Age of Technology: the role of Clinicians in the deployment of health information technology.” 24 August

Dr Suong Le
Presenters: Prof Eric Morand, Dr Suong Le, Dr Dhanya Menon, Dr Daniel Boulos,  A/Prof Ronnie Ptasznik
Date: Wednesday 24 August 2016
Time: 12.30pm to 1.30pm
Venue: Main Lecture Theatre, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton.

Interventional Immunology in Disease of the Neonate, 1 September

Thursday 1 September, 12-1pm, Lecture Theatre 1, Monash Medial Centre

Hudson Seminar presented by Dr Claudia Nold, , National Heart Foundation of Australia - Fellow
Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Monash University, Australia

After graduating in pharmacy at the University of the Saarland, Germany, Dr Claudia Nold was awarded a competitive three year Ph.D. Fellowship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in collaboration with the Institute of Asthma and Allergy of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. From 2006 until 2009 Dr Nold took up a Post-doctoral position in Denver Colorado, USA in the laboratory of Prof. Charles A Dinarello. During her post-doctoral fellowship Dr. C Nold’s discovery of the function of IL-37, had a major impact on the interleukin field, leading to a fundamental reorganization of the nomenclature of the IL-1 family of cytokines.
Since her recruitment to the Ritchie Centre in 2009 she has extended her immunology research into the fields of neonatology, setting up a program investigating interventional immunology in cardiopulmonary diseases of the neonate.

CASS Foundation - Medicine and Science Grants 2016

The Monash Research Office invites researchers of your Faculty to apply for the CASS Foundation Medicine & Science Grants 2016. 
These grants support research and development projects in science or medicine undertaken in Victoria. 

​This year, the ​CASS Foundation will accept applications from Monash University. As you may be aware, ​Monash ​researchers were not eligible to apply in 2015.

​CASS welcomes ‘proof of concept’ project applications. What is understood by this term is that a grant submission deals with a concept, hypothesis, postulate or the like that the Applicant hopes to prove or to validate during the proposed research project, so that further research and development on the concept/hypothesis/postulate will be indicated as worthwhile.

CASS is prepared to consider early development projects which are still short of the level of validation that might be required for, say, an NHMRC application but will not consider applications to fund surveys or questionnnaires.

Grants are worth up to AU$60,000. Projects that anticipate completion within 12 to 15 months may be given preference. 

Please note the​ MRO deadline for applications is Thursday 1 September 2016.  

MRO submission requirements and the link to the CASS Foundation website is found in Research Professional at: https://www.researchprofessional.com/funding/opportunity/248985/


For queries, please contact adm-researchgrants.contracts@monash.edu.

Patrolling monocytes promote intravascular neutrophil activation and glomerular injury in the acutely inflamed glomerulus

Michaela Finsterbusch et al. published in PNAS.

Read article here.

Epidemiology and Mortality of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia in Australian and New Zealand Children

Tony Korman, Jim Buttery et al. published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Read article here.

First evidence of a menstruating rodent: the spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus).

Nadia Bellofiore et al. published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Read article here.

Contemporary type 1 diabetes pregnancy outcomes: impact of obesity and glycaemic control

Helena Teede, Euan Wallace et al. published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Read article here.

Validation of the Lupus Impact Tracker in an Australian patient cohort

Eric Morand et al. published in Lupus.

Read article here.

The proliferative phase underpins endometrial development: Altered cytokine profiles in uterine lavage fluid of women with idiopathic infertility

Harriet Fitzgerald et al. published in Cytokine.

Read article here.

Augmenting Cognitive Behavior Therapy for School Refusal with Fluoxetine: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Glenn Melvin et al. published in Child Psychiatry & Human Development.

Read article here.