Welcome to Paul Lawton, new Professor of Renal Medicine

Professor Paul Lawton

Welcome to our new Professor and Director of Renal Medicine within the Department of Medicine, Paul Lawton!

Lee Hamley, Martin McCall and Terry O'Brien write:

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Paul Lawton to the position of Professor and Director of Renal Medicine, a joint senior academic & clinical role with Alfred Health and Monash University.  Paul comes to us from the Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University and the Top End Health Services (Royal Darwin Hospital) where he was a consultant nephrologist, general physician and senior research fellow.

Welcome to Alex Boussioutas, new Professor of Gastroenterology

Professor Alex Boussioutas

Welcome to our new Professor and Director of Gastroenterology, Alex Boussioutas!

Pip Hawkins, Martin McCall and Terry O'Brien write:

Dear All CCS Staff, Students and Adjuncts,

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Alex Boussioutas to the positions of Professor and Director of Gastroenterology, a joint senior academic & clinical role with Alfred Health and Monash University, Program Director Medical Specialties Alfred Health and Head of Department of Gastroenterology, CCS, Monash University. 

Nenad Macesic wins Mollie Holman Award for PhD thesis

Dr Nenad Macesic wins Mollie Holman
medal for 2020 thesis.

Congratulations to Dr Nenad Macesic on winning the Mollie Holman award for 2020. The Mollie Holman Medal was established in 1998 and is named after the late pioneering physiologist Emeritus Professor Mollie Homan AO, in honour of her significant contributions to science and education. These medals are among the highest academic honours given by Monash University, and mark the recipients as researchers of the higher order.award.

Nenad's thesis is titled, "Combating Gram negative multi-drug resistance with insights from novel bioinformatics approaches". He was supervised by Professor Anton Peleg (Department of Infectious Diseases) and Dr Anne-Catrin Uhlemann (Columbia University). The PhD was awarded 11 June 2020.

Congratulations to Professor Silvana Marasco – New Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Professor Silvana Marasco

Congratulations to Professor Silvana Marasco on her promotion to Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Alfred Health.

Professor Wendy Brown, Head of Department of Surgery, wrote in February 2021:

I am delighted to announce that Professor Silvana Marasco has been appointed the head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Alfred.  Silvana will be well known to many of you as she has been a medical student, trainee and senior consultant at the Alfred.  

Congratulations to Charles Pilgrim on promotion

Newly promoted Adjunct Associate Professor Charles Prilgrm.
Image: Device Robotics

Congratulations to Charles Pilgrim on his promotion to Adjunct Associate Professor (Practice) at Monash University. 

Professor Wendy Brown, Head of the Department of Surgery in Central Clinical School writes:

Charles graduated from Monash University in 2000 and entered surgical training at The Alfred. He gained his fellowship in General Surgery in 2007 and in 2008 was the Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery fellow at The Alfred before commencing his PhD though the University of Melbourne at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in 2009. He completed this in 2012 and then moved to the USA to complete a second fellowship as the Surgical Oncology fellow in Hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Centre.

Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students, Michelle Flynn and Ethan Oxley

Ethan Oxley

Michelle Flynn

Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students, Michelle Flynn and Ethan Oxley, whose PhD awards were conferred 21 April 2021. We wish them well for their future scientific careers.

 Ms Michelle Flynn's thesis is titled "Investigating the Role of Neutrophil Glucose Metabolism in Inflammation and Diabetes-Associated Myelopoiesis and Atherosclerosis". Michelle was supervised by Professor Andrew Murphy and Dr Man Kit Sam Lee, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.

Migrant stories: Dr Emily Edwards

Dr Emily Edwards explains her research working out why

people's immune systems don't always work effectively.
See video

Dr Emily Edwards shares how her work as a research scientist at the Alfred Hospital and Monash University is improving the health of Victorians.

After completing her PhD in Wales, Emily moved to  Brisbane and research immune responses to viruses, then to Sydney to begin her Primary Immunodeficiency research. She joined Associate Professor Menno van Zelm's group in the Department of Immunology and Pathology in 2018 to continue her research in Primary Immunodeficiencies.

Media mention: Do brain implants change your personality?

Image by Annie Jen, © The New Yorker

Christine Keneally describes the experience of Rita Leggett, who has epilepsy, participated in a trial called Neurovista. An implant gave her to advance warning of impending seizures so she could ensure she was safe when they happened. 

Prof Terry O'Brien is quoted: "Specialists know [a seizure] when they see one, he said, but ... nobody ha[s] come up with a unifying description. At the most basic level, he said, a seizure is a rogue electrical discharge, an oscillation that moves in time and space, a bit like a tornado. Understanding isn’t helped by the fact that epilepsy is not a single disease, but rather the brain’s response to a variety of pathologies. Consequently, people with epilepsy often struggle with other conditions."

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/04/26/do-brain-implants-change-your-identity

Portable pocket-sized device puts molecular testing at your fingertips

L-R: Professor Patrick Kwan and Dr Tuncay Alan from respectively Monash University's faculties of Medicine and Engineering have collaborated to create a portable testing device which provides rapid, accurate results.

Like turning the bulky CD player into the Apple iPod, Monash University researchers have developed a small device that can perform molecular testing within minutes – making it possible to test people quickly outside traditional laboratories at the point-of-care/need.

Professor Patrick Kwan, from Monash University’s Central Clinical School, and Dr Tuncay Alan, from Monash University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, have developed an ultra-portable, self-contained, nucleic acid amplification test device.