school of health sciences · 2019. 12. 19. · school of health sciences (issue 4 — september |...

School of Health Sciences (Issue 4 — September | October | November 2019 Newsletter) Page 1

Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought - Dr Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

There has been much happening within the School of Health Sciences. Here are some features…

• New Programs

• Research Week

• New HDR Graduands

• 2019 School of Health Sciences Inspire Award Winner

• NHMRC Investigator Grant

• Academic Promotions

• Conference Scholarship Reports

HLS Newsletter Issue 04 September | October | November 2019

In This Issue

• Head of School Report

• Program Director Reports

• Research Director Reports

• Staff and Student Publications

• Library Report

• Events / Announcements

• Safety and Wellbeing

• Contact Us Sarena Jones, Director of Allied Health Support Services with

2019 Allied Health Educator of the Year, Assoc Prof Saravana Kumar

SCHOOL OF HEALTH SCIENCES

School of Health Sciences (Issue 4 — September | October | November 2019 Newsletter)

Greetings and welcome to our last edition of the School of Health Sciences newsletter for 2019. This year has certainly zoomed by and we have much to celebrate. We hope you enjoy reading about the achievements and activities of our staff and students over the past few months.

Welcome to New Staff Academic Staff Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy: Dr Ann Kennedy-Behr, commenced 9 December Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology: Stefanie Bucher, commencing 6 January 2020 Lecturer in Human Movement, Dr Samuel Chalmers, commencing 13 January 2020 Professional Staff

Coordinator: Invictus Pathways Program: Mark Reidy, commenced 17 November Research Staff Research Assistant: Dr Felicity Braithwaite, commenced 1 November Research Fellow: Dr Malcolm Brinn, commenced 2 December

New Program Director The School is pleased to announce that Scott Adams has been appointed as Program Director: Human Movement from Monday 2 December. He will also remain the Program Director: Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Exercise Science).

Commencing at UniSA in 2005, Scott has significant and extensive experience within the Human Movement program having previously acted in the role of Program Director: Human Movement in 2016 and performing the role of Program Coordinator: Human Movement in 2016-2017. Since early 2018, Scott is also the Program Director: Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Exercise Science) and responsible for providing academic leadership in the management, development and growth of our first online Health Science program.

Please welcome and congratulate Scott as the new Program Director: Human Movement and continuing Program Director: Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Exercise Science).

Thank You Scott Polley I would like to take this opportunity to thank Scott Polley for his outstanding leadership and hard work in the role of Program Director for Human Movement since 2013. Scott has overseen growth and changes in the suite of programs including the development of an Exercise Science degree, two double degrees and closest to his heart, the recent approval of the Bachelor of Outdoor and Environment Leadership program.

New Programs

Speech Pathology We are well underway with preparations for our first cohort of students in the new Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) commencing in 2020. We are pleased to welcome new staff member Stefanie Bucher starting with us in January to take on the teaching for the first semester in the program. Then in mid-2020 we will welcome Professor Maria Kambanaros, an internationally renowned academic in Speech Pathology. Further information regarding the program can be found here.

Master of Research (Health Sciences) The School is delighted to announce the approval of a new Masters program, the Master of Research (Health Sciences), to be offered from 2020. This new program is replacing the Master of Research (Population Health Practice) and aims to provide foundational research skills and knowledge relevant to a wide range of health-related disciplines through the completion of a research program and four online research courses. The courses include two new courses in research methods and planning, a biostatistics course and an elective that provides the opportunity for students to tailor their program to best suit the needs of their research project.

Head of School Report Associate Professor Shylie Mackintosh

https://study.unisa.edu.au/lp/degrees/speech-pathology/https://study.unisa.edu.au/degrees/master-of-research-health-sciences


Testimonials regarding the benefits of the inclusion of coursework from two current students can be found below. If you ’d like to discuss the program, please feel free to contact: Program Director: Dr Catherine Paquet | [email protected].

“As a Masters by Research Student I undertook the postgraduate coursework throughout the first half of my candidature. I felt that it really helped to set me up with the foundational knowledge and confidence I needed to start my research degree. I was initially overwhelmed by the idea of undertaking both coursework and a thesis with the workload. However, looking back at how much I have learnt over the course, from the basics of research methods and study designs, to biostatistics and analysis programs including SPSS, the coursework was such a great investment into my research career and I think it actually gave me a really good head start into my masters project” - Celine Northcott, Masters by Research Candidate.

“Being a Human Movement graduate I was initially hesitant about transferring to the Master of Research (Population Health Practice) and was unsure about the relevance and necessity of undertaking further coursework. The courses however, particularly Biostatistics for Population Health Practice, established a foundation in research methods, practices and skills which furthered my understanding of research during the initial phases of my project, which has set me up for the remainder of my candidature. I would recommend the coursework to Masters students looking to develop a preliminary understanding of research, as a means to kickstart their research project” - Samuel Janetzki, Masters by Research Candidate.

Bachelor of Outdoor and Environmental Leadership The Bachelor of Outdoor and Environmental Leadership capitalises on the strengths of the University of South Australia’s Health Science Outdoor Education suite and the Natural and Built Environments Environmental Science offerings to deliver a new and innovative program that will meet current unfulfilled demand for graduates, as well as emerging demand in the fields of wellbeing, outdoor education, adventure therapy, environmental education, environmental interpretation, adventure-based tourism and corporate learning. Students, through elective choices or studying a Minor or Sub-Major, will have the opportunity to tailor studies in areas such as Counselling and Interpersonal Skills, Indigenous Tourism, Biology and Environmental Systems. The program will commence in 2021.

Research Week

During the wrap up of the week our Associate Head of School: Research Associate Professor Marie Williams presented a number of interesting statistics from the past 11 years, including:

• Our HDR load has almost doubled, from 54 in 2009 to 107 in 2019, with the make-up of the cohort shifting from only PhD candidates in 2009 to 69 PhD/ 38 Masters by Research in 2019

• Over the time we’ve had 107 candidates graduate (103 PhD, 4 Masters by Research)

• The format of the week has changed, as we introduced HDR Poster Sessions, HDR ‘5x5’ presentations, and Invited Presentations from our Early Career Research staff

• During the 11 years of Research Week we’ve seen presentations from 157 ‘new’ HDR candidates, 90 candidates have presented Posters, and 86 candidates approaching completion have given a ‘5x5’ presentation

• The ‘social’ side of the week has kept us on our toes, from Team Challenges and Mystery Events, to the ever-controversial ‘Great Debates’, to the boisterous Quiz of the last 2 years

While the School of Health Sciences may be coming to an end, I’m sure the momentum we’ve built with Research Week over the years will continue on in to our new Academic Unit entity.

Our 11th and final Research Week as the ‘School of Health Sciences’ was yet again a great success. The quality of presentations during the week was outstanding, with plenty of opportunities to take time out and network with colleagues. Congratulations to the winner of the Research Week HDR Poster Competition, PhD Candidate Hayley Leake.

The week was crowned by an entertaining Quiz, kindly created and compered by Professor Tim Olds. Thank you to Andy Te for an excellent job coordinating the week-long festival of research, and to all those who helped and supported with various sessions and activities!

mailto:[email protected]


Congratulations to our Newest HDR Graduands! We’ve had an impressive 15 candidates complete a PhD or Masters by Research in our School this year. Congratulations to the following graduands, who’ve had their degrees conferred since our last newsletter:

• Dr Amal Chakraborty, PhD (supervisors: Associate Professor Margaret Cargo, Professor Mark Daniel, Professor Alex Brown, Dr Natasha Howard): Identifying and evaluating community-level built and social environmental factors in relation to preventable disease outcomes: strengthening the evidence base for remote communities in the Northern Territory, Australia

• Dr Sheena Davis, PhD (supervisors: Associate Professor Steve Milanese, Professor Karen Grimmer, Alistair Furnell): The Ergonomics of the Combat Helmet System (TECHS): a systems approach to developing an evaluation framework for combat helmets

• Dr Sarah Edney, PhD (supervisors: Associate Professor Carol Maher, Professor Tim Olds, Dr Jillian Ryan): Social networking and gamification for health behaviour change

• Stephanie Folley, Masters by Research (supervisors: Professor Elina Hypponen, Dr Ang Zhou): Physical activity, APOE genotype and cognitive function: exploring gene-environment interactions in the UK Biobank

• Dr Anwar Gebremichael, PhD (supervisors: Professor Elina Hypponen, Dr Ang Zhou): Relationship between obesity and depression: evidence from observational and genetic studies

• Dr Iordan Kostadinov, PhD (supervisors: Associate Professor Margaret Cargo, Professor Mark Daniel): Validation of process evaluation tools to assess community readiness and intervention dose: application to a multi-site community-based childhood obesity prevention program

• Dr Peter Lekkas, PhD (supervisors: Professor Mark Daniel, Dr Catherine Paquet): The time-varying effects of neighbourhood social fragmentation on trajectories of mental health-related quality of life

• Dr Maleshwane Pule, PhD (supervisors: Professor David Roder, Dr Liz Buckley, Associate Professor Theo Niyonsenga): Optimising measurement of comorbidity in South Australian cancer populations

• Brian Pulling, Masters by Research (supervisors: Associate Professor Tasha Stanton, Professor Lorimer Moseley, Professor Mark Jensen, Dr Felicity Braithwaite): Adjunctive hypnosis for the treatment of pain

• Dr MD Shafiqur Rahman (Jabin), PhD (supervisors: Professor Bill Runciman, Dr Tim Schultz, Dr Catherine Mandel, Associate Professor Farah Magrabi, Associate Professor Peter Hibbert): Identifying and characterising problems arising from interactions between medical imaging and health information technology as a basis for improvements in practice

• Dr Brad Stenner, PhD (supervisors: Professor Jon Buckley, Dr Amber Mosewich): Participation in golf by older Australians: motivations for playing and evidence of health-related benefits

UniSA Health Clinics Representing the UniSA Health Clinics, students from the Division of Health Sciences attended the recent Kids and Youth Disability Expo (KYD-X) on Saturday 12 October, and the Disability Ageing and Lifestyle (DAL-Expo) Showgrounds on Thursday 17 October.

At the KYD-X Expo, the stalls were set up with lots of interactive toys and games which are actually used during therapy services at the City West Health and Medical Clinic. We were able to say hello to a lot of existing clients and interact with prospective families.

UniSA Health is proud to have been a Supporting Sponsor of the Disability, Ageing and Lifestyle Expo. The Mobile Allied Health Clinic (MAHC) van was on full display and under supervision by a clinical nurse, students were able to undertake blood pressure and blood glucose tests for expo attendees. Staff and students talked to attendees about the services offered by the UniSA Health Clinics and also provided prospective students information on health-related programs.

The expos allow individuals, families and carers to make informed choices about the equipment, therapies and treatments available to maximise the impact of their National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding. Our UniSA Health Clinics continue to provide valuable clinical placement experiences for Physiotherapy, Podiatry, Exercise Physiology and Occupational Therapy students.

The clinics are open to the public, so we welcome all staff to book an appointment, or recommend our services to any family or friends who may need access to affordable and quality allied health services.

Please give our friendly reception staff a call to book. More information and contact details are available on our website.

Dr Kuan Tan, Manager: Health and Clinical Education

UniSA staff and students at the Kyd-X Expo at Priceline Stadium

UniSA Health Clinics booth and MAHC van at the Disability, Ageing and Lifestyle Expo at the Wayville Showgrounds

http://www.unisa.edu.au/community-clinics


Lunchtime Teaching and Learning Session 10 October - Examinations: Principles and Practical Applications In light of the phasing out of the ENTEXT provision, Nayia Cominos from the Teaching Innovation Unit facilitated an informative and interactive workshop on the principles of examination with helpful tips on the preparation of examinations in 2020. The workshop covered three parts - Principles and purpose of examinations, including academic integrity, Practical Applications, choosing the best format, effective question-writing, short-term strategies for the coming exam period and Longer term strategies, sign-posting, and professional development opportunities. Academics were encouraged to bring along examples of problematic examinations and share examples of where they’d made successful changes. A recording of this session can be found here. The sound of the recording does improve further into the presentation. Thank you to Nayia and all those that attended.

UniSA Teaching and Learning Symposium 2019 The School of Health Sciences once again was active in attending and presenting at the annual UniSA Teaching and Learning Symposium. The event was held at City West Campus on Friday 8 November. This full-day Symposium showcased the work of academic staff across the themes of Interdisciplinarity, Research Informed, People & Programs, and Authentic Assessment.

The School was well-represented in the program, with eight presentations and two panel sessions given by School of Health Sciences academic staff across all four Symposium themes. Most of these sessions represented the work of staff teams, speaking to the culture of teamwork and inter-professional collaboration within the School.

It was a fantastic day hearing about the scholarship activities across the University, with lots of opportunity to connect and network over delicious food in the breaks.

Aboriginal Content in Undergraduate Programs The School of Health Sciences staff are committed to progressing the intent and actions toward UniSAs Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan. Two programs within the School were selected to undertake a self-review in relation to the Aboriginal Content in Undergraduate Programs (ACUP), including the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (Honours) and the new Bachelor of Health Science (Public Health). This self-review process was completed in October 2019, and has been shared informally with the Divisional Aboriginal Strategy Group. This self-review process will contribute to the university-wide ACUP agenda.

Aboriginal Cultural Safety Workshop Alongside the ACUP review process, the School of Health Sciences is supporting the development of staff cultural safety and capability through a series of workshops. On Tuesday 19 November, Haydon Bromley, Executive Director: Bookabee Australia with support from Deanne Hanchant-Nicols, Consultant: Aboriginal Employment and Development at UniSA delivered a full day Aboriginal Cultural Safety training session to School of Health Sciences academic and professional staff. An advanced full day session will be delivered by Haydyn in February 2020, with a focus on working with Aboriginal peoples, students, families and communities.

The workshop was challenging and at times quite confronting, however, it did raise our awareness and understanding of Aboriginal Australia from an Aboriginal perspective. The workshop gave everyone an opportunity to ask some sticky questions that we have always wanted to know the answers to but were too afraid to ask. We also engaged in culturally sensitive conversations and shared personal experiences with each other. In our groups we discussed ways we can identify, promote and engage Cultural Awareness and diversity activities across the School.

Course Handover Tool Handing over a course to a new coordinator? Course Handover is a tool to identify the key information that should be communicated in the transitioning of courses from one course coordinator to the next to ensure consistency and completeness. More information can be found here.

New Research Group with IIMPACT During October the School launched our new Research Concentration Innovation, Implementation And Clinical Translation in Health – or IIMPACT for short. IIMPACT’s vision is that people with chronic conditions will reach their full potential for recovery, independence and wellbeing

The group will be led by Professor Lorimer Moseley, who will be supported by a leadership group consisting of Professor Susan Hillier, Professor Esther May and Associate Professor Marie Williams, along with a number of theme leaders within each challenge area.

https://unisa.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=6bdea31b-b15d-4735-bb3d-aada001e40cahttp://coursehandover.net/


In Stage 1, IIMPACT will target five Big Challenges:

• Persistent pain

• Stroke recovery

• Persistent breathlessness

• Rural health & Training and supporting allied health professionals

In Stage 2, IIMPACT will seek to expand to other areas of expertise within the School (and beyond) in 2020 – so watch this space!

Our High Achievers Let’s celebrate some of our best and brightest stars who don’t just shine at the University but on the local and world stage. Congratulations to these winners!

2019 Allied Health Educator of the Year At the 2019 Australian Allied Health Awards held on Saturday 21 September in Melbourne, Associate Professor Saravana Kumar was named the 2019 Allied Health Educator of the Year. With over 400 nominees across 17 award categories, it is wonderful to see Saravana receiving recognition for being such a passionate teacher, mentor and supervisor with a focus on embedding evidence base and research translation into practice.

School of Health Sciences Inspire Award During Research Week we were delighted to announce that Dr Alexandra Wade (pictured right) was awarded the 2019 School of Health Sciences Inspire Award. This award recognises significant achievements in research impact from Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates within the School of Health Sciences. Applicants are reviewed by a panel of three judges external to the School, chaired by Professor Susan Hillier, Dean: Research, Division of Health Sciences. In accepting the award, Alex gave a great presentation, and you will see a report from her later in this newsletter. I would like to take this opportunity to once again congratulate Alex on this latest achievement!

School of Health Sciences Staff Shortlisted for UniSA Research Awards The School of Health Sciences was well represented in the 2019 UniSA Research Awards, with the following staff making the shortlist in the categories they were nominated in:

• Supervisor of the Year – Associate Professor Carol Maher

• Early Career Researcher – Dr Margarita Tsiros

• Mid Career Researcher – Associate Professor Tasha Stanton

• Professional Support (Team Award) – School of Health Sciences (Deb Williams, Andy Te, Emily Vaughton)

A full list of the winners and those shortlisted can be found here.

NHMRC Investigator Grant Success Congratulations to Professor Lorimer Moseley who was recently awarded a $2.4 million Investigator Grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Professor Moseley will lead a five-year international team project to investigate the biological and cognitive processes involved in pain and how the brain can be trained to relieve suffering, aiming to help relieve one of the world’s leading causes of disability – chronic musculoskeletal pain. The grant will be used to trial innovative, experimental approaches to dealing with chronic pain, Australia’s third most costly health condition and a significant contributor to suicides. To read more, please click here.

Sarena Jones, Director of Allied Health Support Services presenting Assoc Prof Saravana Kumar with 2019 Allied Health

Educator of the Year Award

https://www.unisa.edu.au/research/research-day-awards/https://www.unisa.edu.au/Media-Centre/Releases/2019/unisa-awarded-$3.9-million-for-research-into-chronic-pain--pre-natal-genetic-testing-and-heart-health/


Peter Reizenstein Prize Associate Professor Peter Hibbert and his PhD supervisor, Professor Bill Runciman, was awarded the Peter Reizenstein Prize for best paper published in the International Journal for Quality in Healthcare during 2018. The award was announced at the International Society for Quality in Healthcare conference in Cape Town in October.

The paper reviewed the effectiveness of 1137 recommendations from 227 investigations of serious adverse events in Victoria. The adverse events included medication incidents, patients committing suicides whilst in healthcare, missed diagnoses, and surgical items inadvertently left in patient’s bodies. The research found less than 1 in 10 recommendations were likely to lead to sustainable reductions in the risk of recurrence of the events. The paper also discussed ways to improve the recommendation’s effectiveness including increasing the independence of investigation teams and more aggregation and learning from the investigations across health services.

The citation is: Hibbert P, Thomas MJW, Deakin A, Runciman W, Braithwaite J, Lomax S, et al. Are root cause analyses recommendations effective and sustainable? An observational study. Int J Qual Health Care. 2018;10.1093/intqhc/mzx181.You can read the paper here.

One of the World’s Most Cited Academics On Tuesday 19 November, The Web of Science Group released its annual list of Highly Cited Researchers. The list identifies scientists and social scientists who produced multiple papers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field and year of publication, demonstrating significant research influence among their peers. This "who's who" of influential researchers includes our own human activity expert, Professor Tim Olds. While Australian researchers make up just 4.4% of the world’s most cited academics, this result is cause for celebration as it places Tim’s research in the top 1% of the most cited works in the field of social sciences. Tim recognises his work is not completed in a vacuum and thanks Dr Dot Dumuid, Associate Professor Carol Maher and PhD student Lisa Matricciani for their research and support.

International Organization for Medical Physics Professor Eva Bezak was recognised on Wednesday 13 November by a letter from the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) that she is the recipient of the International Day of Medical Physics (IDMP) for 2019. The IDMP award recognises Eva’s excellent multidimensional contribution towards development of Medical Physics and patients internationally, which include education, awareness and clinical practices.

South Australian Women’s Honour Roll Then on Wednesday 20 November, Professor Eva Bezak was included in the 2019 South Australian Women’s Honour Roll. The South Australian Women's Honour Roll is an important part of an ongoing strategy to increase formal recognition of women who contribute to the South Australian community. Held biennially, the Honour Roll acknowledges and celebrates the diversity of women in our community and their commitment to effecting change to ensure that we live in a safer and more inclusive society. Eva is a leader, educator and highly accomplished researcher in radiation physics. Her infectious enthusiasm inspires students and colleagues alike. A role model for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), she is equally as passionate for all who achieve around her as she is for her own achievements. While Eva is deeply engaged in her research, she is keen to enlist and nurture the brightest and best students to join the quest to understand more about cancer and deliver new treatments. Eva has an enviable academic record, having authored and co-authored over 120 papers, made 200 conference presentations and co-authored many books on radiotherapy physics, radiation biology and novel therapies. She is actively involved in several development projects and organising committees, including the development of national and state cancer plans for radiation oncology. Eva was nominated by her UniSA colleagues: Kate Lamb, Brooke Osborne, Jane Shepherdson and Eileen Giles.

Celebrating 25 Active Years of Service to UniSA On Thursday 14 November, UniSA hosted a celebration recognising staff who have given 25 or 40 years of service. Several staff from the School of Health Sciences were in the ranks of the 25-year awards and a couple that we might still claim as School of Health Sciences, as quite a few spent their 25 years with us.

Congratulations to those who were recognised for their milestone of 25 years (pictured left to right with Professor Roger Eston and Andrew Beck from the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences):

Associate Professor Shylie Mackintosh, Dr Rose Boucaut, Associate Professor Sara Jones and Professor Esther May.

Prof Eva Bezak being presented by Prof Brenda Wilson AM, Lieutenant Governor

of South Australia

https://academic.oup.com/intqhc/article/30/2/124/4810754


Barbara Dalwood (pictured right) was also recognised for her significant anniversary of 25 years of service but unfortunately was unable to attend the celebration.

Staff Recognition Awards Twenty-five academic and professional staff from across the Division attended the Staff Recognition Awards at the Division’s Celebrating Success event hosted by the Pro Vice Chancellor and other colleagues on Thursday 3 December held at the Hilton Adelaide. This peer-nominated award is given to staff who are perceived by colleagues to go above and beyond the call of duty. A total of 48 individuals received nominations from within the Division, with 30 from the School of Health Sciences. From our School the following 9 staff were shortlisted for this award with Brooke Osborne (pictured below) winning the Academic Staff Recognition Award and Kim Jackson from Nursing & Midwifery winning the Professional Staff Recognition Award. Congratulations to all nominees, including our longlisted nominees below, for your contribution to the ongoing success of the School across 2019 through research, teaching and cultural initiatives and a special congratulations and cheers to our well-deserved winner Brooke!!

Academic Promotion Announced on Monday 25 November, congratulations to the following successful Academic Promotions in 2019. It is wonderful to see such a high number of academics achieve this well-deserved recognition. Well done!

Level B

Teaching & Research Academic Danielle Girard

Brad Stenner

Teaching Academic Cristina Blefari

Katrina Li

Level C

Research Academic John Arnold

Brenton Hordacre

Teaching & Research Academic

Angela Berndt

Katia Ferrar

Tom Wycherley

Teaching Academic

Katherine Baldock

Caroline Fryer

Emily Ward

Level D Teaching & Research Academic Shylie Mackintosh

Level E Research Academic Gaynor Parfitt

Teaching & Research Academic Alison Coates

Shortlisted Nominees for Staff Recognition Award

Brooke Osborne Donna Matthews Gillian Carr

Grant van der Ploeg Max Nelson Raewyn Todd

Ryan Higgins Sharyn Martin Ziggy Gniadek

Longlisted Nominees for Staff Recognition Award

Andy Te Angela Farley Anna Phillips

Bec Perry Carol Deroulette Emma Jonnek

Harsha Wechalekar Helen Creedon Jackie O’Flaherty

Jeanette Cordwell Jessie Childs Judy Barnes

Kate Lamb Kelly McFarlane Kristin King

Mark Matheson Mathew Van Hees Narelle Korotkov

Sandy Maranna Tanya Simmonds Terri Matthews


HLS Industry Relationships September - November 2019

Industry Sport Forum The end of the year has been a very busy and productive time for industry engagement within the School of Health Sciences. In October, we were pleased to host the inaugural Industry Sport Forum which showcased to industry, not just the capabilities of the School of Health Sciences but included all disciplines across the University.

The event included an information session and the launch of our collaborative brochure and website, followed by an opportunity for industry groups to interact with staff from the areas of the University they wanted to partner with. The morning was a complete success, with many new conversations and partnerships taking place already and we look forward to making this an annual event.

This is the first time that such a collaborative approach to engage with industry sectors has been attempted by UniSA and we were very proud to have been the main drivers of this initiative.

For more information, please visit our website.

Invictus Pathways Program The School is very excited to announce that UniSA are now the official owners of the Invictus Pathways Program (IPP). After a successful partnership with The Road Home, the IPP, including all of the adaptive sport and wellbeing programs and the official trademark have now been transferred to the capable hands of UniSA. This transfer will provide many new opportunities for our students to be involved in a number of wellbeing activities that are on offer to the veteran and first responder community. This transfer coincided with a visit from many delegates from around the globe, including David Wiseman from the Royal Foundation, who were in Adelaide for the Global Alliance Conference on Post Traumatic Stress. The UniSA Invictus staff were lucky enough to host these delegates at Pridham Hall for a VIP tour of the facilities and a meet and greet with the students and participants.

Other activities in the Invictus Pathways Program recently have seen us hosting both the ADF swimming and cycling national

selection camps for the 2020 Invictus Games set to be held in The Hague. Our students were on hand to provide high performance testing and support at trainings. Our staff have also been collaborating with Matt Opie, Director of Defence for UniSA to launch a Veterans Accelerator Education Program (VEAP) for 2020, which will include student placements for our

School through the IPP. Both programs were represented at a recent defence transitions event at Adelaide Oval where our staff provided information to veterans who are looking to return to civilian life.

Podiatry Basic Foot Care Workshop Industry engagement in the rural communities continues to be strengthened by the Podiatry team, who recently lead a group of students to present a workshop on Basic Foot Care to nurses in the GP and health clinics in the Broken Hill and outreach communities. The aim of the workshop was to upskill the nurses to provide basic treatments themselves and reduce the waiting times for podiatry services. The students did an outstanding job and the workshop was well received by all attendees. We look forward to making this an ongoing program in the future.

Invictus Pathway Program VIP Tour

ADF Swimming Camp ADF Transitions Event

Industry Sports Forum

https://www.unisa.edu.au/sports-engagement


Norwood Football Club Our strong partnership with Norwood Football Club continues with the commencement of the final two PhD students. Edward O’Connor and Henry Blake have now commenced their studies with Norwood and will be looking at mindfulness and resilience and Men’s Health respectively.

Aboriginal Cadetship The School would like to welcome Jonty Doudle, who is a first year Human Movement student undertaking an Aboriginal Cadetship in the High Performance Sport Centre. The cadetship is an initiative through AFL Sports Ready to provide the student with opportunities to build on their university learnings and further engage them in their studies. So far, Jonty has been learning a variety of tasks including high performance testing, observation in the EP clinic, event preparation and equipment maintenance. We are all enjoying his contribution to the team and look forward to teaching him further skills in 2020 that will compliment his studies.

We look forward to building on this productive year in 2020 and engaging with even more industry partners to provide opportunities for our students. If you have any ideas for industry engagement, are looking for someone to direct an industry enquiry to, please contact: our Industry Liaison Officer: Ashlee Munro | [email protected].

Staff Sport and Recreation

City to Bay Erika Espinoza recently accepted the challenge to run in the City to Bay held in September.

“Do the run!” they said! “It’ll be awesome”, they said ………. and …… it was exactly that! AWESOME!

Thanks to a colleague of mine for planting the seed to do the City to Bay run, I set myself the challenge, for no reason other than to see if I could do it. I initially registered to do the 6km run because, well, I was being a tad over ambitious. I then dropped to 3km simply because I’d never done any form of running. The day itself was filled with emotion, from getting ready at the start to reaching the finish line. I ran for the most part with fast paced walking in between. I did it! I loved it! I’ll be doing it again, this time, with sufficient training, I can see about pushing myself to do the full 12kms! Thank you to all

my colleagues in Health Sciences for your encouragement and support. Mmmwah! ’Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory’ - George S. Patton.

Erika Espinoza

Australian Masters Games During the recent 17th Australian Masters Games held in Adelaide in October, Jason Placanica had the opportunity to compete in the Amateur Boxing tournament.

The competition consisted of 89 bouts, fought over 3 action packed days at the Adelaide Convention Centre. I had two of those fights (out of the blue corner), for 2 wins, to take out the Gold in the 75kg (Middleweight), Novice, 46-50 year category. The first fight was against an opponent from Western Australia going the full 3 x 2 minute rounds and the second on the

Jonty Doudle, Cadet: High Performance Sport Centre

Presenter: Podiatry Student Jaydn Marold L to R: Podiatry Students Jaydn Marold, Cindy Diep and Damien Staunton



following day, was against an opponent from South Australia, which I won by a second round technical knockout (TKO).

I had been training for the past twelve months and hadn’t intended to fight competitively but the Masters Games gave me an opportunity to test my skills and my ‘mettle’. I found the experience to be very rewarding, as I had to work through blood, sweat and injuries to hop into that ring and do what it takes to see it through. It’s the preparation that sets you up to win and to quote the great Muhammed Ali, ‘The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.’ If you know that, you have honestly put in the hard work, and that will give you the self-belief to RISE to any challenge!

I would like to thank all of the people that have supported me along my journey (you know who you are), as I couldn’t have done it without you!

Jason Placanica

Yo Ho Ho!! Students and staff spotted welcoming the festive season!! Despite November being a busy month for both students and staff in the School, some managed to make time to join in the joy of the annual Christmas Pageant, which took place in Adelaide on Saturday 9 November.

Bachelor of Podiatry and Exercise and Sport Science students, Eleanor Fulton and Monique Lymn (pictured right) sang their way along the route as members of Young Adelaide Voices.

And spotted at the start line were staff, Ali Bell and Gill Carr (pictured below), ready to smile and wave their way through Adelaide’s streets.

Farewell We wish to acknowledge and thank Professor Bill Runciman, Professor of Patient Safety, for his contribution to the University of South Australia and his stellar Australian and international research achievements as he is “retiring” at the end of this year. He will, however, be continuing on in an adjunct role with ACPreH for one day per week.

Bill has worked at the University of South Australia since 2007 and since then has been a first author of the first national study into the delivery of evidence-based care in Australia (CareTrack) and has won the university’s Leading Researcher Award in recognition of his research. Bill is a world pioneer in patient safety research. He established the world’s first national patient safety organisation, the Australian Patient Safety Foundation in 1988, and was an author of the most cited study in the Medical Journal of Australia, the Quality in Australian Health Care Study. In 2014, he was awarded the Robert Orton Medal Award, which is the highest honour awarded by the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. Bill will continue to explore leading edge health services research, primarily into the ethics of artificial intelligence and aims to write a book on the physiology of animal flight. We wish Bill well and look forward to continuing to collaborate with him.


In the Media Many of our staff and students from the School of Health Sciences have shared their knowledge in the media recently, and you’ll find below and throughout the Newsletter just a few highlights.


Newsletter Contributions Thank you to all who have contributed to the School of Health Sciences newsletter and a special thanks to the Program and Research Directors for their specific reports.

Any feedback and suggestions for further improvements would be most appreciated.

The HLS Newsletter is available on the School of Health Sciences website. News on research, national appointments, community engagements, awards, achievements, sporting endeavours, etc. are welcome.

Tell us your news! Please email your articles and photographs for the newsletter to Terri Matthews | PA to Head of School | [email protected].

On behalf of the School, sincere thanks for your valued support in 2019 and I wish you and your families a safe and wonderful Christmas break. I look forward to working with you in 2020, which is sure to be an interesting and energising year!

Best Wishes and Happy Holidays!

Shylie

http://www.unisa.edu.au/Health-Sciences/Schools/Health-Sciences/Student-Resources/Newsletters/mailto:[email protected]


PROGRAM DIRECTOR REPORTS


It has been another fast-paced and successful year for the XBNE: Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Exercise) program. Steady growth has resulted in approximately 500 current student enrolments and we remain the most popular UniSA Online (UO) degree offering. Notably, the ambition of extending UniSA’s reach to new, non-traditional cohorts of students has been maintained: over 70% of XBNE students reside outside of South Australia, 80% are female and 50% are aged 30 or older.

Staff Changes Staff have now settled into their larger physical space in Catherine Helen Spence building at City West campus, which is purpose-finished to support quality online teaching. We are very sad to say goodbye to Kristy Gray who is leaving UO from December to relocate with her family in Washington DC. Kristy has done an amazing job as an Online Course Facilitator (OCF) teaching advanced nutrition courses in her time with us and we wish Kristy and her family all the very best, professionally and personally, in Washington.

As one door closes another door opens and we are thrilled to welcome Sara Forbes as an Online Course Facilitator to our teaching team. Sara won the position among a pool of outstanding candidates in our most recent round of hiring and comes to us with teaching experience at the University of Otago and a wealth of industry experience as a food service dietitian across a range of hospital/ health and elite sport settings. Sara will fill the teaching void left by Kristy and lead a number of nutrition-specific courses within the XBNE program. In response to our growth we are also delighted to have recently welcomed Dr Mel Hull as a new Online Course Facilitator within UniSA Online’s team. Whilst Mel will predominantly teach courses in UO’s Bachelor of Public Health program, she has a background in Human Movement and possesses recent course coordination experience within UniSA’s Human Movement and Exercise and Sport Science programs and will teach the Lifespan Growth and Motor Development (HLTH 1055) course within the XBNE program. We are very excited to have both Mel and Sara join us – welcome!

Current Courses As we finish the second year of our program offering we now regularly teach the entire scope of first and second year courses as well as some third year courses. We are now in the final weeks of our last term for the year and currently teaching the following suite of courses:

First Year

• Foundations of Human Biology 1 (156 students)

• Health and Society (75 students)

• Health Promotion (114 students)

• Foundations of Nutrition and Health (103 students)

Second Year

• Nutrition and Exercise Biochemistry (45 students)

• Theory of Exercise Testing and Prescription 2 (31 students)

• Lifespan Nutrition (13 students)

• Theory of Exercise Testing and Prescription 2 (31 students)

Student Feedback Staff continue to receive consistently positive feedback from students and exceptional MyCourseExperience results and we always like to showcase examples of these in our newsletter reports:

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your amazing team for your ongoing guidance and support. This online degree is structured and organized very well and I really appreciate the coordinators and tutors always staying connected with their students.”

“This is my first course with UniSA and while I was very overwhelmed to begin with, I have found the content delivery exceptional.”

The teaching team “were very engaged with the students and communication between us all was excellent. Faultless! The content of the course flowed extremely well, which made learning that little bit easier.”

Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Exercise),

UniSA Online Scott Adams, Program Director


Individual Course Enrolment Initiative In the previous newsletter I presented details about UO’s Individual Course Enrolment (ICE) initiative which enables on-campus UniSA students to enrol into selected individual UniSA Online courses. Health Promotion is the nominated XBNE course to take part in the ICE pilot program this study period and I am pleased to report that it is going well. Approximately 10% of students enrolled in Health Promotion (n=11) belong to on-campus UniSA programs, including Bachelor of Health Science, Bachelor of Human Movement and Bachelor of Occupational Therapy. Informal feedback from these students so far suggests that they are pleased with the level of support provided which is certainly a consistent message received at UO and a standard that we are very proud of. Well done to all teaching and support staff involved with this ICE initiative.

The year has passed quickly and we are pleased with the ongoing success of the XBNE program and excited to enter our third year. By this time next year we will be celebrating our first ever graduates from the program and in the meantime we continue our dedication to providing high quality online teaching and learning and student support.

For those interested to learn more about the Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Exercise) program you may wish to access our degree information.

Merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year to all. Term 1 courses commence on Monday 13 January 2020.

Scott Adams Program Director: Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Exercise), UniSA Online

http://online.unisa.edu.au/degrees/bachelor-of-health-science-nutrition-and-exercise


Well, with the festive season upon us and the summer holidays just around the corner, I think many will agree that 2019 has been an incredible, jam-packed year. This year has been particularly unique and pivotal for the Bachelor of Health Science program as we have now transitioned to the new Bachelor of Health Science (Public Health) and commenced the UniSA Online (UO) Bachelor of Public Health. While the Bachelor of Health Science program will be closed and no longer take on any new students, I am proud to say that this program has a long and rich history of helping students broaden their opportunities, and scope of work, across a range of health care sectors. By offering students foundational knowledge and skills across diverse fields, the Bachelor of Health Science program also provided students with opportunities to chase their dream of becoming health care professionals by undertaking further studies. As we move towards to the new Bachelor of Health Science (Public Health), we believe that in a changing health care environment, this new program, while still offering similar benefits of the previous program, will also empower students to tackle health care challenges within the Australian and global community.

Thank you! On that note, I wish to thank a number of people who work tirelessly to make our programs a great success. The teaching team comprising of skilled and experienced educator’s Dr Janette Young, Dr Richard McGrath, Dr Caroline Adams, Associate Professor Katherine Baldock, Dr Catherine Paquet, Dr Terry Boyle, Dr Beben Benyamin and Dr Danni Post who spearhead a number of courses. Supporting these course coordinators are tutors, facilitators and invited lecturers who continue to contribute to our program. Last but not least are the amazing professional staff including Carol Deroulette, Jeanette Cordwell, Helen Creedon and Gill Carr who support us every day to do our best. Collectively, this group of academic and professional staff have contributed immensely over the course of 2019 to develop, tailor and deliver programs and courses which develop our students to be industry-ready, real-world change-makers.

Welcome The UniSA Online (UO) Bachelor of Public Health commenced in September 2019 and the team (course writers, academic developers, online educational designers etc) did a marvellous job of hitting the ground running with three impressive courses already underway (Introduction to Public Health Practice and Research, Health Systems and Services and Sociological Perspectives in Public Health). We are thrilled to have the UniSA Online (UO) Bachelor of Public Health up and running and even more thrilled to have Dr Mel Hull appointed as the Online Course Facilitator. Mel needs no introduction as she is an experienced educator at UniSA over the past few years and recently graduated with a PhD in Public Health. We are thrilled to welcome and have Mel onboard and looking forward to her contributions to our program.

2019 Graduation I attended the October graduation ceremony and was thrilled to see several Bachelor of Health Science students complete their studies and graduate with their degrees. As educators, nothing pleases us more than to see our students succeed and I was proud as punch to witness our students’ hard work and persistence rewarded with their degrees. On behalf of all the team, congratulations on your success and best wishes for the future. We can’t wait to hear about your achievements!

Bachelor of Health Sciences Associate Professor Saravana Kumar, Program Director

L to R: Dr Alex Wade, Dr Mel Hull, Dr Scott Weeks and Assoc Prof Saravana Kumar


2019 Student Conference Talk about being overjoyed, what an awesome event the 2019 Health Science student conference was! Shireen de Souza and Rebekah Ciui, final year Health Science students, led the 2019 conference which was held on the Thursday 14 November at the Magill Campus. The conference was opened by Sarah Sutter (pictured below left), CEO NaturePlay SA and the conference showcased student works from our 2nd and 3rd year students. It was a wonderful showcase of the diverse and interesting projects students had undertaken during their studies and it was an ideal opportunity to come together and celebrate their success. My thanks to Shireen and Rebekah for spearheading this conference and to all the supporters and staff for making it happen.

In the Media The good news doesn’t stop there! Dr Janette Young’s research work continues to make wide-spread impact.

Since our media release in August 2019 regarding Dr Janette Young’s formal submission to the Aged Care Royal Commission, calling on more aged care homes to be accepting of animals, Janette has been interviewed several times about the topic and the media release has been republished multiple times, including overseas. On Monday 7 October, Dr Janette Young was interviewed by Channel 7’s Today Tonight in relation to the submission and the negative impact not allowing pets in most aged care facilities can have on older people at a time of great stress. Janette’s important work will help to lobby for creating happier later lives for people at what is commonly a very vulnerable time in life. The interview can be viewed here.

On Thursday 24 October, The Guardian published an article that featured Janette and her Adelaide University colleague, Dr Susan Hazel in relation to research around designer dogs and whether rescue dogs are better. You can read the article here. Keep up the good work, Janette and we are proud of your achievements!

New Year As with any new year, 2020 will bring opportunities and challenges but knowing that we have such a terrific nucleus of staff, I am confident that we can seize these opportunities and tackle any challenges and continue to produce work-ready graduates

for a changing health care environment. In the meantime, as 2019 ends, on behalf of the teaching and professional team from the Health Science/Public Health program, I want to wish everyone a wonderful, safe and joyous festive season and summer holidays.

https://www.unisa.edu.au/Media-Centre/Releases/2019/pet-friendly-aged-care-ticks-both-economic-and-health-boxes/https://www.facebook.com/ttadelaide/videos/489353984953263/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/oct/24/doxiepoos-and-puggles-is-hybrid-breeding-healthier-for-owners-and-dogs


Another big year for Human Movement with continued development and initiatives to support our students. Program numbers for Human Movement have, as expected, declined over the last few years as the recently introduced Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science gains traction. as does the Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Exercise). What is concerning is the significant reduction between those that commence the program and those that graduate. No single cause can be found but those that are leaving Human Movement are primarily transferring or commencing professional degrees such as Exercise and Sport Science, Clinical Exercise Physiology, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, Education, Nursing etc., to name but a few. These students we count as success stories as students use Human Movement as a stepping stone to their preferred career. We remain concerned about those that leave the university and don’t continue their study. A surprise when analysing our trend patterns is the number of students that complete second year but do not go on to third year. A number of initiatives have been put in place (mid-year first year meeting, follow-up students with poor initial results of low learnonline engagement, one-on-one counselling) that have tried to support those students considering departing university altogether but it is difficult to measure how effective this has been. So far the signs are promising for 2020 with general increases in the percentage of students continuing to study in 2020 but compared to the rest of the school and national benchmarks, we still have a lot of work to do. We hope that recent initiatives to focus on professional outcomes will assist with retention but we know the solution is multifactorial and is an on-going challenge for the program team and leadership.

New Program Director As reported by the Head of School earlier in the newsletter, a major staff change within our program is that Scott Adams will be replacing Scott Polley as Program Director: Human Movement. Scott A has earned a reputation as a fantastic teacher, administrator and is a well-respected and liked colleague in the School. Scott A will oversee continued Program and quality development in the Human Movement space and will work collaboratively in the School of Health Sciences with the Program Director: Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science, Dr Alyson Crozier and the Program Director: Clinical Exercise Physiology, Dr Danielle Girard. Although I have enjoyed the role, the reduced administration load will allow me to finally complete my PhD studies (all being well!) and I will revert back to my substantive teaching role.

Sport Industry Forum The first UniSA wide Sport Industry Forum was held on Friday 18 October 2019. As reported on page 9, the forum was an important milestone for the whole University to invite the spectrum of the Sport Industry to come and hear what we can do. A great job by the Health Science Industry Liaison Officer, Ashley Munro in putting this forum together. There have been many benefits to the University from this forum with a high proportion of our current and new Industry partners not aware of the full capability of the University. A great success that hopefully is replicated in 2020 to build on our learning from this year’s forum.

For more information, please contact: Ashlee Munro | Industry Liaison Officer | [email protected] | 8302 1879.

Human Movement Student Conference The second annual Human Movement and Exercise and Sport Science Conference took place on Friday 8 November and you can read Dr Crozier’s report on the Exercise and Sport Science component elsewhere in the newsletter. In the wake of outstanding student conferences in the School, it was pretty daunting knowing that the bar had been set extremely high by our colleagues and their students but hopefully we will continue to build each year. An Outdoor Education Conference was run concurrently and we had 34 students and 15 Industry representatives attend. The growth in this conference from last year was both on a participation level but also on a professionalism level.

A big thanks to the Exercise and Sport Science Conference organising team who did the lion’s share of managing the infrastructure including catering, grants, sponsorship, etc. Speakers at the Outdoor Education Conference included Wayne Enright who spoke about effective Adventure Therapy practices when working with youth at risk, Sean Meredith and Bec Rice who shared their journey as exchange students for 6 months at Agder University, Norway, Lauren Walker from Wilderness School who shared her perspectives about the school’s extended stay year 9 program on the Coorong. Professional practice students also spoke about their experiences on placement with either school groups or as mentors to UniSA students on the Introduction to Group and Team Psychology camp.

The day finished with a careers fair with representatives from Mercedes School, Operation Flinders, West Lakes Aquatic Centre, Wilderness Escape Adventures, The Outdoor Education Group, Active Education, Survive First Aid, Camp Counsellors USA, Paddle SA, Prince Alfred College, Mylor Baptist Camp and Unley High School. The wind put paid to the open air fair as planned but we all muddled on in the foyer of H202. Feedback so far from the conference has been extremely positive. One Industry attendee commented: ‘It was wonderful hearing all the young people's presentations. Enthusiastic and professional. The Industry is in good hands.’ Student response has also been extremely positive,

Bachelor of Human Movement Scott Polley, Program Director



particularly from second years to prepare for their final year of student as well as final year students able to imagine a broad and positive future from completing their degree: ‘… there is so much more to Outdoor Education….’.

Farewell 2019 Final Year Students As the Human Movement and Exercise and Sports Science students contemplated what to wear at their end of year Gala on the Saturday 30 November, no doubt they are also contemplating the ‘what next’ for their future. Human Movement provides a ‘degree of opportunity’ for our graduates with most going on to post graduate study. The most common programs include Teaching (Primary and Secondary), Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy. However, many also pursue other programs such as Social Work, Management, Occupational Health and Safety, Medical Sonography, Strength and Conditioning, Medicine, Psychology, Masters by Research, Prosthetics, Paramedics and others. Those doing the Exercise Science strand often complete their practicum hours and apply for individual accreditation as Exercise Scientists and have access to Exercise Science roles or go on to do post grad Clinical Exercise Physiology. Many graduates choose to work for a few years and then pursue further study – this is particularly common for the Outdoor Education students where industry demand is strong.

The program team and Industry advisory group are turning their attention to those that seek employment directly on graduation and do not intend to undertake further study in the short term. The statistics available suggest their employment rate and average pay is below the national average for University graduates, but likely on par with similar graduates from other Universities. The Human Movement Program team have been working hard to improve Human Movement graduate professional identity, improve Industry connection and increase the awareness of the diversity of opportunities open to them. This process is on-going and there is still much work to be done but we hope the current crop of graduates are able to harness some of our efforts at continuous improvement. We wish them all the very best for their future.

Best wishes for the festive season and 2020!

Yours in movement

Scott


The academic year is drawing to a close and with it the business increases with stressed students preparing for exams and staff busy marking. There is, however, still time to pause and reflect on the achievements of students and staff.

Let’s Celebrate We congratulate one of our PhD students, Ashleigh Hull (pictured left), who has been awarded a Vice Chancellor and President’s Scholarship in recognition of her excellence in research and relevance of that research to her chosen career. Some of you may remember Ashleigh as a graduate with honours from the nuclear medicine program in 2018. It is great to see Ashleigh pursuing her research career and choosing to enrol in a PhD. The future is looking bright for higher degrees by research as Ashleigh will join a growing number of PhD candidates in medical radiation.

Whilst we congratulate students, we are also happy to congratulate Professor Eva Bezak who has been recognised for her leadership by being inducted into the 2019 South Australian Women’s Honour Roll as an outstanding nominee. Eva was recognised formally at a reception at Government House on Wednesday 20 November. A well-deserved recognition for all of Eva’s hard work and leadership not only within our medical radiation program, but also within the state.

Further congratulations should go to Professor Eva Bezak, Ashleigh Hull (PhD student on the project), Dr Judy Li (molecular biologist), Associate Professor Dylan Bartholomeusz (Director, Nuclear Medicine, SAMI) and William Hsieh (Principal Radiochemist, Nuclear Medicine, RAH), who were awarded a $100,000 2019 Innovation Grant from the Anver Pancreatic Cancer Foundation. On Thursday 21 November, which is World Pancreatic Cancer Day, the Foundation announced that a grant funding of $600,000 will be shared equally between six talented pancreatic cancer research teams from leading research institutions around Australia to research a new pancreatic cancer treatment using high energy particles or radio-immunotherapy. Based in Sydney, the Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation is a small, but passionate group of people dedicated to dramatically lifting survival rates and improving the journey of those diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Well done team!

Our final congratulation, as the year draws to a close, is reserved for the graduating fourth year student cohort who completed their formal education requirements with the now traditional student conference on Friday 29 November. The student conference has now been in place for a number of years and each year provides a great opportunity for students to demonstrate not only presentation skills, through being selected by their peers to present at the conference, but also the opportunity to develop different skills through being involved in the committee that organises the conference. They have developed organisational and professional skills through the various tasks that they have been involved in across the year. The staff involved in the Professional Entry Practice 2 course, Cristina Blefari, Donna Matthews and Jo Oldfield, and our wonderful and tireless administration support person Kelly McFarlane, have guided and assisted where necessary. However, much of the hard work is down to the committee from gaining sponsorship to inviting guests and selecting and negotiating with the invited speaker. Catering for the day is also organised by the students who need to keep a careful eye on the budget. This is an open event and well worth thinking about attending in 2020 as by the time you receive this newsletter it will be completed for 2019. It is held annually in late November.

The staff of the Medical Radiation Science Program would like to thank you for your continued involvement and support of the program and the students. Your guidance and support of the students, particularly in the clinical environment, is very much appreciated, and we look forward to continuing to work with you for the remainder of the year and into 2020.

Best wishes!

Eva Bezak, Amber Bidner, Cristina Blefari, Greg Brown, Shayne Chau, Lisa Cunningham, Nadine Ellis, Eileen Giles, Kathy Guerrero, Kelly McFarlane, Joanne Oldfield, Jane Shepherdson and Michala Short, the Medical Radiation Team

Bachelor of Medical Radiation Science Jane Shepherdson, Program Director


2019 Australian Society of Molecular Imaging Scientific Meeting The Australian Society of Molecular Imaging recently held its sixth annual scientific meeting in Adelaide. The meeting was well attended by researchers and clinicians from a range of disciplines, with a great mix of local and interstate plenary and invited speakers, including our very own Professor Eva Bezak. The topics presented covered an array of molecular imaging approaches including total body PET scans, novel radiotracers, microscopy and mass spectrometry. The Medical Radiation group was well represented with three staff members (Eva Bezak, Amber Bidner and Dr Judy Li) and a PhD candidate (Ashleigh Hull) all in attendance.

Eva and Ashleigh both presented at the meeting. Eva was the final plenary speaker and gave an insightful overview of the use of in silico approaches to modelling treatment responses for cancer cells. As always, her presentation was well received and generated considerable interest from the audience. Contributing to the multi-disciplinary approach of the meeting, Ashleigh delivered a presentation on the current status of radioimmunotherapy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. This was Ashleigh’s first conference presentation for her PhD work. All other presenters gave fascinating talks and provided several insights into the future of molecular imaging across the various disciplines. As medical radiation professionals, it was valuable to see other evolving molecular imaging techniques which do not utilise radiation.

All UniSA representatives actively engaged with other attendees to form connections and discuss the research presented. As the meeting was multi-disciplinary, it was a great opportunity to meet and connect with researchers from different backgrounds. The variety of disciplines sparked many interesting conversations between attendees and allowed new connections to form which may be valuable in the future.

Thank you to the School of Health Sciences HDR stipend for funding Ashleigh’s attendance at this conference.

Ashleigh Hull PhD Candidate

Prof Eva Bezak delivering the final plenary talk on in silico approaches to cancer therapies


17th World Federation of Ultrasound and Biology (WFUMB) Congress

The World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB) and the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM) hosted the 17th World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology Congress in Melbourne this year. The event was held from Friday 6 September to Monday 9 September at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Victoria, Australia.

The congress provided an international platform for over 2000 delegates to hear from world renowned speakers, share experiences and network with other Ultrasound professionals and enthusiasts. Associate Professor George Condous convened this, the largest ultrasound assembly in Australia for 5 years, which offered 9 concurrent session options to delegates throughout the 4-day proceedings.

As an academic and research staff member (Medical Radiation Sciences) I was fortunate to be present at this world class conference where I attended Point-of-Care Ultrasound (PoCUS) and the ‘Education and training’ focused sessions which will greatly benefit me in my teaching, research and student roles at UniSA. It was great to see an entire stream of the concurrent sessions dedicated to ‘Education and training’ as well as a strong focus on Point-of-Care Ultrasound. PoCUS is an area of Ultrasound that is receiving growing attention and research interest. Defined as ultrasound imaging performed and interpreted by the healthcare practitioner at the bedside, PoCUS are generally more focused, limited studies aimed at assisting a procedure or answering a specific diagnostic question to direct care. One of the focuses of my research is on the efficacy of training antenatal PoCUS in rural and remote Australia and I was thrilled to be able to share some of my preliminary research results at such a prestigious event.

The Congress provided me with an opportunity to witness the current state of PoCUS in practice and research. I was fortunate to meet many clinical educators and researchers from all over Australia and overseas, particularly in workshop sessions which proved to be a very practical and worthwhile experience involving role playing with other delegates. The themes of some of the education and training sessions I attended where- ‘Developing scholarly skills’ (Journal review and publishing), ‘Mastering the provision of verbal feedback’, ‘Use of Digital media’, and ‘Novel approaches to teaching anatomical sciences’.

Also in attendance at the congress was Medical Radiation Sciences Honors Student Mikaela Doig and PhD candidate Alison Deslandes. Mikaela, Alison and I all submitted abstracts which were accepted and presented as ePosters at the congress. From this exposure of our research, Mikaela and I were contacted by a representative from the PoCUS Certification Academy (www.POCUS.org), an online global community of POCUS users, to request a webinar interview which is set to be recorded in January 2020.

I was delighted to run into past colleagues from my Clinical days in Sydney and to convey to them the worthwhile contribution the Healthy Newborn Project Research team (Amber Bidner, Associate Professor Nayana Parange and Professor Eva Bezak) at UniSA are making to rural and remote Australian clinicians and their pregnant patients. To date the project has provided 50 fully funded (including training, flights and accommodation) weekend antenatal PoCUS training positions to remotely located Midwives and General Practitioners from all over Australia. Several follow-up online teaching sessions have been provided to further support these isolated and under resourced clinicians. All this training and research would not have been possible without generous funding from the Hospital Research Foundation (THRF).

The University was well represented by both staff and students at this exciting international event and I offer my thanks for the generous UniSA Conference Scholarship that funded my attendance. Numerous posters were submitted and remain open access to national and international clinicians and researchers.

School of Health Sciences Conference Scholarship Amber Bidner

Masters of Research

Supervisors: Professor Eva Bezak and Associate Professor Nayana Parange

Left: Amber Bidner (UniSA staff member and masters candidate) E Poster station at

the World Federation of Ultrasound and Biology Congress, Melbourne 2019

Right: Amber Bidner (UniSA staff member and masters candidate) and Mikaela Doig

(UniSA Medical Radiation Sciences Honors student) at the World Federation of Ultra-sound and Biology Congress, Melbourne

2019

http://www.POCUS.org


How do the years keep getting shorter and shorter…?

The Medical Sonography team are happy to have made it to the end of the year relatively unscathed. The last 18 months have been busy, but fruitful, with the development and accreditation of the new Cardiac and Vascular streams starting in 2020. But we’ve celebrated that one enough now.

In addition to our strong teaching and development work, we thought it was time for us to highlight the research work being done across the team, as well as by our students.

It turns out the list is quite extensive, but it just goes to show the increasing collaborations we are building from our small team down here.

Masters of Medical Sonography (Research Pathway) and HDR Student Projects Debbie Kang has just completed her Masters thesis: The effect on image accessibility and dilation of the gallbladder with 3 hours fasting prior to an abdominal sonography examination.

Alice Barnett is currently undertaking a project entitled: Assessing short-term shoulder pain outcomes with and without physiotherapy exercise in patients undergoing ultrasound guided corticosteroid injection into the subacromial bursa: a two group comparison. Her study will look at whether physiotherapy intervention combined with corticosteroid injection is more effective at pain relief than injection alone. Alice is supervised by Dr Bec Perry, Dr Jessie Childs, Angela Farley and Mark Matheson.

Catherine Cohen is developing her Masters project: Working behind closed doors: Sonographer survey on burnout at workplace in private practices across Australia. Catherine is supervised by Sandy Maranna and Dr Jessie Childs.

Alison Deslandes has started her MRes investigation of Ultrasound accuracy in the diagnosis of deep infiltrating endometriosis under the supervision of Professor Eva Bezak, Associate Professor Nayana Parange, Dr Jessie Childs and Brooke Osborne.

Catherine Miller is doing a PhD incorporating the use of ultrasound by nurses to assist in paediatric cannulation under the supervision of Professor Adrian Esterman, Dr Rebecca Sharp, Dr Jessie Childs and Michelle Muncaster.

Larissa Smart is doing a PhD incorporating the use of ultrasound looking at the ability of clinical health nurses to screen for paediatric hip dysplasia. Larissa’s supervisors are Professor Adrian Esterman, Dr Lemuel Pelentsov, Dr Jessie Childs and Dr Nicole Williams.

Medical Sonography Staff Research Skills Development Mark Matheson is currently working on his MRes candidature which is looking to assess the possible associations between liver size, elastography and the B-Mode Ultrasound characteristics of the Liver and possible associated changes with weight. It is being run in conjunction with the Almond Weight Loss study, and Mark is being supervised by Dr Jessie Childs, Dr Alison Hill and Professor Alison Coates.

Sandy Maranna is a current PhD candidate with PMB, building her project: Developing cross-disciplinary essential skills using learning analytic methods in students across health disciplines.

Brooke Osborne continues to chip away at her PhD, investigating the accuracy of Medical Radiation student self-efficacy of clinical skills.

Medical Sonography Staff Projects and Collaborations Jessie Childs What are the observable behaviours, knowledge, skills and attitudes that should be demonstrated by sonographers?. This project is funded by the Australian Sonographers Accreditation Registry, and contains one representative from each of the institutions across Australia that teach sonography as well as one representative from each of the professional bodies.

Can bedside ultrasonography accurately predict liver volume in patients following a very low calorie diet (VLCD) prior to laparoscopic anti-reflux surgery? This is in collaboration with Dr Sarah Thompson and Professor Adrian Esterman.

Testing the validity of a newly developed equation to measure the liver using ultrasound with Professor Adrian Esterman, and Dr Kerry Thoirs.

Graduate Diploma and Masters of Medical Sonography Brooke Osborne, Program Director


Kate Lamb and Brooke Osborne Do current angiographic assessment methods accurately identify significant dissections during treatment of peripheral arterial disease?. This project is funded by a successful AHP Collaborative Grants SA Health application. The project is led by Dr Richard Allan at FMC, in collaboration with Associate Professor Steve Milanese, Brooke Osborne and Kate Lamb.

Brooke Osborne Evaluation of sonographer administered ultrasound-guided musculoskeletal injections. This project is funded through iCAHE by the Australasian Sonographers Association. Project team members are Associate Professor Steve Milanese, Brooke Osborne, Associate Professor Nayana Parange and Dr Janine Dizon.

Bec Perry Through the cardiac imaging research group at SAHMRI, Dr Bec Perry is currently looking into predictors of sudden cardiac death using an advanced cardiac sonography technique known as strain imaging. Strain imaging may be able to detect cardiac fibrosis which is linked to dangerous cardiac arrhythmias. This may then enable clinicians to decide who would benefit from an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, designed to shock someone out a dangerous cardiac rhythm and prevent sudden cardiac death.

Bec is also looking at cardiac adaptations in elite athletes to determine if extreme levels of exercise are ultimately detrimental to the heart. It is well known that the heart adapts to high levels of exercise and in fact can give an athlete an extra edge as there is more cardiac reserve, however extreme cardiac remodelling may predispose the athlete to future cardiac problems, particularly if this adaptation is irreversible. This is particularly important in older athletes or those who compete in extreme endurance competitions.

In addition to the range of Honours students the team supervise across various programs, as well as a wide range of conference and workshop presentations, this has at least helped us to understand the level of satisfied weariness the team is feeling at this end of the year.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy and safe holidays!!


Bachelor of Occupational Therapy Dr Angela Berndt, Program Director

Occupational Therapy Week Occupational Therapy Week is held in October each year, with the 2019 theme from Occupational Therapy Australia being #This is OT. We celebrated OT week on the plaza with a stall encouraging people to reflect on their meaningful occupations. Thank you to Sarah McMullen-Roach, the OT Student Committee, USASA and everyone who participated.

Congratulations! We congratulate UniSA graduate Kimberley Hunter on another outstanding career milestone, which was announced by Indigenous Allied Health Australia to coincide with Occupational Therapy Week. Kimberly is the newest Board Director of IAHA.

In the announcement IAHA wrote “Kimberley is from the West Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Kimberley was born and raised on Kaurna Yerta in Adelaide, South Australia and currently lives and works on Gadigal Country in Sydney, New South Wales. Kimberley has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy) and a Graduate Certificate in Public Health and works at the Australian Human Rights Commission within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Unit as a Research and Policy Officer. Much of Kimberley’s work at the Commission has involved the coordination of the Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) project- the first national consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls in 32 years. Kimberley was the winner of the 2015 Future Leader in Indigenous Allied Health Award at the IAHA National Conference.”

We have 22 International students currently studying in our two programs. A special mention goes to Grace Mak Ting Kun, who is the International Student Rep on the Occupational Therapy Student committee. Grace has demonstrated boundless energy and commitment to her role. We thank her very much.

Grace was presented with the International Student Award - Sport Excellence by Study Adelaide at a ceremony held at Government House. Grace received the award from His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC (pictured left with Grace). Grace said, “The ceremony was memorable as I felt really surprised and honoured to receive the International Student Award as the only Sport Excellence winner from the Governor! I got to meet some judges and brilliant international students. I am planning to promote this award to the international students in the next cohort. Hope this will encourage more people to

step out of their comfort zones and make UniSA proud! ”

L to R: Amelia Beamish, Grace Mak, Caitlin O’Connell and Miriam Hobson (Divisional Manager OTA SA & NT)

Kimberley Hunter captured on IAHA’s Facebook Page


Tracy You Wu and Grace Mak Ting Kun (MOT students pictured right) presented their Participatory Community Practice project titled 'Self Regulation and Technology' at the Australian Association of Social Workers Conference in Adelaide. Their project was hosted by Yarrow Place which is part of the Youth Women's Safety and Wellbeing Division of the Women's and Children's Health Network. Their project included the development of a resource manual which provides information on apps that can assist people with self-regulation, which is a part of the complex set of issues people living with the effects of assault and trauma may be working on with their health team.

Undergraduate 4th year student Yong En Soon (pictured below) presented her Honours research study titled 'Consumer Involvement in Tertiary Education Programs in the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions: A scoping review’ at the Higher Education Research Group Adelaide Conference in September. Her supervisors are Dr Carolyn Murray, Dr Ali Aguilar and Dr Kobie Boshoff.

Self-Study The OT programs were invited to participate in an Aboriginal Content in Undergraduate programs (ACUP) self-study for this first time, which was extremely beneficial. The process enabled us to identify and reflect on the strengths and areas for improvement for this important aspect of our student learning and competency. We thank Professor Irene Watson and the senior leadership team for inviting us and for their feedback to our self-study.

Thank You This time of year, we always extend our thanks to the Occupational Therapy profession who support practice learning of our students. As I report every year, but bears repeating, each of our students must complete 1000 hours of placement in their degree. The end of 2019 year placement report indicates a conservative estimate of 102k hours of placement was facilitated, conducted and evaluated for our 493 actively enrolled students. This number reflects that we have taught two courses twice (Occupational Therapy Practice Education and Field Practice 2), as we transition across from our previous Bachelor to our Bachelor with Honours. It has been a monumental effort and we give thanks to all involved. However, we also have a big group of student heading to 3rd and 4th year, so our placement hours will remain high, with innovation on everyone’s minds.

Vale Professor Ann Wilcock With great sadness we inform our community of the passing of Professor Ann Wilcock in Adelaide on Wednesday 16 October. Her funeral was a small private, family ceremony.

Ann was a lecturer in the then Occupational Therapy School at the South Australian Institute of Technology, now known as UniSA, and the second Head of School. She taught many occupational therapists in South Australia at under-graduate and post-graduate levels before moving to Deakin University to establish the occupational therapy program in Geelong.

Ann’s early work as an occupational therapist was in stroke rehabilitation and she contributed significantly to occupational therapy practice in that area. She was a pioneer of the discipline of occupational science in Australia and established the Journal of Occupational Science in 1993. The journal has grown from humble beginnings to become an established respected quality publication. Indeed it is still the only journal in occupational science. L to R: Bruce (Ann’s Husband), Ann Wilcock and Hugh

Stewart. Photo taken at Occupational Therapy Program 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner in 2011


Ann would have to be one of the most, if not the most, cited authors in occupational science and occupational therapy internationally. All occupational therapy students know that you need at least one Wilcock reference in any assignment. Her contribution to occupational therapy and occupational science has been immense.

Whilst she may no longer be with us in person she leaves an incredible legacy through her teaching, her writing, her research supervision and mentoring, and her passion for the role of occupation in health, well-being and occupational justice. Her mark on occupational therapy has been indelible.

(Words by Associate Professor Mandy Stanley on behalf of all who have studied and worked within the SAIT / UniSA Occupational Therapy Program)

Professor Roger Eston has given his support for the Occupational Therapy program to host a Memorial for Ann in early 2020. This will be a public event, hopefully live streamed to enable her wide and extensive international colleagues to view the service.

Holiday Explorers Several of our Occupational Therapy students volunteered to assist Holiday Explorers with their clients at their AGM again this

school of health sciences · 2019. 12. 19. · school of health sciences (issue 4 — september |...

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