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.

Could magnetic pulses help beat teen depression?

by Anne Crawford

A study showing that repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) reduced depression and anxiety in young people has pointed to factors suggesting who would be most likely to benefit from the treatment.

TMS, a non-invasive, well-tolerated procedure that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate nerve cells in the brain, is well-established as a treatment for depression in adults but little research has been conducted to test its use in young people.

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

Translational Research Symposium Speaker Spotlight: Doctor Kirsten Palmer

Dr Kirsten Palmer

Monash University's 5th annual Translational Research Symposium is being hosted by its three metropolitan clinical schools on 21 June 2019. The symposium will host a diverse group of medical researchers presenting their work into translational research. RSVP here.

Doctor Kirsten Palmer is a research fellow in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash Health.

A bittersweet farewell to a popular staff member

Ashleigh Clarke with Head of School Professor Stephen Jane

The School said a reluctant goodbye last week to our Research Manager Ashleigh Clarke. Ash has been in the School since 2011, but she worked with our Head of School, Professor Stephen Jane, for many years prior to that at Royal Melbourne Hospital.

She's heading off to take on a similar role with Ballarat Health, a move that will significantly reduce her current four-hour plus daily commute.

Ash was farewelled with a lunch on March 28th.

Ash, Ballarat's gain is very much our loss.

Seeking clarity on a fuzzy neurological condition

A/Professor Joanne Fielding and Professor Owen White from the Department of Neuroscience had a busy Friday morning last week, discussing their research into Visual Snow on both Neil Mitchell's 3AW radio show, and then featuring on Melbourne's Channel 9 News.

Visual Snow is thought to affect the way the brain processes optical messages from the eyes, with affected people viewing the world through a film of what looks like TV static. There are many related symptoms, including migraines, floaters, auras and more. It often takes years for people to be formally diagnosed, creating a tense and frustrating wait.

New treatment of acute myeloid leukemia achieves remarkable results in a disease formerly with little hope

A/Prof Andrew Wei

The prognosis for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is poor: very few achieve remission and for those that don’t the option is largely palliative. Every year almost 1,000 Australians die of the disease and clinical trials into new therapies for older patients have largely failed.

A new drug trial has achieved a remarkable result, clearing the bone marrow of leukaemia in almost 60% of patients. The trial was considered so effective that the US Food and Drug Administration approved its use last November for the treatment of AML.

Associate Professor Andrew Wei, from the Alfred Hospital and Central Clinical School's Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, commenced research in this area almost two decades ago. He is now the lead clinician/researcher on the international trial of the cancer drug, currently combined with cytarabine to treat older adults with AML.