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Issue #86 October 2009

The DEPM eNews is issued monthly, in pdf format with images. Each month's feature article on research can be accessed either through the pdf or its own link below.

Please send any comments and/or items for inclusion in future issues to: depmnews@med.monash.edu.au

Contents

  1. SPHPM eNews 29 October 2009
  2. ASPREE trial launch 1 October
  3. Awards, Promotions, Prizes
  4. Successful Grant Applications
  5. Grants administered by other institutions in which Monash researchers are involved
  6. Visitors
  7. PhD news
  8. Course, conference, symposium - short reports
  9. Warfarin Project update on activities
  10. SAGE special meeting on pandemic influenza – report by Dr Robert Hall
  11. Evaluation of the Polio Eradication Programme in Nigeria – report by Dr Robert Hall
  12. Intervention Mapping Short Course report
  13. ANZOS conference report
  14. Publications, Media Mentions, Unit newsletters
  15. SPHPM short courses 2009
  16. DEPM seminars
  17. Other seminars

SPHPM eNews 29 October 2009

SPHPM eNews 29 October 2009 features SPHPM news for the month of October, 2009. Download eNews pdf (944 kb) for complete, illustrated issue, attached below.
Attached Files:
091029-sphpm-enews.pdf 923 KiloBytes

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ASPREE trial launch 1 October

The ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) trial funding of US$50M was confirmed in September. The funding is from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Aging, and will be spread across Australia and the US, as recruitment will be taking place in both countries. The study is being led in Australia by PI Prof John McNeil, DEPM, and in the US by PI Prof Richard Grimm at the United States-based Berman Centre for Outcomes and Clinical Research.

A successful press launch took place in the AMREP seminar room on 1 October. See high volume media pickup for ASPREE in Media Mentions attachment below.

In attendance for taking questions were Prof Mark Nelson, from the University of Tasmania and a DEPM honorary; Prof John McNeil, Prof Andrew Tonkin, A/Prof Chris Reid (pictured left being introduced by Tim Mitchell from Monash Media) and ASPREE participant, Mrs Elaine Zeunert.

It is planned to recruit a total of 19,000 healthy men and women over the age of 70 for the ASPREE trial. The trial protocol needs this number for adequate statistical power. For the 19,000, it is intended to recruit 12,500 people in Australia, 6,500 in the US. The trial will run over seven years, with a two year recruitment period and a five year study of each participant.

The trial is intended to answer the question of whether daily consumption of aspirin contributes to good health of older people. This is a burning question for us as a society with an ageing demographic, and for each and every ageing individual who wants to remain in good health for as long as possible.

In previous studies of aspirin’s effects, people from this older age group were not included in sufficient numbers to inform health guidelines. See ASPREE trial protocol for full details of endpoints.

See pdf for pictures
Attached Files:
ASPREE trial launch 1 Oct 09.pdf 267 KiloBytes

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Awards, Promotions, Prizes

Professor Russell Gruen has been awarded the 2010 James IV Association of Surgeons Travelling Fellowship, worth USD $20,000, which will be devoted to Trauma Quality Improvement in North American centres.

Prize for Best Medical and Scientific Paper was awarded to Jason Wasiak and Heather Cleland at the 2009 Australian and New Zealand Burns Association (ANZBA) Conference in Wellington, New Zealand for undertaking a randomised, placebo-controlled, double blind, crossover design trial into the use of intravenous lignocaine for pain relief in those with burn injury. It was a Transport Accident Commission (TAC) funded project, which went from December 2007 to May 2009.

Dr Amanda Zatta received notification that her abstract was accepted for a poster presentation at the American Heart Association Resuscitation Meeting. The Resuscitation Science Symposium precedes the Scientific Sessions. The abstract will also be published in the Circulation journal.

Alfred Week 19-23 October poster prizes: Whole Time Medical Specialists Private Practice Scheme Prize for Clinical Research.

There were 150 entries for all the different poster prizes, and in total there were 18 winners. Winners received a certificate and $250 prize money (shared between equal first authors). DEPM winners were:

  1. Equal first authors PhD student, Louisa Lam, DEPM and Amaali Lokuge, Alfred Emergency Department: B-type natriuretic peptide testing and the accuracy of heart failure diagnosis in the emergency department. Lam LL, Lokuge A, Cameron P, Krum H, Smit DV, Bystrzycki A, Naughton MT, Federman J, Flannery G, Eccleston D, Schneider HG
  2. PhD student, Rosanne Freak-Poli, DEPM, first author, for her poster with Anna Peeters: Evaluation of a Four-Month Low-impact Physical-activity Workplace Intervention

Dr Adrian Lowe, a former PhD student who was cosupervised by Prof Michael Abramson, DEPM, with A/Prof Shyamali Dharmage, University of Melbourne as principal supervisor, has been awarded the Melbourne School of Population Health's "Head’s award for PhD excellence" and at the Faculty level, the Dean’s award for same. Adrian is now NHMRC Research Fellow at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, University of Melbourne.

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Successful Grant Applications

The PM and acting Minister for Health have officially announced the results of the NHMRC Partnership Project grants submitted in 2008. The TRIO funding builds upon current achievements by TORC and collaborations with the Red Cross Blood Bank and other relevant stakeholders. The grant for Karin Leder and her group is a logical follow-on to the work done during the CRC for Water Quality & Treatment.

CI Prof John McNeil, Transfusion research: Improving outcomes (TRIO) $900,000

Blood transfusion is a vital part of medical practice. Patients expect that this treatment will be given only where it will help them, while the community expects that the money spent on transfusion is being spent wisely. The proposed program of work addresses critical deficits in understanding in transfusion medicine. It will improve the evidence base to inform clinical decision-making, provide strategies which ensure this evidence is translated promptly into clinical practice, and extend this evidence base to inform clinical policy and planning in Australia.

CI A/Prof Karin Leder, Establishing Australian health based targets for microbial water quality $173,240

It is of great public health importance to ensure that our drinking water supplies are safe, including both conventional drinking water supplies and supplies derived from alternative water sources, such as water derived from recycled sewage. National guidelines exist for management of drinking water and recycled water supplies, but currently there are no targets for determining whether water has an acceptably low level of infectious agents. This project will develop a national consensus on health targets for microbial water quality which can be incorporated in national and state policy and regulation.

ARC Discovery Grant: Dr C Bonfiglioli; Prof S Chapman; A/Prof Ben Smith, DHSS.

Changing the media diet. Investigating the power of the news media to prevent obesity. 2010-2012: $255,000.
This project investigates competing arguments about obesity in news media and reality TV and how these frames influence consumer understandings, to discover what role the media are playing in the obesity epidemic. The goal is to relate the findings to scientific evidence and design novel strategic communication interventions to promote health through individual and societal interventions.

Prof Helena Teede, MIHSR, on her NHMRC project grant: Insulin resistance in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and the role of skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. $410,000, for the two year period 2010-1011.

11% of women have polycystic ovarian syndrome(PCOS), characterised by insulin resistance, irregular periods and infertility. These women are prone to obesity, diabetes and potentially, heart disease. Treatments include lifestyle modifications +/- medical therapy. Lifestyle is first line, yet the best diet/exercise prescription is unclear. This study will provide insights into the cause of PCOS, will inform on the role of exercise in therapy and may identify targets for future therapies.

NHMRC Enabling Grant: CI Professor Rinaldo Bellomo. National Centre for Intensive Care Research Institute – Australia and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Funding - $2,500,000 over 5 years (2010-2014)
The National Centre for Intensive Care Research, also known as The Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group (ANZICS CTG), provides the only coordinated clinical trials research strategy for intensive care medicine in Australia and one of the few in the world. Its core business is the design and conduct of world-class multicentre randomised controlled trials. To date the group has operated with extremely modest infrastructure support supplied by the parent society (ANZICS) and its success has been due to the voluntary hard work and commitment of full time clinicians. These efforts have already significantly enhanced the medical research effort in Australia by documenting the epidemiology of important areas of critical illness and, more importantly, by the conduct of world-class clinical trials.

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Grants administered by other institutions in which Monash researchers are involved

Dr Belinda Gabbe is a co-investigator on the NHMRC partnership grant awarded to Caroline Finch entitled "Towards a national sports safety strategy – addressing facilitators and barriers towards safety guidelines uptake". This grant will be administered at the University of Ballarat.

Dr Bronwyn Fredericks is a CI B on an ARC VicHealth Industry Linkage grant administered by Victoria University, $75,000.

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Visitors

The National Trauma Research Institute hosted Professor Jerry Jurkovich (11 Sept) and Dr David Clark (14 Sept) from the USA for the NTRI/Alfred Trauma Quality Improvement Program.

Prof Guy Parcel, School of Population Health, University of Texas was hosted by the International Public Health Unit, DEPM in Sept-October. See write-up below on the Intervention Mapping short course taught by Guy.

Dr David Campbell, National Primary Care Research & Development Centre, University of Manchester, gave a seminar on 14 October ,"Developing clinical quality indicators for primary care in Europe - what works and doesn't work for cardiovascular disease - a 10 country indicator development study".

VSTORM hosted the following visitors from Singapore who wish to establish a Singapore Trauma Registry:
  • Dr Mabel Yap, Director (Health Services Research & Evaulation) in the Ministry of Health, and Chairperson of the National Trauma Registry Workgroup (NTR WG)
  • Dr Chow Khuan Yew, Deputy Director (National Registry of Diseases Office) in the Health Promotion Board, and Deputy Chairperson of the NTR WG
  • Dr Wong Ting Hway, Registrar in the Department of General Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, and member of the NTR WG
  • Dr Alan Ong, Assistant Director (Health Services Research), and Secretariat to the NTR WG

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    PhD news

    Recently started

    • Anthony Gust has started 22/10/09, supervised by Caroline Brand. Thesis topic: Surveillance of inhospital central line associated bacterial infection: Using data linkage to assess the utility of routinely collected hospital data. Anthony is part time here, and works part time at Southern Health.
    • Danny Hills has started 1/10/09, supervised by Catherine Joyce. Thesis topic: What makes GPs and specialists entering rural practice stay? Impact of personal characteristics, community connectedness and sense of place.
    • Erwin Loh has started 28/9/09, supervised by Caroline Brand. Thesis title: The utility of monitoring the outcomes of mortality reviews as a marker of quality of care within hospitals
    Completed

    • Liz Barr has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Thesis title “The contribution of impaired glucose metabolism to cardiovascular disease and mortality in Australians”.
    • Adrian Cameron has completed his thesis, “The Metabolic Syndrome in Australia”.
    Submission

    • Steve Haas submitted on 6 October. Thesis title: “The Epidemiology of Chronic Heart Failure”
    • Ewan Macfarlane submitted on 18 September. Thesis title: “Occupational exposures and cancer risk in Australian workers”
    • Rwth Stuckey submitted on 6 October. Thesis title: “Evaluation of Occupational Health For Light Vehicle Use”

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    Course, conference, symposium - short reports

    Professor Russell Gruen was the Plenary Lecturer at the 2009 Cochrane Colloquium in Singapore on Oct 13, on "Contextual complexity: applying the results of reviews to diverse settings and populations"

    PhD student Zanfina Ademi had an oral presentation at the Australian Health Economics Society, held in Hobart 1-2 October, titled "Resource utilization by body weight among people with atherothrombotic disease".

    Prof Michael Abramson presented a paper on the SPIRO-GP study at the European Respiratory Society in Vienna. He also attended meetings of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey and International Primary Care Respiratory Group.

    PhD student Ella Zomer had two oral presentations at the recent European Society of Cardiology, one of the world's largest cardiovascular meetings.
    The first presentation title was: "Validation of two Framingham Cardiovascular Risk Prediction Algorithms in an Australian Population: The 'old' versus the 'new' Framingham equation".
    Ella’s second presentation title was: "Modelled impact of controlling cardiovascular risk factors in Australia"

    A paper, “Reframing HIV prevention for women”, by PhD student Shyamala Nataraj, was selected by International Conference of the Society for Medical Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association at Yale University. The paper was presented on Shyamala’s behalf by Prof Lenore Manderson. Date: September 24 - 27, 2009

    Prof John McNeil attended The Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology and the International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy (ISCP) which was held in Beijing 8-12 October. The Great Wall ICC is China’s premier Cardiology meeting and attracts over 10,000 registrants. John is the Scientific Secretary of ISCP and was involved in the organisation of the program. During the course of the meeting he gave 2 invited lectures, entitled ' Recent advances in smoking cessation therapy' and 'Should Aspirin be used for primary prevention'. The next major ISCP meeting will be held in 2011 in Columbia, South America.

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    Warfarin Project update on activities

    Doctoral student Basia Diug delivered a paper entitled "Factors Contributing to High INR Results in Patients Receiving Warfairn therapy in the Community" at the Haematology Association of Australia in Adelaide (Oct); and will deliver have another oral at Cabrini Research Week in Melb (Nov) entitled, "Warfarin: identifying risk factors contributing elevated INRs within the community."

    Doctoral student Judy Lowthian delivered a paper entitled "Collaborative patient care with warfarin therapy" at the Australasian Conference on Safety and Quality in Health Care in Sydney (Sept).

    Posters have been also accepted at the following conferences:
    • ISQUA (The International Society for Quality in Health Care) Dublin (Oct 2009)
    • Alfred Research Week (Oct 2009)
    • AHA (American Heart Association ) in Florida (Nov 2009)
    • ACEM (Australasian College for Emergency Medicine) in Melbourne (Nov 2009)
    • ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) in Las Vegas, Nevada (Dec 2009)

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      SAGE special meeting on pandemic influenza – report by Dr Robert Hall

      In his capacity as Chair of the Technical Advisory Group on Immunization for the Western Pacific Region of WHO, Dr Robert Hall attended the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts’ (SAGE’s) meeting on Pandemic Influenza in Geneva on 7 July this year. The meeting reviewed the epidemiology of H1N1 pandemic influenza and made recommendations on potential vaccine options to protect the global population. The recommendations made reflected the SAGE’s opinion of the then current severity of the disease.

      The SAGE recommended that the objectives of the pandemic influenza vaccination strategy should be to protect the integrity of the health-care system, reduce mortality and morbidity, and to reduce virus transmission. Therefore the SAGE recommended the immunization of health-care workers (who make up 1%-2% of the world’s population). Considering the shortage of vaccine, the SAGE recommended further the stepwise immunization of pregnant women, people with chronic medical conditions, healthy young adults, healthy children, and finally healthy older adults, as vaccine supplies permit. For the full recommendations from the meeting see the Weekly Epidemiological Record 2009; 84:301-04.

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      Evaluation of the Polio Eradication Programme in Nigeria – report by Dr Robert Hall

      The World Health Organization is coordinating an international goal to eradicate polio from the globe.

      Indigenous polio transmission occurs now in only 4 countries (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria). In the last few years, about half the cases of confirmed polio worldwide have occurred in Nigeria, and there have been many exports of infection to other countries, requiring large control programmes. Polio in Nigeria has been a particular problem in the northern part of the country where there has been political opposition to the immunization programme.

      The World Health Organization and the Nigerian government invited an evaluation team to examine the situation in northern Nigeria. Robert Hall, Chair of the Immunization Technical Advisory Group for the Western Pacific Region of WHO, was part of the team that visited Nigeria to review their polio eradication program from 7 to 14 August.

      The team's goals were to evaluate the infrastructure for, and delivery mechanisms of the polio eradication programme and assist with advice. The team visited immunization clinics, hospitals, health centres, Federal and State Ministries of Health and Education, local government authorities, mosques, and traditional Emirs.

      On the basis of observations, discussions with a wide range of people and analysis of surveillance and vaccination coverage data the team concluded that the major requirements for polio eradication in northern Nigeria are increasing community interest in and demand for polio vaccination; good program management, and commitment to the vaccination program at all levels of governance from national to state to community.

      The team made recommendations to the Nigerian government and to WHO on suggested improvements to program management, social mobilization and communication, and concluded that polio eradication in Nigeria is feasible.

      Their report is now published, at http://www.polioeradication.org/content/general/Polio_Evaluation_NIE.pdf

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      Intervention Mapping Short Course report

      Monash University's School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) were joint hosts for a visit to Australia 28 Sept - 26 Oct 2009, by Prof Guy Parcel, School of Public Health, University of Texas, Houston.

      Prof Parcel conducted a 3-day short course on Intervention Mapping (IM) Oct 19-21 with 30 participants. IM offers a step-by-step program to make theory practical and to develop, implement and evaluate effective public health and health promotion interventions, using behavioural and social sciences.

      For example, Intervention Mapping has been used to plan a program to assist children and families with the self-management of childhood asthma. Using the intervention mapping steps, specific management behaviours were identified and linked to factors likely to influence or support children in performing the self-management behaviours.

      Following this, coping theory was used to design intervention strategies around the theme of WATCH, DISCOVER, THINK and ACT. The learning activities for the children were delivered by a computer program that engaged the children in practising behaviours to prevent or care for asthma attacks. As a result, children developed improved self-management behaviour.

      The participants for the IM course were from a variety of organisations: primary health care, government, universities and research institutes, and included a number of doctoral students. Michaela Riddell is a project manager for a peer support intervention for improving self-management of diabetes. She said after the course, “I now have a clear understanding of how to develop an effective intervention from start to finish, using techniques that will ensure clear outcomes are the focus of the intervention from the planning stage through to evaluation.”

      Prof Parcel has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific papers and book chapters over the past 35 years. In 2006 he co-authored the second edition of his textbook on health promotion programs, Planning Health Promotion Programs: An Intervention Mapping Approach. He has directed National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded research projects to develop and evaluate programs to address sexual risk behaviour in adolescents, diet and physical activity in children, smoking prevention in adolescents, and self-management of childhood chronic diseases including asthma and cystic fibrosis.

      If you would like more information about next year's short courses on Intervention Mapping, please contact Carla Renwick carla.renwick@med.monash.edu.au.

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      ANZOS conference report

      On October 23-25, 2009 the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) hosted their 17th annual conference in Melbourne. DEPM was represented by ANZOS committee member Dr Anna Peeters and several other staff and PhD students.

      PhD student Rosanne Freak-Poli presented her work entitled "Predictors of waist circumference change after participation in a pedometer-based workplace intervention". These preliminary results indicate that of the demographic and behavioural characteristics analysed, the strongest predictors of reduction in waist circumference after participation in the Global Corporate Challenge were (1) Not meeting healthy guidelines for waist circumference, and (2) Having a tertiary education.

      PhD student Sharon Brennan also presented her work, entitled ‘The effect of change in BMI over 10yrs on cartilage properties of the knee in healthy, young to middle-aged women’.

      The conference emphasised building progressive partnership supporting a multidisciplinary approach to tackle the complex issues surrounding obesity. Presentations were in the field of public health, epidemiology, clinical and basic research, and policy frameworks. Highlights included an ‘early careers’ session during which experienced academics provided advice on how to manage (and how not to!) a successful career in research; and a highly entertaining as well as informative “Presidents debate”, during which past-presidents of the society presented their views as to where Government should allocate funds in the prevention and treatment of obesity.

      Members of DEPM (A Peeters, M Brand, K McConell) also coordinated a workshop on Workplace as a setting for chronic disease prevention. This was very well attended and The brought together the Victorian Department of Human Services, WorkSafe Victoria, the WorkHealth initiative and two intervention providers.

      The conference was very well attended and extremely informative in an era of increasing concern regarding the impact and influence of obesity. It was stimulating to listen to so many experts in the field of obesity prevention and management and we can all look forward to building on what was achieved next year at the ANZOS conference to be held in Sydney 22nd-24th October. Further details on the conference, including presentations, can be found at www.asso.org.au/home/quicklinks/2009.

      Report by K Backholer, M Brand, S Brennan, A Peeters, R Freak-Poli, H Walls
      Attached Files:
      ANZOS summary_271009.doc 21 KiloBytes

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      Publications, Media Mentions, Unit newsletters

      Please download attachment listing out recent publications, media mentions and Unit newsletters
      Attached Files:
      091029-sphpm-enews-publications.pdf 471 KiloBytes

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      SPHPM short courses 2009

      The Short Course program has completed for 2009. 236 students enrolled in 16 courses offered throughout the year. A new course, Perioperative Medicine, offered in conjunction with the Alfred Hospital, took 44 participants. The Biostatistics course ran twice, taught by Dr Baki Billah. Intervention Mapping, offered in conjunction with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, had 30 participants.

      Bookmark & browse the Short Course web page www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/shortcrs/ or contact shortcourses.depm@med.monash.edu.au for further information.

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      DEPM seminars

      DEPM seminars are held in the DEPM seminar room on Wednesdays from 12-1 pm unless otherwise noted. A reminder will go out about DEPM seminars on the morning of the day they are to be given. The seminar program is at www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/events/. The weekly AMREP seminar listings are emailed by Liana Friedman to all Alfred based staff. Various other seminars which involve DEPM people are also listed.

      2009 PhD presentations are timetabled, Wednesdays 1-3 pm, in the DEPM seminar room.

      Forthcoming seminars

      04-Nov Honours presentations: Venu Ariyatne: Determinants in the 30-day mortality in heart valve surgery
      Zhongxiong Cai: Is higher mobile phone usage associated with the adolescents undertaking less physical activity and their weight
      Amanda Barnett, topic TBA
      11-Nov Dr Louise Phillips, Senior Research Fellow, Monash/ARCBS Transfusion Outcomes Research Collaboration (TORC): Talking about TORC (Transfusion Outcomes Research Collaborative
      18-Nov PhD presentations
      Victor Hoe The CUPID study: risk factors for musculoskeletal and somatic symptoms and associated disability in workers;
      Geraldine Lee The utility of the ECG in detecting and managing cardiovascular disease in South Africa: The heart of Soweto study
      Carolina Weller Chronic wounds: outcomes for people attending specialist wound clinics
      02-Dec Dr Nick Thomson, Field Director, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, USA: Amphetamines, Prisons, Chlamydia and Moroccan Mud Wraps": reflections on a field based PhD in northern Thailand
      09-Dec ASPREE group

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      Other seminars

      Master of Public Health (MPH) Courses - Information Night 4 November 2009
      The Master of Public Health Information Night will be held 6.30 -8.30 pm (supper provided) on Wednesday 4 November 2009 starting in Lecture Theatre 1, 207 Bouverie St, Carlton (University of Melbourne Parkville campus) followed by expo with collaborating Universities on the 4th floor.
      Click on the link below to download the Flyer: www.phaa.net.au/documents/MPHFlyerVicUniversities.pdf

      2009 Post Graduate Symposium 16 Nov 09 AMREP
      A 2009 Post Graduate Symposium is being offered by Monash University, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, the Burnet Institute and The Alfred, all part of the AMREP (Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct). 1.30 pm-5.30pm in the AMREP seminar room. Light lunch and afternoon tea will be provided. The symposium provides an opportunity for six nominated final year/completed PhD students to showcase their research projects and results. The speakers are:
      • Betty Kafanelis, Medicine, Monash
      • David Barton, Baker IDI, Monash
      • Jacqueline Flynn, Immunology, Burnet, Monash
      • Mehran Ghasemzadeh, ACBD, Monash
      • Oanh Nguyen, Immunology, Monash
      • Clare Westhorpe, Burnet, Monash
      • Adrian Cameron, DEPM, Monash
      Chair: A/Prof Rob Metcalf

      All are welcome to attend. RSVP by 9 Nov for catering purposes to laisa.tigerea-thomson@med.monash.edu.au

      AEA/PHAA Student Conference
      A workshop showcasing higher degree public health student research in epidemiology and public health AEA and PHAA are providing this important opportunity for students from all Victorian universities to meet and network, and to listen to and appreciate one other's work, and learn together. We will have time to discuss projects in early development, work in progress and completed projects.
      Book tokens will be awarded for each of the best epidemiology and public health presentations. La Trobe University City Campus, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, Thursday November 5, 2009, 9.30 - 4.00 Click on the link below to download the flyer/registration/abstract form – Note, registration is free. PHAA flier

      PHAA events forthcoming
      Tues 17 November 5:30 - 7:30 pm Royal Dental Hospital, Carlton. National Health Reform Seminar: What are the Implications for Prevention and Public Health in Victoria?

      Wed 2 December, PHAA Vic branch AGM & inaugural oration, David Legge@ VicHealth Seminar Room. Further details to follow.

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      Items for the DEPM News are due The DEPM eNews is issued monthly, in pdf format with images. Each month's feature article on research can be accessed either through the pdf or its own link below..

      Please send any comments and/or items for inclusion in future issues to: depmnews@med.monash.edu.au