www.med.monash.edu

News, Research and PeopleNovember 2013

Stephen Holdsworth...and 50 years of medicine at MMC

@Monash_FMNHS

2 • M3

From the Dean Research translation is a fundamental objective of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. This edition of M3 showcases many of the advances that our Faculty is making towards greater integration of the research, educational and clinical dimensions that shape our past and influence our future.

In August I was privileged to be part of the launch of the first Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) to be established in Victoria. Monash Partners places our Faculty at the centre of a combine of public and private health care providers and our affiliated biomedical research institutes.

Modelled on academic health science centres developed in North America and Europe, Monash Partners brings together the capacity of Monash University, Alfred Health, Baker IDI, Monash Health, Cabrini Health, Burnet Institute, Epworth HealthCare and the Prince Henry Institute.

The result of this will be improved health outcomes benefitting 2.8 million people living in Melbourne’s south and south east.

We believe that linking expertise and service delivery across these diverse and respected organisations will result in meaningful collaboration, increasing the rate at which research findings can be translated into clinical practice.

With collaboration success already achieved through the Alfred Monash Research and Education Precinct (AMREP) and the Monash Health Translation Precinct (MHTP), Monash University is poised to step up to the next level of translation through this AHSC.

Statistics reveal that the 16 top rated hospitals in the United States all operate within an academic health science centre framework. I look forward to Monash-generated research and that of our collaborators within Monash Partners making an improvement to peoples’ lives, and contributing to innovation in high quality health care.

Professor Fabienne Mackay in many ways exemplifies the research leader of the future. As Head of the Department of Immunology, Professor Mackay’s exploits are already familiar to many readers of M3.

Faculty researchers led by Professor Mackay have discovered that an important safety mechanism in the immune system may malfunction in people with autoimmune diseases, and that pathogens may possibly be a positive influence on the human body in certain circumstances. Published in Immunology, this NHMRC supported research has the potential to generate innovative treatment for diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis.

2013 marks 50 years of medical education at the Monash Medical Centre, now the home of Australia’s largest healthcare network, Monash Health.

Since its establishment in December 1963, what is currently Southern Clinical School has accumulated an impressive history of research and clinical education achievement. I congratulate Professor Eric Morand and his School on this anniversary, one of many significant milestones of our Faculty in recent years.

Christina Mitchell November 2013

M3 • 3

Monash scientists take home two Eureka prizes 4 ASPREE recruits 13,000 participants 5 Monash launches Android version of FODMAP app 5 Teaching excellence award in emergency medicine 6 Monash graduates achieve record pass rate in RACP exams 7 Faculty success in latest NHMRC grants 8 Fabienne Mackay in Immunity 9 Dean’s lecture 10 Southern Clinical School MBBS tops program 10 Infectious diseases researcher wins Health Minister’s award 11 7th AMREP World Health Day Forum 12 Festschrift for Professor Stephen Holdsworth 14 Monash Prominent at Premier Gathering for Global Health 15 Rosenfeld double honours 16 $2.5 million funding of CRE for Population Health Research 17 Brain atrophy linked with cognitive decline in diabetes 17 Monash researchers run for more than fun 18 Monash Partners: Academic Health Science Centre 18 Healthier mothers and babies 19

From the cover:Stephen Holdsworth

4 • M3

Monash scientists take home two Eureka prizes

At a gala event in Sydney on 28 August, Australia Museum Eureka prizes were awarded for outstanding achievements in research and innovation, teaching, leadership, communication and journalism.

Of the 18 awards on offer, Professor Jamie Rossjohn, from the School of Biomedical Sciences’ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, together with Professor James McCluskey and Dr Lars Kjer-Nielsen from The University of Melbourne won the University of New South Wales Eureka Prize for Scientific Research.

The team uncovered what activates a widespread, but, until recently, mysterious gut-dwelling immune cell. They noticed that a protein from these cells only formed properly in the presence of by-products of vitamin B, which are formed by invasive bacteria and yeast. It became clear that these vitamin B metabolites were providing early warning to our immune system.

This discovery will improve our understanding of the interplay between gut bacteria and the immune system, infections from thrush to TB, and open up opportunities for vaccine development and other therapeutics.

Also at the event, Monash University scooped a second award. Professor Scott O’Neill and Dr Elizabeth McGraw (Monash Faculty of Science), Professor Ary Hoffmann (The University of Melbourne), Professor Scott Richie (James Cook University), Dr Luciano Moreira (Oswald Cruz Foundation) and Professor Brian Kay (Queensland Institute of Medical Research) won the Australia Infectious Diseases Research Centre Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research.

Professor O’Neill’s team used an innovative approach to control dengue transmission by introducing a naturally occurring bacterium Wolbachia, which inhibits dengue virus replication, into mosquito populations that harbour this virus. In field trials in Cairns, they showed that Wolbachia quickly spread through the mosquito population and a year after the trial began, 80-100 per cent of the

mosquitoes in the area were unable to transmit dengue to humans. The World Health Organisation estimates that 50-100 million people are infected worldwide each year with this disease.

See the video on Faculty YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kop7i5oiqlI&list=PL3C_6vEl3O5Qi7WQDdMzPQb-ZHyQDyvr-

Professors Jamie Rossjohn (left) and James McCluskey, recipients of the University of NSW Eureka Prize for Scientific Research. Image: Australian Museum Eureka Prizes and photographer Daniel O’Doherty.

M3 • 5

The latest version of the highly successful Monash University Low FODMAP diet smartphone application is now available for Android users.

One in seven adults suffers from IBS, a condition characterized by symptoms such as

gastrointestinal wind, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation. Although more women than men are affected by IBS, the condition is common throughout the world.

The best way to alleviate IBS symptoms is to avoid foods containing family of carbohydrates known as FODMAPs (fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols) which are poorly absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract. The concept of FODMAPs was developed through research at Monash University, led by Professor Peter Gibson, Director of Gastroenterology at The Alfred Hospital and Monash University and Dr Jane Muir,

Head of Translational Nutrition Science.

“Our FODMAP data is evidence-based and peer-reviewed so health professionals and the general public can be confident in its reliability,” said Dr Muir. “We want to ensure this information is accessible to as many people as possible and believe we can achieve this through the launch of the Android version.”

Since its launch last year, the FODMAP app has consistently ranked in the top five in the iTunes’ Health and Fitness section, and from June has held the number one position in the Medical category.

“More than 15,500 people worldwide have purchased the FODMAP app since its launch; just over half of these downloads are from Australia,” said Dr Muir. “The app is also proving to be very popular in the US, UK and Denmark.”

“The app is providing accurate information to health professionals and IBS sufferers around the world,” said Professor Gibson, Director of Gastroenterology at The Alfred Hospital. “Proceeds from the sale of the application go towards funding further research.”

“Using digital technology such as a smartphone app to communicate scientific information helps us translate our research for health professionals and IBS sufferers around the world,” said Dr Muir. “We can ensure new food lists and guides are available to users of the app through the free updates.”

“Our research team is now testing and analysing foods from other countries, including the US, and this information will be added to the app at the end of the year,” said Dr Muir.

Monash launches Android version of FODMAP app

The Monash University Low FODMAP diet app can be downloaded by going to the App store from your iphone, iPad or iPod or to the Google Play store from your android phone.

ASPREE recruits 13,000 participants

The ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) study team celebrated reaching 13,000 Australian

participants recently. The study is testing if 100mg of daily aspirin prevents or delays heart attack, stroke, dementia and some malignancies in otherwise healthy

people aged >70 years. The placebo-controlled clinical trial will weigh the benefits of aspirin against the risks. ASPREE is primarily undertaken at metropolitan and regional GP clinics in the south eastern Australia and employs almost 100 full time and part time staff.

The same week, the ASPREE Healthy Ageing Biobank team marked the 8000th participant in the study with delicious cake. Biobank research assistants travel

extensively throughout Victoria, Southern NSW, Tasmania and Southern SA, collecting and preparing blood samples for long term storage in the Healthy Ageing Biobank.

The ASPREE and Biobank teams would like to sincerely thank GPs and older Australians for supporting clinical research into health ageing. The studies aim to reach 16,000 ASPREE and 10,000 Healthy Ageing Biobank participants.

6 • M3

Teaching excellence award in emergency medicine

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) has bestowed its 2013 Teaching Excellence Award upon Monash alumnus and senior lecturer Dr Diana Egerton-Warburton.

This prestigious Teaching Excellence award is given to Fellows of the College who have given distinguished and extensive service in teaching and learning for the ACEM. The award acknowledges Dr Egerton-Warburton’s significant and unselfish contribution to education in emergency medicine.

An emergency physician who strives for excellence and mastery in clinical and academic practice, Dr Egerton-Warburton is a passionate advocate for her patients as well as emergency medicine locally, nationally and internationally.

“I am very honoured and proud to receive the recognition from the College community,” said Dr Egerton-Warburton. “This reflects over two decades’ commitment to teaching and training undergraduate and postgraduate students.”

Dr Egerton-Warburton is Director of Emergency Medicine research at Monash Emergency Department and a senior lecturer in the Department of Medicine at Southern Clinical School.

“As the Director of Emergency Medicine training for over a decade, I have mentored and guided a generation of emergency medicine specialists,” said Dr Egerton-Warburton. “Many of these specialists now have leadership and teaching roles at Monash Health and nationally.”

After completing a master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology at Monash University in 2008, Dr Egerton-Warburton embarked on a mid-career change into academic emergency medicine. Since then she has presented at more than twenty national and international meetings and has published a number of peer-reviewed papers and textbook chapters.

Dr Egerton-Warburton’s latest research focuses on pragmatic, patient-centered research, which she believes will change emergency medicine practice.

Collaborating with the Monash Health infection control unit and emergency department (ED), Dr Egerton-Warburton’s study of used IV cannula has recently been accepted in the prestigious Annals of Emergency Medicine. Her paper demonstrates that half the IV cannula inserted at Monash ED are unused.

Consequently, Monash Health is now undertaking a follow up intervention, which will reduce costs, patient discomfort, Staph bacteremia rates and save ED time.

“I have always endeavoured in my career to ‘make a difference’ to my patients and the health system they interact with,” added Dr Egerton-Warburton.

Dr Diana Egerton-Warburton

“I have always endeavoured in my career to ‘make a difference’...”

M3 • 7

Monash graduates achieve record pass rate in RACP examsMonash University MBBS graduates achieved a record pass rate in their recent Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) clinical exam at Monash Health.

The Monash Health class, predominantly Monash University graduates, achieved a remarkable 92 percent, with 23 out of 25 successful candidates, against a national pass rate of 70 percent.

“This is one of the highest results recorded,” said Dr Henry Ma, Director of Physician Education at Monash Medical Centre.

The RACP clinical exam is for doctors who want to become consultant physicians (for example cardiologists, rheumatologists etc). Candidates are eligible to sit the clinical exam after passing a written exam and completing three years’ basic postgraduate physician training.

“At Monash Health we offer a comprehensive physician training program with a major focus on career development, and in a supportive environment,” added Dr Ma.

The strong teaching culture at Monash Health is led by senior staff and the Head of Division of Medicine, Professor Eric Morand, also Head of the Southern Clinical School at Monash University.

“Our large network of hospitals provides a variety of experience and exposure to many excellent senior medical staff and clinical cases,” said Professor Morand.

Doctors who successfully pass the RACP exams may progress into a medical subspecialty of their choice.

Former Monash University Southern Clinical School student, Dr Chamara Basnayake credits the outstanding result to the collegiate environment amongst the physician trainee cohort and the supervision and training provided by the senior consultants.

(Photo: Monash MBBS graduates Dr Alex Tai, Dr Eleanor Thong and Dr Chamara Basnayake)

“The consultants who trained me during my early clinical exposure as a medical student have continued to invest in my success, allowing me to acquire the clinical skills required to pass the RACP exams,” said Dr Basnayake.

“The success of our program largely sits with Dr Henry Ma, Associate Professor Michelle Leech and Dr Darren Mansfield, who spent countless days ensuring we achieved the highest possible standards.”

Dr Alex Tai, another Monash University MBBS graduate in the successful cohort, is particularly grateful for the support provided by senior staff at the Southern Clinical School.

“A special mention needs to go to Dr Henry Ma, who set the record this semester listening to nine of our long

cases in a row, finishing at a mind numbing 11.30pm on a Friday evening,” said Dr Tai.

With eighteen months’ intensive study behind him, Dr Tai now plans to pursue a career in third world medicine, with a particular emphasis on infectious diseases and public health.

“It has been my privilege to teach many of these successful FRACP candidates when they were medical students at Monash University and at the Southern Clinical School,” said Associate Professor Leech.

“We know that the Monash Health will continue to benefit from these outstanding doctors and that like all Monash graduates they will transmit this teaching excellence to subsequent generations of students and trainees.”

8 • M3

Research focused on improving treatment of traumatic brain injury, and projects that deal with obesity and the health of the elderly are just some of the 113 Monash University research projects to be recognised with major funding grants announced by the Federal Government.

Prime Minister, the Hon. Tony Abbott, Federal Health Minister the Hon. Peter Dutton and Victorian Health Minister, the Hon. David Davis announced the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants across eight schemes in Melbourne last month. Monash University attracted $66 million in total.

The nation’s largest award of more than $5 million was made to a project led by Associate Professor Sophia Zoungas and Professor John McNeil, from the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, in a study of cholesterol lowering medications for reducing events in the elderly, pro-longing disability survival.

Dr Anna Barker from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine lead a team awarded $1.2 million to investigate whether a daily low-dose of aspirin can reduce fracture risk in the elderly.

Professor Shaun Jackson, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Professor Graham Lieschke, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, and Professor Patrick Sexton, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, each received two grants to pursue projects in their field of research.

Monash Provost and Senior Vice-President, Professor Edwina Cornish said continued success in attracting grant funding was a testament to the talent and dedication of the University’s researchers.

“The breadth of funded projects is indicative of the University’s repute as a global leader in research that delivers tangible improvements to the health of the broader community,” Professor Cornish said.

“Our researchers are addressing significant medical and health issues, and I thank the NHMRC for their continuing support in recognising the importance of progressing these projects.”

Faculty success in latest NHMRC grants

Other Monash projects will tackle a variety of health problems including HIV, obesity, various cancers, health conditions and disease.

Intensive care physician Professor Jamie Cooper and his team from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine were awarded a grant to support Australian participation in a unique international collaborative research program, which aims to improve outcomes for people with severe brain injury.

This project, led by Monash with a large European collaboration, aims to use new statistical methods to search for better treatments that improve the long-term outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injury.

“Australia has 2500 serious head injuries every year and only half of those patients

return to independent living in the long-term,” Professor Cooper said.

“It is also part of a major international collaborative with Europe, the US and Canada, and the NHMRC grant will assist our team to join this global collaboration.”

Monash researchers were awarded 38 NHMRC fellowships, across four schemes - research fellowships, practitioner fellowships, career development fellowships and early career fellowships.

The NHMRC aims to raise the standard of individual and public health throughout Australia. Prime Minister Abbott announced a total of 963 grants worth $559 million to institutions across the country.

Courtesy of Media and Communications, Monash University.

L-R: Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Federal Minister for Health Peter Dutton, Head of Central Clinical School (CCS) Professor Stephen Jane and CCS Honours student, Ms Ashlee Conway in the CCS laboratories prior to the NH&MRC announcements on 23 October.

M3 • 9

Monash University researchers have found an important safety mechanism in the immune system that may malfunction in people with autoimmune diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis, potentially paving the way for innovative treatments.

Published in Immunity, the research, led by Head of the Monash Department of Immunology Professor Fabienne Mackay, described for the first time how the body manages marginal zone (MZ) B cells, which form a general first line of attack against germs, but are potentially harmful.

MZ B cells are integral to our defenses as they rapidly produce polyreactive antibodies that are capable of destroying a variety of pathogens. This first response gives the body time to put in place an immune reaction specific to the invading microbe.

However, MZ B cells have the potential to turn against the body. Some are capable of producing antibodies which attack healthy, rather than foreign, cells - known as an autoimmune response. Bacteria trigger MZ B cells irrespective of whether these cells are dangerous or benign, effectively placing anyone with a bacterial infection at risk of developing an autoimmune disease.

Professor Mackay’s team has discovered the mechanism that regulates this response, ensuring that the majority of infections do not result in the body attacking its own tissue.

“We found that while MZ B cells are rapidly activated, they have a very short life span. In fact, the very machinery which triggers a response leads to MZ B cells dying within 24 hours,” Professor Mackay said.

“This means that in a healthy person, the potentially harmful immune cells are not active for long enough to cause tissue damage. We now need to look at whether a malfunction in this safety feature is leading to some autoimmune diseases.”

When MZ B cells are activated by bacteria, they express greater amounts of a protein known as TACI. When TACI

Fabienne Mackay in Immunity

Professor Fabienne Mackay

binds to another protein as part of the immune response, this triggers the activation of the ‘death machinery’ inside MZ B cells. The detection of a pathogen sets off a chain reaction that both activates and then destroys MZ B cells.

Professor Mackay said this was an entirely new way of looking at the immune system.

“The research suggests that through evolution the immune system has not solely been vulnerable to infections but has learned to take advantage of pathogens to develop its own internal safety processes,” Professor Mackay said.

“This says something important about our environment - pathogens are not always the enemy. They can also work hand in hand with our immune system to protect us against some immune diseases.”

The research was supported by the NHMRC. Collaborating institutions included The University of New South Wales, The University of Melbourne, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the Monash Institute of Medical Research and Griffith University.

Watch Professor Mackay explaining her research on Faculty YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSOLn9zJZvk&feature=youtube

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Dean’s lectureNobel laureate Professor Brian Kobilka has delivered the first in a special series of Dean’s Lectures for the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences during a visit to Monash University.

Professor Kobilka’s lecture at Monash’s Clayton campus on 8 November was the first in a special series of Dean’s Lectures delivered by Nobel laureates, providing audiences with access to some of the world’s most accomplished scientific minds.

Awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Professor Kobilka is best known for his research on the structure and mechanism of activation of G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) at Stanford University in California.

GPCRs are the largest family of membrane proteins in the human genome and the largest group of therapeutic targets for drug discovery.

Professor Christina Mitchell and Professor Brian Kobilka

In this special Dean’s Lecture, Professor Kobilka discussed challenges in GPCR drug discovery and the potential impact of structural biology and other scientific advances on future drug discovery efforts.

During his visit to Australia, Professor Kobilka also shared his knowledge with staff and students of Monash University’s world-ranked Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences where he is an Adjunct Professor.

Two MBBS students at the Southern Clinical School have received top honours across the entire Year 3 cohort.

Lukas Sahhar and Nathaniel Hiscock achieved their honours from a selection of the highest achieving Year 3 students across all Monash University clinical teaching sites, including Monash Health hospital sites, The Alfred, Box Hill and affiliated rural sites.

“I felt privileged to have spent my third year of Medical School at Monash Health, learning from Dr Sally Ayoub, Director of Undergraduate Medical Education, Associate Professor Michelle Leech and their fantastic team,” said Nathaniel.

The students credit their success to the high calibre of teaching they receive at the Southern Clinical School at Monash Medical Centre, Dandenong and Casey Hospitals.

“Southern Clinical School lecturers and Monash Health doctors are expert teachers,” said Lukas. “We are grateful for the involvement of all staff through clinical bedside teaching, case-based tutorials and class-based lectures and tutorials.”

“The success of these students reflects the hard work of Dr Ayoub and her predecessor Associate Professor Leech, and Monash Medical Centre Clinical Dean, Dr Claire Dendle in building

Southern Clinical School MBBS tops program

From left: Associate Professor Michelle Leech, Dr Claire Dendle, Lukas Sahhar, Nathaniel Hiscock

undergraduate medical education at Southern Clinical School and Monash Health,” said Professor Eric Morand, Head of the Southern Clinical School.

M3 • 11

Associate Professor Anton Peleg, from the School of Biomedical Sciences, has received the Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research for his leading research into hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance.

Associate Professor Peleg was presented with his award and medal from NHMRC CEO Professor Warwick Anderson at the Australian Society for Medical Research dinner yesterday, one of the highlights of Medical Research week. This prize recognises the achievement of an outstanding scientist who is a recipient of an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship and has completed their PhD or MD within the last 12 years.

“I’m thrilled and deeply honoured to receive this award,” Associate Professor Peleg said.

“As a physician-scientist, who dedicates their time to both patients and biomedical research, this is a terrific achievement.”

Associate Professor Peleg received a $50,000 grant to identify how antibiotic-resistant human pathogens cause disease and assess novel treatment approaches that could potentially treat or prevent these infections from occurring.

Associate Professor Peleg, who is also an infectious disease physician at the Alfred Hospital, is particularly interested in multidrug-resistant bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and

Infectious diseases researcher wins Health Minister’s award

Associate Professor Anton Peleg

Acinetobacter baumannii, as well as the most common human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. These organisms are a leading cause of death in hospitals globally.

Associate Professor Peleg’s award builds on a distinguished research career, with highlights including a Young Physician Leaders Award at the 2012 WHO World Health Summit, the 2011 Frank Fenner Award for Advanced Research in Infectious Diseases from the Australian Society of Infectious Diseases, and the 2009 Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Microbiology. He has published 59 papers in leading peer-reviewed journals and given over 30 invited presentations at national and international conferences.

By Vicki Burkitt

12 • M3

7th AMREP World Health Day Forum

Reducing the global impact of high blood pressure was the theme of the 7th AMREP World Health Day Forum, held in April at the Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct (AMREP).

Officially opened by the Hon. David Davis, Minister of Health and Ageing, the Monash led Forum took place at the AMREP campus. More than 150 people attended the Forum, including representatives from health services and community health centres, NGOs, research institutes and students.

Now in its seventh year, the AMREP World Health Day Forum is organised by Professor Brian Oldenburg, Chair of the Global Health & Society Unit at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in association with the Burnet Institute and other AMREP partners.

Speakers for the 7th AMREP World Health Day Forum

“This annual event has always provided a wonderful opportunity to organise an exciting program related to a major global health issue that brings together experts from around Australia and the world to interact with researchers, health professionals, students and those interested in the specific theme for the day,” said Professor Oldenburg.

A number of notable keynote speakers presented their research at the Forum. Professor John Chalmers, Head of the Professorial Unit at the George Institute, spoke about the trends and issues associated with hypertension control and management worldwide.

Meanwhile, the ‘roads and road blocks’ of prevention and control of high blood pressure (HBP) in low and middle income countries was the topic of Professor K.

Srinath Reddy’s session. Professor Reddy is President of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and President of the World Heart Federation.

Monash’s Professor Amanda Thrift led a session about improving the control of hypertension in rural India while Professor Andrew Tonkin spoke about the prevention of high blood pressure in the elderly.

Dr Xuefeng Zhong, a China NHMRC Fellow with the Global Health and Society Unit at Monash University, spoke about the rapid development of hypertension and other chronic conditions in China.

The annual Forum coincides with World Health Day, marking the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation.

M3 • 13

14 • M3

Festschrift for Professor Stephen HoldsworthCelebrating the achievments of the longest serving Head of the Department of Medicine (1998 to 2012).

About Professor Stephen Holdsworth

Stephen Holdsworth is an acclaimed nephrologist, clinical immunologist and scientist whose lifelong

research has focused on the mechanisms in immune glomerular injury relevant to understanding and treating human glomerulonephritis (GN), a major cause of end stage renal failure. His work is pivotal in showing that cell-mediated immunity is a major contributor to rapidly progressive forms of GN.

In the mid-1990s, Steve established the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, bringing together a group of clinician scientists from relevant disciplines (nephrology, rheumatology, cardiovascular disease, respiratory medicine and infectious disease) and basic scientists to investigate the mechanisms of injurious inflammation in these inflammatory diseases. This Centre is now recognised as a research strength of the Faculty, and Inflammation is part of a major theme of the MHTP and the Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre.

About the Department

2013 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Monash University Department of Medicine at Monash Medical Centre.

Established in December 1963 by Professor Bryan Hudson at the former Prince Henry’s Hospital, the Department moved to the newly opened Monash Medical Centre in 1991. The new hospital in Clayton was an amalgamation of Prince

Henry’s Hospital, Queen Victoria Medical Centre and Moorabbin Hospital.

Several senior scientists originally associated with the Department have gone on to establish renowned research centres of their own, namely Professor Henry Burger (Prince Henry’s Institute), Professor David de Kretser (Monash Institute of Medical Research) and the late Professor Blair Ritchie (the Ritchie Centre).

The Department of Medicine is now part of Southern Clinical School, Monash’s largest site for medical student clinical years teaching and a major research hub.

Festschrift program:

http://www.med.monash.edu.au/events/2013/festschrift.html

The Department of Medicine 1972

The Department of Medicine 2013

M3 • 15

Monash University has reinforced its stature as a key contributor in the global health arena as a prominent participant at the World Health Summit.

Held in Berlin 20-22 October, the fifth World Health Summit brought together academia, policy makers, researchers and industry leaders at the annual gathering under the patronage of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso who presented the keynote address at the Summit opening ceremony.

Around 1,000 participants from 80 countries attended the Summit, staged at the German Foreign Ministry offices in Berlin, reflecting the growing prestige of the annual event that Monash has strongly contributed to from the outset. This year’s event was held under the co-presidency of the National University of Singapore, led by Professor John Wong.

As a core member of the M8 Alliance of academic health centres, universities and national academies, Monash plays an important role in providing an academic foundation to the World Health Summit through setting themes and providing speakers and session chairs.

Professors Ben Canny and David de Kretser, both long-time contributors to the Summit, presented Community Engagement and Responsibilities of Medical Universities on day one of the event, with Monash Sustainability Institute’s Professor David Griggs presenting via video as part of Health Gains from Sustainable Development on day two. Professor Canny also presented in Transforming Health Professions Education: Responses to The Lancet Commission, on the third and final day of the Summit, an area in which Monash has strongly contributed to the program over many years.

Chairs included the Dean, Professor Christina Mitchell, whose session Global Health for Development featured a provocative presentation by Sir Michael Marmot from University College London’s

Monash Prominent at Premier Gathering for Global Health

Institute of Health Equity. “l want economics debated as if people matter,” stated Marmot, attacking the proponents of austerity measures as being the same people who caused the Global Economic Crisis. This session also featured Monash alumnus Adrian Thomas, CEO of Janssen and a one-time student of Professor Mitchell.

Other luminaries attending the World Health Summit included Germany’s Foreign and Health Ministers, Guido Westerwelle and Dani Bahr, Ghana’s Health Minister Sherry Ayitey, Timorese statesman and Nobel Peace Prize winner José Ramos Horta, and Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel laureate in Chemistry.

Monash employed social media to keep stakeholders informed of the Summit as it happened, in a real time conversation space of contributors including institutional commentators, academics,

researchers and students, creating a vibrant forum for wider discussion. Live streaming of sessions also connected the Summit to a worldwide audience.

Monash’s M8 Alliance partner from Brazil, the University of São Paulo, will be the World Health Summit co-presidency institution during 2014, with Kyoto University of Japan confirmed to receive this honour in 2015.

More information on the fifth World Health Summit including video of Monash sessions is available at:

http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/

Professor Ben Canny chairs a session

16 • M3

A 6 month rotation to Papua New Guinea as a surgical registrar has led to 30 years of service to Australia’s near neighbours, and recognition in the 2013 Commonwealth list of the Queen’s Birthday honours.

Professor Rosenfeld was appointed an Officer of The Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to neurosurgery and to the School of Medicine at the University of Papua New Guinea.

“Working in PNG as a general surgeon was a tremendous experience. I was faced with a completely different culture to that of Australia, and a wide range of tropical diseases and other illnesses,” said Professor Rosenfeld. “One of my first cases in Goroka was a woman who’d been axed in the head. I wasn’t a neurosurgeon at the time, but this experience encouraged my interest in neurosurgery.”

Since his appointment as an honorary professor to the University of Papua New Guinea School of Medicine in 2000, Professor Rosenfeld has been teaching their medical students, as well as training postgraduate doctors in surgery. During his annual visits to PNG, Professor Rosenfeld also gives lectures, teaches local nurses, sees out-patients and

performs neurosurgery procedures. He has empowered the local workforce in PNG through transferring skills in neurosurgery, helping to train two general surgeons in neurosurgery and demonstrated to local surgeons how neurosurgery can be done with limited resources.

In 2000, Professor Rosenfeld co-authored with Professor David Watters Neurosurgery in the Tropics: a practical approach to common problems, a low-cost text book for use in developing countries. This book has become a resource for general surgeons in other developing countries who need to perform neurosurgery but aren’t neurosurgeons.

Professor Rosenfeld enjoys the challenges of being in a unique environment. “There are very advanced pathologies, severe trauma, unusual infections and problems you wouldn’t encounter in Australia.”

“There are also dangers in terms of contracting TB, HIV, Malaria, Hepatitis or Dengue Fever. You’ve got to be careful,” he added.

Having received numerous awards for his extraordinary accomplishments and

contribution to the field of neurosurgery, including his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2011, Professor Rosenfeld takes a particular pride in this latest honour.

“The OBE is a very prestigious award, and a very unusual award for an Australian,” says Professor Rosenfeld. “Being appointed to the Order of the British Empire gives me a great feeling of satisfaction knowing I’ve contributed to the development of neurosurgery and medical education in PNG. It’s hard to convey the joy I get from working in PNG and being able to help people who are in need and whose lives may be transformed following neurosurgery.”

“If I can help people to improve their quality of life, I’m absolutely delighted,” he continues. “That’s why I got into medicine in the first place. This is a unique way of helping people.”

Professor Rosenfeld has been further honoured through appointment as Adjunct Professor in Surgery at the prestigious F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services at the University of The Health Sciences in the United States.

And there’s more about ‘Prof Rosenfeld’...

Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld is lead author on a review article in The Lancet Neurology on bomb blast brain injury, published 22 July 2013. As a military surgeon he has seen injuries from war zones.

See the video on Faculty YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= zADazb8GUWk

Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld

Rosenfeld double honours

M3 • 17

Brain atrophy linked with cognitive decline in diabetesNew research has shown that cognitive decline in people with Type 2 Diabetes is likely due to brain atrophy, or shrinkage, that resembles patterns seen in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Chris Moran and Associate Professor Velandai Srikanth of Monash University led the first large-scale study to compare brain scans and cognitive function between people with and without Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). They found that brain atrophy, rather than cerebrovascular lesions, was likely the primary reason for cognitive impairment associated with T2DM.

The World Health Organisation reports that more that more than 347 million people worldwide live with diabetes and around 90 per cent of these cases are Type 2.

Associate Professor Velandai Srikanth of Monash University’s Department of Medicine said the findings had important implications for Australia’s ageing population.

“Type 2 Diabetes and dementia are both highly common disorders affecting the ageing population and this research shows that there may be a mechanistic link between them. Indeed, generalised

$2.5 million funding of CRE for Population Health Research Congratulations to Professor Michael Abramson (Clinical Epidemiology) and co-investigators, including Malcolm Sim and Geza Benke, Monash Centre for Occupational & Environmental Health (MonCOEH) on being awarded NHMRC funding of $2,500,000 over five years for a Centre of Research Excellence for

Associate Professor Velandai Srikanth

Population Health Research on Electromagnetic Energy, commencing in 2014.

This international research collaboration will include studies of brain tumours in young people, cancer and neurological outcomes in older adults, studies of neurocognitive function in children and

adolescents, personal exposures from radiofrequency sources in the community, monitoring personal exposure of radiofrequency and MRI workers and risk perception and communication.

Outcomes will be translated into health policy and practice through linkages with international and national organisations.

brain atrophy may be the key driver of cognitive decline in Type 2 diabetes and such atrophy is also commonly seen in people with dementia,” Associate Professor Srikanth said.

“By 2031 it is estimated that around 3.3 million Australians will have diabetes. The burden of dementia in the population will be greatly increased if a significant number of these individuals experience cognitive decline.”

The research built on previous studies that had shown there may be a greater risk of future dementia in people with T2DM. However, it was unclear whether T2DM was a causal factor for the development of cognitive impairment, and if so, what mechanisms may be involved.

The researchers compared cognitive function and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of the brain in more than 700 people with and without T2DM.

Those with diabetes performed less well in certain cognitive tests and had greater shrinkage in specific regions of the brain, which appeared to drive the differences in cognitive function. Although the researchers found that participants with diabetes also had more strokes on MRI, this did not explain the cognitive differences between groups.

The findings, published in Diabetes Care, will lead further research in trying to identify why people with Type 2 Diabetes develop brain atrophy, and how such atrophy may be prevented or slowed.

18 • M3

The E.J. Whitten Foundation is a key supporter of the work of Monash University researchers in the fight against prostate cancer. On Sunday 17th November, a Monash team showed its support for the Whitten Foundation with a team entered in the Sunday Age City2Sea fun run.

This Melbourne version of the world’s largest run saw Monash researchers tackling both the 14 and 5 kilometre courses that take in St. Kilda Road, Albert Park Grand Prix track and a spectacular seaside finish at St. Kilda.

Monash runners included E.J. Whitten Foundation Fellow, Dr Emma Beardsley, and Dr Sarah Wilkinson, who both carried Monash Sport colours in the event.

“The Whitten Foundation’s contribution to Monash-led prostate cancer research is significant and highly valued”, said

Professor Gail Risbridger, whose own work on prostate issues affecting over half of all Australian men has been accomplished over a 20 year period.

Monash researchers run for more than fun

“It’s great that a Monash team comprised of the actual researchers including Sarah and Emma can be part of an event which raises much needed funds for further research.”

Dr Sarah Wilkinson and Dr Emma Beardsley

Increasing the pace and scale at which clinical research is translated into better outcomes at the bedside is the aim of the Monash Partners academic health science centre. The centre was officially launched by the Victorian Minister for Health David Davis in August.

Minister Davis said the centre will undertake innovative research and speed up the translation of clinical research into practice that will directly improve healthcare for patients.

“The centre combines public and private health care providers with some of Australia’s leading biomedical research institutions,” Mr Davis said.

Clinical leaders of eight organisations have come together to celebrate a shared initiative.

Monash Partners: Academic Health Science Centre

“Monash Partners is the first academic health science centre to be established in Victoria, said Professor Christina Mitchell, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences. “Academic health science centres are organisational structures that link basic research to clinical studies to translational outcomes.”

Monash Partners managing director, Michael Wright said the official launch reinforces the deeper collaboration between research, clinical practice and education that defines academic health science centres.

“By endorsing the hard work put in at Monash Partners, the Victorian Government, for its part, has made it clear that academic health science centres are seen as a part of the future

of clinical services and clinical research in Victoria,” Mr Wright said.

The founding members of the Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre are:

Monash University, Alfred Health, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Cabrini Health, Epworth Healthcare, Burnet Institute, Monash Health, Prince Henry’s Institute.

For more information visit:

www.monashpartners.org.au

Courtesy of Media and Communications, Monash University.

M3 • 19

Katherine Allnutt is the Monash Diversity and Social Inclusion Resident Adviser and a recipient of the Monash PSA Insurance Medical Science Scholarship.

Healthier mothers and babies

A Monash Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours) student has won the best Allied Health Presentation Award and a travel grant for her study of early pregnancy glucose screening guidelines at the recent Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society Meeting.

As the demographics of obstetric populations change, more pregnant women are at risk for unrecognised diabetes. Katherine Allnutt’s research at the Ritchie Centre, Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR), provides data essential to the debate regarding implementation of expert guidelines for diabetes screening in early pregnancy.

“Local and international guidelines acknowledge the importance of identifying these women but no validated screening strategies currently exist for early pregnancy,” said Ms Allnutt. “My research highlights the need for an alternative screening approach, as well as the significant implications for resource allocation in adopting these new guidelines.”

Supervised by Professor Euan Wallace, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Southern Clinical School and Clinical Associate Professor Carolyn Allan, Ms Allnutt was a part of the team implementing a new protocol for diabetes screening in early pregnancy. She will evaluate the performance of this screening tool as part of her research.

“With the ethnic diversity of antenatal populations at Monash Health, and as maternal age increases and more women begin pregnancy at a higher than ideal weight, it is likely that some women will enter pregnancy with unrecognized abnormalities in blood glucose,” said Associate Professor Allan. “This has implications for both mother and baby.”

Katherine Allnutt

“I was drawn to this project as it is an area with very limited evidence, yet the effects on mothers and their babies can be far-reaching,” said Ms Allnutt. “I am hopeful that earlier identification of these women at risk will ultimately translate to improved maternal and fetal health outcomes.”

Ms Allnutt presented her findings at the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society’s annual conference in Sydney last month.

“...an alternative screening approach...”

CRICOS provider: Monash University 00008C. The information in this brochure was correct at the time of publication in November 2013. Monash University reserves the right to alter this information should the need arise. MMS364036

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