Research in the School of Medicine

As part of the commitment of UWS to the development of a vibrant, engaged and research active School of Medicine, all academic staff are experienced researchers in their field. Even in its first year of operation, there are already key research teams developing. As additional academic and research staff are recruited, further projects will continue to emerge.

• Research News
• Neuroscience
• Medical Education
• Hypertension
• Emerging Areas

Research News

The School of Medicine is pleased to annouce that five MBBS students have been funded to undertake a Summer Scholarship project in the 2007-2008 Summer Break.

• Chandra Annabattula – Inherited causes of common nerve and muscle disorders in Greater Western Sydney (Dr Sumina Gopinath)
• Hasitha Balasuriya – Control of placental blood flow (Prof Annemarie Hennessy)
• David Cosgriff – ICU acuity scoring system (Dr Graham Reece)
• Avedis Ekmejian – Updating a Cochrane systematic review (Prof Phillipa Hay)
• Tarandeep Grewal – Vestibulosympathetic control of blood pressure (Prof Vaughan Macefield)

The following conjoints have also been awarded early career research grants in 2007.

• Dr Kevin Chan - Prevalence of respiratory symptoms in obstructive sleep apnoea
• Dr Sumina Gopinath - Inherited causes of common nerve and muscle disorders in Greater Western Sydney
• Dr Lukas Kairaitis – The advantage of transonic detection methods over conventional ultrasound for fistulas in chronic dialysis patients
• Dr Sumathy Perampalam – A pilot study on vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy
• Dr Soji Swaraji - Pay for your food with weights: a pre-meal resistance training prescription as a treatment strategy for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes in patients recently discharged from Campbelltown Hospital after cardiovascular event to decrease hospital representations.

Neuroscience

Drawn from the Physiology and Anatomy and Cell Biology Groups.

Professors Vaughan Macefield and John Morley are part of a team that was awarded a multi-million dollar Australian Research Council (ARC) ‘Thinking System’ grant worth $3.3 million in 2006, which is undertaking an exploration of ‘Optimizing autonomous system control with brain-like hierarchical control systems’.

Professor Morley’s research is directed at understanding the pathways between the brain and eyes, and the work of Dr Carl Parsons focuses on neuronal plasticity and auditory pathways.

Professor Vaughan Macefield’s research explores how the nervous system communicates with different tissues in the body and in measuring these communications through the recording of electrical signals by nerve fibres and through the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

Dr David Mahns has recently been awarded an NHMRC grant to explore the neural mechanisms of bone pain.

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Medical Education

The development of a new medical school provides a rich research environment for researchers in the field of medical education.

Professor Ian Wilson, Professor of Medical Education is supervising the School’s first PhD student David Harding, who is researching aspects of the School’s admissions process.

An early collaborator in this work is Dr Barbara Griffin, in the College of Health and Sciences and an experienced organisational psychology practitioner and researcher.

As the MBBS program develops, Professor Brad Frankum, Professor of Clinical Education and Clinical Dean, Macarthur Clinical School (Campbelltown Hospital) and A/Prof Peter Zelas, Clinical Dean, Blacktown/Mt Druitt Clinical School, will extend this research in the sphere of clinical teaching and learning.

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Hypertension

Professor Annemarie Hennessy, Professor of Medicine combines her clinical and research areas in the area of hypertension and pregnancy, and holds significant grants from the National Health and Medical Research Committee (NHMRC) and the Heart Research Institute.

Professor Alexandra Bune, awarded an AM in 2003, is Director of the North Shore Hypertension Service. Her recent clinical research has focused on hypertension in the elderly, and with colleagues in Paris is exploring the role of hypertension in dementia.

Dr Joanne Lind is Lecturer in Molecular Biology and Genetics with experience at the Centenary Institute in Sydney and with the National Cancer Institute in the United States of America. Her current research focus relates to the exploration of the modifying gender effects in hypertension.

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Emerging Areas

Further areas of research are in the process of emerging with key appointments being made.

Professor Phillipa Hay the Professor of Mental Health is an internationally recognised expert in the field of eating disorders, and collaborating and supervising research in Australia and North and South America.

Professor Louisa Jorm, formerly the Director of Epidemiology and Research at NSW Health, is the Professor of Population Health. She is currently working on a series of projects in conjunction with the Sax Institute, including 45 and Up Study, one of the world’s largest cohort follow-up studies.

For more information, refer to Contact Us.

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