2016 Year 3 MBBS wrap-up

School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health
 2016 Year 3 MBBS Group Leaders

By Nicola Abel, Curriculum Implementation, SCS

Friday 4^th November saw the final day of studies for the 2016 cohort of Year 3 MBBS students.   It’s a long and challenging year for these students as they transition from campus-based learner to clinical life and begin the transformation from student to young doctor. 

The School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health sends its warmest congratulations and best wishes to the class of 2016, and looks forward to great exam results across the School.   

In particular we’d like to acknowledge the following prize winners:

·         Michelle Leech Academic Excellence Award:  David Liu

·         Shaun Summers Y3 Award: Jennifer Wang

·         Academic Excellence Staff Award:  Debbie Siew, Sam Schlegel

·         Clinical Skills Award:  Sabrina Yeh (MMC),  Anh Truong (Dandenong) and Michael Cahill (Casey)

The home-based learning offered in Year 3 ensures friendships are made and cemented throughout the year, and for many students lifelong friendships are created during Year 3.  They now all have well-deserved breaks over the summer, and then back again next February to begin Year 4. 

Take a look at these faces.  Within a few short years they will be your PhD candidates, your interns, and your colleagues.

Leadership training opportunity for SCS Women in senior academic and staff positions

Do you aspire to a leadership position but not sure what it entails? The Women’s Leadership Shadowing Program at MHTP prepares and encourages women working in senior academic medicine for leadership roles.

The Women’s Leadership Shadowing Program at MHTP will:

• ·         elevate your profile with senior University management staff
• ·         allow you to observe different management and meeting styles
• ·      enable you to become familiar with the range of tasks in which the SCS leadership team members engage
• ·      provide you with a group of female staff who have knowledge of key leadership positions and who are motivated to seek leadership roles

Mirroring the Monash University program for senior women, those considered eligible for the Women’s Leadership Shadowing Program at MHTP are at or beyond a senior lecturer/mid-career researcher level.

Interested applicants are asked to provide evidence of current leadership, leadership potential and career goals in a single pdf document consisting of a 1 page cover letter and a 2-3 page curriculum vitae. This will enable leaders and shadows to be suitably matched by senior members of the SCS Women in Medicine and Science Working Group. 

Specific leaders may be requested, but pairings are not guaranteed.

Closing date for applications: 30^th November 2016.

Send applications addressed to: SCS WIMS Working Group to: Jinleng.graham@monash.edu.

CID and CiiiD joint seminar: CXCR5(+) follicular cytotoxic T cells control viral infection in B cell follicles, Tues 22 November

12 - 1pm, 22 November, Seminar Room 1, Level 2, TRF Building

Presented by Dr Di Yu

Head of Laboratory for Molecular Immunomodulation

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

and Department of Medicine, Monash University

Dr. Yu and his team are investigating the molecular mechanisms of T cells that regulate the competence and the balance of immune responses, with the aim to design new strategies to modulate the immune system to treat autoimmune disease, infection and cancer. His research is published in journals including Nature, Nature Immunology, Nature Medicine and Immunity. He is a recipient of the New Investigator Award from the Australasian Society for Immunology, and the International Research Award from the Australian Society for Medical Research, and the Excellence Award from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

During unresolved infections, some viruses escape immunological control and establish a persistent reservoir in certain cell types, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which persists in follicular helper T cells (TFH cells), and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which persists in B cells. Here we identified a specialized group of cytotoxic T cells (TC cells) that expressed the chemokine receptor CXCR5, selectively entered B cell follicles and eradicated infected TFH cells and B cells. The differentiation of these cells, which we have called ‘follicular cytotoxic T cells (TFC cells), required the transcription factors Bcl6, E2A and TCF-1 but was inhibited by the transcriptional regulators Blimp1, Id2 and Id3. Blimp1 and E2A directly regulated Cxcr5 expression and, together with Bcl6 and TCF-1, formed a transcriptional circuit that guided TFC cell development. The identification of TFC cells has far-reaching implications for the development of strategies to control infections that target B cells and TFH cells and to treat B cell–derived malignancies.

A light lunch is served prior to the seminar at 11:45am in the seminar room foyer, level 2, TRF Building.

Further information, including the link to add the seminar series to your google calendar, is available from CID Weekly Seminar Series website [http://www.med.monash.edu.au/scs/medicine/cid/seminar-series.html]

Seminar Postponed: Applying for US Federal Funding - 24 November 2016

The MRO Seminar - Applying for US Federal Funding on 24 November 2016 has been postponed to 2017 due to the unavailability of a suitable venue with video conferencing facilities.

At this stage, MRO plans to have the seminar rescheduled in the first half of 2017.  An update will be circulated as soon as arrangements are in place.

PhD Confirmation of Candidature, Lydia Cvejic, 23 Nov

Staff and students are invited to Lydia Cvejic's PhD Confirmation of Candidature, Wednesday 23 November, 2pm-3pm

Level 2 Lecture Theatre 3, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton

Description: Aspiration during swallowing in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): prevalence and association with disease outcomes. The aim of my PhD is to determine if there is an increased prevalence of aspiration during liquid swallows and if there are adverse respiratory outcomes associated with aspiration in COPD.

Supervisors: Prof Philip Bardin and Dr Paul King; Panel chair: Prof Richard Kitching; Independent assessors: Dr Alistair Miller (Monash Health, Monash University) and Dr Christopher Worsnop (Austin Health, University of Melbourne).

MHTP technical seminar: A data driven approach to research in the precision medicine era, 2 Dec

Friday 2nd December 10-11am, TRF Building, Level 2, Seminar Room 2

Presenter: Professor Jack London
Thomas Jefferson University and Sidney KimmellCancer Center

Jack London, PhD, is a Research Professor of Cancer Biology at Thomas Jefferson University, and Informatics Director at Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center.He has been engaged for over 40 years in biomedical informatics research in the domains of bioinformatics, medical informatics, and health care information technology. This work has encompassed: computer simulation of biochemical systems, radiology image archiving and communications systems (PACS), hospital information, clinical trials management and telemedicine systems, and tissue banking applications. His focus in recent years has been on pathology and research data analytics (warehouse, data mining). A current project integrates clinical, biospecimen, genomic, and cancer registry data to support researchers in hypothesis generation and cohort definition, including predicting patient accrual to proposed clinical trials. He has served on a number of NIH study sections, and is a member of the i2b2 Foundation board of advisors and the Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers (CI4CC) organization leadership.

Enquiries: Vivien.Vasic@hudson.org.au

FMNHS LabArchives Competition - Win an Apple iPad!

What do I have to do?

Submit a creative poster on some cool future development to the LabArchives platform that you would like to see implemented in 2017! 

Possible developments may include:

·  Potential integrations (i.e., systems, platforms)

·  Inventive Widgets

·  Solutions for better efficiency

·  Important problems/bugs that require work

·  Possible solutions to any issues

·  New features

Eligibility

·  You must be an active LabArchives User (at least 2 months)

·  You must be a current graduate research student within FMNHS

Poster specifications

·  A2 size

·  Can be portrait or landscape

·  Readable font style and size

·  Relevant pictures/diagrams/designs are welcome

·  Final poster must be submitted in PDF format

Closing date

Wednesday 21 December 2016, 11:55pm

Email your poster in PDF format to jackie.how@monash.edu

The winner will be announced at the end of January 2017!

If you have any queries, please email jackie.how@monash.edu.

Charity fundraiser gig featuring Dr Jim Harris, 26 November

Come and hear our very own Jim Harris (Chief Investigator, Lupus and Arthritis Research Group and drummer in 70s/80s cover band, Rustbucket).

Jim's band is also playing at the Bell Tavern, Belgrave on Saturday 26 November, 9pm-midnight.

Participants sought: chlorhexidine allergy survey

Dr Sara Barnes (in conjunction with Infection


Control and Deakin Nursing) is conducting 


a study on chlorhexidine allergy in 


clinical and non-clinical health care 


workers to try and ascertain the true 


sensitisation rate. 



All staff at Monash Health Translation Precinct are invited 

to participate.   


The 10 minute survey link is HERE.  

Electrical testing and tagging

Electrical contractors have begun annual testing and tagging across the Hudson and SCS buildings, and will continue for the next several weeks. 

Please accommodate them as far as possible and ensure your work areas are safe and accessible.

If you have any issues please contact clare.westhorpe@monash.edu

Kawasaki disease and immunisation: Standardised case definition & guidelines for data collection, analysis

Jim Buttery, David Burgner et al. published in Vaccine.

Read article here.

Nurse-Led Intervention to Improve Knowledge of Medications in Survivors of Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Amanda Thrift et al. published in Frontiers in Neurology.

Read article here.

Incidence and predictors of permanent pacemaker implantation following treatment with the repositionable Lotus™ transcatheter aortic valve

Sarah Zaman et al. published in Catheterization & Cardiovascular Interventions.

Read article here.

Maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D is inversely correlated with fetal serotonin

Padma Murthi et al. published in Clinical Endocrinology.

Read article here.

Utility of SUVmax on 18 F-FDG PET in detecting cervical nodal metastases.

Elizabeth Sigston et al. published in Cancer Imaging.

Read article here.

Intravascular ultrasound guidance improves clinical outcomes during implantation of both first and second-generation drug-eluting stents: a meta-analysis.

Jim Cameron, Ian Meredith et al. published in EuroIntervention.

Read article here.

Frequency and predictors of the lupus low disease activity state in a multi-national and multi-ethnic cohort

Vera Golder et al. published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Read article here.

Translation and cultural adaptation of the Shame and Stigma Scale (SSS) into Portuguese (Brazil) to evaluate patients with head and neck cancer

David Kissane et al. published in the Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology.

Read article here.

Intensive vs Standard Blood Pressure Control for Older Adults

Christopher Karayiannis, Thanh Phan et al. published in JAMA. 

Read article here.

Effect of body position and ventilation on umbilical artery and venous blood flows during delayed umbilical cord clamping in preterm lambs

Stuart Hooper et al. published in ADC Fetal & Neonatal edition

Read article here.