SCS staff receive Dean's Awards for Excellence 2024

The 2024 Dean's Awards for Excellence were announced recently and SCS is delighted to report that ten staff members, (including 3 individual and 7 team awards) have been recognised for their outstanding achievement within the Faculty.

Individual awards

Prof Ram Nataraja

Professor Ram Nataraja: Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research: Enterprise and/or Commercialisation

Professor Ram Nataraja is an academic paediatric surgeon in the Department of Paediatrics in the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health. He is also the Director of Monash Children’s Hospital Simulation Centre and in this role has built the unit to be a self-sustainable model with an increasing portfolio of virtual national and international courses. He is a pioneer in minimally invasive surgery in children and surgical simulation and also designed the first validated paediatric surgical bench trainer model in 2002. He continues to use innovation and incorporation of novel and emerging technology to increase the impact of education. He has an educational and clinical research background with more than 120 peer-reviewed publications. He is also passionate about educational reform in low and middle-income countries, having led various programs in countries including Myanmar, Fiji, Samoa, and Papua New Guinea, including the innovative PIVOTS program.

"It's a great honour to receive this award from the Dean acknowledging the work we have been doing in the Pacific Islands. None of this would have been possible without the excellent team at Monash Children’s Simulation! There is so much great work happening at the SCS and it’s a pleasure to work with all of you!", said Professor Nataraja.

Associate Professor Megan Wallace: Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education: Educational Leadership

Associate Professor Megan Wallace is a teaching and research academic with a diverse suite of senior educational leadership roles. In those roles, she is leading educational changes in undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education. Associate Professor Wallace has played a pivotal role in developing and introducing the largest new component in the MD degree required for accreditation by the Australian Medical Council. She also coordinates the BMedSc(Hons) degree and an undergraduate research-focused unit BME3082, instilling a passion and enthusiasm for medical research in her students. She is also responsible for developing a highly successful suite of short courses for health professionals, leading continual professional development activities for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In these roles, Associate Professor Wallace plays a key role in driving the vital intersection between teaching and research in the faculty, training and mentoring junior scientists and clinician scientists, promoting evidence-based medicine, and increasing the base of research-active clinicians in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

"I am extremely honoured to receive the Dean's Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership. The success of the programs that I lead can be very much attributed to the inspirational and hardworking education teams who ensure that each of our programs are engaging, relevant and have a positive impact on student learning and outcomes", said Associate Professor Wallace.

Dr Kathryn Connelly: Dean’s Award for Doctoral Thesis Excellence 2023 -  Faculty Industry Engagement Award

Dr Kathryn Connelly was recognised for her PhD thesis entitled Towards a Novel Treatment Response Measure for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus under the supervision of Professor Eric Morand, Associate Professor Vera Golder and Dr Rangi Kandane-Rathnayake, in the  School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health.

"This award acknowledges the work of a large and diverse team from across the globe - we thank the University for recognising the value of industry engagement working towards a common goal of improving patient outcomes", said Dr Connelly.

Team awards

L-R: Dr Phyllis Chua, Kaylene Hanlon, Dr Meaghan Christian, 

Dr Peta Tehan, A/Prof Janeane Dart

Dr Phyllis Chua, Kaylene Hanlon, Dr Meaghan Christian, Dr Peta Tehan, Associate Professor Janeane Dart: Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education: Industry Education Programs - TEAM Undergraduate Certificates (Together Educating & Advocating Matters)

The team established the Undergraduate Certificates of Mental Health, Aged Care Health Essentials and Health Care Essentials, enrolling more than 2500 students These innovative courses respond to industry needs, include co-design with industry, consumers and carers, cross-faculty teaching teams, and diverse student groups and have received excellent feedback.

Associate Professor Kiri Beilby and Dr Nicola Rivers: Dean’s Award for Excellence In Education: Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning

The COVID-19 lockdowns in Melbourne resulted in a significant reduction in student motivation and engagement as measured through student evaluations (SETU) and attendance in a cohort of postgraduate science students within the Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Medicine. These issues not only persisted but worsened in the two years following, long after public health restrictions were lifted and as the cost of living crisis began to rise. To address the problem, an in-depth evaluation of student experience was conducted through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), resulting in a list of recommendations that were implemented and shown to improve student motivation through SETU metrics.

SF-CaMM Professional Development unit: Who Cares About Your Research? - Involving Consumers to Enhance Your Research Outcomes

Is your research aimed at developing novel therapies for a debilitating disease?

If so, have you involved any consumers in planning or promoting your research?

Engaging consumers - such as patients, carers, families – is increasingly recognised as essential to producing high quality, clinically relevant research.  Specifically, involving consumers in research planning and reporting helps to identify and prioritise the issues that matter most to them. This collaboration can also accelerate the translation of research findings into clinical practice and ensure that the investment of money and resources in the research have a direct benefit or impact on the people you most want to help.

“Who Cares About your Research? - Involving Consumers to Enhance Your Research Outcomes” is an informative and interactive Professional Development (PD) unit which will equip students with effective strategies to identify and engage with patient consumer groups relevant to their research topic. 

At the end of the PD unit, the students will be able to: 

• develop strategies to identify and engage with patients or advocates for their research. 
• communicate effectively with patients or advocates about their research. 
• promote themselves and their research effectively to a range of audiences.

Details

• Part 1*: In-person workshop (Seminar / Q&A)
• Wednesday 16 October 3:00 - 5:00pm, TRF (Block R) Level 2, Seminar Room 3
• Credit hours: 2 hrs
• Part 2**: Consumer Engagement. Contact and engage your relevant patient communities utilising the communication strategies acquired in Part 1
• Between 17 October and 6 November (includes 1hr zoom information session. Date/time to be advised)
• Credit hours: 3 hrs
• Part 3***: Written report (2 pages). Detail your experience in engagement with the patient community relevant to your research.
• Due by Wednesday 13 November 5:00pm
• Credit hours: 2 hrs
• Registration link Please register your attendance, by 5:00pm Friday 27 September (Limit 30 attendees)

For any questions, please contact Dr Joohyung Lee (joohyung.lee1@monash.edu) 

*Part 1 

Part 1 consists of a 2-hr seminar/Q&A workshop which will introduce the audience to an existing and highly effective collaboration between a research scientist and two patient advocates in the field of Ovarian Cancer. Each ~20 min seminar presentation (details below) will be followed by a 15 min Q&A.  

1. A/Prof Simon Chu (Head, Hormone Cancer Therapeutics, Hudson Institute) is an experienced medical researcher who has established a strong collaborative network with a community of ovarian cancer survivors. Simon will describe how engaging the ovarian cancer community – via social media platforms or participating in organised fundraisers – has enhanced his research outcomes.
2. Claire Reaburn, who was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer over 12 years ago, is an active patient advocate. Claire and husband Peter are active in raising research funding for Rare Ovarian Cancers through fundraising events such as Ride for Research.
3. Tasha Amour, whose daughter is a rare ovarian cancer survivor, is the founder and CEO of the charity foundation called Rare Ovarian Cancer Inc (ROC Inc). This not-for-profit foundation initiated the world’s first systematic research for juvenile granulosa cell tumour by partnering with A/Prof Chu’s research group at the Hudson Institute.

N.B. Part 1 is open to ALL SFCaMM HDR students

**Part 2 

Part 2 (3-hrs) requires the students to identify and engage with patient consumer groups relevant to their own research goals using a variety of communication strategies acquired from Part 1.  This could include email, Google, or social media to contact and engage relevant patient advocate, hospital, and professional communities. Students will get a chance to provide and receive interactive feedback on their initial engagement via a 1hr zoom session mediated by the convenors. 

***Part 3

In Part 3, (2-hrs) each student will create a written report (~2 pages) that details their pathway of engagement with the patient community relevant to their research.  In particular, the report should identify:

• their research consumers,
• strategies they found to be effective and/or ineffective for engaging consumers,
• outcomes achieved due to this activity.

Operational changes relating to casual and sessional staff engagements

Please find below,  additional details on the operational changes relating to casual and sessional staff engagements (effective from midday, Monday 2 September). that are implemented in response to the Federal Government’s Closing Loopholes legislation. These changes were initially outlined in the email from Chief People Officer, Anna Phillips on Monday 12 August.

For further information, please contact Amanda McFarlane, Manager, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (amanda.mcfarlane@monash.edu) in the first instance.

New engagements

New Sessional, Casual Academic Research Assistants, or Casual Professional staff members can be engaged through the improved ‘New Casual or Sessional Request’ form via REX. Once assessed and endorsed, the request details will be used to generate a Terms of Engagement. An Offer of Work will accompany the Terms of Engagement for Sessional and Casual Academic Research Assistants.

Sessional and Casual Academic Research Assistants engaged before 26 August 2024

A ‘New Casual or Sessional Request’ form should be submitted via REX for existing staff if substantially new work is allocated (i.e. new unit/s and/or a new teaching period). 

Processing of renewals via CEM

Sessional, Casual Academic Research Assistants or Casual Professional staff can continue to be renewed via CEM.

If the renewal is for a Sessional or Casual Academic Research Assistant staff member, the supervisor and business administrator will be prompted to complete a New Offer of Work Request form. A new Terms of Engagement and Offer of Work will then be issued.

Sessional staff and Casual Academic Research Assistants must not undertake any work for the University until they have accepted both the Terms of Engagement and an Offer of Work.

Resources 

The following resources are available to support the engagement and management of Casual and Sessional staff:

• Guide to the Key Operational Changes
• Step-by-step instructions for submission of New Requests in REX
• Casual and Sessional Employment Intranet site
• Casual and Sessional Appointment Procedure

We appreciate your attention to these updates and your cooperation in implementing these changes. 

SF-CaMM Career Development Workshop

“Employability after the PhD bubble: The skills that really matter and how to prepare for the journey”

• Date/Time: Tuesday 6 August 3:00 - 5:00pm
• Delivery mode: In-person (limit 30 attendees)
• Venue: 5-5SS08-Surgery Seminar Room , Level 5, Block E, Monash Medical Centre
• Registration link

Are you worried about getting a job post PhD? Are you unsure how to set yourself up well for the field that you want to work in?

While PhD students are highly qualified and well-versed in their field of research, it is not uncommon for them to struggle to articulate the employability aspects of their skills and qualifications. They can also be so focussed on completing their research that they forget to strategically enhance their employability throughout the PhD journey.

This highly interactive in-person workshop (2hr) will be delivered by Dr Merran Blair, a Lecturer in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food at Monash University, whose research focusses on graduate employability.

Dr Blair will guide students through a process of understanding the key attributes and skills that enhance an individual’s employability, how to develop these and how to articulate them to potential employers. 

If you are a student early in your candidature, you are especially encouraged to attend this Masterclass, as the knowledge gained can be utilised and expanded upon during your studies (building networks, etc). 

Seminar contents

By the end of the workshop, the participants will be able to:

• identify potential career goals (e.g. academia, industry, government)
• identify employability skills that need to be developed during the PhD journey
• understand the key employability skills sought by employers 
• have a plan for how to enhance employability during the PhD journey

Students will be invited to work in small groups throughout the session for discussion of their future career plans and unique employability skills. 

Contact 

• Dr. Joohyung Lee & SF-CaMM graduate research team
• Phone:  Dr Joohyung Lee +61 431 749 005
• Email: joohyung.lee1@monash.edu or sf-camm.gradresearch@monash.edu

Welcome to SCS, Dr Anna Chen

Posted on behalf of Amanda McFarlane, Manager, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

Please join me in welcoming Dr Anna Chen (Lead Strategy and Retainers at TrialScreen) who will be assisting with SCS Communications and Social Media. Anna is an experienced science communicator, with specialist knowledge of biomedical research and clinical trials. She has worked with clients from across the local innovation sector, including university departments and research institutes, professional and industry bodies, and biotech companies both big and small. Anna completed her PhD in cancer cell biology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and received her Masters in Global Media Communications from the University of Melbourne.

Anna can be contacted on Anna.Chen1@monash.edu (Preferred contact times: 8.30am - 5pm Monday to Thursday)

SF-CaMM Professional Development (online) Seminar - Introduction to Pivot-RP - A Comprehensive Database for Grant and Scholarship Opportunities

Pivot RP, which has replaced Research Professional since April 2024, is a comprehensive database of grant funding and scholarship opportunities from Australia and overseas. Hosted by the SF-CaMM graduate research team and delivered by Dr Mai Sarraj and Liz Skuza from the Hudson Research Office, this seminar will teach:

Seminar contents

• How to access Pivot-RP
• How keywords work in Pivot-RP
• Viewing and Managing Opportunities
• Saving Searches and Creating Email Alerts for Funding Opportunities

We will host two separate sessions to maximise opportunity for attendance by staff and students.

• Session 1: Tuesday 2 July 12:00 to 12:45pm
• Session 2: Thursday 18 July 2:00 to 2:45pm
• Registration link
• Delivery mode: Online (Zoom)
• Zoom link

Contact

Dr Joohyung Lee | E: joohyung.lee1@monash.edu or sf-camm.gradresearch@monash.edu | T: +61 431 749 005)

The Sustainable Scrub Society

Are you invested in reducing the environmental impact of your workplace?

Consider joining our Green Impact team “The Sustainable Scrub Society”. Green Impact is a competition where teams work to complete sustainability actions around the workplace and at home. It doesn’t matter if you’re staff or a student, or in a lab, office or clinic, all are welcome to join and can contribute. If you’re interested in joining please email Dr Nicola Rivers – Nicola.rivers@monash.edu

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Scholarships

The NHMRC offers scholarships to support outstanding health and medical graduates early in their career, so they can be trained to conduct research that is internationally competitive and develop a capacity for original independent research within Australia. This funding opportunity is only available to domestic graduate research students.

Stage 1: Applicants intending to apply for a NHMRC scholarship must meet the internal deadlines set by both NHMRC and Monash University. Minimum data must be entered in NHMRC’s granting system Sapphire by 8 May 2024. Note: Failure to meet this deadline will result in the application not proceeding.  

Stage 2: Applications must be submitted by the Monash closing date of 29 May 2024. The earlier closing date allows us time to check your application to ensure it is complete.

Applicants must

• be undertaking a higher degree by research (i.e. a PhD or a Research Masters degree); coursework degrees do not qualify as higher degrees by research 
• ensure a complete application is submitted, including supervisor report and other documents required to conduct a complete assessment of an application 
• not have previously received an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship 
• not be a recipient of an Australian Government funded stipend such as a Research Training Program (RTP) stipend at the time of application, during peer review, or for the duration of the grant, if accepted 
• not exceed 12 calendar months of full-time equivalent enrolment for a PhD degree, or six calendar months for a Research Masters degree, up to 31 December in the year of application 
• include a proposal for a research project based in Australia; elements of the project can be undertaken outside Australia (e.g. data gathering) but the CIA, supervisor and project must be all Australian-based and located at an Australian institution 
• apply under the Research Stream that their research proposal aligns with.  

See application details, eligibility, and more information about the NHMRC scholarships here. Applicants are required to read all relevant reference material available via GrantConnect prior to lodging an application.

Contact

Admissions Team, Monash Graduate Research Office | mgro-apply@monash.edu

SF-CaMM Careers Pathway Forum - Personal journeys of SF-CaMM clinician scientists

This interactive 1hr forum will provide a unique opportunity to hear the personal career journeys from a panel of Sub-Faculty of Clinical And Molecular Medicine (SF-CaMM) clinician-scientists from diverse career stages and clinical specialties. 

Each speaker will share their personal thoughts on navigating the challenging career path of a clinician-scientist, including strategies to deal with the challenges in transitioning from a clinician-student to an independent clinician-scientist.

• Date: Friday 26 July
• Time:12pm-1pm
• Registration link
• Delivery mode: Hybrid (In-person / Online) Event
• Venue: Block E, Monash Medical Centre, Surgery Seminar Room (5SS08)
  
• Zoom link
• Event flyer

Our speakers

Professor Eric Morand, Dean of the Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Medicine (SF-CaMM) and Head of Rheumatology at Monash Health. Eric is an established physician scientist whose research focusses on clinical outcome measurement and biological profiling in systemic lupus erythematosus and the actions of glucocorticoid induced proteins on the immune system. 

Associate Professor Kirsten Palmer, Head of the Maternal Fetal Medicine unit at Monash Health and a NHMRC emerging leader (EL2) who leads the Maternal and Perinatal Medicine Translational Research group at SCS. Kirsten is an emerging clinician scientist whose research focuses on translating promising new therapeutics for disorders of placentation including pre-eclampsia. and fetal growth restriction 

Dr Rimma Goldberg, a Gastroenterologist at Monash Health, and a Research Fellow at School of Clinical Sciences. Rimma is an up-and-coming clinician scientist whose research focuses on adaptive and innate immunity in inflammatory bowel disease and developing novel cell-based therapies for disorders such as Crohn’s Disease.

Program Outline

Each presentation will be limited to 10 mins, addressing aspects of the following points or questions.

• Outline your professional career training trajectory as a clinician-scientist.
• How did you set up your research team/research lab?
• What were the key challenges you have faced?
• What were the key opportunities that have helped your career?
• How do you manage your time between the clinic and the lab?
• How did you plan your research goals to support their career progression in both clinical and academic spheres.

The presentations will be followed by a lengthy 30 min Q&A session to maximize discussion between the speakers and the audience. Audience members can also submit questions via the chat function on Zoom during the presentations.  

Contact

Dr Joohyung Lee | E: sf-camm.gradresearch@monash.edu or joohyung.lee1@monash.edu | T: +61 431 749 005

2024 flu vaccinations - Monash Health / Monash University

Flu vaccinations are now available at various locations in Monash Health and Monash University campuses.

In case anyone would like to access the flu vaccinations at the Monash University campuses here is the booking link

Locations and times for this year's flu vaccinations at Monash Health:

Welcoming Wendy Wei, Budgeting and Reporting Accountant

Posted on behalf of Amanda McFarlane, Manager, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

Please join me in welcoming Wendy Wei, our new Budgeting and Reporting Accountant.  

Wendy has extensive background in financial management with over 15 years of experience across the private sector and higher education. Prior to joining the Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Science, Wendy worked in the Financial Operations team at Monash University in central finance supporting staff and students with reimbursements, managing credit cards and all other payment services. 

Wendy's primary responsibility is to provide support to the school across all aspects of our finance function to include payments, expense approvals, invoicing, fund transfers, reimbursements and management accounting services (budgeting and forecasting).  Wendy is a full time staff member.

Please kindly note that moving forward, Finance Manager Mus Ahmed and Wendy will be contactable via the newly established role account -  scs-finance@monash.edu.   This shared email will ensure business continuity and retain valuable IP moving forward.

In the meantime, if you see Wendy around the grounds, please say hello. 

Welcome - New SCS School Manager - Amanda McFarlane

Posted on behalf of Professor Peter Ebeling AO, Head, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

I am delighted to announce that after an extensive search, Ms. Amanda McFarlane has been appointed as SCS School Manager, effective 26 February 2024. 

Amanda brings with her more than 25 years of expertise across the higher education, public and private sectors. 

Amanda is committed to achieving optimal levels of service delivery through system and process enhancements that strengthen governance and promote alignment between strategic and operational initiatives. 

She has management and leadership experience in the higher education sector, with 11 years at Monash University and nearly two years at RMIT University where she was the Manager, Planning and Operations within the School of Management, College of Business & Law and was the key point of contact for all operational, financial and pedagogical-related administrative queries for 200 academic staff and led a team of 5 professional staff. 

Prior to Amanda's role at RMIT University, at Monash University she gained extensive experience in HR as a Business Partner, worked in eSolutions as an Innovation Project Manager, with the final role as Operations Manager within the Monash Business School. During her time at Monash, she spearheaded a substantial change to the service delivery model within Monash Business School in response to a significant faculty restructuring. Her solution involved re-evaluating the service delivery model, which resulted in an extensive uplift in skills across the team, supporting the academic departments.

Between Amanda's two higher education roles, she worked in the Strategic Transformation and Delivery Command at Victoria Police as a Continuous Improvement Lead. There she initiated and delivered an Investment Logic Map at the program level as part of a holistic transformation project plan for the Command. Her most significant achievement in this role was the development and delivery of a five-year transformation strategy paper for the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police. 

I am certain Amanda will be in touch and get to know everyone as she settles into her new role as SCS School Manager.

Please make her feel welcome here at SCS!

Call to update Honours and Graduate Research projects for 2025

It is that time of year when we ask you to update your projects in Supervisor Connect, ahead of our BMedSc(Hons) and Hons/PhD recruitment season which begins in May. Supervisor Connect is our primary Higher Degree by Research (HDR) recruitment tool.

Supervisor Connect is our primary tool for Honours and Higher Degree by Research (HDR) recruitment.

All projects in Supervisor Connect have now been unpublished so we don’t advertise outdated projects.

Please update the projects by Friday 29 March 2024.

The first step is to update your Pure profile (using the links below for reference).

• Updating your personal profile

• Updating qualifications

• Adding your photo

• Adding Scopus and ORCID IDs

• Adding phone number (optional) and web link

• Are you accepting PhD students?

•  Adding key terms

The second step is to update your projects in Supervisor Connect by Friday 29 March 2024. For instructions on how to update, publish and/or create projects please refer to the Supervisor Connect Handbook.

For further information, please contact Vithya Premkumar on vithya.premkumar@monash.edu.

We need your help again!

We are close to undertaking training sessions for our new Master of Clinical Embryology (MCE) students (all 42 of them!) assessing semen parameters in human sperm.  In order to provide a good training experience, we are seeking a number of sperm donors for set dates (between 13-26 March). 

If you are able to help us by donating, or recruiting donations from partners/friends/family, it would be greatly appreciated. As part of this, you will receive a free basic semen analysis assessment (if you would like one), and also a $20 Coles voucher for each donation . 

Please complete the Semen Sample Donation for Andrology pracs form and choose the date(s) you can donate. You can donate once, twice or even 3 times but best to leave a 3 day gap between samples. Please make your selection at the bottom of the form (most days we need 5 samples!).

For any questions that are not clear in the form, please email Sally Catt, MCE course Coordinator (sally.catt@monash.edu).

Once the form is submitted, Sally  will be in touch with you early march to coordinate.

Minister's visit to SCS

In his capacity as Minister for Medical Research, Deputy Premier, the Honourable Ben Carroll visited our labs and met with several leading scientists and clinician-scientists. Hosted by Professor Eric Morand, Dean Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Minister Carroll learned of our translational research and its subsequent clinical impact. He referred to us as a ‘mini-Stanford’ – which we are. We look forward to future visits where we can showcase more of our work. 

Monash Staff Zoom Start Of Year Checklist

Did you know that Monash has hosted over 2 Million meetings via Zoom last year? that's a lot of minutes, it also means there are many recordings.

To meet the university’s increased Zoom storage needs as usage of the platform grows, Monash will implement a 12-month retention limit for Staff Zoom recordings starting on Feb 5th, 2024. Consequently, Zoom recordings older than 12 months will be permanently removed.

What do you need to do?

Please transfer recordings older than 12 months to a suitable storage location before 5th February 2024.

Additionally, please be aware that in the future, all Zoom recordings older than 12 months will be subject to automatic deletion. We also urge you to delete any recordings from your profile that are no longer required. If you need to keep recordings, please refer to this guide for alternative digital storage options.

To review and take action on your Zoom recording, please log in to your Zoom account, and go to the Recordings page.

If you need extra help, please refer to the instructions on how to manage your Zoom recordings

If you require any further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us via the IT Service Request Portal

Au Revoir Christine

Sadly, this week saw the departure of SCS School Manager, Dr Christine De Nardo, who next month moves to the Olivia Newton John Wellness & Research Centre as Chief Operating Officer.

In a very eventful 15 months in the role here Christine has worked with endless energy and positivity to improve all things SCS. Christine has excellent leadership skills, brilliant strategic skills and can run in heels. We will miss Christine enormously and know she will blitz at Olivia Newton John.

Inspiring STEM students in upper primary school - we need you!

The STEMpal program is looking for scientists at any level to join a pen pal program that pairs Grade 5-6 students with 'their own' scientist for an exchange of three letters throughout the school year. Dr Kate Scull from the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash University has been involved and says. “It's wonderful to have such a personal impact on a student's understanding of science, as well as literacy and numeracy. The program is looking to recruit over 500 scientists by February. 

See brochure.

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.