Graduate researchers receive National Health Medical Research Council scholarship funding

Photo: Casamento Photography
Photo: Casamento Photography

Seventeen researchers from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences have received funding for Postgraduate Scholarships from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) at the University and partner organisations.

This annually awarded funding aims to support outstanding health and medical graduates early in their career, so they can be trained to conduct research that is internationally competitive and develop a capacity for original independent research within Australia.

The successful research topics span a broad range of topics including holistic care for patients with epilepsy, baby inflammatory bowel disease, and therapies to prevent disability in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Associate Dean Graduate Research Justine Mintern said, “This is a fantastic recognition of the many amazing individuals we have in the MDHS PhD cohort. These are highly prestigious awards that will provide these scholars with the resources needed to develop into highly impactful medical researchers.”

The following projects were successful in this round of funding:

  1. Dr Brendan Backhouse, from the Department of Medicine: Assessing the physiology of cardiogenic shock and cardiac arrest, and the impact of therapeutic interventions.
  2. Ms Samantha Bates, from the Department of Critical Care: Enteral rather than intravenous electrolyte replacement in critical care (LEANER).
  3. Dr Ting-Gee Annie Chiu, from the Department of Medicine: A holistic approach to care of patients with Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies.
  4. Dr Edwina Coghlan, from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health: Coaching for Doctors for Clinician Wellbeing, Workforce Sustainability and Patient Safety.
  5. Ms Maria Globan, from the Department of Infectious Diseases: Genomics-informed exploration of drug susceptibility testing for non-tuberculous mycobacteria.
  6. Dr Sarah Latham, from The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology: Systematic, risk-stratified, precision breast cancer prevention: an early economic evaluation and acceptability assessment.
  7. Dr Tanya Lee, from the Department of Medicine: The Baby Inflammatory Bowel Disease Microbiome (Babycino) Study.
  8. Dr Bonnia Liu, from the Department of Medicine: Application of molecular imaging biomarkers in large vessel vasculitis and polymyalgia rheumatica.
  9. Dr Nathaniel Lizak, from the Department of Medicine: Use of high-efficacy therapies to prevent disability in MS.
  10. Dr Yeung-Ae Park, from the Department of Medicine: The role of sex steroids in pituitary tumours.
  11. Dr Nayomi Perera, from the Department of Medicine: Proactive pregnancy care: Developing a risk calculator to identify women at risk of adverse maternal and offspring outcomes.
  12. Dr Luke Perry, from the Department of Critical Care: Pulmonary artery catheter use in cardiac surgery (PUMA).
  13. Dr Tessa Potezny, from The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology: Clonal determinants of engraftment and lineage commitment following haematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
  14. Ms Cecilia Pynaker, Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health: Addressing Critical Gaps and Inequities in Australia’s Prenatal Genomic Screening.
  15. Dr Chathri Ratnayake, from the Department of Medicine: Renal Energy Metabolism and Obesity related Kidney Disease.
  16. Dr Beverly Rodrigues, from the Department of Medicine: Evaluating the gut-liver axis using a novel gas sensing capsule in cirrhosis and portal hypertension.
  17. Dr Arvind Yerramilli, from the Department of Infectious Diseases: Electronic Health Records Embedded Randomised Controlled Trials for Infectious Diseases.