Dean's Newsletter - 5 June 2008

Congratulations to.....

Professor Simon Chapman
Simon has been awarded the prestigious Premier's Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher 2008. This is an acknowledgment of his internationally recognised research and advocacy of tobacco control and the subsequent inroads into smoking rates.

A Premier’s honour also went to the Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow, Dr Linda Bendall, whose research at the Westmead Millennium Institute into leukaemia has attracted international acclaim.

Katie Dixon, a PhD student in the School of Medical Sciences received the Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Research Scholar for her research into skin cancer.

Details are available from the Cancer Institute's site - Cancer Research Awards - PDF


Professor Paul Haber
Paul and his research team at RPAH have won the "Excellence in Research Award" at the National Drug and Alcohol Treatment awards.

Associate Professor Kate Conigrave
Kate won the Senior Scientist Award from the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs having made an outstanding contribution to the drug and alcohol field both in terms of prevention and treatment research.


Jane Hirst
Jane was awarded the Christopher Kohlenberg Memorial Medal for best scientific presentation by a registrar or consultant within five years of fellowship at the RANZCOG combined NSW/Queensland meeting held in Coolum over the June long weekend. Her presentation entitled "Preterm Premature Rupture of membranes in Vietnam" was based on a Hoc Mai project undertaken last November in Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh city which has 45,000 deliveries a year. Hoc Mai has an ongoing educational relationship with Tu Du Hospital through its maternal child health program.


Welcome back to Professor Jonathan Stone
Jonathan has returned to the School of Medical Sciences to a research Chair as Professor of Retinal and Cerebral Neurobiology. He will formally be associated with the Discipline of Physiology but his teaching contributions will be across the School. Jonathan will be continuing his work on the role of blood vessels in disease and will also be rekindling his strong interest in the aesthetics of the Anderson Stuart Building.


Sharing PhDs - USyd and Shanghai Jiao Tong University
We have just been successful in securing 4 Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) Scholars. These candidates who are undertaking a PhD with Shanghai Jiaotong University will be undertaking part of their research here. They will be under the joint supervision of a Shanghai Jiao Tong University supervisor and a supervisor from the University of Sydney, Medical School and will undertake research on the genetics of phaeochromocytoma, the role of glucocorticoids, therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer and on the interaction of insulin and colon cancer. The candidates will be with us for periods of up to 12 months.

The successful candidates will be supervised at Sydney by Professor Pu Xia from the Centenary Institute, myself and Dr Dindy Benn from the Kolling Institute, Associate Professor Dong Qihan from the Bosch Institute and the and by Dr Zhou Hong from ANZAC.

In addition to the sharing of these 4 PhD candidates, we are holding a joint research symposium with Shanghai Jiao Tong University focussed in cancer research in late June and a Teacher Training Program for 14 staff members covering the PBL methodology and integrated curricula. A two-way exchange of medical students will also commence this year.

Radius
The next edition of Radius is just back from the printers – and it is another outstanding edition. My thanks to our editors, Beth Quinlivan and Amanda Durack. Alumni will receive a copy in the mail over the next week or so; copies are also available from Ancella Cheung or 9036 9030. The June 2008 Radius (PDF) is now linked.


ARC Linkage Grants
Congratulations are also due to those members of our Medical School who have been awarded 2008 ARC Linkage Project grants in Round 2. I encourage all members of Medical School to think strategically about their research and assess carefully whether they are eligible for ARC grant schemes. You may be pleasantly surprised!

Our Medical School was involved in four applications; all four were successful. Brief details follow:

• Professor Robert Booy and colleagues
  Social, Economic, and Health Benefits of Vaccinating Children in Day Care Centres against Influenza
  (Industry partners: KU Children's Services and Sanofi Pasteur)
• Dr Russell Diefenbach, Professor Tony Cunningham and colleagues
  Biological probes for understanding mammalian cellular transport mechanisms
  (Industry partner: Molecmo NanoBiotechnologies Inc.)
• Associate Professor Ian Kerridge, Professor David Bennett and colleagues
  Growing up with Cancer: A mixed method examination of how cancer influences the transition from adolescence to adulthood
  (Industry partner: CanTeen)
• Professor Leah Williams, Dr Andew Kemp and colleagues
  Gene-brain pathways in emotional brain stability and instability
  (Industry partner: Brain Resource Company)

Bruce Robinson
Dean