Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences recognises Professor Catriona Bradshaw

AAHMS video (0:29min)

Congratulations to Professor Catriona Bradshaw who has been elected as new Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS), the nation’s learned academy for the most influential experts in health and medicine. 

Professor Catriona Bradshaw is a clinician-researcher and Head of Research Translation and Mentorship and Genital Microbiota and Mycoplasma Group Lead at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and holds an honorary appointment at the University of Melbourne.  Catriona is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow, a centre head for the Centre to Impact Antimicrobial Resistance at Monash University, and a co-director of the ARC Research Hub to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance. Catriona is a member of national and international STI guideline committees, a board member of the International Society for STD Research, a technical advisor for the World Health Organisation, a past recipient of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award in 2007 and of the Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research in 2022.

Find out more about Professor Catriona Bradshaw.

See all recent AAHMS Fellows HERE.

Congratulations to Eric Chow on his promotion to professor

Dr Eric Chow

Central Clinical School is delighted to announce that epidemiologist and biostatistician Dr Eric Chow has been promoted to Professor.

Dr Eric Chow heads the Health Data Management and Biostatistics Unit and is co-head of the Clinical Evaluation Unit at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. He is a leading researcher in the treatment, prevention and control of sexually transmitted infections (STI). He has a particular focus on gonorrhoea and human papillomavirus (HPV), two of the most important and fastest-growing global health problems.

His research has changed clinical practice regarding control of STIs, including informing HPV guidelines worldwide, which has been successful in reducing transmission.

“Professor Chow is an outstanding epidemiologist and biostatistician who is an internationally-recognised expert in the transmission of STIs,” said Professor Terence O’Brien, Head of Central Clinical School. “In addition to his substantial research contributions in this important area, he is also an active research supervisor for students at all levels and has been very successful in securing competitive research grants. He is a highly valued leader and a real asset to the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre.”

Prof Chow has won multiple awards including a NHMRC Research Excellence award (top-ranked NHMRC grant applicant), the Commonwealth Health Minister's Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research, and the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases, one of Australia’s most prestigious science awards. He was also named one of the 40 Under 40: Most influential Asian-Australians in 2021.

He is a prolific publisher, being regularly and widely published in community and medical media, and is currently an Associate Editor and a member of the Editorial Board for 6 medical journals.

He’s a member of 11 national/international working groups and committees, including WHO guideline committees and Victorian Department of Health Advisory Committees. He is the Vice-President of the Sexual Health Society of Victoria, and a former Board Member-in-Training at the International Papillomavirus Society (2021).

Prof Chow has supervised more than 50 students, including students undertaking undergraduate and master’s studies, PhD students, postdoctoral research fellows and general practitioner (GP) and sexual health registrars.

He’s an active social media user, using it to spread awareness about sexual health issues, and communicates closely with the government and community-based organisations in order to improve the health and wellbeing of the Australian population.

Tyranny of distance drives STI surge

Distance is a deterrent to seeking help for STIs: study

Patients who need to travel greater distances for sexual health support often leave worrying symptoms unchecked, according to new research from Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. 

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. 

New sexual health campaigns needed for women: study

A large-scale study has investigated the connection between
female sexual practices and STI rates for the first time.
Image: Centre for Sexuality

by Anne Crawford

A rise in sexually transmitted infection (STI) among Australian women in the past decade has prompted Monash University researchers to investigate the connection between female sexual practices and STI rates for the first time in women who have sex with women.

The large-scale study aimed to compare differences in sexual practices and positivity for STIs and other genital infections among women who have sex with men only (WSMO), women who have sex with women only (WSWO), and women who have sex with men and women (WSMW), and whether these changed over time. It included data on 36,147 women who attended the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) between 2011 and 2019.

Congratulations to Erica Plummer and Sabrina Salberg on Bridging Postdoctoral Fellowships

L-R: Dr Erica Plummer and Ms Sabrina Salberg

Congratulations to Dr Erica Plummer and Ms Sabrina Salberg who have been awarded Bridging Postdoctoral Fellowships. It was a very competitive round.

The Bridging Postdoctoral Fellowships (BPF) support the career development of promising newly-qualified postdoctoral researchers and final year PhD students. They are intended to provide initial support for recent PhD graduates and final year PhD students while they apply for externally-funded fellowships.

Congratulations to Rosie Latimer & Wendy Wang on their graduate research completion!

Wendy Wang

Rosie Latimer

Congratulations to Rosie Latimer & Wendy Wang on completing respectively their PhD and Master's degrees! The awards were conferred on 17 June 2021.

Rosie Latimer's thesis is titled, "Emerging Issues In Sexual Health: Mycoplasma Genitalium And 'Stealthing'. She was supervised by Prof Catriona Bradshaw, Dr Lenka Vodstrcil and Prof Kit Fairley, all in the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre.

Wendy Wang's thesis is titled, "Detecting Cognitive Impairments in Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension using Neuropsychological and Ocular Motor Testing". She was supervised by Prof Joanne Fielding, Prof Anneke van der Walt and Dr Meaghan Clough in the Department of Neuroscience. 

Syphilis prevention priority for NHMRC Partnership funding

Associate Professor Marcus Chen

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.

Funds a welcome boost to sexual disease research

L-R: Dr Eric Chow, Prof Christopher Fairley and Dr Catriona Bradshaw
have won NHMRC grants for research programs to control STIs.
Prof Fairley is giving a public lecture on 17 Oct - all welcome! RSVP

by Anne Crawford

Central Clinical School researchers at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) have been awarded more than $6 million in the latest round of NHMRC grants – funds that will go towards researching programs urgently needed to fight rising levels of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Professor of Public Health at Monash University, Professor Christopher Fairley AO said rates of STIs such as syphilis and gonorrhoea in Victoria had risen relentlessly over the past 20 years.

Male grief overlooked after miscarriage, study finds

Men report feeling devastated and powerless after miscarriage

by Anne Crawford

A Melbourne Sexual Health Centre study revealing how men feel after experiencing a miscarriage has attracted significant media attention.

The qualitative study, published recently in PLOS ONE, found that although most men described experiencing considerable grief following a miscarriage – with many reporting feeling devastated, shocked and powerless – they felt there was little acknowledgment of their loss from healthcare providers and social networks, and inadequate support.

Study reveals new mechanism of gonorrhoea transmission

A/Prof Eric Chow from the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre was in the Washington Post recently following publication of a paper on which he was lead author. The paper, published in Sexually Transmitted Infections, found that kissing with tongue may be a way to transmit oropharyngeal gonorrhoea, or oral gonorrhoea, particularly among gay and bisexual men. The study team featured a number of other Central Clinical School researchers.

CCS Recent Publications 10th April - 29th April

Dr Be'eri Niego, ACBD, has a recent publication
STILfeatured in this week's article.

Recent publications for Central Clinical School feature affiliated authors in the following departments:

• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Peninsula Clinical School
• ACBD
• MAPrc
• Gastroenterology
• Infectious Diseases
• Neuroscience
• Diabetes
• NTRI
• Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine
• Surgery

CCS Recent Publications: 3rd - 9th April

Recent publications for Central Clinical School feature affiliated authors in the following departments:

Prof. Robyn O'Hehir AO had two articles published this week.

• Neuroscience
• MAPrc
• Peninsula Clinical School
• Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Gastroenterology
• Australian Centre for Blood Diseases
• Diabetes
• AIRmed

Dr Vincent Cornelisse takes out Victorian Premier's Prize for Best Public Health Researcher

Dr Cornelisse accepting his award

Huge congratulations go to Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and Alfred Health researcher Dr Vincent Cornelisse.

Dr Cornelisse's research focussed on the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Populations affected by HIV are the same populations affected by bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis. His research seeks to find and evaluate new strategies to prevent the transmission of HIV and STIs.

As part of this research, he's validated the use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) eligibility criteria, which provided important information for the Australian PrEP clinical guidelines.

CCS Recent Publications: 19th March - 26th March 2019

Recent publications for Central Clinical School feature affiliated authors in the following departments:

A/Prof Menno van Zelm has two articles
featured in this week's recent publications.

• Pathology and Immunology
• Infectious Diseases
• National Trauma Institute
• AIRMed
• Neuroscience
• Australian Centre for Blood Diseases
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre

CCS Recent Publications: 12th March - 18th March 2019

ACBD researchers published on
treatments for chronic ulcers

Recent publications for Central Clinical School feature affiliated authors in the following departments:

• Surgery
• Australian Centre for Blood Diseases
• Neuroscience
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine
• Infectious Diseases

Study suggests ‘stealthing’ – non-consensual condom removal – a common practice

by Anne Crawford

A Monash University researcher has conducted the first study globally into the prevalence of ‘stealthing’ or non-consensual condom removal, finding that one in three women, and one in five men who have sex with men (MSM) have been subjected to it.

Stealthing can lead to unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STI) including HIV, and to emotional distress.

The Melbourne Sexual Health Centre’s Rosie Latimer became interested in the phenomenon after an article about it appeared in the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law in April 2017. The article, by Yale Law School graduate Alexandra Brodsky and based on anecdotal evidence, attracted international attention. It raised the question of whether stealthing should be considered sexual assault.

Recent CCS publications: 15 - 24 September 2018

Prof Kit Fairley, MSHC,
is a co-author on a paper on the
decline of HIV diagnoses among MSM.

Recent publications for Central Clinical School affiliated authors in the following departments. Note, browse down this entry for complete publications list. Linked headings for each section are to the departments' home pages.

• Australian Centre for Blood Diseases
• Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Immunology and Pathology
• Infectious Diseases
• MAPrc
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Neuroscience
• Surgery
  

Sex education for teens may not reflect reality of behaviour: study

Sex education for heterosexual teen boys
not keeping pace with their practices.
Image: Shutterstock 11003867

by Anne Crawford

A study about the sexual experiences of heterosexual teenage boys by Monash University researchers suggests that sex education is not keeping pace with their practices.

Led by the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Central Clinical School, the study is the first to provide data on the early sexual experiences of Australian heterosexual boys including the sequence and timing of their first oral, vaginal and anal sex experiences with women.

Sex, drugs and research: study probes world of ‘chemsex’

Chemsex can take its toll: health researchers are
investigating how best to reduce harm and aid recovery. 
Photo: Diverse Images/UIG via Getty Images

by Anne Crawford

A Monash University researcher has focussed international attention on ‘chemsex’ or ‘party and play’, the practice of sexualised drug use by men who have sex with men, in a bid to identify solutions to problems associated with it.

Media mentions: Sexually transmitted disease study

Prof Christopher Fairley

Melbourne Sexual Health Centre research reporting that gonorrhoea and syphilis cases are on the rise again in Melbourne have appeared in several media outlets over the summer break.

The centre's study described trends in sexually transmitted infection over nearly a century of data from 1918 to 2016.

Researchers speculated that casual sex through online dating, and reduced fear of HIV, could be factors behind the recent trend.