(Formerly known as Central Clinical School)
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| Prof Andrew Way AM (Alfred CEO), A/Prof Eric Chow and Ms Venus Sopikiotis (Maxxia Group Executive Client Strategy and Engagement) - Eric accepted the award on behalf of the whole team. |
The team members are Professor Kit Fairley, Professor Catriona Bradshaw, Associate Professor Eric Chow, Professor Marcus Chen and Associate Professor Jason Ong). The award ceremony was held at the Victorian Pride Centre on 1 December 2022.
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| Distance is a deterrent to seeking help for STIs: study |
Sexual health epidemiologist Associate Professor Eric Chow said the recent study of more than 7,000 patients revealed that distance rather than socioeconomic status was the main contributing factor behind delayed presentation to a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) service.
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Her project title is "Identifying novel infectious causes of urethritis to improve clinical management and antimicrobial stewardship". The grant amount for Dr Plummer's project is $144,013 across two years.
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| What do people know and think about monkeypox? |
We would love to hear from you (check eligibility below first!) We are running a survey to find out what people know and believe about human monkeypox. We also invite you to share with eligible people.
Monash University and Melbourne Sexual Health Centre are running an online anonymous survey to understand the current knowledge of monkeypox and the willingness to get vaccinated.
You are eligible if you:
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| L-R: Dr Ei Aung and Ms Palak Gupta |
Congratulations to two of our graduate research students, Dr Ei Aung and Ms Palak Gupta, who won the best presentation at the 2022 Joint Australasian HIV&AIDS + Sexual Health Conferences last week.
Both students are in the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. Their primary supervisor is Associate Professor Eric Chow. Ei is also co-supervised by Kit Fairley, Jason Ong, Tiffany Phillips and Marcus Chen.
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| The team at the awards ceremony. L-R: Prof Christopher Fairley AO, Prof Deborah Williamson, Prof Catriona Bradshaw, Prof Jane Hocking, A/Prof Eric Chow, Prof Marcus Chen |
They were awarded the Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research at a ceremony in Sydney.
See their video and read faculty story.
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| L-R: Prof Kit Fairley, A/Prof Eric Chow, Prof Marcus Chen, Prof Jane Hocking, Prof Deborah Williamson, Prof Catriona Bradshaw |
The Eureka Prizes honour excellence across the areas of research and innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science, and are presented annually in partnership with some of the country’s leading scientific institutions, government organisations, universities and corporations.
See all four Monash MNHS finalists shortlisted for the 2022 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes in the faculty story and MSHC detail below.
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| HIV self-testing kits can improve early detection. Image: RACGP |
Alfred Health sexual health physician and Monash University researcher Associate Professor Jason Ong said early detection is often challenging for overseas-born men who have sex with men. However, the self-testing kits, which are now readily available at pharmacies could soon change that.
See Monash story
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| Where did you meet your last partner? Take the online anonymous survey. Image: Shutterstock |
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| Gonorrhoea hotspot areas in Melbourne. See interactive graphic from the Victorian government infectious diseases report. |
The Age's Melissa Cunningham reports on research led by Associate Professor Eric Chow which maps notified cases of gonorrhoea in Victoria. She writes that, for the first time, the geographical distribution of gonorrhoea has been tracked over a ten year period, "finding growing clusters of the sexually transmitted infection were infiltrating some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of Melbourne."
The study describes the geographical distribution of gonorrhoea infection, stratified by gender and population group, in Victoria between 2017 and 2019 using enhanced surveillance data.
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| A/Prof Lei Zhang is senior author on a paper modelling early diagnostic screening for HBV infection in China |
However, estimated only 19% of chronic HBV-infected people are diagnosed in China, versus the 90% target set by the WHO for HBV elimination by 2030. A universal HBV screening program may improve diagnostic rates and aid China in reaching the WHO 2030 target.
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| The WHO commissioned Eric Chow (left) and Jason Ong (right) to review alternative methods of STI testing from molecular methods. |
As most STIs do not present with any symptoms, screening is critical for early detection and management to avoid the development of complications in the infected individuals and onward transmission to others. Testing for chlamydia and gonorrhoea using molecular methods is costly, prohibiting its widespread use globally. There is a possibility to reduce testing costs if pooling samples from the same individual is feasible.
Erica's thesis is titled, "Investigating the pathogenesis of bacterial vaginosis". She was supervised by Professor Catriona Bradshaw, Prof Kit Fairley, Dr Dieter Bulach, Dr Gerald Murray, Dr Lenka Vodstrcil and Dr Suzanne Garland.
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a highly prevalent vaginal condition that is associated with serious clinical sequelae. BV recurrence following first-line treatment with antibiotics is unacceptably high, and there have been few improvements in BV cure for decades. New and more effective treatments for BV are needed to reduce the serious sequelae associated with BV and the repeated antibiotic use that result from multiple recurrences. Erica's thesis aimed to investigate the pathogenesis of BV with a focus on evidence for sexual transmission, and to determine what factors influence the composition and stability of the vaginal microbiota.
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| The MSHC team members L-R: Prof Kit Fairley, A/Prof Eric Chow, Prof Marcus Chen, Prof Catriona Bradshaw; lower row L-R: A/Prof Lei Zhang, Prof Deborah Williamson, Prof Jane Hocking |
Melbourne Sexual Health Centre researchers won individual and team awards at the 2021 Joint Australasian Sexual Health + HIV&AIDS Conference.
Congratulations to Associate Professor Eric Chow for winning the Best Poster Award at the Sexual Health+HIV&AIDS conference! His poster is about spatial mapping of gonorrhoea notifications by sexual practice in Victoria.
Congratulations also to the team at Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC), as part of the Melbourne Collaborative Group, which has won the 2021 Australasian Sexual and Reproductive Health Alliance Innovation Award. See detail below.
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| Associate Professor Eric Chow |
The Awards are an initiative of the Asian-Australian Leadership Summit, co-convened by Johnson Partners, Asialink at the University of Melbourne, PwC Australia and the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership at the Australian National University.
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| A/Prof Jason Ong has received a Gilead 'Getting to Zero' grant for improving access to HIV PrEP for newly arrived overseas born men who have sex with men (MSM). |
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| A/Prof Eric Chow checks longitudinal data. Image: Alfred Health |
Ten new medical research projects are being funded $11.3 million through the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Partnership Project scheme. This funding has helped to secure an additional $15.6 million co-investment in cash and in kind support from 80 partner agencies including hospitals, state governments, services and patient representative bodies.
Associate Professor Marcus Chen, of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre within Central Clinical School, has been awarded $1.2M for his Partnership project, “Novel strategies for improving syphilis testing and control”. He is the only Monash University researcher to have been awarded a grant in this round.
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| Expanding screening could build resistance to antibiotics: Study |
