MPs visit FMNHS for the second time this year

Nick Staikos and Steve Dimopoulos learn aboutresearch at FMNHS 

Since the Victorian Government announced $15 million for the planning of Australia’s first heart hospital earlier this year, The Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences have welcomed Steve Dimopoulos, Member for Oakleigh and Nick Staikos, Member for Bentleigh for the second time in less than six months.

Visiting Monash University Clayton last week where the new hospital will be built, the two MPs toured the Faculty of Medicine’s state of the art laboratories and met with researchers to learn about some of the work that is being undertaken at the Clayton campus and at our clinical sites.

For Mr Dimopoulos, the collaborative research in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences is an exciting part of the state’s future.

“It’s a whole collection of scientists with high energy, devoting time and resources to a multiple range of problems and challenges and I love the intensity of it. You can go in one door and out the other and research is always happening, and for me that’s so exciting”.

The Member for Oakleigh said that the Faculty of Medicine is an asset for his constituents, especially as the planning for the Victorian Heart Hospital begins.

“I don’t think people have any sense of the size, the scope and the depth of The Faculty of Medicine or of the opportunities for job creation, for medical discovery and for better health care. It’s nice to know that something like this is in your local community.

“I think the Monash Heart Hospital that will come on site is really good because you will get the scientists together with the clinicians in a live environment, collaborating and I think that can only be good for the constituents in Bentleigh, Oakleigh and the whole south east,” Mr Dimopoulos said.

Mr Staikos, Member for Bentleigh, agreed that the Faculty of Medicine provided an advantage for those who live in his area because it raises the standards of education in science and medicine and supports the state’s future.

“The Faculty of Medicine is world leading and cutting edge and at a time when our greatest challenge in Victoria is the loss of manufacturing it is a part of our future.

“By world standards we do have high standards in education but we are always asking how we can go forward and ensure that they continue to rise, and research here helps us do that”.