SCS staff acknowledged in recent Monash University promotions

Congratulations to all School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health  staff who were successful in the recent Monash University academic promotions round!  This round, we add one Associate Professor and two Senior Lecturers to our group.

Associate Professor Kirsten Palmer is a clinician researcher. She is a maternal fetal medicine sub-specialist and heads the Maternal Fetal Medicine unit at Monash Medical Centre, Monash Health; an incredible team of people that provide care for some of the most complex pregnancies in Victoria. She is also a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash University where she heads the Maternal and Perinatal Medicine Translational Research group. Her clinical and research interests closely align with a strong focus on improving outcomes for women and babies impacted by pregnancy complications. She has a particular focus on disorders of placentation, which lead to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. She currently leads a world-first large, multicentre clinical trial exploring the use of melatonin for fetal neuroprotection in pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction.

Find out more about Associate Professor Kirsten Palmer

Senior Lecturer Aimee Dordevic is a Registered Nutritionist with both the Nutrition Society of Australia and the Association for Nutrition (UK). She works in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics & Food, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University as a Nutrition Science Lecturer and Researcher.

Aimee began at Monash University in January 2013 as a Research Fellow investigating weight managment for adolescents after completion of her PhD at Deakin University where she studied human molecular nutrition in health and chronic disease.

Aimee's PhD titled the 'Investigation of the acute nutrigenomic response of adipose tissue' examined the effect of macronutrients on inflammatory and metabolic signalling in human serum and adipose tissue. The project involved treatment of cultured cells with different types of fatty acids as well as collection and subsequent molecular analysis of human tissue samples in the hours immediately following meals that varied in macronutrient composition.

Find out more about Dr Aimee Dordevic

Senior Lecturer Barbara R Cardoso is a nutritional biochemist with a Masters and a PhD from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and international experience attained from research appointments in Brazil and Spain. She has developed breakthrough studies that combine her skills in nutrition, clinical trials, analytical chemistry, proteomics and molecular biology to unravel the biochemistry of selenium and its implications in age-associated cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. She also has an interest in investigating the intake of nuts as a dietary strategy to slow age-associated cognitive decline.  

Dr Barbara R Cardoso is the unit coordinator for NUT3008 - Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Nutrition; and co-coordinator for the unit NUT2104 - Nutritional Biochemistry in the Nutrition Science course. 

Find out more about Dr Barbara R Cardoso

Fetal growth restriction alters brain structure in the womb

Associate Professor Suzanne Miller

For the first time Monash University and Hudson Institute researchers have shown how fetal growth restriction (FGR), a condition which may impact brain development for up to one in 10 babies, gradually worsens during pregnancy. 

Trial testing over-the-counter boost to brains of small babies

Read Dr Kirsten Palmer's interview in the Herald Sun

Over-the-counter supplement could be key to protecting babies' brains

A world-first clinical trial led by Dr Kirsten Palmer and Professor Euan Wallace from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology will see women with fetal growth restriction receive daily doses of melatonin to prevent poor neurological outcomes in babies.

Publications for week ending 24 June 2018

Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cells: another cancer therapy with potential applications in kidney disease and transplantation Richard Kitching, Julie Jaw published in Kidney International.

Effectiveness of self-management support interventions for people with comorbid diabetes and chronic kidney disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis 
Helena Teede et al. published in Systematic Reviews.

Undiagnosed maternal diaphragmatic hernia – a management dilemma

Kirsten Palmer et al. published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Uterine Artery Doppler in Screening for Preeclampsia and Fetal Growth Restriction

Daniel Rolnik et al. published in Revista brasileira de ginecologia e obstetrícia

Accurately predicting the risk of serious maternal morbidity in preterm preeclampsia Can It be done?

Kirsten Palmer, Stephen Tong published in Hypertension.

Read article here.

Early career practitioner fellowships enabling research

Dr Kirsten Palmer

Two Monash Health doctors have received Early Career Practitioner Fellowships from the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health to enable their research into cardiovascular disease and improving outcomes in complicated pregnancies.

MonashHeart Cardiology Fellow Dr Adam Brown and Monash Health Senior Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Dr Kirsten Palmer received the competitive fellowships, allowing them protected research time.

Dr Adam Brown

Dr Brown’s research investigates the physical mechanisms that underlie coronary plaque growth, which frequently causes heart attacks.

“There is increasing data to suggest that physical forces (mechanical stresses or biomechanical forces) are involved in this process, but until recently is has been impossible to estimate these forces in humans,” said Dr Brown.

“My research project aims to quantify these physical forces at baseline and see whether plaque growth can be better predicted.”

If successful, Dr Brown’s research will bring cardiologists a step towards personalised medicine, where the risk of a heart attack can be calculated for each patient in the clinic—rather than from population data, where the results may not apply to any one individual.

“This study will also provide valuable mechanistic information for future research to assess whether plaque growth can be halted (or even regressed) through manipulation of the physical environment of the plaque,” said Dr Brown.

Fellowship recipient Dr Palmer hopes to improve pregnancy outcomes for both women and their babies affected by pre-eclampsia which affects about 5% of pregnancies.

“Pre-eclampsia can cause women to develop high blood pressure and problems with a number of organs, which ultimately can require her to be delivered early in the pregnancy to reduce the risks of disability and death to the mother,” said Dr Palmer.

“This results in significant risks to the baby due to prematurity. The growth of the baby can also be affected in pre-eclampsia, increasing the risk of having a small baby.”

Dr Palmer said doctors are currently limited in their ability to predict which women will develop pre-eclampsia.

“Pre-eclampsia results from the placenta releasing factors into the mother’s bloodstream and one of these factors, known as sFLT-1 e15a, is only made by the placenta.”

“We have shown that sFLT-1 e15a is greatly increased in the blood of women who have pre-eclampsia,” said Dr Palmer.

“The goal of my research is to explore whether we can use this placental specific pre-eclamptic factor to either predict which women will develop pre-eclampsia or more accurately diagnose those women with pre-eclampsia earlier in the disease process.”

Both Dr Palmer and Dr Brown said they are incredibly honoured to receive their fellowships from SCS and are grateful to have protected research time to enable their research.