Dr Rachel Hill |
In recognition of her outstanding research, School of Clinical
Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) researcher Dr Rachel Hill received the prestigious
Aubrey Lewis Award and delivered the keynote lecture at this month’s Biological
Psychiatry Australia conference in Adelaide.
Peer reviewed by a panel of eight executives, the Award is given
to the most outstanding early-mid career researcher in the field of Biological
Psychiatry.
Dr
Hill is a senior research fellow and NHMRC career development fellow, and head
of the Behavioural Neuroscience laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry at
SCS. She is a leader in the pre-clinical
investigation of the molecular basis of schizophrenia.
“My
research programs aims to find effective treatments that address all the
symptoms of schizophrenia,” Dr Hill said.
“My
team uses pre-clinical animal models to better understand the pathophysiology
of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, so we can design and test novel
therapeutic strategies.”
Dr
Hill is currently progressing two compounds into phase 1B clinical trials: BDNF
mimetic R13 and selective estrogen receptor modulator, bazedoxifene.
“Following
10 years of extensive behavioural, cellular and molecular research on the
effects of BDNF and estrogen on learning and memory I have now transitioned
these findings to clinical application to test the effects of these compounds
on the cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia,” Dr Hill said.
These trials will be conducted at Monash Medical Center, under the
guidance of Head of Adult Psychiatry, Professor Suresh Sundram.
Dr Hill said it is very encouraging to be acknowledged nationally
by her peers with this award and, in particular, she had a number of junior
female scientists comment positively on seeing a successful female researcher
with young children.
“I am very happy to be a role model to my junior female colleagues
and this recognition significantly elevates my standing in the field of
Biological Psychiatry and has already opened several doors for both national
and international collaboration,” she said.
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