Dean's Newsletter - December 2007

Congratulations …
To Professor Ron Grunstein who has been appointed president of the World Federation of Sleep Research & Sleep Medicine Societies (WFSRSMS). The WFSRSMS represents more than 10,000 sleep scientists, physicians and trainees from over 60 nations and six continents.

Professor Grunstein, Head of the Sleep and Circadian Research Group at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and Head of the Centre for Respiratory and Sleep Disorders at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital will be the first non-American president of the WFSRSMS.

Established in 1987, the WFSRSMS aims to encourage international collaborations, facilitate the generation and dissemination of information, and increase public awareness of the importance of sleep research and the impact of sleep disorders.

To Associate Professor Lyn March who has been elected President of the Australian Rheumatology Association

To Professor Roland Stocker and Dr Julie Leask on their success in gaining funding for 2008 through the University’s International Program Development Fund – International Network Research Collaborations

Julie Leask (Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead) was awarded funding for a collaboration with the University of Leeds, University of Auckland and the South East Sydney Illawarra Public Health Unit. The study aims to further our understanding of low immunisation rates in children from disadvantaged population groups.

Roland Stocker’s project, carried out in collaboration with the University of Washington (Seattle) will use state-of-the- art mass spectrometry approaches to examine changes in protein expression by macrophages resulting altered cellular heme oxygenase-1 activity which is thought to provide protection against cardiovascular disease hopefully leading to novel treatments against cardiovascular disease. In addition, the project aims to bring cutting-edge technology to the University of Sydney and to provide the basis for obtaining future funding from NIH.

To Professor John Rasko on receiving a $1.2M grant from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation for the Cell and Molecular Therapy Laboratories (CMTL) at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, to be known as the Australian Cancer Research Foundation Laboratory. The CMTL will be certified by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator. The facility is dedicated to the selection, expansion, gene modification of cells, and/or other cell culture aspects to conduct clinical trial. Funding by ACRF will permit the complete functioning of the CMTL 4 and will create new capacity for the delivery of cancer therapies and relevant research in NSW. The ACRF grant has been awarded for the specialist fit-out of one of the CMT laboratories.

To Professor Graham Johnston on his award of an honorary doctorate in Pharmaceutical Science (doctor pharmaciae honoris causa) by the University of Copenhagen in recognition of his work in promoting research links between that university and the University of Sydney. Over many years there has been a very active research collaboration and exchange of staff and students between Copenhagen and Sydney in the areas of pharmacology and pharmaceutical chemistry.

The honorary degree was the first awarded by the newly established Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, which resulted from the recent incorporation of the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy into the University of Copenhagen.

Public Health in our Faculty
The Faculty has three very strong public health oriented groups: the School of Public Health, the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre and the George Institute for International Health. In addition the School of Public Health has management responsibility for the Broken Hill University Department of Rural Health, the Northern Rivers University Department of Rural Health and the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety.

I have initiated a review of relationships within this enormous reservoir of expertise to identify opportunities for greater collaboration and to identify shared opportunities, challenges and structures to enhance collaboration. The intention is to facilitate both national and international recognition of the excellence of public health at the University of Sydney. The review will be completed by the end of January 2008.

New Dean’s Advisory Committee
Members of Medical School will have already received an email from Ria Deamer about the merging of some senior committees within the Medical School. The aim is to allow Heads of Disciplines and others to be aware of management and financial issues before the Medical School and to contribute to discussion and decision-making to a greater extent than has recently been the case. All members of Medical School are welcome to email me with feedback on this new arrangement (or any other matter).

EdHealth 2008
The 2008 Ed Health Conference went well up in Terrigal this November. Once again this event has proved a great opportunity for members of the wider Faculties of Health teaching staff to come together and share best practice. Events like this are a great forum, but it is particularly important that some of the investment in the interprofessional learning arena starts to show some real outcomes, and I will be keeping a watchful eye on progress here. I would like to thank Associate Professor Lynda Matthews from the Faculty of Health Sciences, her conference organisation team and CIPHER staff for making sure the event ran smoothly. Sydney Medical School was well represented in the delegate list. Particular congratulations to all those who won prizes on account of the quality of the work that they presented.

Although I could not attend I know that many at the conference were surprised at the message from both the Provost, Don Nutbeam, and Deputy Provost (Teaching and Learning), Derrick Armstrong about the Health Cluster’s performance in attracting money from DEST’s Learning and Teaching Performance Fund. I too am concerned that our students across the Health Cluster are not rating their experience in our programs as well as we would like. Accordingly I will be talking with my fellow Deans to develop some initiatives to improve this area. It is likely that the Ed Health Conference in 2009 will evolve to reflect the priorities that are developed in this process. Medicine should be well on track to improving the students experience with our revised curriculum and a new Office of Medical Education.

Congratulations to those members of Medical School who received awards at the Conference: Imogene Rothnie (clinical assessment), Kirsty Foster (International collaboration to improve maternal and child health in rural Vietnam), Wendy Hu (experiential learning for Stage 1 medical students), Charlotte Rees (assessment relationships with students), Tricia Lyon (learning experiences in clinical placements).

Bruce Robinson
Dean

December 2007