Photo of the week: AMREP information night

Professor Harshal Nandurkar, Director of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD), with one of the 200 interested students at the AMREP Honours information evening. The ACBD are planning a symposium later in 2015.
See AMREP Information night photo gallery.

Forthcoming CCS events: Seminars, public events, general notices

Andrew Guy (Burnet) at the 3MT
CCS heat

Central Clinical School has regular seminar series and postgraduate presentations. All event notices are maintained on the CCS Events calendar.

CCS staff & students can see details of both public and local events (including professional development courses, trade fairs and Graduate Research Student calendars) and deadlines, at the Intranet's Announcements page.

Various departments have their own calendars. See CCS seminar index: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/seminars.html

What's on for this week: 21 - 25 Sep 2015

Fri	►	18-Sep	12:30	Immunology journal club: Menno van Zelm.
Mon	►	21-Sep	12:30	Psychiatry Professorial Grand Round
Tue	►	22-Sep	16:00	PhD Pre-Submission Review : Mr Aaron David McClelland

In the Future

• 30 Sep Translational Research symposium: Alfred Medicine 50th anniversary
• 9 Oct CCS Public Lecture: Prof Jayashri Kulkarni on women's mental health
• 18 Nov Post Graduate symposium

Professor David Curtis: Mighty Mouse or Mickey Mouse. Find out more on 30 Sep 2015

Associate Prof David Curtis

Associate Professor David Curtis is a Viertel Medical Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases based at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. Professor Curtis will be speaking at the forthcoming 30 Sept Translational Research symposium hosted by Central Clinical School. See detail below.

Publication: Promising HIV cure drugs less effective on the virus in the brain

Dr Lachlan Gray, HIV researcher at the Burnet Institute

A Burnet Institute study has revealed treatments currently being trialed as a potential cure for HIV are less effective on the HIV virus in the brain compared to that found in the blood.

Published in the prestigious Nature journal, Molecular Psychiatry, the study tested a number of HIV ‘cure agents’ and found the two most promising of those, panobinostat and romidepsin, might not work effectively within the brain.

Publication: Cost effectiveness of chlamydia screening for pregnant women aged 16-25 years attending an antenatal service

Image: sexetc.org

Is it worth testing all young pregnant women for chlamydia? This study argues that it is.

Using clinical data from a previous study, and outcomes data from the literature, the authors modelled the short-term perinatal (12-month time horizon) incremental direct costs and outcomes from a government (as the primary third-party funder) perspective for chlamydia screening. Costs were derived from the Medicare Benefits Schedule, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and average cost-weights reported for hospitalisations classified according to the Australian refined diagnosis-related groups.

Publication: Mortality and length of stay in elderly toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) patients

Ms Heather Cleland (left) with research nurses

Ms Heather Cleland, Director, Victorian Adult Burns Service (VABS), and team have reported that timely referral of TEN patients, particularly the elderly, to a burns unit or an intensive care unit equipped to care for these patients, should be encouraged.

Invitation to 9 Oct CCS public lecture on women's mental health

You are invited to attend Monash University Central Clinical School's public lecture - an annual event featuring our lead researcher-clinicians from across the medical spectrum. Professor Jayashri Kulkarni (pictured, above) is an internationally renowned expert in the field and a high profile advocate for women's mental health. Women to this day in the most developed economies in the world earn less money than men, do more unpaid carer work and experience more mental health problems. She will describe the major issues which impact on women and their mental wellbeing, and strategies for improving women's mental health. The event will be chaired by former Governor General, Dame Quentin Bryce, who will also speak on the issue of women's mental health. Time: 6.00-6.30pm refreshments; 6.30-7.30pm Lecture and Q&A; 7.30-8.00pm refreshments; 8 pm close Date: Friday 9 October 2015 Where: Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct Lecture Theatre Cost: Free but registration essential for catering purposes Register now For more information on the event visit our website, email Julia Veitch or call 03 9903 0026.

Program to push for gender equality in STEMM fields

Dr Bernadette Fitzgibbon

Monash University has been selected as an inaugural member of the Science in Australia Gender Equity pilot (SAGE) of the Athena SWAN Charter in Australia.

The SAGE pilot, an initiative by the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), is the first Australian trial of the Athena SWAN gender equity accreditation program.

The program is an evaluation and accreditation framework to help institutions improve their gender equity practices and gender representation and retention in science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics (STEMM) disciplines.

Dr Bernadette Fitzgibbon (MAPrc neuroscientist) was interviewed together with Professor Nalini Joshi (applied mathematician) by ABC Radio on the initiative. See: www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4313205.htm