APS 2016 - could you be the inaugural Rising Star?

Australian Pain Society, 36th Annual Scientific Meeting, Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre, WA
13 - 16 March 2016

Rising Star Award

This inaugural award showcases rising star pain researchers in Australia. The Rising Star Winner will receive a return airfare, accommodation, and complimentary registration to attend the 2016 APS 36th ASM, where they will present a plenary talk to showcase their work and ideas.

Will you be the APS 36th ASM Rising Star in 2016?

For further information and to submit an application please click here

Applications close: Friday 2 October 2015

Please contact the Conference Secretariat if you have any questions

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2015 Simulation Australasia Project Innovation award

Prof Debra Nestel (centre) and A/Prof Margaret Bearment (right)

 being presented the award by A/Prof Marcus Watson from Simulation Australasia.

The National Health Education and Training in Simulation Programme (NHETSim) has won the 2015 Simulation Australasia Project Innovation Award announced last week in Adelaide.

The Project Innovation Award is a prestigious national competition which recognises and celebrates innovation and excellence in simulation by project teams around Australia and New Zealand and is presented to the simulation project team that has achieved outstanding results in delivering a new simulation capability or utilising a simulation capability in a new and improved way.

The NHETSim Programme is a nationwide training program in simulation for healthcare professionals and the Monash Project Team is led by Professor Debra Nestel from Health Professionals Education and Educational Research (HealthPEER). Current team members include: Associate Professor Margaret Bearman (Deputy Lead), Bronwyn Beovich (Program Manager) and Anthea Power (Administration Officer).

NHETSim is an education programme designed for anyone who currently or intends to use simulation as an educational method to support the development of healthcare students and professionals. It is open to all health professions.

NHETSim is supported by the Commonwealth Department of Health.

Further information on NHETSim available at:http://www.nhet-sim.edu.au/or by contacting the Programme team on 03 9905 0221.

Susie Cartledge dominates at CSANZ conference

Susie Cartledge, a researcher at The School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, recently presented at the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) Annual Scientific Meeting Conference in Melbourne this weekend.

The conference runs over three days, hosted by CSANZ, the professional body for cardiologists, researchers, nurses, scientists and various other health workers in the field of cardiology. They seek to advocate to improve professional development, facilitate training and better the quality of care with patients suffering from cardiovascular disease.

Susie's presentation was titled "Do cardiac rehabilitation programs offer cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in Australia and New Zealand?", during the Cardiovascular Nursing Lecture and Nursing Prize Presentations. There were four finalists who presented in the session proceeding the nursing lecture.

Susie also won the CSANZ 2015 Affiliate Nursing Prize, a fantastic accomplishment on top of her presentation this weekend.

Susie also had a poster presented alongside Dr Janet Bray, Professor Judith Finn and Catherine Arnold (the winner of the 2014 Summer Vacation Program for Best Presentation) on their most recent publication; looking at sex differences in the onset and experience of acute coronary syndrome.

SPHPM congratulates Susie on her most recent achievement and look forward to her next accomplishment.

Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University - Monash University research collaboration awards

Applications are currently being invited for the Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University - Monash University (‘AFTAM’) Research Collaboration Awards 2015/2016.

Applications are welcome within these broad priority areas:

• Health and Wellbeing (including Biomedical Research)
• Future Technologies (including Renewable Energy)
• Sustainable Environments
• Resilient Cultures & Communities
• Business Administration
• Humanities & Social Sciences
• Law

Up to four awards will be announced in 2015 for projects to be taken up in 2016. Each award is up to AUD12,000, to be taken up in projects committed to the establishment or furthering of joint research programs, or joint programs in teaching and learning. Awards are open to academic staff on a permanent or fixed-term appointment from all disciplines at both Monash and Tel Aviv Universities (excluding adjunct staff).

The application deadline is Friday ​25 September 2015.

A copy of the Guidelines and Application Form can be downloaded at this link: http://intranet.monash.edu.au/international/tel-aviv/

Please direct enquiries to:
Ms Ranmalee Mendis
Project Officer, Office of the President & Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement)
Email: ranmalee.mendis@monash.edu
Phone:  (03) ​990 55932

Celebrating brilliance: FMNHS Dean’s Awards for Excellence presentation ceremony

On Monday 3 August 2015, the Faculty Executive, together with family, friends and colleagues gathered to honour the Dean’s Awards for Excellence recipients.

The award ceremony began at the conclusion of the Faculty Executive meeting. Professor Ross Coppel, Acting Dean, invited each winner to talk about the theme of their submission before he presented each award. It was truly inspiring to witness their passion, talent and dedication.

Once the awards were presented the celebrations continued with a special afternoon tea where the winners were able to mingle with family, friends and colleagues as well as faculty leadership.

The Dean’s Awards for Excellence program encourages faculty members (professional and academic) to strive for excellence and acknowledges them for achieving brilliance.

Congratulations on achieving brilliance!

Dean’s Award for Research Impact: Associate Professor Dominique Cadilhac, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (Early Career): Dr Melanie White, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (Distinguished Career): Professor Matthew Watt, School of Biomedical Sciences

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education (Quality of Teaching):

Dr Eleanor Mitchell, School of Rural Health.

Dr Claire Harrison, School of Primary Health Care.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education (Innovation in Teaching): Associate Professor Jan Coles, School of Primary Health Care.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Administration: Ms Alexandra Czech, eLearning Services, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

Dean’s Social Inclusion Award: Associate Professor Chee Piau Wong, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Malaysian Campus.

Dr Claudia Nold receives Heart Foundation Award

The Hudson Institute’s Dr Claudia Nold has been awarded a prestigious Paul Korner Innovation Award from the Heart Foundation for her research into dangerous diseases associated with premature birth. The award, awarded annually with a prize of $20,000, recognises the most innovative applications received by the Heart Foundation for their highly competitive Postdoctoral Fellowship and Future Leader Fellowship.

Dr Nold, who works in the Hudson Institute’s Ritchie Centre, researches three diseases which cause the high rate of death and disease in premature babies: bronchopulmonary , pulmonary arterial hypertension and intracranial haemorrhage. She seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms of these diseases in order to develop new and effective therapies.

Read more here

​2015 VicHealth awards - nominations open

Victoria is a world leader in health promotion. Whether it’s ground-breaking research, a community-led health initiative, or a state-wide awareness campaign, communities across the state benefit from health promotion every day.

The 2015 VicHealth Awards will celebrate these great projects that are making our communities happier and healthier places, and empowering Victorians to take control of their health and wellbeing.

This year’s categories are:

• Promoting healthy eating
• Encouraging physical activity
• Preventing tobacco use
• Preventing harm from alcohol
• Improving mental wellbeing 
• Communications in health promotion
• Building health through sports 
• Building health through arts
• Research into action.

Further details about each category can be found at www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/awards

Entries are invited from state and local governments, health agencies, non-government, not-for-profit and private sector organisations. VicHealth is looking at all of Victoria’s leading health promotion projects – from large programs with a broad reach, to the best health promotion ideas at a local level.

Entries must be submitted online at www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/awards by 5pm on Friday 14 August 2015. Enquires can be directed to awards@vichealth.vic.gov.au

The 2015 Awards will be presented on Tuesday 1 December 2015 at the National Gallery of Victoria. All finalists will be invited guests at the awards night to celebrate the health promotion achievements from the last 12 months with their peers and government dignitaries.

VicHealth is looking forward to showcasing the tremendous health promotion work that’s taken place in Victoria in 2014-15, and look forward to seeing everyone’s efforts to make Victoria the healthiest state in Australia.

Applications - Vice-Chancellor's Diversity and Inclusion Awards

Applications are now open for the 2015 Vice-Chancellor's Diversity and Inclusion Awards.

These awards acknowledge those who have contributed to an inclusive environment and culture at Monash. Applications may address equal opportunity for women, Indigenous engagement, people with disability, student equity, diverse genders and sexualities, intercultural competence, anti-racism or other social justice initiatives.

There are two categories:

• Diversity and Inclusion Award - open to staff and students, individuals or teams
• Diversity and Inclusion Design Award - open to students, individuals or teams

Applications close Friday 31 July 2015.

The awards will be presented on Thursday 3 September 2015, with the keynote address to be provided by Mariam Veiszadeh. Mariam is a lawyer, human rights advocate, Muslim community advocate and occasional opinion writer.

For more information please visit the website.

Professor Flavia Cicuttini awarded Australian Rheumatology Association President’s prize

Professor Flavia Cicuttini has been awarded the Australian Rheumatology Association President’s prize for collaborative research together with Professor Graeme Jones (University of Tasmaina) at the recent Australian Rheumatology Association, 56 Annual Scientific Meeting. 

This prize recognises collaborative research endeavours within Australia and is only awarded every 3 years to a collaborative research group based upon the body of published work in a specific area of research by that group. 

This prize follows on from Flavia winning the Australian Rheumatology Association Parr Prize for best Rheumatology Research over the last 3 years in 2010.

2015 Dean’s Awards for Excellence

The talent and dedication of outstanding members of the Faculty are recognised through the Dean’s Awards for Excellence.

Nominations were received in a number of categories, including excellence in Education, Research, Administration and Social Inclusion.

Special commendation to all award participants on the high standard of the applications submitted.

Awards will be officially presented at the next Faculty Executive meeting, 3 August 2015.

Congratulations to all award recipients.

Dean’s Award for Research Impact: 

Associate Professor Dominique Cadilhac, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health 

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (Early Career): 

Dr Melanie White, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (Distinguished Career): 

Professor Matthew Watt, School of Biomedical Sciences

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education (Quality of Teaching):
Dr Eleanor Mitchell, School of Rural Health.
Dr Claire Harrison, School of Primary Health Care

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education (Innovation in Teaching):

Associate Professor Jan Coles, School of Primary Health Care.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Administration: 

Ms Alexandra Czech, eLearning Services, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

Dean’s Social Inclusion Award: 

Associate Professor Chee Piau Wong, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Malaysian Campus.

Professor Christina Mitchell
Academic Vice-President and Dean

SCS medical student garners national award for research

Professor Morand and final year 
MBBS student Andrew Toh

The Australian Rheumatology Association awarded one of its highest annual research awards last week to the lupus research group in the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases at theSchool of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health.

Led by Professor Eric Morand and postdoctoral scientist Dr Sarah Jones, the research was the basis of a project by final year Monash MBBS student Mr Andrew Toh.

During his Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons) at SCS in 2014, Andrew’s research demonstrated for the first time that expression of the anti-inflammatory protein Gilz is reduced in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and that low levels are associated with worse disease.

This important work arose from the strong collaboration between Monash University and the Monash lupus clinic at Monash Health, led by Monash academic Dr Alberta Hoi.

"Gilz has the potential to be the basis of a new way to treat SLE," said Head, School of Clinical Sciences and Director of Rheumatology at Monash Health Professor Morand.

“We are starting work on developing a therapy based on this molecule that could obviate the need for steroid drugs in SLE."

“This award is a very pleasant surprise,” said Andrew. “Contributing to this novel research has been a fascinating and deeply satisfying experience.”

“My BMedSc year was a truly exhilarating journey—I’ve gained invaluable research skills and a greater appreciation for the vast research work underpinning clinical practice in medicine.”

“I would strongly encourage the BMedSc to medical students,” added Andrew.

“The supervisors at SCS have a highly infectious passion for research; they provide a supportive and enthusiastic environment to undertake research and I am eternally grateful for the experience they've given me.”

The Australian Rheumatology Association awarded its 'Best Basic Science' award to this work at its annual national scientific meeting last week in Adelaide.

Professor Morand is convenor of the 2017 world lupus congress to be held in Melbourne.

PhD student awarded Monash-Museum Victoria PhD top-up scholarship

Matthew McCurry 

Matthew McCurry, a PhD student with MNHS was recently awarded the inaugural Monash-Museum Victoria PhD top-up scholarship in a STEM discipline. 

This is the first year that these awards have been offered. The scholarship is awarded to 1 PhD top up and 1 Honours scholarship in both STEM and HASS each year to students making use of the Museum Victoria collections. 

Matthew's PhD project focuses on the evolutionary biology of crocodilians (crocodiles, alligators) and toothed whales (dolphins, orcas). 

"By studying these two groups I hope to identify relationships that can help us understand the ecology of many extinct aquatic species. My research makes use of many modern techniques such as 3D laser scanning, CT scanning and biomechanical analysis to shed new light on the skeletons and fossils in the Museum Victoria collections", he said. 

For Matthew, his experiences during his PhD have changed his career direction.

"I now hope to spend my career in museums. I have also recently been awarded a Peter Buck Fellowship by the Smithsonian Institution to undertake a year of research within the National Museum of Natural History". 

The award was officially presented at a launch of the new partnership on Thursday 7 May at Museum Victoria, photos attached (provided by MIGR).

Further information about the scholarships can be found online at http://www.monash.edu.au/migr/support/scholarships/monash-mv/ with more about the partnerships at http://www.monash.edu.au/migr/partnerships/monash-mv.html 

Now open: 2015 Research Australia Awards nominations

Nominations are open for the 2015 Research Australia Awards.

These prestigious Awards, now in their 13th year, recognise and celebrate leaders who have made significant contributions to health and medical research in Australia. Awards are presented across the categories of discovery, health services research, advocacy, philanthropy and lifetime achievement.

In 2015 the following Awards will be presented:

• Griffith University Discovery Award
• Advocacy Award
• Great Australian Philanthropy Award
• Leadership in Corporate Giving Award
• Health Services Research Award
• Lifetime Achievement Award
• The Peter Wills Medal

As the national peak body for health and medical research, Research Australia’s Awards are highly regarded and coveted in the health and medical research sector. Past winners include Sir Gus Nossal, Dr Motoko Koyama, Prof Colin Binns, Elaine Henry, Clive Berghofer, Dr Franziska Bieri, The Hon Barry Jones and the Myer Family, amongst many others.

Nominations must be received by COB on Monday 6 July, 2015.

Download the Nomination Form - this document includes details about each award, the nomination process and how to nominate. 

Further information is available on the Research Australia website.

Researchers intending to nominate for an award are encouraged to notify the Faculty Research Office (medicine.research@monash.edu) in advance.

FMNHS best and brightest students awarded

The Faculty's Student Award Ceremony, held on the 12th of May was a fantastic evening celebrating the best and brightest students across the Faculty from the 2014 year.

With a change of location this year to our own Alexander Theatre, the awards ceremony was a great success, with the highest achieving students from across all disciplines receiving awards on the night.

It was great to see so many people supporting the award evening, from the friends and family of the winning students, FMNHS staff as well as the variety of prize sponsors from within Monash and the medical industry.

Guest speaker Professor Susan Davis provided the students with words of inspiration and experience during the evening.

Following the ceremony the students and other guests stayed for canape's and refreshments, with students being congratulated by staff and sponsors.

Nominations now open: GSK Award for Research Excellence 2015

The 35th GSK Award for Research Excellence (ARE) is now open for nominations. The award acknowledges outstanding Australian researchers and their work and provides an $80,000 (tax free) independent research grant to the award recipient’s employing organisation to further the recipient’s work and knowledge.

The award targets high calibre mid-career clinicians and researchers undertaking human medical health research predominately in Australia.

The judging criteria are weighted as follows:

· 40% - potential for the researcher’s contribution to science to directly or indirectly lead to improvement in human health

· 30% - potential for the nominee to continue to make research contributions in the field of human health; and

· 30% - nominee’s accomplishments based on academic and employment record, research grants and awards received, cited publications and other examples of research productivity.

PhD students shine on world stage

Three outstanding PhD students from the School of Psychological Sciences, Simonne Cohen, Mistral Foster-Owens and Fay Fletcher, were awarded prestigious Dissertation Awards at the 48thAnnual Gatlinburg conference held this week in New Orleans.

The awards recognise research excellence in early career researchers in the field of Neurodevelopment Disorders. Accompanied by their supervisor Professor Kim Cornish, the three PhD students had the opportunity to present their work to an international audience within the symposium section titled 'The severity, chronicity and treatment of sleep disturbances in children with developmental disorders'. The School warmly congratulates Simonne, Mistral and Fay on this milestone.

Researchers inducted into Victorian Honour Roll of Women

Two Monash University researchers are among 22 outstanding women who have been inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women this year.

Victorian Minister for Women, Fiona Richardson announced the 2015 inductees at a special ceremony at Federation Square on 11 March.

“This year, we honour 22 women who have helped shape our state. By celebrating their work, we’re sending a powerful message about gender equality,” she said.

Professor Christina Mitchell, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University, and Dr Jacqueline Boyle, School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, were inducted into the Roll.

Pioneering research recognised

Early career researcher and Monash Health junior doctor Dr Lauren Nisbet has been recognised for her pioneering and outstanding research into sleep apnoea in children.

Dr Nisbet has been selected by the World Association of Sleep Medicine to receive the Elio Lugaresi Award for Education at the opening ceremony of the World Congress of Sleep Medicine next month in Seoul, Korea.

The prestigious award is given to an early career researcher for an outstanding publication (the best original young investigator paper) in the affiliated peer-reviewed journal Sleep Medicine.

Applications open for faculty of medicine, nursing and health sciences Dean’s award for excellence

Nominations are now open for the following categories:

· Dean's Award for Excellence in Research
· Dean's Award for Research Impact (Economic and Social Impact)
· Dean's Award for Excellence in Education
· Dean's Award for Excellence in Administration
· Dean's Award for Excellence in Safety
· Dean's Social Inclusion Award


Closing date for nominations is Friday 1 May 2015. Please submit your application to melanie.koo@monash.edu


For further information, please see the link below:
http://www.med.monash.edu.au/intranet/staff/awards/

Vice-Chancellor's Diversity and Inclusion Awards

Applications for the Vice-Chancellor's Diversity and Inclusion Awards are now open, due on Friday 31 July 2015.

You are encouraged to nominate a colleague, a student or a team who has demonstrated a contribution to Monash's inclusive environment and social justice.  The application may address equal opportunity for women, Indigenous engagement, people with disability, student equity, diverse genders and sexualities, intercultural inclusion or other social justice initiatives.

Applications for the Diversity and Inclusion Design Award are open to all students. Applications will be assessed by a selection panel and presented on:

Thursday 3 September 2015

12.00 pm - 2.00 pm

Banquet Rooms, 21 Chancellors Walk, Clayton

RSVPs are due 20 August 2015

Flyer 1

Flyer 2