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| Dr Alex Hodge |
The Early Career Practitioner Fellowship will give young
physicians protected time, enabling physician scientists to continue their
clinical duties while remaining active in research.
The first recipients of the fellowship are Monash Health
consultants gastroenterologist Dr Alex Hodge and geriatrician Dr Chris Moran.
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| Dr Chris Moran |
Alex completed his PhD in last month at the School of
Clinical Sciences under the supervision of Director of Gastroenterology and
Hepatology Professor William Sievert. Alex’s
research addressed the two foremost concerns in clinical hepatology today:
finding a treatment for patients with cirrhosis and treating the emerging
epidemic of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
“Thanks to this fellowship, I can continue my research in
stem cell-based therapy for potential liver regeneration while continuing my clinical
work,” said Alex.
“Another research area I plan to explore is the association
of coffee consumption and liver disease.”
Meanwhile under the supervision of Associate Professor
Velandai Srikanth and Professor Thanh Phan from the Stroke and Ageing
Research Group, fellowship recipient Dr Chris Moran recently submitted his
PhD thesis, having investigated the links between type 2 diabetes and dementia.
In a study published in the leading journal Diabetes Care
in 2014, Chris reported that the relationship between type 2 diabetes and cognition
was predominantly due to brain shrinkage and not stroke, as previously thought.
“The pattern of this shrinkage was similar to that seen in
Alzheimer’s disease and led to a follow up study, to be published later this
year in Neurology,” said Chris.
“This new fellowship scheme will enable clinical insights to
be the basis for developing new research questions, and early career
practitioners will have dedicated time to devote to answering such questions,
ultimately translating to better patient outcomes,” said Professor Sievert.
“While Alex will be busy clinically seeing patients with
advanced liver disease, he can continue to be actively involved in the lab,
finding out how the cells work in animal models of liver disease and how best
to transform this knowledge into a clinically useful therapy.”
“The Early Career Practitioner Fellowship is an excellent
initiative that allows talented early career researchers to build on their PhD
work,” said Associate Professor Srikanth.
“Combining productive and rewarding post-doctoral research
with a strong clinical career are essential components of future
clinical-academic leaders.”
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