Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students!

L-R: Antonia Reale, Himawan Fernando and Sabrina Salberg

Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students Antonia Reale, Himawan Madhumantha Fernando and Sabrina Salberg! See below for their thesis topics, departments and supervisors.

Congratulations to Krystal Bergin, Christopher Groombridge, Sarah Janssens and Andrew Ma on their PhD completions

L-R: Krystal Bergin, Christopher Groombridge, Sarah Janssens and Andrew Ma

Congratulations to our recently completed graduate research students Krystal Bergin, Christopher Groombridge, Sarah Janssens and Andrew Ma! See below for their thesis topics, departments and supervisors.

Krystal Bergin (Australian Centre for Blood Diseases)

Thesis title: Patterns of Care and Novel Therapeutics for Multiple Myeloma

Supervisors: Professor Andrew Spencer, Associate Professor Erica Wood

Christopher Groombridge (Department of Surgery)

Thesis title: Clinician performance during resuscitation: stress, decision-making and life-saving interventions

Supervisors: Professor Mark Fitzgerald, Dr Yen Kim

Sarah Janssens (Department of Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine)

Thesis title: Shared leadership in healthcare emergency teams

Supervisors: Dr Stuart Duncan Marshall, Professor Robert Simon

Andrew Ma (Department of Neuroscience)

Thesis title: Evaluating the Progression of Parkinson's Disease with Dynamic 4D Laryngeal CT

Supervisors: Professor Dominic Thyagarajan, Associate Professor Kenneth Lau

Congratulations to Muhammad Javaid, Robb Wesselingh and Xianglong Xu on their PhD completions

L-R: Muhammad Javaid, Robb Wesselingh and Xianglong Xu

Congratulations to our recently completed graduate research students Muhammad Javaid, Robb Wesselingh and Xianglong Xu - Well done! See below for detail of thesis topics, departments and supervisors.

Muhammad Javaid completed his PhD on 2 August, "Drug-resistant focal cortical dysplasia in epilepsy: insights from cellular models of neuronal development". He was supervised by Professor Patrick Kwan and Dr Ana Antonic-Baker (Department of Neuroscience).

Congratulations to our recently completed graduate research students!

Our recently completed higher degree students: L-R. Dr Ing Tiong, Mr Abkar Sayad, Dr Jennifer Reilly, Mr Runxuan Lin, Mr Jack Jerome

Congratulations to our recently completed graduate research students Ing Tiong, Abkar Sayad, Jennifer Reilly, Runxuan Lin and Jack Jerome - Well done! See below for detail of thesis topics, departments and supervisors.

Dr Ing Tiong, who is a practising haematologist, completed his MPhil on 12 July, "Investigation of NPM1 mutation measurable residual disease (MRD) in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) for early detection of relapse to guide pre-emptive therapy". He was supervised by Professors Andrew Wei and David Curtis, both in the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases.

Mr Abkar Sayad, who is a research fellow at University of Melbourne, completed his PhD on 19 July, "A Microfluidic-Based Biosensor Point-of-Care Platform for Protein Biomarker Detection from Whole Blood". He was supervised by Professors Patrick Kwan (Department of Neuroscience) and Stan Skafidas (University of Melbourne).

Dr Jennifer Reilly, who is a specialist anaesthetist, completed her PhD on 19 July, "Predicting Perioperative Mortality in Adults undergoing Noncardiac Surgery in Australia". She was supervised by Professors Paul Myles (Department of Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine) and Wendy Brown (Department of Surgery)

Mr Runxuan Lin completed his PhD on 19 July, on "Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 at the Intersection of Alzheimer's Disease and Epilepsy". He was supervised by Associate Professor Nigel Jones and Professor Patrick Kwan (both in the Department of Neuroscience).

Mr Jack Jerome completed his PhD on 19 July, on "Diabetes, Hypertension, and Inflammation, the Trio Mediating Diabetic Retinopathy ". He was supervised by Professor Jennifer Wilkinson-Berka and Dr Devy Deliyanti Biomedical Sciences (both University of Melbourne).

Congratulations to our recently completed graduate research students!

Congratulations to our recently completed graduate research students Mahima Kapoor, Michelle Wong, Jason Palazzolo, Katrina Woodford, Hayley Barnes and Elliot Anderson - Well done! See below for detail of thesis topics, departments and supervisors.

Congratulations to our recent PhD graduates Joshua Laing, Mahima Kapoor and Michael Nasserallah

L-R: Dr Mahima Kapoor and Dr Joshua Laing

Congratulations to Dr Michael Nasserallah, Dr Joshua (Josh) Laing and Dr Mahima Kapoor on the recent completion of their PhD theses! Michael is a surgical registar based at Peninsula Health, and Josh and Mahima are both practising neurologists and were PhD students in the Department of Neuroscience.

Congratulations to Dr Leo Chen on his PhD completion

Congratulations to Dr Leonard Chen on his PhD completion, on 16 March 2022. Leo was supervised by Professor Paul Fitzgerald and Professor Kate Hoy in CCS's Department of Psychiatry. His thesis is titled, "Improving Efficacy and Efficiency of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) Therapy in Major Depression and Comorbid Anxiety."

Leo's thesis examined repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation’s (rTMS) parameters and scheduling to optimise its efficacy and efficiency in treating depression. Depression is a common mental illness that often presents with anxiety symptoms, both of which can be difficult to treat.

Congratulations to Dr Rebecca Smith on her PhD completion

Congratulations to Dr Rebecca Smith on her PhD completion on 2 March 2022!

Rebecca was supervised by Professor Peter Gibson, Adjunct Associate Professor Antony Friedman and Dr Kirstin Taylor at Department of Gastroenterology, Monash University and Alfred Health. Her thesis is titled, "Gastrointestinal Ultrasound in Inflammatory Bowel Disease".

Gastrointestinal ultrasound is a non-invasive tool to assess patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Rebecca's thesis addresses key aspects of the application and prognostic value of gastrointestinal ultrasound in clinical practice.

Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students!

Dr Bridgette Semple with recent PhD graduate
Rishabh Sharma, in the Department of Neuroscience

Congratulations to our four graduate research students, Mr Rishabh Sharma, Dr Bradley Gardiner, Ms Anna Beale and Mr Martin Ndubuisi Ezeani on their PhD completions on 17 February 2022!

Mr Rishabh Sharma in the Department of Neuroscience was supervised by Dr Bridgette Semple, Dr Pablo Casillas-Espinosa, and A/Prof Sandy Shultz. His thesis is titled, Systemic Inflammation after Paediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: Consequences for Acute and Chronic Outcomes.

Congratulations to Mr Hattapark Dejakaisaya on his PhD completion

Congratulations to Mr Hattapark Dejakaisaya on his PhD completion, on 3 Feb 2022! 

Hattapark's thesis is titled "The Role of Glutamate in the Pathogenesis of Acquired Epilepsy in Alzheimer's Disease". He was supervised by Professor Patrick Kwan  and Associate Professor Nigel Jones, both in Department of Neuroscience at CCS.

He writes, "Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients have up to 10-fold higher risk of developing epilepsy compared to healthy controls. However, the mechanism that links AD pathologies to epileptic seizures is not elucidated. We do know that disruption to glutamate-glutamine cycle in the brain caused by AD has the potential to enhance this risk. 

Congratulations to Erica Plummer on her PhD completion!

Congratulations to Erica Plummer, who has completed her PhD degree!

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.
 

Congratulations to Justin Cole, Daniel Merlo and Lin Zhang on their graduate research degree completions!

L-R: Daniel Merlo, Justin Cole and Lin Zhang have recently
completed their graduate research degrees.

Congratulations to Justin Cole, Daniel Merlo and Lin Zhang on completing respectively their graduate research degrees! The awards were conferred on 11 June for Daniel Merlo, 29 September for Lin Zhang and 6 October for Justin Cole.

Congratulations to Jillian Lau on her PhD completion!

Congratulations to Dr Jillian Lau on completing her PhD degree! The award was conferred on 8 September 2021.

Jillian's thesis is titled, "Social and clinical studies of interventions towards HIV cure". She was supervised by Associate Professor James McMahon (Department of Infectious Diseases) and Professor Sharon Lewin (Director, Doherty Institute).

Jillian's thesis explores efforts to control or eradicate the HIV virus in the absence of regular treatment. There is a particular focus on clinical trials of interventions that withhold HIV treatment as a test of whether the intervention works. This practice is known as an analytical treatment interruption.

Congratulations to Anna Kalff and Daniel So on their PhD completions!

L-R: Dr Anna Kalff and Daniel So, recent PhD graduates

Congratulations to Anna Kalff & Daniel So on completing respectively their PhD degrees! The awards were conferred on 28 July 2021.

Anna Kalff's thesis is titled, "Multiple myeloma strategies to predict outcomes in the era of novel anti-myeloma therapies". She was supervised by Professor Andrew Spencer and Dr Tiffany Khong in the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases.

Daniel So's thesis is titled, "Translating functional characteristics of dietary fibre to clinical value in patients with irritable bowel syndrome". He was supervised by Associate Professor Jane Muir, Dr CK Yao and Professor Peter Gibson in the Department of Gastroenterology.

See more below about their work.

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. 

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.

Congratulations to our five recently completed graduate research students!

L-R: Britt Christensen, Iain Abbott, Muthukumar Mohan and Rowan Miller

Congratulations to Mr Muthukumar Mohan, Dr Rowan Miller, Dr Britt Christensen and Dr Iain  Abbott on the recent conferral of their PhD degrees, and to Ms Harmeet Bhullar on her Master of Surgery completion! Muthu and Rowan were awarded their degrees on 24 February, Harmeet received hers on 9 March and Britt and Iain received theirs on 10 March.

Congratulations to Janet Towns on her PhD completion!

Dr Janet Towns, PhD

Congratulations to Dr Janet Towns on the conferral of her Doctor of Philosophy degree, 11 November 2020! 

Janet's thesis title is, "Modern Ethical Syphilology: Elucidating Treponema pallidum transmission; and novel strategies for improving early detection of syphilis and other sexually transmitted infections". She was supervised by Professor Kit Fairley, A/Prof Eric Chow, A/Prof Lei Zhang, Professor Marcus Chen (Melbourne Sexual Health Centre) and Professor Stephen Graves (University of Newcastle).

Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students!

L-R: Michael Keating, Amy Searle, Jasper Cornish, Sarah Luu

Congratulations to Michael Keating, Amy Searle, Jasper Cornish and Sarah Luu on earning their PhDs! 2020 has been a difficult year, so extra well done to these graduate research students on their successful completions.

Congratulations to our completed PhDs Nenad Macesic and Paul Gill!

L-R: Dr Nenad Macesic and Mr Paul Gill, PhD graduates

Congratulations to Mr Paul Gill and Dr Nenad Macesic on their recent completions of their PhDs!

Dr Nenad Macesic'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.

Mr Paul Gill's thesis is titled, "Investigating immune effects of short-chain fatty acids in healthy humans". He was supervised by Professor Peter Gibson, Associate Professor Jane Muir (both in the Department of Gastroenterology) and Associate Professor Menno van Zelm (Department of Immunology and Pathology). The PhD was awarded 24 June 2020.