Soccer helps refugees and asylum seekers thrive

Captain and coach Mohammad Baeni
receives the cup last weekend

Congratulations to the Refugee Health Soccer Team who won the inaugural ‘SEDA welcomes SEEKERS’ Soccer Tournament last week in Ringwood.

An initiative of the Monash Health Refugee Health & Wellbeing Service, the Social Soccer program provides opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers to play informal soccer games in Dandenong and Doveton.

“In the initial stages of settlement, refugees face significant challenges such as language barriers, housing instability, financial stress and unemployment,” said Dr Andrew Block, Director of Refugee Health at Monash Health.

Monash leads pathway to improved stroke outcomes

A/Prof Velandai Srikanth

In a world-first study, researchers at the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) have shown the risk of stroke after transient ischemic attack (TIA) has significantly declined during the last decade.

Stroke and TIA (also commonly known as a “mini stroke” or a warning of impending stroke) present a significant public health problem worldwide.  According to the Stroke Foundation, 51,000 strokes each year cost the Australian economy around $5 billion including $3 billion in lost productivity and $1 billion in lost wages.

Led by Associate Professor Velandai Srikanth, Head of Stroke and Ageing Research at SCS, and published recently in the prestigious journal Stroke, the population-based cohort study examined nearly 47,000 cases of incident TIA in Victoria.

Surgical Education Research

Professor Julian Smith delivered the key note RP Jepson Lecture at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Surgical Research Society of Australasia in Adelaide last week.

Head of Department of Surgery at SCS and Head of Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Monash Health, Professor Smith spoke on Surgical Education Research - a Personal Perspective outlining some of the contemporary issues and his own recent experience in the field of research in surgical education.

"It was a privilege to discuss new opportunities for surgical education research, particularly through the Graduate Programs in Surgical Education (Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma and Masters in Surgical Education) run in conjunction with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons," said Professor Smith.

"The Programs offer a wide range of opportunities for research in surgical education for pre-vocational doctors, for surgical trainees and for consultant surgeons."

Baby book running now!

In the spirit of fund raising, our in-house bookmaker Nicola Abel is running a book ahead of the birth of baby Dr Dick (father-to-be is Jonathan).   Bets are $2, on gender, date and weight.   50% of takings will be donated to the Monash Children's Hospital - the rest to the winning bet.  Contact Nicola for details.

Get in fast as the baby is already overdue! 

We've downed our pedometers and stashed our sneakers because the 10,000 Steps Challenge is done!

This morning SCS Steppers finished the Monash OH&S 10,000 Steps Challenge!  We came 1st at MMC and 83/340 teams overall (if our maths is right we were in the top 24%).

Coming in 1st for our team was Dale Cary who clocked up a whopping 356,029 steps during the challenge.  Thanks to Dale, Eugene, Ciara, Nicola, Andrea, Gillian and Terry (Gillian's hubby) for a stellar effort!

CID presentation - TODAY at 12pm

Presented by Yingjie Han, Department of Nephrology:  "Modulating inflammatory pathway in immune mediated renal disease using a novel antagonist of protease-activated-receptor-2"


And Frank Ma:  TThe role of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) in renal fibrosis

Medicine Seminar Room located on Level 5, Block E MMC

MIMR-PHI seminar, 20 November - "Androgens and endometrium – dynamics and disorders"

Presented by Professor Philippa Saunders, Director, Postgraduate Research, Professor of Reproductive Steroids, MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, The Queen's Medical Research Institute , University of Edinburgh.
4-5pm, Lecture Theatre 3, MMC
Flyer attached here.

11th Annual Ritchie Centre Colloquium - 24 November

From Bench to Bedside: Improving Health for Women, Babies and Children

When: All Day,  Where: Monash Seminar Room, Lvl 4, MMC

RSVP: Free event - please RSVP for catering purposes to lisieux.jones@monash.edu by  Monday, 17 November 2014

From Bench to Bedside: Improving Health for Women, Babies and Children will showcase the research being carried out across The Ritchie Centre and the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Paediatrics.

The Colloquium aims to facilitate established research collaborations and also to initiate new research relationships with the goal of better integrating basic science, clinical and population health research. We particularly want to encourage clinicians to attend so that they can see the breadth of research being conducted within the Monash Women's and Children's Program. We are looking forward to an exciting day of plenary talks, brief communications and poster blitzs which will cover current research in Women's Health, Fetal and Neonatal Health, Infant and Child Health and Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine.  Flyer attached here.

NHMRC Standard Equipment Grants for 2014 - application deadline this Wednesday 19 November.

A reminder that the submission deadline for the 2014 NHMRC Standard Equipment Grants scheme is next week - Wednesday 19 November 2014 at 11:55PM (AEDT).

All applications should be submitted electronically to the Faculty Research Office (medicine.research@monash.edu)

​

Link to application form here.

SCS RESEARCHERS ONLY - 2015 joint SCS-MIMR-PHI Grant Review Process

The 2015 joint SCS-MIMR-PHI early grant application review process will be starting shortly.  Participation is not compulsory but strongly encouraged.

This will involve: 
(ii) Review of full Applications – January – February, 2015
This is a thorough review of the full application intended to refine your grant application and improve its competitiveness. More details on the scheme will be posted soon.

Reminder - Learning and Teaching Travel Grants Round 1, 2015 now open

The Faculty is pleased to announce the next round of the Learning & Teaching travel grants has been released. The scheme is designed to assist academic staff to attend and/or present papers at conferences that will develop their educational skills and teaching and learning research activity.

The grants are allocated by the Office of the Deputy Dean (Education) on a competitive basis. It is anticipated that approximately 20 grants will be allocated in this round.

The closing date for applications is 30 November 2014

ECR 2015 strategy launch - Friday 12 December, 3.30-4.30pm

Friday 12 December, 3.30-4.30pm, Medicine Seminar Room, Block E, Level 5, MMC.

All ECRs are invited to attend our first "ECR meeting".  This is an opportunity for all ECRs to develop their career goals, learn about grant opportunities and meet other ECRs in our School.  Presentations will be given by Eugene Fredericks, Manager, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health and Tania Wilmann, Senior Administrative Officer, Faculty Research Office.

                                    Please contact Clare Westhorpe, our ECR representative for further details.

Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor (Professionalism) (Part-time)

We are seeking to appoint a Senior Lecturer (Professionalism) - education-focused or an Associate Professor (Professionalism) - education-focused position in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.   

See details here.  

MIMR-PHI's Vince Harley on Four Corners!

Professor Vince Harley and members of his group appeaered on Four Corners last night as part of Janine Cohen's piece 'Being Me', an exploration of transgender and what it is like to be born in the wrong body. This piece is a follow up to Janine's previous exploration of this topic 'Gender Puzzle', which also featured Vince Harley.

You catch Four Corners on iView if you missed the episode. 

What about the mental health of kids with intellectual disability?

Dr Glenn Melvin

High-quality epidemiological research shows children and adolescents with intellectual disability are four times more likely to have diagnosable mental health problems compared to others their age. This mental health inequality clearly needs attention.

Part of the problem is a process called diagnostic overshadowing: symptoms are incorrectly assumed to be related to the child’s disability rather than an underlying mental health issue. This often makes it difficult to identify mental health problems in children with intellectual disability.

After we account for the impact of diagnostic overshadowing through the use of specialised assessment tools, Australian research shows over 40% of children with intellectual disability have mental health problems that may be serious enough to lead to a psychiatric diagnosis.

Full story here

Stepping Stones Project update

The Stepping Stones Triple P Project will see over 100 health and education professionals across Victoria trained to provide parents of children with a disability with free access to evidence-based parenting programs.

Story published in the most recent edition of NoticeBoard, the magazine of the Association for Children with a Disability.  Read full article here.

MMC Site Alert: MMC Code Yellow - Black Start Exercise - December 2, 2014

What is happening?

·         Monash Medical Centre has scheduled the annual planned Code Yellow “Black Start” emergency power supply exercise for Tuesday December 2, 2014
·         The exercise will commence at 7am and is scheduled to conclude at 8am.
·         Announcements will be made over the public address system at the commencement and conclusion of the planned Code Yellow exercise.
·         Staff Information sessions have been scheduled in the week preceding the exercise.