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

• Professor Stuart Hooper from our Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology for his work on assisting infants transition at birth.
• Dr Gareth Gregory for his work on improving outcomes for patients with central nervous system lymphoma.
• Dr Jessica Biesiekierski for her work on changing the way diet is used in gut disorders.
• Associate Professor Daniel Lorber Rolnik for his work in preventing pre-eclampsia.

Ideas Grants

• Professor David Nikolic-Paterson for his work preventing hypoperfusion-induced acute kidney injury.
• Dr Shayanti Mukherjee for her work transforming treatment for pelvic organ prolapse with nanotechnology.

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.]

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. 

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.

Emerging Leaders meeting

The Sub-Fac of Clinical and Molecular Medicine held its second Emerging Leaders Meeting on 9 November.

Set up to provide professional support for members, the group comprises mid-career staff from several disciplines.

This month, Dr Kim Huynh, SCS Research Manager, gave a comprehensive update on funding, staffing, training, resources, and onsite IT access. Kim also provided Monash University statistics for recent grants and tenders. 

Karen Sims, SCS Communications Manager, spoke about the importance of having a social media presence, how to react to incoming media, and provided some handy tips on planning outgoing media.

Associate Professor Rachel Hill from the Department of Psychiatry spoke about her project stemming from a recent breakthrough in her laboratory that identified a new mutation in a gene called ARX in a patient with schizophrenia. Rachel is now working on the functional consequence of this mutation.

Facilitated by Associate Professor Jun Yang, the meeting is a pleasant way to catch up with colleagues and hear what they’re working on.

Photo: This woman is now 23. When she was six and in grade two, she persuaded her whole class to go to the school principal's office with her to report a librarian who was bullying a student. Now that's leadership!

End-of-year recruitment deadlines

From the recruitment team

We are pleased to share with you our end-of-year recruitment deadlines. You may notice that they are earlier than usual. We are delighted to share that we have support from HR leadership to set these dates so that we are not as rushed to get everything done as we usually are at this time of the year. This also recognises the tremendous work that has occurred throughout the year. There will be some flexibility for urgent requests which we will consider before progressing.

Important Recruitment dates for year-end:

• Monday 27 November - Last day to submit advertised job cards in REX
• Monday 4 December - Last day to submit non-advertised job cards in REX
• Friday 8 December - Last day for job postings
• Monday 11 December - Last day for recruitment to issue contracts

World Stroke Day 29 October

Stroke is the leading cause of disability worldwide and each year more than 12 million people have strokes. But there is hope. Up to 90 per cent of strokes are preventable and by addressing a small number of risk factors responsible for most strokes, the world can be #GreaterThan stroke. Professor Dominique Cadilhac, Co-director and Research Lead of the Stroke and Ageing Research Group, spoke with Peter Greco from Vision Australia about managing risk factors of stroke, many of which display almost immediate benefits – stopping smoking is one of them. The interview is here (November 4 edition, begins at minute 61).

Novel Pharmacological Approaches

Well done, Dr Connie Wong! Connie won a Future Leader Fellowship for her project, Identifying novel pharmacological approaches for limiting stroke-associated neuroinflammation and pneumonia. Connie said, “I express my most sincere thanks to the donors for the support of the Future Leaders Fellowship.” We have it on good authority that Connie is an excellent mentor to others in the cardiovascular community.”

Congrats and thank you, Connie.

Ruth Fantozzi completes (yet another) marathon!

The amazing Ruth Fantozzi ran her 15th Melbourne Marathon on 15 October. Executive Assistant to Peter Ebeling, Ruth has run many marathons, including in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Traralgon AND has run numerous Great Ocean Road ultra-marathons.

Congratulations Ruth! We are in awe of your endless abilities.

Ruth is sticking to half marathons from now on. Slacker.

Do I have to? Yes, it’s mandatory.

By Karen Sims

A friendly reminder for people who have not yet completed the mandatory Introduction to Cyber Security module, it is a condition of your terms of engagement.

The module covers:

• Phishing emails
• Malware
• Login credentials
• Protecting your devices
• Sharing files
• Online safety

To complete the Introduction to Cyber Security module:

1. Please click here
2. Select Launch to start the ‘Introduction to Cyber Security’ module

Here’s a tip. I allocated some time to complete the module and promised myself a big salad* when finished. Worked a treat.

For any technical issues, please contact Access HR via hr@monash.edu.

Here is the Mandatory Compliance Training Procedure.

*By salad I mean a block of chocolate, family size.

Kindness Cup of Courage

Valuable discussions took place at the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food's Voice Referendum afternoon tea on Wednesday 11 October.

The Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food kindly shared some resources: 

• The Uluru Statement from the Heart - where the call for a First Nations Voice originated in 2017. Only takes five minutes. 
• There is also a good list of Voice FAQs.
• The Voice website has resources: 
• Translated resources for languages other than English
• The Design Principles of the Voice
• The Voice Co-Design Process Report 2021 (proposed structures from a two year co-design process with First Nations Australians).
• Yes23 has a great little conversation guide. 
• AEC Disinformation Register: corrects incorrect statements about the referendum process 

Thank you to Amanda Hill and Julia McCartan for the information. 

School of Clinical Sciences Guess Who? End-of-Year Lunch

Guess what?  The moment you have been waiting for is here (umm...maybe only for some of us). It is time to clear your calendar and pencil in the date of our SCS End-of-Year party!  Our theme this year is "Guess Who?"  Come dressed as any famous iconic character (TV, movie, singer, celebrity, historical dude, etc) and let everyone guess who you are!  There will be prizes to be won for best dressed and best guess.  Peter Temple-Smith and Fabrizzio Horta from ObsGyn are (again!) signed up with their band to play live dance music. A two-course lunch will be provided with drinks to be purchased from the bar.  We hope you can join us in your best "Guess Who?" outfit and together with your SCS colleagues celebrate the end of the 2023 working year.

• Date: Monday 18 DECEMBER 2023
• Time: Noon - 3PM
• Venue: Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron ( Beach Rd opposite Cromer Rd, Beaumaris) Onsite parking available
• RSVP HERE. monash.edu login required. This event is for SCS paid staff and grad res students only