Li Transformative Hub for Research in Eating Disorders (THRED)

On Sunday night the Her Centre Australia and Monash University celebrated the launch of the Li Transformative Hub for Research in Eating Disorders (THRED). This research program will target biological causes and possible new treatments including novel drugs, brain stimulation and hormones.

HER Centre Australia Director Professor Jayashri Kulkarni AM said: “Over the past 60 years there has not been any real change in how treatments for eating disorders, which cover a spectrum ranging from various disordered patterns of eating to anorexia nervosa, have been delivered.

“We need a new approach. We want to provide a better understanding of why eating disorders occur and how to treat them from a biological perspective. We will do this by conducting clinical trials that will investigate possible treatments. These trials will be informed by investigation into the biological abnormalities that underpin eating disorders.”

Researchers from the HER Centre and the Department of Neuroscience in Monash’s Central Clinical School will work collaboratively to conduct clinical trials of new treatment approaches for serious eating disorders, and hopefully deliver more effective treatment options.

PhD student presents at European obesity symposium

PhD student Alyssa Budin’s research on outcome measures for patients post-bariatric surgery led to the opportunity to speak at an international symposium held as part of the European Congress on Obesity last month.

The symposium, organised by the Standardising Quality of life measures in Obesity Treatment (SQOT initiative), was titled ‘Integrating the patients’ perspective in obesity care: using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in clinical practices, research and registries’.

Congratulations to Dr Mastura Monif on her promotion to Associate Professor

The Central Clinical School is delighted to announce that Dr Mastura Monif has been promoted to Associate Professor.

Associate Professor Mastura Monif is a uniquely dual qualified neurological clinician-scientist, with a strong focus on translational research in neuroinflammation. She is an exceptionally kind clinician with a passion for improving care through research. 

She established her own highly successful and rapidly expanding Neuroimmunology, Neuroinflammation and Neurological Diseases Laboratory at the Central Clinical School. Her research has already made important contributions to the field of neuroimmunology and neuro-oncology, particularly with regard to the role of P2X7 receptor and innate immune responses in three key neurological diseases: Autoimmune Encephalitis, Glioblastoma and Multiple Sclerosis. 

Congratulations to Associate Professor Vilija Jokubaitis on her promotion

The Central Clinical School is delighted to announce the promotion of Dr Vilija Jokubaitis to Associate Professor.

Associate Professor Jokubaitis is an outstanding research-focused academic and internationally recognised expert in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and neuroimmunology research. 

A/Prof Jokubaitis leads the neuroimmunology genomics and prognostics research group at the Central Clinical School. Her research aims to improve the long-term outcomes of people living with MS by deriving evidence for treatment personalisation, and tackling progressive MS, with an additional focus on women’s health. To achieve this goal, her team takes a multidisciplinary approach integrating clinical, genomic, cellular and molecular evidence.

National Reconciliation Week: 27 May to 3 June

By Lenka Vodstrcil, Vaughan Macefield and Zhoujie Ding on behalf of the Gender Equity Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) Committee

National Reconciliation Week is a time for all of us to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and achievements, and a time to reflect on how we can contribute to reconciliation between First Nations people and the wider community.

These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey: the successful 1967 referendum, which acknowledged the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as citizens, and the High Court's Mabo decision, in which First Nations peoples were acknowledged as the rightful owners of the lands on which we live. These two dates mark the beginning and end of National Reconciliation Week, respectively.

This year's theme, 'Be a Voice for Generations, spurs us all to be an active voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work and socialise. We are encouraged to use our power, words and actions to promote reconciliation and foster respectful relationships between ourselves and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on whose lands we share our lives.

Perhaps this week especially, and the next time you are travelling around different parts of Australia, you can research more about the Traditional custodians of the lands on where you are, and reflect on the generations that walked on these lands prior to invasion/colonisation. 

The traditional custodians of the lands from the Wirribi-yaluk (Werribee River) to Wamoon (also known as Yirik, Woomom or Wilson’s promontory), which is where the main Central Clinical School campus sits, are the Boon Wurrung/Bunurong peoples. The Wurundjeri are the traditional people and custodians of the land from the Birrarung (Yarra River) to Werribee and the Great Dividing Range, the land on which the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre sits. The Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples form part of the East Kulin Nations group of people, which includes many different language groups. 

The Central Clinical School GEDI and School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine EDI committees will be joining forces to host an event in coming weeks that will raise awareness of the roles we each need to play in understanding cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander co-workers, students and patients, and decolonising our research practices. Details to come!

If you would like to attend a Monash University Reconciliation Week event at the main campus, including an event that celebrates Indigenous Perspectives in Science, details are available here.

We also encourage you to complete the Cultural Foundations: Building your knowledge of Australia's First Peoples training on My Development.

Where we live and work always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land and we offer our deep respect to the traditional custodians of the lands and waterways we all share.

Alfred Alliance Event:

The  Baker Institute will have two speakers for our National Reconciliation Week talk on 2 June at 12:30 – 1:30pm. The event is both in person and via Zoom. Please see this flyer for more details. Attendees who wish to join on Zoom, please email reception@baker.edu.au.

Congratulations to the ‘Find a Friend’ seed grant recipients

Congratulations to the latest ‘Find a Friend’ grant recipients, Drs Matt Hudon and Joshua Allen (‘Psilocybin as a treatment for traumatic brain injury’), and Drs Muhammad Shahid Javaid and Antonia Reale (‘Extracellular vesicles from epilepsy patient-derived neurons promote epileptogenesis and drug resistance: uncovering new drug targets’). Each partnership received a seed grant of $25,000 from the Department of Neuroscience to complete their projects.

The Department of Neuroscience launched their inaugural ‘Find a Friend’ initiative in 2021 to provide funding for two Early Career Researchers or late stage (final year) PhD students to undertake a small (pilot) research project over 12 months. The successful awardees will not only gain skills in developing collaborative partnerships, but also will build their careers as expert researchers in their field, and use the findings from their projects to enable larger funding opportunities.

Learn more about this round’s successful projects below.

Dr Lodge wins prestigious Career Investigator Award

Congratulations to Dr Margot Lodge, a geriatrician and PhD student at Central Clinical School's Peninsula Clinical School, who has won the prestigious Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine (ANZSGM) Career Investigator Award.  

Dr Lodge presented part of her PhD work on improving perioperative care systems in older people (POPS) at the Australia and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine (ANZGSM) Annual Scientific Meeting in Brisbane.

“This research forms part of a mixed-methods approach to closing the implementation gap in the perioperative care of older people and improving the outcomes of older people undergoing surgery,” Dr Lodge said.

“Implementation science is an exciting next step to improving outcomes for older people undergoing surgery and as a clinician-researcher I look forward to advancing this approach.”