What is the Monash University Academic Surgery Group (MUASG)?

At a meeting of the Monash University Professors of Surgery held on 10 February 2016, it was unanimously resolved to form a group representing the Departments of Surgery across Monash University clinical teaching sites. These include:

•  School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health
•  Eastern Clinical School at Eastern Health
•  Cabrini Health Department of Surgery
•  Central Clinical School Department of Surgery at Alfred Health

The name of this group will be the Monash University Academic Surgery Group (MUASG).

Membership of this group would be open to any involved with surgical teaching and/or surgical research throughout the various Monash University campuses. The Executive of the group will comprise the Monash University Professors of Surgery with departmental management responsibilities. The Chair and Secretary of MUASG will be elected biannually by the Executive.

The purposes of MUASG will be to:

1. support, encourage and enhance academic surgical activities throughout the Monash University campuses in the fields of surgical teaching and surgical research
2. promote both the professionalism and prestige of academic surgeons
3. provide a forum for mutual support and encouragement
4. foster both innovation and consistency of implementation of academic surgical activities, including supporting grant applications and  implementation of surgical and translational research projects
5. create a central point for communication with others within the Monash University structure and to provide advice about academic surgical activities and aspirations.
6. provide advice and support with respect to academic career development.

The Chair will be responsible for overseeing the activities and interactions of MUASG including convening meetings of the Executive and of the wider membership. The Secretary will provide assistance to the Chair and be responsible for a periodic newsletter.

The responsibilities of the members of the Executive will be to support the Chair with advice and to publicise MUASG within their Departments.

At the meeting on the 10 February, Professor Julian Smith (SCS/Monash Health) was elected Chair and Professor Wendy Brown (CCS/Alfred Health) was elected Secretary.

What departments make up MUASG?

Any Department of Surgery affiliated with Monash University are automatically a part of MUASG.  The current Executive of the group is comprised of the Monash University Professors of Surgery with departmental management responsibilities, namely:


Professor Julian Smith (Chair)
Head, Monash Health Department of Surgery
School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health










Professor Michael Grigg
Head, Eastern Health Department of Surgery
Eastern Clinical School







Professor Paul McMurrick
Head, Cabrini Health Department of Surgery
Central Clinical School






Professor Wendy Brown (Secretary)
Head, Alfred Health Department of Surgery
Central Clinical School

What’s new in Research – across the campuses

Monash Health

Surgery in the New England Journal of Medicine!

Professor Julian Smith in conjunction with Professor Paul Myles (head of Anaesthesia Alfred Health) have had a landmark paper exploring the use of aspirin in cardiac surgery published in the New England Journal of Surgery.  They found among patients undergoing coronary artery surgery, the administration of preoperative aspirin resulted in neither a lower risk of death or thrombotic complications nor a higher risk of bleeding than that with placebo.  Check out the full article at: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1507688

Monash Health pancreatic
surgeon Mr Dan Croagh

Pancreatic biobank

The major focus of research in the Monash Health HPB unit is pancreatic cancer, in particular, the application of targeted therapy to improve patient outcomes. The overall 5 year survival for pancreatic cancer remains dismal at 5% and pancreatic cancer is predicted to be the second commonest cause of cancer related mortality by 2030.

Future improvements in survival will only come with better systemic chemotherapy or earlier diagnosis. As our understanding of pancreatic cancer genomics improves thank to the work, among others, of the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative, it is likely that individual patients with specific genetic mutations, or patterns of mutations, will benefit from targeted of tailored chemotherapy. As yet this has not reached clinical practice. 

In collaboration with Brendan Jenkins at the Hudson Institute, we have been investigating the use of endoscopic ultrasound guided fine aspiration to obtain tissue from patients with pancreatic cancer to characterise their cancer genomics. Our work is currently being supported by a grants from the CASS Foundation, Mylan, and Cook Medical along with funding from the Department of Surgery and Monash University. This has allowed us to select a small group of patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer who may benefit from a specific form of chemotherapy.

Over the next 12 months, we are planning a pilot study to examine the efficacy of a novel targeted chemotherapy in this select group of patients. This study will also require screening virtually all patients with pancreatic cancer for the specific mutation thus allowing us to create a high quality biobank of pancreatic cancer samples. This biobank is currently being expanded to include other sites around Victoria to create The Victorian Pancreatic Cancer Biobank which will be linked to the Upper GI Cancer Registry, administered by the Monash School of Public Health. The linkage of the biobank and clinical data will provide an invaluable resource which will allow us to investigate other targeted chemotherapies as they become available. Hopefully by adding our contribution to this iterative process we can help improve outcomes for our patients. 

Eastern Health

Dr Sean Mackay, surgeon

The Eastern Health Surgical Research Group has the dual aims of supporting research and audit projects conducted by residents and registrars in clinical posts at Eastern Health, and of supporting higher degree students from the surgical stream. 

The EHSRG is convened by Adrian Fox and Sean Mackay, with the assistance of Salena Ward, and Professor Richard Cade. 

In terms of the work undertaken by residents and registrars in clinical posts, the aim is to pair a researcher up with a suitable supervisor from the EH/Monash senior staff, and then to facilitate the work undertaken.  EHSRG meetings are held weekly to keep the wider group abreast of the progress.

The supervision of the MS projects is conducted by the EHSRG senior staff in collaboration with other members of the EH/Monash senior/academic staff.  Current projects include:

• What is the rationale for, and the best way of delivering a pre-operative very-low-calorie-diet in patients being prepared for weight loss surgery?
• What is the role of percutaneous cholecystostomy in the management of complicated gallstone disease, and what is the best way to manage a cholecystostomy tube once it has been put in?
• Audit of outcomes from Whipple pancreatico-duodenectomy operations over the last 15 years.
• What is the role of liver MRI in cases of potentially resectable colorectal cancer metastases?
• Victorian data on post-oesophagectomy mortality – comparison with national and international data and commentary on the centralization debate.
• Analysis of functional pancreatic exocrine insufficiency after major upper GIT resection – patients with normal faecal elastase but elevated three day faecal fats.
• Audit of a group of patients who have had post-op (as well as pre-op) oesophageal pH testing – the role of testing in this group, and the potential role of pre-op testing on treatment as well as off it.
• What are the laboratory and research markers of metabolic syndrome, and can we use them to help us decide when to offer weight-loss surgery (MS project).
• What is the role of balloon sphincteroplasty at the initial ERCP, compared with a delayed sphincteroplasty, in the management of larger bile duct stones (RCT – MS project).
• What is the role of overall weight and weight/BMI in determining the optimal prophylactic dose of LMWH (MS project).

The group welcomes new members.  Please email  sean.mackay@monash.edu or adrianmfox@gmail.com with your enquiry.

Cabrini Health

Dr Simon Wilkins

Major Grant success!

A team of researchers from Cabrini health, Hudson Institute for Medical Research and Monash University have recently been awarded a $2 Million Translational Research Project grant for the next three years from the Victorian Cancer Agency (VCA).

This grant will start a Phase II clinical trial aimed at identifying which patients with bowel or prostate cancer will respond well to a new suite of anti-cancer drugs called BET inhibitors.

Project title: Super-enhancer templated RNAs as predictive biomarkers of BET inhibitor sensitivity in prostate and colorectal cancer

Dr Arun Azad (Lead Applicant), Dr Ron Firestein, A/Prof Helen Abud, A/Prof Paul McMurrick, Prof Gail Risbridger, Dr Simon Wilkins. 2016-2018 $2,000,000.

ADIPOSe Clinical trial commences

Professor Wendy Brown,
Head of Surgery, CCS/Alfred

ADIPOSe: Australian decrease in intra-pelvic obesity for surgery trial-Using VLEDs to reduce weight and improve outcomes in obese patients undertaking laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery, is a multicentre randomised controlled trial investigating a very low energy diet prior to laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer in obese patients. ADIPOSe will recruit 100 obese rectal cancer patients over two years, randomising 50 to receive a Very Low Energy Diet (VLED) as an exclusion diet preoperatively. Ethics have been approved at sites in VIC (Alfred and Cabrini) and at multiple sites in NSW and QLD.  Patient recruitment has just commenced in the last month in VIC.

The trial has been funded in part by Cabrini Foundation Grant ($30,000) – awarded July 2015 and most recently a CSSANZ Foundation Grant: S. Bell, S. Warrier, A. Stevenson, M. Solomon, P. McMurrick, S. Wilkins. 2016-2017 $100,000

In addition a NHMRC project grant application for the trial has just been submitted: S. Bell, S. Warrier, A. Stevenson, M. Solomon, P. McMurrick, W. Brown, S. Wilkins, K. Oliva, M. Staples, K. Wilson. 2017-2018 $279,630

Publications

Yap, R, Oliva, K, Wilkins, S, McMurrick, P.  Colorectal Cancer in the very elderly: nonagenarians. Diseases of the Colon & Rectum. 2016 In Press-May issue

Wilkins, S, Haydon, A, Porter, I, Oliva, K, Staples, M, Carne, P, McMurrick, P, Bell, S.  Complete pathological response after neoadjuvant long course chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer and its relationship to the degree of T3 mesorectal invasion. Diseases of the Colon & Rectum 2016 In Press-May issue

Alfred Health

Less painful prostatic biopsies 

Alfred urologist A/Prof Jeremy Grummet (pictured) is lead investigator of an ANZUP team conducting a study looking at pain relief for prostate biopsy. ANZUP is the peak body for conducting clinical research on urological cancers in Australia and New Zealand and A/Prof Grummet's team was awarded an NHMRC grant of nearly $600,000 to run this multi-centre trial.

The study, called Painfree TRUS B, is a double-blinded randomised trial comparing the standard method of pain relief for a transrectal ultrasound-guided (TRUS) prostate biopsy with a novel approach of analgesia.

TRUS biopsy is usually performed with local anaesthetic infiltration of the tissue around the prostate. However, sometimes this doesn't provide enough numbing, nor does it address the discomfort of the initial passage of the transrectal probe. As a result, many men find TRUS biopsy a painful and distressing experience.

This trial, which started accruing patients in December 2015, compares the standard approach of local anaesthetic with local anaesthetic plus the addition of a Penthrox inhaler, which acts as a systemic painkiller. Penthrox inhalers have been used by paramedics in the field in Australia for many years and appear to be safe and effective. They have only recently been approved for use in minor procedures in hospital.

A/Prof Grummet is also site investigator of another ANZUP randomised trial running at the Alfred on the use of BCG with Mitomycin for bladder cancer. 

Postgraduate surgical students

There are many surgeons and surgical trainees undertaking higher academic degrees across the Monash Campuses.  In this edition we are listing the students undertaking a Surgical higher degree as well as highlight the work of a General Surgical Trainee Dr Geraldine Ooi and a vascular surgeon Mr Charlie Milne.  We will aim to highlight the work of two students in each edition of the Cutting Edge.

New insights into NASH

Dr Geraldine Ooi is a General Surgical trainee undertaking a PhD in the Central Clinical School in Monash University and with the Bariatric Surgical Unit, looking at non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obesity.  She is supported by an NHMRC scholarship.

Her prospective study will examine both clinical and pathophysiological aspects of NAFLD, which has an 80-90% prevalence in those with a BMI>30kg/m2. A liver biopsy, which is the current gold standard for diagnosing NAFLD, will be collected during bariatric surgical procedures and one year after surgery, when patients have typically lost 40-50% of their excess weight. This will be used to examine the effects of substantial weight loss on NAFLD, and determine if this improves the disease. The project will also assess non-invasive tests such as Fibroscan and novel MRI techniques, and the cellular and molecular changes in the liver associated with NAFLD and obesity.

This study ultimately aims to increase our understanding of NAFLD, its interactions with obesity, and how we can better diagnose and treat this increasingly prevalent disease.

Improving vascular stenting

Mr Charles Milne is a vascular and endovascular surgeon based at the Alfred Hospital and Cabrini Hospital, Melbourne. Charles successfully sat the vascular surgery examinations for fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (R.A.C.S.) in 2013. During 2014, he completed a 12 month fellowship at the Alfred under the supervision of Mr Geoffrey Cox. Charles has a special interest in the minimally-invasive endovascular treatment of aortic aneurysms. During 2015, he undertook a 6 month fellowship at the Aortic Centre, CHRU de Lille, France, under the supervision of Professor Stéphan Haulon. This centre is a world leader in the minimally invasive endovascular treatment of complex aortic aneurysmal disease using fenestrated and branched endografts. Whilst in Europe, Charles successfully sat the examinations for fellowship of the European Board of Vascular Surgery (E.B.V.S.), finishing the exam with honours, and receiving the award for the top-scoring candidate.

In 2015, Charles commenced a Master of Surgery (by publication) under the supervision of Professor Wendy Brown. The first part of his research is based on work undertaken whilst in France with Professor Haulon. This is looking at the suitability of inner-branched endografts for the treatment of aortic ach aneurysms in patients following ascending aortic replacement for acute type A dissection. This new technology is evolving as a treatment option for patients in this cohort who are at high-risk for conventional open surgical treatment. The second part of his research is based on work performed by the vascular unit at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. This is looking at the long-term follow up of patients following thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for traumatic aortic transection, with a particular focus on graft durability and aortic remodelling.

Surgical careers after PhD

What happens after doing a PhD – does it impact on your career as a Surgeon?  Each edition we will feature a surgeon who has completed a PhD and how this has impacted on their subsequent career. 

Research confirms a commitment to asking the right questions

Charles Pilgrim is a consultant hepatobillary surgeon at the Alfred.  He completed his PhD in 2012.  This thesis reports on translational research investigating chemotherapy induced hepatic injury in patients treated with colorectal liver metastases. Initially a retrospective analysis of 233 samples correlating clinical and histological features of hepatic injuries was carried out. Next genetic features were assessed using a candidate gene approach to further develop a predictive model for injury. Finally a pilot study was designed and run assessing patients undergoing chemotherapy with HIDA scans and microarray mRNA expression analysis of tissues collected pre and post-treatment.

Following successful completion of his PhD he spent a year in Milwaukee doing a Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic fellowship.  He joined the Alfred and Frankston Upper GI units in 2013 and is now a consultant surgeon with an honorary position in the Alfred Department of surgery. 

Current research projects include helping establish a pancreatic cancer registry, pancreatic cancer pathways and management and HPB trauma.

Charles says that completing a PhD enabled greater insight and appreciation of the rigours of clinical and bench top research and confirmed his commitment towards pursuing surgical questions and providing quality data to advance surgical practice and improve patient outcomes.

Future plans include linking clinical and outcome data from surgical practice with histological and genetic data of resected specimens through integration of clinical registries with tissue biobanks and the development and implementation of benchmarks and quality measures relating in the first instance to pancreatic surgery, with subsequent expansion into biliary and hepatic surgery.pression analysis of tissues collected pre and post-treatment.

Teaching Update

Undergraduate teaching

Tristan Leech

Peter Evans

Monash University is undergoing a curriculum review and we are pleased to announce that Mr Peter Evans has agreed to lead the process for Surgery.   Peter is a General and Hepatobiliary Surgeon practicing at Alfred Health, Frankston Health, Cabrini Health and Peninsular Private.  He has a long association with the Alfred Department of Surgery and has been involved in undergraduate teaching since the mid 1990s. He will be assisted by Mr Tristan Leech, a General and Endocrine Surgeon at Frankston Hospital.

Their first task will be to better describe the current curriculum and map this across the 5 year undergraduate programme, ensuring all important surgical topics are not only taught but have sufficient basic science teaching to support them.

They will be contacting all teaching departments in the next few months and your co-operation would be very much appreciated. 

Monash MD – changes to our undergraduate degree

Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine (MD)

The Monash University School of Medicine is internationally recognised for providing a world-class education with a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to medical training.

Our medical program, the Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine (MD), has been designed in close consultation with doctors, health care professionals and leaders in the health and research sectors in order to give our students the scientific background and clinical expertise needed for a successful career as a doctor.

From MBBS to MD

The Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine (MD) will replace the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Honours) MBBS program as of 2017 entry. The Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine (MD) is an internationally-recognised, higher level qualification.

Deputy Dean of the MD program Professor Michelle Leech explained that: ‘The new program will be focussed as before on preparing graduates for medical practice with a strong focus on Patient Safety as well as enhanced research and professional practice skills to equip Monash Graduates to improve the health of our communities locally and globally.”

The Monash MD has been accepted as a minor change by the Australian Medical Council. Students who commence the MD will undertake a Scholarly Intensive Project in the final year of the course. Medical students will undertake traditional research activities as well having the opportunity to increase learning opportunities around clinical and professional practice.  The existing excellent Monash final year Patient Safety (Intern Preparation unit) will be further enhanced with extended learning outcomes. An intensified research methods learning kit will be embedded in our theme 2 (Population Health and Society) theme, which is already well recognised for educational leadership in evidence-based practice of medicine.

Monash will continue to offer the 5-year Direct Entry program, as well as the 4-year Graduate Entry program, with the same number of places available in both courses.

The entry and selection requirements for both programs will also remain unchanged.  Please check the website for the most current information and selection dates.

The program has been accredited by the Australian Medical Association (AMC). For further information please contact, future@monash.edu

MUSIG 2016

Who are we?

Monash University Surgical Interest Group (MUSIG) is a non-profit university student group (est. 2008) that aims to promote surgery and improve surgical skills for Monash medical students. Our committee consists of 22 individuals who represent students from different year levels (Year 1, 2 and A) and Monash University Clinical Schools (Alfred, Bendigo, Eastern, Gippsland, Monash).

What do we do?

MUSIG runs many surgery-focused events throughout the year. This includes: surgical skills workshops, surgical lectures, careers events and anatomy revision nights. Our events are very popular with students and vary in breadth and complexity; from simple suturing and hand-tying, to bowel anastomoses, lap-simulation chest-drain insertion and more.

This year MUSIG will run 15 events, including:

• Surgical talks – (Pathways into Surg - Apr 18, Research Night - Jul, Women in Surg - Aug)
• Clinical workshops – (MMC - May, Eastern - Jul, RACS - July, Alfred - Sept)
• Preclinical Workshops – (Monash University Clayton – May and Aug.)
• Year A/Gippsland Workshops – (La Trobe Regional - May, Monash Churchill - Aug) 
• Bendigo Workshop – Aug
• Anatomy Revision Night – Oct

How can you get involved?

MUSIG’s ongoing success is owed to the many Doctors and Surgeons who tirelessly share their knowledge and passion for surgery at our events. If you, or staff in your Department are interested in teaching Medical Students with a keen interest in surgery and surgical procedures, please feel free to contact our chairs, Matthew Lam and Michael Zhu at musig@mumus.org.

Regular news and updates can also be found at our website: http://www.musig.org.au.

Who is who in Faculty?

Many surgeons affiliated with our Departments don’t need to go to Clayton very often and can feel a bit detached at times and rarely get the opportunity to meet our senior Faculty members. However, there are new Faculty initiatives that will involve Surgeons and it is important we are aware of how they are functioning and how we may be involved.   

Christina Mitchell – our Dean of Medicine

Professor Christina Mitchell graduated with a degree in Medicine from Melbourne University and undertook general physician and haematology training fellowships. She obtained a PhD from Monash University, concentrating on the anticoagulant activity of protein S, and graduated with a Fellowship from the Royal Australian College of Physicians and also a Fellowship in Pathology. She then undertook a 3 year post-doctoral fellowship at Washington University purifying phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) signal-terminating enzymes.

Professor Mitchell returned to Australia as senior lecturer in Medicine at Monash University and Box Hill Hospital, she became Associate Professor soon after, while also conducting research on the newly emerging family of enzymes, inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatases, negative regulators of PI3-kinase signalling. In addition, she held a position of Professor and Head of Biochemistry Department at Monash University (2000), until being promoted to Head of School of Biomedical Sciences (2006-2011). She became Dean of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences in 2011.

The major research direction of her group is to characterise the metabolic pathways that regulate phosphoinositide signalling, in particular PI 3-kinase signalling in human cancer. Professor Mitchell has practiced as a general physician from 1990 to 2000 and as a specialist haematologist from 1990 to 2011 in the Department of Haematology at Box Hill Hospital. She has a long commitment to the development and integration of the medical curriculum at Monash University.

Professor Mitchell has published over 130 papers and received many awards, including Monash University 50th Anniversary Research Award (2008) and Dean's Prize for Excellence in Research (2003) the Australian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) 2015 Lemberg medal, the Victorian Honor Role (2015) and the SACs leadership award (2014).   In 2015 she became a member of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and serves on the council of the academy.  She was awarded an honorary degree in medical sciences from University of Melbourne in 2014. Professor Mitchell was a member of the scientific committee for the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria (2001-2010), served on several NHMRC review panels for both project grants and fellowship applications and has been a member of the board of VESKI (Victorian Endowment for Science, Knowledge and Innovation). She currently serves on the boards of the Baker/IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute; Hudson Institute and Burnet Institute for medical research.

Professor Mitchell and her research team are the recipients of several National Health and Medical Research grants, Her research laboratory comprises six post-doctoral fellows, a research assistant, and 5 PhD students.

Michelle Leech – Deputy Dean MBBS

As Deputy Dean (MBBS), Professor Michelle Leech is responsible for overseeing the Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery degree. This includes the Central medical program at Clayton, Gippsland graduate entry course, Malaysia Medical School and the Northern Victorian Rural Medical Education Network (NVRMEN), which oversees the Extended Rural Cohort.

Her work includes ensuring that the learning objectives and outcomes of all programs are aligned, as well as coordinating other academic and educational initiatives and endeavours related to MBBS.

Professor Michelle Leech has been a research fellow at Monash Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, Southern Clinical School and continues as a consultant physician and deputy director of Rheumatology at Monash Health. She is the chair of the Clinical examination Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

She received her MBBS from Monash University, and after residency training in Internal Medicine at Prince Henry’s Hospital, Melbourne, completed her advanced physician training in Rheumatology and a PhD at the Monash University Centre for Inflammatory Diseases.

Her research interests include cytokine biology, glucocorticoid action and cell cycle proteins in the context of Rheumatoid Arthritis pathogenesis.

Monash Institute of Medical Engineering (MIME)

Jeffrey Rosenfeld

The Monash Institute of Medical Engineering was established in 2015 to stimulate interdisciplinary research between clinicians and engineers to develop new medical technologies, devices and IT solutions.  Scientists, Designers, CSIRO scientists and Industry may also be involved in MIME projects.  Innovation and entrepreneurship are nurtured with the end goal of commercialisation of the devices.  Some exciting new technologies are already being developed. 

Monash University has a prototyping facility and MIME has many industry contacts and collaborations and is able to connect a group of researchers to industry to develop the commercial opportunities of their projects.  Monash has a lot of expertise in 3D printing in metal and plastic and is soon to acquire a bioprinter.  These capabilities may be of interest to Alfred surgeons.

MIME Affinity meetings are a great way to meet the Monash University engineers to help you develop your ideas.  Clinicians identify an area of unmet clinical need and engineers, IT researchers and scientists highlight capabilities that may help solve these challenges.  This is an excellent networking opportunity.

There will be a second Affinity meeting on April 28 at AMREP Seminar Room to bring together Alfred clinicians and CCS and School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine researchers to identify opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.

MIME Seed Funding was established to accelerate the development of new medical technologies and was very successful in the 2015 round.  Each grant is for any amount between $10,000 and $50,000.  There is a two stage selection process.  The details of application and the results from last years round are on the MIME website.

MIME also offers travel grants to junior researchers and PhD Scholarships.

More information is available at the website: http://www.monash.edu/mime/

Monash Partners

Monash Partners provides the foundations for borderless clinical care and translational research to be available across an immediate catchment population of 2.8 million people.  Headed by Helena Teede, Monash Partners received NHMRC accreditation in 2015.  Through Monash Partners, public and private clinical care providers combine with one of the country’s largest and best known universities, and three of the country’s eminent health research institutes, to create an entity of national and global reach.

Monash Partners is a collaboration across the broad health community. It is our objective to align and leverage our members’ expertise, innovation, reputation and performance to deliver improved health outcomes for patients.

This clinical goal is interdependent with undertaking globally competitive clinical research and underpinned by the highest quality workforce accessing world standard academic training and teaching.    

The Members are:    

• Alfred Health
• Baker IDI
• Burnet Institute
• Cabrini Health
• Epworth HealthCare
• Monash University
• Hudsons Institute/Monash Health

The structure of Monash Partners was designed to deliver its mission and builds on its competitive strengths. The members initially identified seven key service themes which reflected its combined national and international strengths in research, clinical practice and education. The seven themes are:

• Cancer and Blood Diseases
• Cardiovascular
• Critical Care, Trauma and Peri operative medicine
• Diabetes, Obesity, Men’s Health and Endocrinology
• Infection and Inflammation
• Neuroscience and Mental Health
• Women’s, Children’s and Reproductive Health

Building on the inherited experience in enhanced collaboration through AMREP (Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct) and the MHTP (Monash Health Translation Precinct), Monash Partners also identified linking disciplines.

These disciplines link the themes’ innovations as well as translating theme lessons back into the other clinical, research and educational activities of the members.

The interlocking disciplines are:

• Registries, Informatics and Patient Data Discipline
• Health Services Research
• InnovationbyDesign
• Primary and Community Health

The interaction of designated themes and linking disciplines provides a robust framework for fostering innovation while maximising the linkages and building translation between research and clinical practice.

Simultaneously, the structure expects that educational programs will become increasingly responsive to the needs of research and clinical practice. This is expected to manifest itself not simply in course content and course mix, but also in the fostering of new roles and new workforce structures.

Current activities include

• Establishing a good clinical research training program commencing at AMREP and MHTP for all partners as of June 2016
• Leading a project across thee partners to streamline ethics and governance, and to develop and offer training and support clinicians to understand and complete ethics and governance forms and requirements
• A seed funding round will be offered later in 2016 linked to NHMRC partnership application processes
• Multiple funding opportunities are evolving including an AHSC NHMRC grant round, and we are in negotiation with both government and philanthropy

Upcoming funding opportunities

These are just a few of the research grants that are currently open and available to surgeons.  Dr Daphne Vogiagis, Buisness Manager at the Alfred Department of Surgery, maintains a complete list of upcoming grants which will soon be available on our website.  She can be contacted by email Daphne.Vogiagis@monash.edu.

RACS Foundation for Surgery Senior Lecturer Fellowship 2017

Monash Research Office (MRO) Deadline 12 April 2016
RACS Closing date 26 April 2016.
Amount: $132,000

Details
Applications for the Fellowship are open to surgeons in Australia and New Zealand who are establishing or advancing an academic career. Affiliation with a University academic Department of Surgery or hospital Department of Surgery will need to be provided confirming the institution’s support for the applicant in the proposed Senior Lecturer position.

Gross value of this Fellowship for 2017 is $132,000 per annum, comprising $120,000 stipend plus $12,000 departmental maintenance. RACS will fund $66,000 and the applicant’s institution will be expected to co-fund to the same amount ($66,000). This will be paid on behalf of the successful candidate to the academic administering institution which has agreed to match the funding provided by RACS. Tenure is for up to two years, subject to annual progress reports.

Heart Foundation of Australia, Vanguard grants

Monash Research Office (MRO) Deadline 21 April 2016 HF Closing date 4 May 2016
Amount: Up to $75,000 for one year.

The Heart Foundation of Australia invites applications for its vanguard grants. These provide funding to test the feasibility of innovative concepts in public health or health services, including clinical service delivery, which may lead to larger, more rigourous studies in the future. Both pilot studies and stand alone projects are considered. The projects are expected to produce tangible outcomes with the potential to improve cardiovascular health.
At the time of the application, applicants, or in the case of teams, the chief investigator, must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or an Australian permanent resident.

Monash Interdisciplinary Research Project Major Funding

Deadline 25 May 2016
Amount $100,000-$250,000

Monash Interdisciplinary Research Project Seed Funding

Deadline 25 May 2016
Amount $25,000-$50,000

Details
Increasingly big social and scientific questions require solutions that draw on a range of research disciplines and infrastructure. Reflecting this, fostering research that leverages the breadth of Monash’s expertise, bringing together disciplines to tackle major research challenges is a priority of the University’s strategic plan. The Interdisciplinary Research (IDR) support project was established to assist in bringing these aspirations to fruition.

Program overview
To identify large scale projects for support in 2016, project nominations are being sought from established IDR groupings across the University’s research community (note: external organisation involvement is permitted). An IDR fund selection committee, chaired by Professor Pauline Nestor, Senior Vice-Provost and Vice-Provost (Research), has been established to review the submitted project ideas.  Selected highly prospective ideas will be asked to present to the selection committee on August 2 2016, with a view of having successful applicants receive funding mid-August this year as per the Table 1 below. The team lead of successfully funded IDR projects will be requested to provide progress reports throughout the duration of the project.
Program funding available Major

The level of support available for major projects is dependent on the scale, quality and potential outcomes of the final proposals that emerge from the identification and refinement process. Nominees may put forward requests between $100,000 and $250,000. It is strongly encouraged that compelling and detailed budgets are submitted to the selection committee. In exceptional circumstances, awardees may be eligible to apply for further funding for the same project in subsequent years.

Program funding available Seed
The level of support available for seed projects is dependent on the scale, quality and potential outcomes of the final proposals that emerge from the identification and refinement process. Nominees may put forward requests between $25,000 and $50,000. It is strongly encouraged that compelling and detailed budgets are submitted to the selection committee. In addition to financial support, other seed support in the form of mentoring, project management assistance, meeting facilities, etc. may be requested.