Neurologist A/Prof Anne Abbott wins Tall Poppy Science Award

A/Prof Anne Abbott

Congratulations to Associate Professor Anne Abbott, who has received a 2019 Victorian Tall Poppy Science Award from the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, awarded on 10 October 2019.

A/Prof Abbott is a neurologist in Central Clinical School's Department of Neuroscience. She has been at the forefront of medical research regarding how to best prevent stroke, particularly associated with carotid arterial disease.

Congratulations to Lizzie Thomas, our most recently completed CCS PhD student!

Lizzie Thomas, PhD
Twitter: @lizzie_thomasAU

Congratulations to Lizzie Thomas, who has been awarded her Translational Research PhD! Lizzie's thesis topic is "Cognition across the schizotypy-schizophrenia continuum and the role of the glutamatergic system". Lizzie was investigating the influence of genes in the glutamatergic pathway on cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Her supervisors were Dr Caroline Gurvich (Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre), Professor Susan Rossell (Swinburne University) and Dr Kiymet Bozaoglu (Murdoch Children's Research Institute).

Congratulations to all our 2019 PhD graduates!

So far this year we've had 19 PhD completions, a great effort by our students and their mentors. See below for our 2019 awardees.  For all completions, see CCS web page: www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/education/hdr-completions.

L-R: Jay Hocking, Eileen Merriman, Maria Selvadurai

Australian Centre for Blood Diseases

• Mr Jay Hocking, Investigating MEK inhibition in the treatment of multiple myeloma
• Dr Eileen Merriman, Isolated distal vein Deep Vein Thrombosis: Diagnosis and management strategies
• Ms Maria Selvadurai, Examining PI3KC2alpha as an anti-thrombotic drug target

"Whose fault is it that Bob caught syphilis?" Professor Christopher Fairley throws some light

Professor Christopher Fairley (left) with colleagues at the
Melbourne Sexual Health Centre

Professor Christopher Fairley AO, Director of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) has had a lifetime of clinical practice and research into sexually transmitted diseases. He has been recognised by the award of an Order of Australia last year, and the National Health and Medical Research Council have recognised the urgent need to fight the rise of sexually transmitted infections by most recently funding his and MSHC colleagues' research $6 million.

Prof Fairley is giving Central Clinical School's annual public lecture on Thursday 17 October 2019. He asks the question, 'Whose fault is it that Bob caught syphilis?' RSVP here

Reflections on the evolving global diabetes epidemic

Prof Paul Zimmet reflects on a lifetime of
work devoted to understanding diabetes

In the journal Circulation, Professor Paul Zimmet AO reflects on the growth of the diabetes epidemic, the reasons for it, and preventive mechanisms. Throughout his lifetime, Prof Zimmet has followed his scientific curiousity and passion for helping people. It's fascinating to read about the triggers for his discoveries, then his tireless exploration of the implications of those discoveries in the effort to stem the tidal wave of the epidemic.

See full article at:
www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.041709

2019 Central Clinical School Graduate Research Student Symposium

L-R: 2018 CCS Graduate Research symposium winners
Charithani Keragala, Michelle Wong, Lakshanie Wickramasinghe,
Amy Wilson, Angela Nguyen

The 2019 Central Clinical School Graduate Research Student Symposium, CCS's 12th in the annual series, is organised by students, for students, and will showcase research being conducted by CCS students. It's a fun as well as informative day, and all are welcome. It's being held 7 October. See attached flier.

• RSVP
• Enquiries: ccs.hdr@monash.edu
• Web: www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/education/current-students/hdr-symposium

JMF Centre for Primary Immunodeficiencies Melbourne hosting 2nd symposium 11 Oct 2019

The JMF Centre for Primary Immunodeficiencies Melbourne will hold its 2nd annual symposium on Friday 11 October 2019. The symposium will feature a keynote from A/Prof Mirjam van der Burg (LUMC, Leiden, The Netherlands) alongside short talks from local immunology registrars and junior researchers. RSVP