Around the Precinct – 4 March 2021

Education, equity and adding our voice to the debate on issues from vaccine distribution, to aged care and HIV care – these issues, together with the ever-present push to solve some of the world’s greatest health care challenges, are driving the news this week at the Alfred Research Alliance. Here are just some of the highlights…

BURNET INSTITUTE

Prestigious US Scholarship for Burnet Researcher

Congratulations to Burnet Viral Hepatitis Group Research Assistant, Dr Ned Latham, who has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship which will allow him to pursue further study and hepatitis C research in the United States, undertaking a Master of Public Health at Columbia University, New York City. Read more…

Virtual course improves midwifery educator capacity

A Burnet-supported Midwifery Education Program has overcome COVID-19 restrictions to deliver virtual training to midwifery educators and academics in Asia-Pacific. The Faculty Development Program (FDP), implemented by Burnet’s Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health Working Group, in collaboration with UNFPA Asia Pacific, aims to strengthen midwifery education across the region, thereby improving the quality of midwifery education. Read more…

Three ways to vaccinate the world and make sure everyone benefits

221.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered globally by 25 February but over 1/3 were in just two countries – the US and the UK. Burnet’s Prof Mike Toole AM says this obvious inequity of access between rich and poor is both both morally unacceptable and the greatest impediment to the world’s health and economic recovery…and he suggests three ways to address it. Read more…

ALFRED HEALTH

Starting a conversation on the future of HIV care

The Alfred’s Director of HIV Medicine Prof Jenny Hoy is urging people living with HIV to join the conversation on the future of HIV care by completing a short, anonymous and confidential survey. “There is diversity within our community, and the care needs of people living with HIV are changing,” she says. “We want to better understand this diversity and honour past personal experiences as we shape services for the years to come.” Read more…

MONASH PUBLIC HEALTH & PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

Trial finds arthritis drugs reduce deaths and time in ICU for critical COVID-19 patients

The Monash SPHPM-led REMAP-CAP trial has found arthritis treatments, the immunosuppressive drugs tocilizumab and sarilumab, have been found to have a significant impact on the survival rate of critically ill COVID-19 patients, with mortality reduced by 8.5 per cent. The treatments were also found to improve recovery times, with patients receiving the treatment discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) on average a week earlier. Read more…

Australian breast device registry helps with patient safety

Nearly 50,000 Australian women have had their breast devices registered to help facilitate faster notification of safety issues with the devices, leading to improved health outcomes. The Commonwealth-funded Australian Breast Device Registry (ABDR), led by Monash University, tracks long-term safety & performance of breast devices and benchmarks the quality of surgery involving implants, tissue substitutes and other devices. Read more…

Monash group makes UN submission contributing to Aged Care debate

The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University and the Professor Joe Aged Care Advocacy Group have raised serious concerns about the quality of care in, and regulation of, Australia’s residential aged care facilities, particularly during the pandemic.  Director Prof the Hon. Kevin Bell AM QC says, ‘Aged care should be treated as a human rights issue upon the basis that the dignity, wellbeing and rights of aged persons are at stake.” Read more…

PhD Profile: Epigenetic research to diagnose dementia before symptoms begin

When Peter Fransquet moved to Monash to complete his PhD under Head of Biological Neuropsychiatry  Demential, A/Prof Joanne Ryan, it opened up the opportunity to conduct research using the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderley (ASPREE) dataset to try and identify new epigenetic biomarkers which may flag dementia even prior to symptom onset. Read more to find out what Peter is planning next.

MONASH CENTRAL CLINICAL SCHOOL

The long-term consequences of sport concussions

Aussie rules football is the most popular collision sport in Australia with an average of 6-7 concussions occurring every 1000 match hours across amateur and professional leagues. Despite this, there has been little study of the long-term neurological damage. Now, two recently-published studies from researchers at the Monash Department of Neuroscience confirm concerns for the long-term consequences of the code. Read more…

New compound protects brain from degeneration after early-life traumatic injury

Children under five have a high risk of experiencing a traumatic brain injury, which can lead to death or life-long disability. Importantly, disability caused by paediatric traumatic brain injury can worsen over time into adolescence or adulthood as the brain develops, making treatment more challenging. Now, a study led by Dr Bridgette Semple from Monash CCS Department of Neuroscience has shown treatment with a novel compound can protect the brain from degeneration after early-life brain injury. Read more…
Unravelling the complex link between COVID and diabetes
A recent article by Claudia Wallis in Scientific American explores five possible reasons why infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus appears to trigger diabetes. Amongst others, she interviewed the founders of the CoviDIAB registry to track these patients with new-onset diabetes, Prof Paul Zimmet from the Monash Department of Diabetes and Prof Francesco Rubino from Kings College, London. Read more…
KIT body image chatbot now even more chatty
More than a million Australians live with an eating disorder, but less than a quarter of those will seek help. Dr Gemma Sharp and the team which created the KIT body image Chatbot launched a new campaign this week as part of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, announcing that the bot’s popularity has led to its expansion with even more skills and strategies. Hear more about KIT and the research…
New support for graduate courses for medicine, nursing & health sciences

Four Graduate Certificate courses at Monash have been awarded Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) as part of the federal government’s Job-Ready Package. This means Australian Citizens/Residents and NZ citizens are eligible for a 46-73% discount on 2021 subjects in epidemiology, health management, perioperative medicine, biomedical sciences and commercialisation. Read more to find out how to secure one of the limited places.