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Dean’s Newsletter – April 2009

Congratulations to…

Professor David Allen on his success imagining a NHMRC Program Grant for (2010-2014) entitled 'Molecular mechanisms of cardiac function and disease' with five collaborators at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute ($9.35M over 5 years).

Associate Professor Peter Bye and Adjunct Associate Professor Renee Bittoun - Peter has won the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Research Medal and Renee won the TSANZ President's Award at the Society’s annual meeting in Darwin.

Professor Jonathan Craig - Jonathan has been awarded the T J Neale Award for Outstanding Contribution to Nephrological Science made by the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology.

Thank you to Professor Jonathan Stone for strengthening our international outreach – Jonathan will continue a longstanding collaboration University of L'Aquila's Department of Biomedical Science in spite of the destruction of laboratory facilities in more information, please visit: www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=3287


Groundbreaking study into depression
Medical researchers from the Brain Dynamics Centre have launched a world-first study that could lead to a dramatic improvement in how people are treated medically for depression. The study is being led by Professor Lea Williams and director of the Brain Dynamics Centre and Dr Anthony Harris. Details at: www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=3164


Study to change how critically ill patients are treated across the world
Sydney University researchers led by Chief Investigator, Professor Simon Finfer from the Northern Clinical School and the George Institute for International Health have headed up an international study that has found that blood glucose lowering in intensive care patients increases the risk of dying by 10 per cent, indicating that international clinical practice and guidelines need urgent review. Details at: www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=3186


Office of Global Health
I am delighted that the OGH has had a key role in the award of two grants to assist in the enhancement of health care in two neighbouring developing societies:

Communications strategies in Indonesian hospitals – University of Sydney and Universitas Indonesia collaborate
A research collaboration with Universitas Indonesia (University of Indonesia) will explore the communication strategies used within a major teaching hospital in Jakarta. This joint project is supported by Sydney Medical School and the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) via an International Project Development Fund (IPDF) grant.

The project will be led on the Sydney side by Dr Cynthia Hunter, Medical Anthropologist and Lecturer in the School Public Health and on the Indonesian side by Professor Ratna Sitompul, Dean of Sydney Medical School.

“The project has two main aims,” says Cynthia. “The first is to share our expertise and information on the interactional and intercommunicative skills used between clinicians and their teams while providing quality care to patients; the results of the research will provide a tangible benefit to hospital communications and patient care. The second aim is to provide a platform whereby the two medical schools can further develop their relationship.”

As part of the project, Indonesian research staff will be trained in qualitative fieldwork techniques. The data will be jointly collected and analysed and the results disseminated through joint conference presentations and research papers.

Building capacity in Timor-Leste
The first four people to participate in the Office of Global Health’s Timor-Leste Health Leadership Program arrived in Sydney at the end of March for up to twelve weeks of intensive training.

The Leadership Program is an initiative of the Office of Global Health aiming to strengthen health capacity in a country which has some of the worst health statistics in the world. The Office of Global Health secured funding for the program through AusAID’s Australian Leadership Award (ALAF).

All four of the first Timor-Leste Fellows to participate already occupy significant leadership roles in their country’s health system.

The goal of the Timor-Leste Health Leadership Program is to identify and train current and future leaders in health care, health management, health policy and health education. Candidates are provided six-to-twelve week placements in Australia, in institutions and organisations that can offer practical training in their field. Programs have been developed individually, with emphasis on exposing participants to methods, theories, techniques and approaches that they can implement and use to train and lead others when they return to Timor-Leste.

The first four Fellows are:

  • Mr Joaquim F Soares - Director, Klibur Domin Tibar (Rehabilitation Centre)
  • Dr Lucio F Babo Soares – Senior Dentist, Centro Community Health Centre
  • Mr Maximiano Neno – Director, Oecusse Regional Hospital
  • Mr Moises Andrade - Nursing Director, Maubisse Hospital


Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for learning and teaching
The Vice-Chancellor has called for applications for the 2009 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for learning and teaching.

The purpose of these awards is to promote, recognise and reward teaching excellence, and (for the first time) the systems that support teaching excellence. Staff members are warmly invited to apply, and/or to nominate worthy colleagues, for these awards. Award winners receive $10,000 and, in some cases, the opportunity to be nominated for national awards.

There are now four categories of awards:

  • Outstanding Teaching, including Early Career Awards
  • Excellence in Research Supervision
  • Support of the Student Experience
  • Systems that Achieve Collective Excellence in Learning and Teaching

The first three awards have the same selection criteria as last year. The fourth award is a new one that is being introduced this year in recognition of the vital role that faculty/school and institutional systems, structure and processes play in the enhancement of teaching and learning at the University of Sydney.

Whereas the VC’s Award for Outstanding Teaching recognises individuals or groups who can demonstrate that their own teaching is outstanding, the new VC’s Award for Systems that Achieve Collective Excellence in Learning and Teaching will recognise groups within the university community that can demonstrate that they have successfully developed systems that support and underpin collective excellence in teaching and learning. (Examples of systems might include a faculty learning and teaching committee that has developed a system for responding to student feedback survey data in ways that improve the student experience, or a faculty research group that has developed a new process for collecting and acting upon data from higher degree research students’ annual progress reports.)

Additional information on the VC Awards, including selection criteria and application forms, can be found on the ITL’s website at: http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/awards/vcawards.htm

Applications for all four awards close on Friday 22 May 2009.

Those who are thinking about applying for an award, or who are supporting colleagues in applying, are strongly encouraged to take part in an information session about the VC Awards to be hosted by the Institute for Teaching and Learning on Friday 1 May 2009 from 1-2 pm (Carslaw Building, Room 351).


Bruce Robinson
Dean