In Greek mythology, Chiron was one of the Centaurs, the son of the Titan Cronus and Philyra, an Oceanid or sea nymph, teacher of Achilles, Asclepius. Chiron lived at the foot of Mount Pelion in Thessaly. Unlike other Centaurs, who were violent and savage, Chiron was a wise and beneficent Centaur famous for his knowledge of medicine.
Chiron is published by the Melbourne Medical School. Contributions and correspondence from alumni, staff and students are most welcome and should be sent to:
Chiron Communications
MDHS Advancement, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Level 2, Alan Gilbert Building, The University of Melbourne, 3010, Australia E: mdhs-alumni@unimelb.edu.au
CONTRIBUTORS: Many thanks to Sarah Marinos, Gina Flaxman, Anthony Vanzella, Claudia Hooper, Lauren Yee, Georgia Coon, Silvia De Bono, Kade Anderson, Meegan Waugh, Hannah Friend and Tim Sharp.
NOTE: For space and readability, only degrees conferred by the University of Melbourne are listed beside the names of alumni in this publication.
COVER IMAGE: Prof Kate Drummond AM, Director of Neurosurgery with mentee Dr Heidi McAlpine, trainee neurosurgeon at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. Only around 11 per cent of neurosurgeons in Australia are women — a statistic Prof Drummond is keen to change.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on which we work, learn and live. We pay respect to Elders past, present and future, and acknowledge the importance of Indigenous knowledge in the Academy.
Welcome
From the Head of School
I commenced as Head of Melbourne Medical School in January this year and I am proud and grateful to be part of an amazing community of alumni, staff, students and friends who are making critical impacts in healthcare around the world.
This 2024 edition of Chiron focuses on the far-reaching ways in which our School and alumni are advancing research and the medical workforce of the future.
There are many challenges affecting healthcare — we have a significant ageing population, which creates social challenges and greater prevalence of people living with multiple morbidities. Healthcare costs are rising because of this, and also because of the introduction of new therapies and technologies.
Alongside the worldwide phenomenon in developed societies of declining fertility rates there are challenges both to the workforce and the fundamental affordability of healthcare. We need to think very differently to be able to provide a healthcare system that is effective for the future.
“Looking ahead, the future workforce is also facing massive technological changes and will need to learn how to harness those technologies, such as AI, virtual reality and robotics, to be more efficient and productive.”
We need to ensure the people we train are maximising their impact and we must place greater focus on preventive healthcare. We also need to produce more healthcare professionals who can work in the community in primary prevention and general practice.
True health prevention relies on a public health response that brings together primary care, education, housing, and many other community-based services, while also requiring changes to government policy and how healthcare is funded. But none of this can happen if we do not have enough GPs who are trained and armed for leadership in the preventive healthcare space.
Melbourne Medical School is at the forefront of training people for this new world, while our research is investigating ways to prevent and cure chronic disease, to maximise benefit from the digital health transformation, and to make the health system work better to ensure Australians who really need healthcare receive that care.
The medical workforce and healthcare system of the future face other pressures too. Healthcare is responsible for about 5 per cent of global emissions. We have to think about the sustainability of what we do and we retain some optimism that by limiting emissions on our part, we can contribute to reducing the heating of our planet.
The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science recently launched its new strategic plan, Advancing Health 2030, and we are also launching the first ever formal strategic plan for the Melbourne Medical School, Advancing Medicine. We have been looking at how we can adapt the structure of our governance to ensure the plan can be implemented with agility into the Melbourne Medical School. The plan will ensure that our School is well prepared to be collaborative and active participants and leaders in the medicine workforce of the future. It promotes the Advancing Health 2030 values of innovate, collaborate and nurture and embraces diversity of thought and inclusivity.
I hope you enjoy reading about recent initiatives and activities within the Melbourne Medical School, and about the achievements and impacts our alumni have made. We are developing a monthly podcast series featuring interviews with staff, students and alumni for those who’d like to stay more connected to our School. Through this we hope you have opportunities to keep better connected with progress, developments and our community.
We want to build further connections with our alumni and to continue to draw upon their knowledge and skillsets to help us navigate the complex health transformation and training mission that we are embarking upon.
Finally, I’d recommend to you a book published this year by luminaries of the University of Melbourne — Dr Ross L Jones, Dr James Waghorne and Professor Marcia Langton AO. Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne — Volume 1: Truth is a frank examination of the long, complex and troubled relationship between the Indigenous people of Australia and Melbourne’s oldest university. It is a confronting but fascinating read that confirms why we must always strive to do better. An equitable approach to healthcare is essential to advance health and wellbeing in our society.
Professor
Sarath Ranganathan
Head, Melbourne Medical School
Growing a ‘scholarly greenhouse’
Intellectual curiosity, innovation and ideas underpin Melbourne Medical School’s new Research Training Academy.
It is a busy hub within Melbourne Medical School that connects leaders and experts in their fields with MD and PhD students who are establishing their clinician-scientist careers.
Launched in 2024, the Research Training Academy (RTA) has been designed to offer Doctor of Medicine (MD) joint degree students access to a range of opportunities and resources, ranging from career guidance and mentorship to sponsorship while they study.
“Melbourne Medical School’s (MMS) Research Training Academy is a ‘scholarly greenhouse’ that provides a supportive and facilitative community of practice for MD students undertaking joint degree pathways,” explains Professor Christobel Saunders, Director of Research at MMS.
The RTA currently supports MD students who are also undertaking a PhD, and there are plans to extend support to MD students undertaking a joint Master of Public Health (MPH) and MACH-Track Fellows — a prestigious cohort of doctors chosen to intergrate PhD and research training with completion of their vocational training in accredited hospital specialties or general practice.
“We plan to expand these supports to other clinicianscientists, including those in the MACH Track pathway and postdoctoral clinician-scientists, as well as other clinicians who are actively pursuing a research-intensive career,” says Professor Saunders.
Graduates of MD joint degree programs are also invited to act as junior supervisors and mentors. Senior clinician researchers and supervisors, appointed by invitation, will provide leadership and inspiration to the students.
When fully operational, the RTA will develop skills, such as communication and media training, that supplement traditional research training provided through the PhD program, and provide support to ensure student wellbeing.
Ways to maximise research impact, entrepreneurship, career planning and the development of teaching and supervision skills will also be embedded in the RTA.
Importantly, the Academy supports senior clinician-scientists to recruit talented MD-PhD students and to supervise, nurture and support the next generation of clinician-scientists.
“The RTA has many benefits. It informs prospective students of the prerequisites, how to apply for MD-PhD and what is involved. It helps students find a supervisor and topic for their PhD and informs them how to obtain a scholarship, and it [will] provide training in areas like media training and communicating your research to the public,” says Professor Saunders.
“It is also a forum for those at different stages of their clinician-scientist career to come together to discuss barriers and opportunities. For senior clinicianscientists, the RTA creates a great opportunity to interact with future clinicianscientists and to nurture those who want to undertake higher degrees.”
Find out more: medicine.unimelb.edu. au/research/md-phd-pathway/researchtraining-academy-rta
Ready to recognise domestic and family violence
The national Readiness Program trains primary care providers to offer better support to people experiencing, or at risk of, violence.
About 25 years ago Professor Kelsey Hegarty, a GP, began researching how to support patients experiencing domestic and family violence.
She knew she hadn’t been trained to ask the kinds of questions that might encourage patients to open up about their experience of violence, and if a patient did make a disclosure, she hadn’t been trained to know how to respond.
“Today, domestic and family violence (DFV) is a conversation in the public sphere but, on average, medical schools only provide about three hours of training in total in this area. We are still not training people about something that is as common as asthma and diabetes,” says Professor Hegarty, who holds the joint Chair in Family Violence Prevention at the University of Melbourne and Royal Women’s Hospital.
Professor Hegarty began considering how to address this knowledge gap. The result of her research is The Readiness Program, a national government-funded training program for GPs, primary care nurses, Aboriginal health workers and practitioners, and other primary care workers and practice staff.
“The program focuses on GPs and people working in primary care because they are the ones who are told about current domestic violence — more than any other health professional and more than police or specialist services. Everyone who works in primary care has a role to play and that includes staff at the reception desk through to practice managers, primary care nurses and GPs,” says Professor Hegarty.
The Readiness Program is already being rolled out to primary care providers across Australia and it has a number of aims, including improving identification, risk assessment and responses at the point of initial disclosure and providing more support for all families. The program includes training to address DFV in diverse population groups including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, migrant and refugee groups, older people and LGBTQI+ groups.
It also improves skills and confidence to provide care for families that is trauma and violence informed, increases timely referrals for those affected by DFV and provides more holistic care for all family members, including children and people who use DFV.
The program is based on World Health Organization guidelines and has engaged 5000 primary care staff overall, including 100 clinics and 800 staff in the more intensive program. Training is delivered via online learning modules and in practice in collaboration with trained GPs and local DFV services. Sometimes a DFV survivor also co-facilitates training. Some online learning modules are also being delivered to medical students at the University of Melbourne.
“Those who’ve taken part in the program so far say it has made them more aware of how common domestic and family violence is and how people might present. They know how to ask questions and are reassured that listening can be an intervention of itself, and that they don’t have to ‘solve’ the problem,” says Professor Hegarty.
She adds: “I’d like to think that any clinic in Australia feels welcoming and displays signs that indicate they know about domestic and family violence and that their practice is a safe place to disclose.”
“People are not reluctant to disclose [a DFV issue] if they’re asked in a nonjudgemental, empathic way.”
Sharpening the focus on high-value, lowcarbon healthcare
The University of Melbourne has become Victoria’s first beacon site for Sustainable Quality Improvement (SusQI) in healthcare.
Australia’s healthcare system is responsible for about 7 per cent of the nation’s carbon emissions — that’s around half the emissions created by the construction sector — with hospitals generating the largest proportion.
Delivering safe and effective healthcare with low environmental and financial costs is a priority for the University of Melbourne’s Environmentally Sustainable Surgery Network, led by Dr Ben Dunne, a thoracic surgeon and Royal Melbourne Hospital Clinical Sustainability Lead.
“Sustainability has been an interest for me since 2019,” says Dr Dunne. “I became more aware [that] what we did delivering care day-to-day was a significant contributor to climate change. Increasing data and science around the problem, combined with the striking visual encounters with waste generation over the pandemic, amplified the issue for me.”
The Network is a surgeon-driven initiative, with surgeons from a number of Universityaffiliated hospitals coming together to collaborate on how surgical care delivery can be more environmentally efficient.
To drive this change, Dr Dunne is collaborating with colleagues across the faculty, including Associate Professor Forbes McGain OAM (MBBS 1996, GDipPeriopCritCareEcho, PhD 2016), Associate Dean of Healthcare Sustainability, Dr Sonia Chanchlani, Senior Fellow in Climate Health and Sustainability, and Professor Eugenie Kayak (BSc (Hons) 1989, MSci (BioChem) 1995), Enterprise Professor in Sustainable Healthcare at Melbourne Medical School.
Thanks to work by Dr Chanchlani, the University has also been recognised as Victoria’s first SusQI beacon site by the Centre for Sustainable Health Care in the UK, a world-leading centre for sustainable healthcare research and practice.
As a beacon site, the University is recognised as integrating environmental sustainability into the way students and health professionals are educated and trained.
“There is certainly more awareness among students and junior doctors and they have great enthusiasm to learn, research and act,” says Dr Dunne.
Students are also advocating for the change they want to see. “For the first time in Australia, Melbourne Medical School students, with the support of Doctors for the Environment Australia, participated in the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) project,” says Dr Dunne.
The PHRC reports on five key areas: curriculum, interdisciplinary research in health and environment, community outreach and advocacy, support for student-led initiatives, and campus sustainability. Each category is awarded a grade between A and F.
The University received an overall score of B minus and is now working towards implementing recommendations from the report.
“For the past two years, our MD1 and MD2 students have been able to learn about climate change and health and sustainability and healthcare as Discovery subjects,” says Dr Dunne.
“For our MD3 and MD4 students, there is now an option to do a clinical or research scholar pathway in sustainable healthcare through Royal Melbourne Hospital. This gives students a better understanding of how climate change will impact various diseases and presentations. We will also be teaching them how to run sustainable quality improvement projects in the healthcare setting.”
Read more about how MMS is tackling healthcare sustainability: pursuit.unimelb. edu.au/articles/healthcare-shouldnt-costthe-planet
Dr Ben Dunne
Mastering the art of robotic surgery
As robotic surgery becomes more widely used, today’s medical students are at the forefront of exploring the intricacies of this technology.
“For students, being aware of the technology that is coming down the track is vital. Because the reality is that by the time most of today’s medical students are in practice, robotics is going to be very much part of their day-to-day professional life,” says Dr Helen Mohan, Senior Lecturer, Surgery at the University of Melbourne and robotic and colorectal surgeon at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
“It is an exciting time for robotics and surgery. Internationally, robotics have become more established in the delivery of minimally invasive surgery with a number of applications. We’re converting operations that would have traditionally been done open into being done with minimally invasive surgery, and for operations that would have been done laparoscopically, robotic surgery adds further precision.”
In 2024 the University of Melbourne, with the support of the International Medical Robotics Academy (IMRA), introduced a four-week intensive elective Discovery program, Immersion in Robotics Surgery.
As part of the elective, students are immersed in online learning, surgical anatomy education, virtual reality simulation, non-technical and technical operating room training, and can discover if they have an aptitude for surgical robotics.
“They get a chance to come across to IMRA and learn some of the theory behind robotic surgery, including not just the technical factors but how robotic surgery changes some of the non-technical factors and how we approach surgery, and they also get to do hands-on simulation with models we are developing,” says Dr Mohan.
Students gain hands-on experience performing surgery at IMRA using synthetic hydrogel-based models with realistic ‘tissue’ that can be burned, cut, stapled and stitched.
The University of Melbourne program highlights key non-technical skills required for effective robotic surgery. Captain Matthew Gray, former Director of Training at Qantas, delivers part of this curriculum.
“There are differences in how you communicate with robotic surgery. In traditional surgery, a lot of communication is non-verbal, but when you have a robotic operation, a lot of communication has to be converted from non-verbal to verbal. You have to be more explicit with your team,” says Dr Mohan.
“The aviation industry has substantially reduced its rate of accidents that were due to non-technical factors and modifiable errors. We’ve tried to learn from aviation by explicitly teaching situational awareness and communication in a robotic surgery setting and the Discovery module helps students become cognisant of the human factors around robotic surgery.”
“Engaging medical students across all backgrounds to see the technology in robotic surgery has increased some of the students’ enthusiasm and inspired them.”
More private and public hospitals across Australia are now becoming equipped with robotic technology. Dr Mohan believes this momentum will continue to build, which is why medical students interested in surgery must become familiar with the various robotic operating platforms entering clinical practice.
Dr Mohan says robotic surgery is well established at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. “It has been active for over a decade to treat colorectal cancer,” she says. “I’m most excited by the advantages for functional outcomes.
“In the future, I think there will be robots in every operating theatre and increasingly we are training people to be adaptable to whichever robot their hospital introduces,” says Dr Mohan.
“It’s important that when [surgical trainees] find themselves with access to a robot that they are fully equipped to maximise the time and benefit they get from that by having done their training, so they can hit the ground running.”
Hearing the consumer’s voice in healthcare
The lived experiences, perspectives and priorities of patients are front and centre for research students in the Department of Clinical Pathology.
“I think that our health system, as a whole, isn’t really patient-centred. It’s more centred on the clinician and the practitioners, rather than on the patient,” says Professor Frederic Hollande, Head of the Department of Clinical Pathology.
“If you want to create a patient-centred healthcare system, that starts with how you teach medical and research students, and that is why we embed patients with lived experience in workshops with our students.”
Professor Hollande has long been a passionate advocate for ensuring those who work within the healthcare system genuinely listen to the voice of their ‘consumers’ — the patients who are living with illness and disease.
In 2020, the Department of Clinical Pathology, within the Melbourne Medical School, began bringing Honours students and patient representatives together to help students recognise why the patient experience is vital at all levels of research.
That initiative has continued to grow with patients, mostly impacted by cancer, brought into workshops to collaborate with small groups of research students. They share their personal story, frankly discuss the impacts of their illness and explain what they see as a priority in their healthcare experience.
The Department has also produced a series of vodcasts featuring researchers, medical professionals and patients discussing why medical research is important.
“In the workshops with patients, students learn how to clearly communicate their research ideas and they confront any preconceptions they have about what is of importance to patients,” says Professor Hollande.
Research topics discussed this year include detecting DNA in the bloodstream to predict patient responses to melanoma therapy and the effects of chemotherapy based on an individual tumour’s genetic make-up.
“Patients often challenge and ask questions that are to the point and this forces students to take a step back and really reflect on the design and significance of their research,” says Professor Hollande.
Giselle Thiele, an Honours student who participated in this year’s workshops, says:
“I think that having that consumer perspective can help us get out of our little pigeonholes — for a lot of us the only exposure we have had to patients is friends or family, and it is a very different situation as you are not thinking about it from a research or scientific perspective, you are thinking about it from a personal perspective.”
Professor Hollande says: “As students prepare to enter the medical research workforce, [these workshops] teach them that it’s vital to listen to the patient voice because they bring useful things to the table. Our graduates know this and that has great long-term benefits for the health workforce.”
Speaking through an avatar
AI is helping to deliver important health information to kidney patients and their families in their own language, and in the comfort of their own home.
Ensuring children with kidney disease and their families clearly understand what genetic testing is, what is involved, and the potential implications of their test results are behind an AI-generated movie featuring a lifelike avatar.
The groundbreaking concept harnesses the power of AI. Associate Professor Cathy Quinlan, an academic paediatric nephrologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the University of Melbourne, is the human behind the avatar that presents key information to patients in a direct and easy-to-understand format. The technology also allows the avatar to deliver information in languages other than English — currently Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Somali and Vietnamese.
“Making an avatar allows me to narrate, update and add to information, and to have that information translated into another language,” says Associate Professor Quinlan. “It allows me to ‘talk’ to a patient to back up what they are told in clinic.”
“My intention is for all patient information to be augmented in this way, so patients are proper partners in their own care.”
“When a patient comes to a Renal Genetics clinic, we need to give them quite complex information about genetic testing that isn’t always easy to understand at that time. They then go home and have to explain that information to their family, too,” says Associate Professor Quinlan.
Her expert kidney knowledge and experience in discussing kidney disease and genetic testing with more than 700 patients ensures the information presented by her avatar is relevant and understandable. The avatar movie is also being used by kidney specialists nationally and internationally as an educational tool.
“A lot of people watching the movie are kidney doctors who need help with how they explain these types of tests to their patients — they want to use language that makes patients feel included and engaged,” says Associate Professor Quinlan.
“My intention is for all patient information to be augmented in this way, so patients are proper partners in their own care. I want patients to really understand how their kidneys work, why they might need a certain medication and what therapies they will need next. This kind of AI technology makes it easy to deliver this kind of information.
“We shouldn’t be scared by AI. It can help improve outcomes for patients and families and can be a tool to improve everybody’s healthcare experience. It can also help make us better clinicians and researchers.”
Innovating to repair joint injuries
The University of Melbourne is part of a multi-disciplinary project developing a new way to repair cartilage injuries caused by joint trauma.
Cartilage injuries occur in two thirds of all joint trauma, with many of those injuries leading to osteoarthritis that is difficult to treat. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, around 2.1 million Australians today live with osteoarthritis, a condition where cartilage overlying the ends of bones deteriorates.
Professor Peter Choong AO (MBBS 1984, MD 1993), Head of the University of Melbourne’s Department of Surgery and Associate Dean of Innovation and Enterprise, is part of a team that has developed a suite of technologies to swiftly and precisely repair joint injury, preventing arthritis before it starts.
Using stem cell technology, engineering and surgical innovation, Axcelda promises to simplify surgery through a one-off procedure. It incorporates a lightweight, handheld ‘bioprinter’, like a pen, that allows the surgeon to introduce, pattern and sculpt hydrogels and stem cells in the joint, repairing damaged cartilage.
The team has also developed a biodegradable material that is inserted through the bioprinter to form a temporary cartilage scaffold. Once implanted, cells break down the scaffold and replace it with the patient’s new cartilage tissue.
“We spend $5 billion a year treating arthritis and it’s a progressive condition that can’t be reversed. Axcelda’s mantra is all about stopping arthritis before it begins,” says Professor Choong.
“We have a process of identifying and harvesting stem cells from a patient, we combine those with a biomaterial scaffold and we’ve designed a delivery system to print new cartilage directly into the defective area. We’ve tested the surgical process in experimental models and hope to carry out the first in-human trials in early 2026, which is very exciting.
“The experimental models include in vitro cell-based, tissue explant from surgery — we keep samples and grow patient cells on their own bone tissue, and also longitudinal preclinical sheep studies.”
Professor Choong compares Axcelda technology to treating ‘a pothole in the road’. “If we fix a pothole so it looks and feels like the rest of the road, you don’t even know the pothole was there. Leave the pothole unattended and it gets bigger and the road eventually crumbles — that’s the nature of arthritis,” he explains.
The Axcelda evolution has been a 10- to 12-year journey and Professor Choong sees it as an example of the importance of health workers and medical researchers translating their discoveries into meaningful solutions that have real impact.
“We want to prepare people to take the next step and to take their great ideas to fruition. Health workers are well placed to be innovators because every day they provide a treatment, assess the outcomes, and then look for ways to do things differently and better,” he says.
“The 21st century is inviting us to be brave enough to have a spirit of discovery. Otherwise, we won’t make the quantum and disruptive changes that our community needs to solve big problems. We must keep thinking beyond what is easy and focus on how we can do things better.”
Taking a world view at WEHI
After 28 years working and researching overseas, Professor Ken Smith has returned to Australia to become Director of WEHI - a key partner of the University of Melbourne. He brings a global perspective to the role and to the future of medical research.
“Increasingly, the medical workforce is going to have to stay flexible, because the nature of medical practice is changing and will keep changing. People benefit from having a deep understanding of science alongside medical practice,” says Professor Ken Smith (BMedSci 1985, MBBS 1987, PhD 1996), Director of WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research).
“For those who want to work between science and the clinic, an understanding of computational analysis will be increasingly important. People are already using AI to generate all sorts of useful conclusions from clinical data, but a human will still need to sense-check what AI tells us might be happening.”
Professor Smith’s career as a researcher and clinician began in Melbourne and took him to Cambridge University, where he became Head of the Department of Medicine in 2010. The Smith Lab ran an experimental medicine and translational program focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying immune-mediated diseases, informed by his clinical practice in nephrology and clinical immunology.
He has forged international scientific research links and formed alliances between industry and academia across the US, Asia and Europe. Furthering connections between WEHI, the University of Melbourne, the Royal Melbourne and other hospitals and potential national and international partners will be a focus of his new role.
“I’d like to increase our connections into Melbourne Medical School and other university departments, such as maths and computing. It will be important to continue strengthening links into the clinical school and hospital system, too,” says Professor Smith, who is also the new Lorenzo and Pamela Galli Chair in Medical Biology at the University of Melbourne.
“Medical research has changed over the past 20 years — the technology we have now allows us to answer fundamental biological questions in studies with patients and healthy volunteers, where we once had to use animals. WEHI and its neighbours in the Parkville Precinct provide a strong base for such work, that has the potential to make Melbourne an international leader.”
Professor Smith believes science is “an international game” and international talent recruitment and collaborations with institutions aligned to WEHI’s scientific strategy is vital for growth.
He also advocates for an efficient interface between clinical care and fundamental research.
“Moving between science and clinical care is an enormous strength in medical research that is eventually translated for the benefit of healthcare — and it enables students to see science happening alongside hospital wards,” he says.
“WEHI is one of the few places where, cheek by jowl, you have high-quality hospitals, universities and research institutes. Collaboration between them has long produced breakthroughs in medical research, but working to make these links more seamless is a priority.”
Professor Smith foresees a range of challenges for researchers and clinicians, including being at the cutting edge of computational biology while supporting the ability to handle the large datasets generated by technologies, such as those underpinning spatial biology.
“Spatial biology is an exciting field that allows you to study cells in their anatomical context in great detail and to discover how they influence each other,” he says.
“Staying at the cutting edge of technological advancement is central to driving research excellence, and the critical mass provided by the University and its precinct makes this possible. This in turn allows our research to make a real impact on current health priorities. It also allows us to start to research those that will impact Australia and its neighbours in the future, such as the impact of increased chronic heat stress on disease patterns and healthcare risks.”
Professor Ken Smith Director of WEHI and the University of Melbourne Lorenzo and Pamela Galli Chair in Medical Biology
Staying connected on a global scale
Dr Joanne Ngeow, a Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, is a firm believer in the power of the alumni community.
When Dr Joanne Ngeow (MBBS 2000 (Hons), BMedSci 2000) moved from Singapore to study at Melbourne Medical School, she discovered a passion for research that continues today.
“I credit that one year of student research with the fact that I am now a clinicianscientist,” says Dr Ngeow.
She studied the health issues faced by newly arrived African refugees in Melbourne. “It was an incredibly powerful experience because, at the time, Vietnamese and African refugees were getting a disease where they would present with a rash and sometimes jaundice and diarrhoea. GPs didn’t know what was causing it and sometimes those patients were wrongly given steroids which made their situation even worse,” says Dr Ngeow.
Her research identified the presence of past infections of a worm — strongyloidiasis — which is endemic in South-East Asia and parts of Africa. Dr Ngeow’s work on the prevalence of strongyloidiasis and infectious diseases among newly arrived refugees and migrants had significant impact, helping inform the government’s first refugee health guidelines.
“While at MMS, I remember being inspired by people like Graham Brown and Gustav Nossal, who told stories of public health and of doing things for the public good. That has remained with me,” recalls Dr Ngeow.
In 2001, Dr Ngeow returned to Singapore, keen to pursue a career as a clinicianscientist and to work for the ‘public good’. She moved into oncology and explored cancer epidemiology and genetics. This led to her founding the Cancer Genetics Service (CGS) at the National Cancer Centre Singapore.
“The CGS has done a lot to address the data gap in Asian genomics. Data from our research is being used by policymakers in Singapore and will be assessed for wider implementation to shift policy and how we deliver precision cancer care. We are working towards more equitable and accessible care through the use of genomics and digital technology,” she says.
Alongside her professional commitments — she is also Associate Professor of Genomic Medicine at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University — Dr Ngeow has proactively built lasting connections between MMS alumni in Singapore and Malaysia and those working further afield.
“My cohort have been part of a chat group for more than a decade and I’ve organised social activities to keep people connected. When anyone from our cohort visits Singapore we meet up, and it will be our 25th anniversary next year, so I will be reaching out to alumni to celebrate that,” says Dr Ngeow.
The cohort is spread across America, the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia and Dr Ngeow says being part of a global alumni network brings social and practical benefits.
“It’s potentially good for professional collaborations. For example, recently a friend in Singapore wanted to learn more about a new emergency response program at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne,” she says.
“They knew I went to the University of Melbourne and asked if I knew anyone involved with the Austin program — they wanted to send a delegation to Melbourne to learn more about it. I put that request in our cohort chat group and someone connected me to the right person at the Austin and that has led to a useful collaboration. Such networks also allow us to mentor newly minted MMS graduates in Singapore and Malaysia.”
Stay connected to the alumni community. unimelb.edu.au/alumni
Dr Joanne Ngeow, Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore
Photo credit: Singapore Health
A virtual approach to managing diabetes emergencies
A specialised virtual emergency department offers a new way of delivering healthcare to Australians living with diabetes at their time of need.
A groundbreaking new virtual diabetes clinic, the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED) Diabetes, provides free video consultations with diabetes nurse practitioners and emergency clinicians.
The brainchild of Professor Elif Ekinci (MBBS(Hons) 2000, PhD 2011, Specialist Cert Clinical Leadership 2021), Director of the Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations (ACADI) and Head of the Department of Medicine at Melbourne Medical School, the service aims to ease pressure on stretched hospital wards and is a lifeline to people in regional and remote areas, for whom access to urgent care is limited.
The service builds on the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department launched in 2020 by VVED Clinical Director, Dr Loren Sher, to reduce avoidable hospital admissions.
“Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic health condition in Australia,” explains Professor
Ekinci. “The new virtual ED allows patients access to immediate care and reduces the risk of further deterioration in their health. The idea came to me after one of my patients used the virtual ED for a non-diabetes emergency. That’s when I heard of the idea and immediately contacted Loren, the Director of the VVED. We began a fruitful collaboration, which resulted in the diabetes service.
“The VVED also assists in breaking down the city-to-country divide by offering support to people who would otherwise travel long distances for an in-person medical consult at the time of an emergency. Many people living with diabetes become sick due to complications that, if treated earlier, would prevent their health from deteriorating.”
About 1.3 million Australians are hospitalised with diabetes-related conditions every year. The most common complications are foot ulcers and amputations, blindness, and heart and kidney disease.
“This service is very important for our First Nations community, who are disproportionally affected by diabetes and its complications,” says Professor Ekinci. “Indigenous patients use telehealth widely and being at home is great because people feel safe. Hospitals have not always been safe places for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
Preliminary findings of the effectiveness of the VVED Diabetes virtual clinic are promising, with patients already being diverted from avoidable hospital admissions.
A second stage will roll out later in 2024 and will see Ambulance Victoria paramedics work with the virtual clinic to test ketone levels for people with diabetes. Blood ketone level testing kits check whether patients have developed diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious complication of diabetes.
Paramedics and VVED Diabetes clinicians will be able to rapidly identify patients who require hospitalisation and those who can be managed at home. Northern Health endocrinologist, Dr Ben Nash, will oversee the clinical aspects of the service.
VVED Diabetes is supported by Ambulance Victoria, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Diabetes Victoria, and Professor Ekinci says it offers a new model of care for people living with chronic conditions like diabetes at their time of need.
“It’s a model that can help anyone who has emergent health issues and who needs to be able to access specialist treatment and advice quickly before they deteriorate,” she says.
To learn more, watch our past event on Transforming Diabetes Care here: mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/engage/alumni/ events
Professor Elif Ekinci
Teddy Bear Hospital helps students as well as kids
The popular Teddy Bear Hospital helps medical, dental, nursing and allied health students begin to understand the nuances of working with children.
The Teddy Bear Hospital attracts some very special patients — ‘sick’ teddies, dolls and soft toys who are brought for a check-up by their young owners. The hospital staff are University of Melbourne students completing health courses ranging from medicine, physiotherapy and optometry to dentistry, nursing and speech pathology.
The ‘patients’ might have a teddy check-up or a teddy ECG or learn the skill of teddy toothbrushing — all while their young carers watch, listen and build trust with the treating student volunteer.
The Teddy Bear Hospital began in 2009 and is run by University of Melbourne students with the support of the University’s Department of Paediatrics.
The program consists of two events, the Teddy Bear Hospital Good Friday Appeal and the Chadstone Teddy Winter CheckUp, and provides children with positive healthcare experiences.
It is also an opportunity for students to practise their skills in working with children. They learn how to build rapport, use child-friendly language and practise giving information about the ‘patient’s’ condition in a way that children can understand.
The Teddy Bear Hospital Good Friday Appeal event at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in March attracted 1300 students and almost 5000 children. The Chadstone event attracts around 2000 children.
Brian Hao (BBiomed 2016) is a final year Doctor of Medicine student and he’s been a Teddy Bear Hospital volunteer and is on the event organising committee.
“It’s a good way to give back to the community and to practise interacting with children in a low-pressure setting. While we have placement opportunities, we may not get as much time to speak to children during those placements, so the Teddy Bear Hospital is an opportunity to do that,” says Mr Hao.
“Kids are often quite shy at first, but they gradually open up and it’s very fulfilling when they give you a smile for the first time. Making children feel comfortable and helping them understand about their healthcare is a skill that’s not to be underestimated.”
Young owners bringing in their ‘patients’ for a check-up.
Medicine in the blood
Grandfather and granddaughter Dr Alan Kermond and Amalia Marino share their experiences of attending the University of Melbourne Medical School more than 60 years apart.
Amalia Marino is in the third year of her medical degree at the University of Melbourne, but she’s not the first in her family to walk that path. Amalia’s grandfather, Dr Alan Kermond, graduated from his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1958, and went on to have a long career in radiology.
During the more than 60 years that separate their degrees, the fundamentals of medicine have remained largely unchanged. However, other things have evolved — including gender parity. During Alan’s studies in the 1950s, women were a rarity in the classroom.
“When I was at medical school, I think there were only about three or maybe four women doing medicine and a hundred fellas. I imagine it’s more like 50-50 now,” says Alan — a sentiment Amalia echoes.
“The cohort — as well teaching and clinical staff — is much more diverse now,” she says. “In fact, there’s definitely more women.”
Learning about anatomy via dissection has always been a staple of medical education, but Amalia and Alan’s experiences of it played out a little differently.
“I absolutely loved it,” says Amalia. “I found it fascinating. [My grandfather] shares stories about post-mortem examinations and dissections that sound really gruesome. It was a very different context to the dissection I was exposed to.”
Amalia even recalls hearing a story about Alan passing out during a dissection. “She’s right — I did once,” says Alan.
Alan takes great pride in seeing his granddaughter pursue a career in medicine.
“I’m very proud of her. I don’t know whether she wanted to follow in my footsteps, but she was always clever. I think she will find a career in medicine interesting,” says Alan.
Amalia confirms that seeing her grandfather enjoy his medical career has influenced her choice of profession.
“My grandfather’s career did inspire me to study medicine, seeing how much joy he got out of his career when I was younger. He was never bored. Even after retiring he has kept up the social networks he built up through his practice.
“It means a great deal to me to be continuing a family legacy.”
“Spreading her magic far and wide”
As Director of Neurosurgery at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Professor Kate Drummond AM is a passionate mentor and advocate for her junior colleagues, including neurosurgeonin-training, Dr Heidi McAlpine.
Professor Kate Drummond (MD 2008) has had a passion for dinosaurs since she was a child — her office at the Royal Melbourne Hospital houses an impressive collection of Jurassic figurines. But despite her interest in extinct creatures, Professor Drummond is not afraid of breaking down outdated and antiquated ways of working and pushing for change to help the next generation of medical students succeed.
Currently, only around 11 per cent of neurosurgeons in Australia are women — a statistic she is keen to change. She believes encouraging greater diversity in the surgical workforce requires greater flexibility in attitudes and in the way the medical system operates.
“The women in my generation who followed this career path had to work so hard — many of us are childless and worked in a way that is not how the next generation want to work. At one point I was on call for a whole year and working 190 hours per fortnight. I had good mentors, but the training was harrowing in terms of the hours and sleep deprivation,” says Professor Drummond.
“There are still people who are not particularly encouraging of women doing surgery. They make small, offhand comments like, ‘Oh, you want to do surgery — don’t you want to have a family?’ While maintaining rigour, the way we train neurosurgeons needs to be more flexible.”
Dr Heidi McAlpine (left) and Professor Kate Drummond.
“Medical students are older, trainees are older — instead of training before starting a family, they are training while they are partnered and with children. But the structures we have make flexible training very difficult.”
In her unit at Royal Melbourne Hospital, Professor Drummond tries to ‘normalise’ the idea that people have responsibilities outside work that should be accommodated while not compromising patient care. She has multiple trainees with children and makes arrangements that support them.
Dr Heidi McAlpine (BSc(Hons) 2009, MBBS 2013, GradDipSurgicalAnatomy 2015, PhD 2024) is a trainee neurosurgeon and is one of several medical students and professionals mentored by Professor Drummond, who has mentored University of Melbourne students, formally and informally, since 2004. Dr McAlpine will complete her surgical training in 2026 and has two young children. She and Professor Drummond have known each other for 15 years.
“I met Kate on my first day at the Royal Melbourne Hospital when I was a thirdyear medical student. She asked me what I wanted to do and I said I was looking at a career in neurology — I thought neurosurgeons were very smart and that couldn’t be me. She told me that neurosurgery is not about being smart, it’s about hard work and that stuck. It allowed me to entertain the idea of pursuing a career in neurosurgery,” says Dr McAlpine.
“Kate has encouraged and supported me during parenthood. Being a woman is uncommon in neurosurgery and being a woman with young children is even more unusual. So, you need people like her who lead by example and support women while they’re having children and training.
Professor Drummond in her office at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have Kate as a close mentor and she inspires many of the other people she mentors, too. She prides herself on including everyone in the journey and on ensuring people feel part of the team. She spreads her magic far and wide.”
Professor Drummond and Dr McAlpine also share an interest in global health education and are leaders in an organisation called Pangea Global Health Education. It brings together volunteer healthcare and education professionals who travel to Africa to train health workers and medical students in local communities. This year they spent a few weeks in Malawi.
“My first experience of working overseas was as a 21-year-old medical student in a clinic in southern India. I was woefully underqualified but seeing the inequity was a seminal experience,” says Professor Drummond.
“I’ve been involved in global health education ever since.
On the recent trip to Malawi, I ran seminars on critical care and surgery for people working in district hospitals.”
Outside the operating theatre, Professor Drummond is a Canon at St Paul’s Cathedral and during the COVID lockdowns, she completed a Graduate Diploma in Theology. In the next couple of years, she wants to do a PhD exploring a theological framework for patients with life-threatening brain tumours who nonetheless may have a decade to live. She is also a committed Boston Red Sox baseball fan after living and working in Boston for four years earlier in her career.
Professor Drummond says passing on her skills and knowledge and mentoring the next generation is one of the most rewarding aspects of her work.
“Being surrounded by young people in training means I don’t get stuck in my ways of thinking,” says Professor Drummond.
“For example, this morning I’ve done a ward round with a Year 10 high school work experience student, a person trying to get on to neurosurgical training, and someone who’s just finished training whom I’ve mentored since he was a resident.
“You learn how other people see the world. The next generation are energetic for change, and that’s refreshing.”
Interested in mentoring a student? Express your interest and find out more here: https://mdhs.unimelb. edu.au/engage/alumni/mentoring
Professor Drummond with some of the photographs and dinosaur toys that fill her office.
A country practice
GP clinical placements in rural Victoria provide realistic insights into the working life of a busy country GP.
For third-year medical student, Jacky Chen (BBiomed 2021), a six-week clinical placement in Euroa exposed him to much more than how a thriving medical practice operates.
Jacky got a taste of what it’s like to live and work as a GP in a rural town.
“It pushed me out of my comfort zone, because I love city life. But I deliberately chose to do my placement in a rural setting because I wanted to have that experience as part of my medical degree,” says Jacky.
“Being in a more isolated setting gives you the chance to meet new people, which naturally helps improve communication skills. You also get to see how rural GPs often build lifelong relationships with their patients. There’s a deep sense of trust and respect patients have for their GPs.”
Jacky was based at Euroa Medical Family Practice, where he was supervised by Dr Malcolm Altson (MBBS 1977), who is a long-time supporter of Melbourne Medical School’s clinical placement program. Dr Altson has been a GP in Euroa for 42 years.
“We’ve had medical students at the practice for more than 40 years. They offer different perspectives and keep us on our toes — it’s a mutual learning process,” says Dr Malcolm Altson.
“In medicine and in practice, a lot of your decisions become almost automatic and when you have to justify or explain a medical decision to a student, it clarifies in your own mind why you do certain things.”
Jacky observed routine medical consultations between patients and GPs and assisted in the medical treatment room where less serious emergencies were treated.
“I saw a number of minor surgeries and excisions and trauma cases managed on site. Another great experience was accompanying Dr Altson to home consultations, where I could see more of the countryside and speak with patients in their homes,” says Jacky.
At this stage, Jacky is interested in specialising in cardiology, respiratory medicine or anaesthetics, but the clinical placement has also piqued an interest in working in a rural setting as a GP.
“This placement not only strengthened my clinical skills but also deepened my respect for the crucial role that GPs play in rural communities. It was an invaluable experience that reaffirmed my interest in rural healthcare,” he says.
“Jacky was a very enthusiastic student. He participated in every activity and opportunity on offer and he also enjoyed coming out to my farm and planting trees and splitting firewood in his spare time,” says Dr Altson.
“I’d certainly recommend that GPs think about offering clinical placements. It’s good to keep your own practice on its toes and it’s well and truly worth the effort.”
Teach with us
If you are a Victorian GP and you would like to help us train future clinicians, please get in touch with us at gp-enquiries@unimelb.edu.au
Jacky Chen learning on the job in Euroa.
Advocating for general practice
Professor Lena Sanci is the inaugural Chief General Practice Adviser for Victoria and a strong voice in favour of strengthening primary care.
Professor Lena Sanci (MBBS 1988, PhD 2000) has spent more than 30 years working in general practice and she is as passionate about the importance and value of the primary care system now as she was when she started her career.
“For most of the population, primary care is the first point of contact with the healthcare system, and at least 80 per cent of people see a primary care medical service at least once a year. It’s a service that walks through life with a person,” says Professor Sanci, Head of the Department of General Practice and Primary Care at the Melbourne Medical School.
Recognising her experience in general practice and her advocacy for improving primary care, Professor Sanci is the first person to be appointed by the Victorian Department of Health as Chief General Practice Adviser.
The role was introduced by the government to strengthen the department’s engagement with general practice. It also aims to improve connections between primary care and other health services by providing advice on primary care policy and programs, and by facilitating collaborative practice and system improvements.
“The appointment is about moving towards an integrated and less fragmented healthcare system at a policy and practical level,” says Professor Sanci. “My goal is around strengthening the role of primary care in our health system. The integration of services across primary, secondary and tertiary care is essential if we want more efficient care, less low-value care, safer care and better patient experiences.”
Professor Sanci is also keen to help ensure that the future primary care workforce is prepared for an ever-evolving and dynamic working environment.
“We are going to need practitioners who are highly trained and good generalists who know a lot about many different things. As part of that, I think some workforce training for the future needs to move towards community settings — you can’t learn all you need to learn in a hospital ward,” she says.
“We also need to look more at interdisciplinary training and we have the Collaborative Practice Centre, where the curriculum for all health students brings them together to learn how to co-manage the many issues that patients present with.
“That is going to better equip our primary care doctors to work in teams and I think that team environment will be attractive to GPs of the future. AI and machine learning are also tools in general practice that doctors will have to learn to work with.”
Professor Sanci still works as a GP, spending half a day a week seeing patients at a Sexual Health Victoria clinic in Melbourne. “It grounds me and it’s what I was trained to do. I enjoy the interaction with patients and it keeps me in touch with the issues they face when they seek medical care,” she says.
Away from the office, Professor Sanci says, “I don’t have much time to entertain but I try to catch up with good friends and family for coffee, lunch or dinner on weekends — social connection is important to me.”
Now that her child is 18, she has more time for herself. “I prioritise exercise and enjoy it — I found I was getting more stressed when I felt unfit. I have a weekly personal training session and I do a group circuit for 30 minutes on a Saturday morning, plus whatever I can do in between on my own — especially being outside in nature and walking with our kelpie!”
Her advice to the next generation of doctors? “Be proud of and enjoy your profession… I am biased but I think we need more GPs engaged in the academic work of advancing the profession through quality teaching, leading or participating in research, and advocacy.
“I hope general practice as a speciality discipline within medicine is highly valued and seen as a vital and important career choice because it’s where most of the care happens.”
Professor Lena Sanci
Celebrating a valued 20-year partnership
A special partnership between the University of Melbourne and Universitas Indonesia has been shaping Indonesian medical students for two decades.
Seeing how clinical practices operate, how medical disciplines collaborate, and how clinicians communicate with patients in another country are key elements of the Bachelor of Medical Science program (BMedSci).
The BMedSci allows Bachelor of Medicine /MD students students at Universitas Indonesia (UI) to complete one year of preclinical research training at the University of Melbourne, and since the partnership began 20 years ago, more than 470 Indonesian medical students have graduated.
Associate Professor Anita Horvath, Academic Director, Indonesia Engagement, says the successful partnership is broadening the perspectives and practice of future health professionals in Indonesia.
“Traditionally, clinical practice in Indonesia was a convention structure but students who spend a conventional year within Melbourne Medical School see how a foreign healthcare system can work differently, and they recognise the importance of working inter-professionally,” says Associate Professor Horvath.
“When they return to Indonesia, students are more inquisitive and ask more questions about clinical practice and convention. It changes their mindset and how they see themselves as future clinicians. They realise they can take on advocacy or research and drive change.”
Dr Annemarie Chrysantia Melati spent 2010-2011 undertaking her BMedSci year at the University of Melbourne.
She says it was her first clinical exposure. “Meeting patients and observing how the clinicians and surgeons worked were incredible experiences. The University of Melbourne has taught me that it is possible to be a clinician and researcher at the same time. My time at the University showed me how to balance these two worlds,” she says.
The success of the partnership rests on a desire from both universities to support the healthcare transformation journey in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Universitas Indonesia is keen to develop and support the healthcare student of the future and our academics and clinicians share that vision. During clinical placement, our busy clinicians are open to supervising Indonesian students because they want to continue to develop the future health workforce,” says Associate Professor Horvath.
The 20-year partnership was celebrated in a ceremony in Jakarta last year, attended by Professor Jane Gunn AO (MBBS 1987, PhD 1998), Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, other university representatives from Melbourne and Indonesia, and BMedSci alumni.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to bring partners across the program together and showcase to governments and academia how smaller programs like this can have a large impact,” says Associate Professor Horvath.
Maintaining close ties with alumni ensures the partnership has ongoing positive impacts. “Students have gone on to study at Harvard, Oxford and Columbia. They are involved in research, advocacy and setting up biotech companies. We help to shape their research pathways,” says Associate Professor Horvath.
“Another BMedSci alum even suggested establishing the program at another university in Indonesia, so we have a new partnership with Universitas Airlangga and next year we’ll have around 10 students from that university completing the program.”
The Universitas Indonesia partnership also led to the Partnership in Research Indonesia and Melbourne (PRIME).
Through this initiative, Melbourne-based researchers work with colleagues in universities across Indonesia and within the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology. Research and academic collaborations focus on health, social sciences and engineering to address global challenges confronting the world today.
“I’m delighted we are igniting the spark of curiosity and giving students a program that allows them to follow their curiosity, gives them confidence to explore and offers ways for them to move forward professionally,” says Associate Professor Horvath.
Professor Jane Gunn AO speaking at last year’s 20-year celebration in Jakarta.
Looking at maternal and child health through an Aboriginal lens
Dr Karyn Ferguson is gathering and analysing health data across Yorta Yorta Country to help develop policies and programs that will strengthen Aboriginal mother and child health.
Dr Karyn Ferguson (Master of Health Social Sciences 2014, SpecCert Rural Paediatric Practice, PhD 2022) was raised on Yorta Yorta Country, which is where she began her career as an Aboriginal maternal health worker.
She spent six years with Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative in Mooroopna — an experience which led her to research maternal and child health in Aboriginal communities.
“I worked with Aboriginal mothers during the antenatal period and supported them during labour and delivery. That lit a fire inside me to discover how we can best nurture women during that precious time in their life,” says Dr Ferguson.
“In some mainstream hospitals I noticed discrimination and bias against Aboriginal women that impacted their experience of pregnancy and childbirth. This was a time when women wanted to do the best for their babies, so it was an opportune time to support them.”
Inspired to gain an accurate picture of the health of Aboriginal women and children and their needs, Dr Ferguson has embarked on an extensive academic and research journey at the University of Melbourne.
She is undertaking a Peeneeyt Thanampool (Strong Women) Aunty Joan Vickery and Aunty Angela Clarke MDHS Indigenous Post-doctoral Fellowship. The Fellowship supports the next generation of Indigenous researchers to actively contribute to translational health research and address critical health issues facing Indigenous communities.
Dr Ferguson’s completed PhD research project, Gana Burrai, used data linkage studies to collate maternal health and birth outcome data specific to Yorta Yorta country. Gana Burrai means ‘mother baby’. Until then, population health trends specific to Yorta Yorta mothers and babies had been separated across numerous local, state and federal organisations.
“I linked data from various states, local government authorities, health regions, hospitals, Aboriginal medical services and the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. This data had never been collected through a Yorta Yorta lens before, so there hadn’t been a full understanding of the health of Aboriginal women and babies,” says Dr Ferguson.
“The data showed that birth weights of babies were good and Aboriginal women were presenting early for antenatal visits. They had regular antenatal checks during pregnancy, so there were opportunities to talk about any challenges and to detect any problems in pregnancy early.
“The data showed more work needed to be done around smoking during pregnancy, and there was a rise in admission to special care nursery after a baby’s birth over a 10-year period. Further work needs to be done to find out the cause of that.”
Dr Karyn Ferguson with her family at her graduation ceremony on Yorta Yorta Country.
Dr Ferguson is now using data linkage to understand health trends in Aboriginal children across Victoria.
“Whenever children see a health practitioner or wherever data is collected about an Aboriginal child, how can we use that data to understand what is happening? For example, is there a difference in the prescribing of antibiotics based on Aboriginal status, or are there differences in healthcare diagnosis or follow-up care?” she asks.
“What differences are there in presentations and hospitalisations? Where can we intervene to ensure policy and programs respond to the needs of Aboriginal children and families? When we have an accurate view of the health issues affecting Aboriginal children in our communities, we can make practical decisions about how to best care for those children.”
In her community in Shepparton, Dr Ferguson hopes her research career encourages young Aboriginal people to believe a university education is possible. A latecomer to academia, she’s proud to have inspired her son, who’s in his first year of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne, to pursue a medical career.
Dr Ferguson is also passionate about ensuring future medical practitioners and health workers are empathetic to Aboriginal patients.
“I used to lecture Melbourne Medical School students during their rural rotation in Shepparton and I talked about the impacts of racism in the context of healthcare delivery and access,” she says.
“I hope I’ve opened minds so they will treat Aboriginal people through a lens of understanding.”
Supporting others to succeed
Becoming a recipient of the Penelope Foster and John McBain Medical Scholarship has opened doors for Jesse Osbourne — and he’s paying the life-changing generosity forward.
Jesse Osbourne (BSc 2014) was midway through a science degree at the University of Melbourne when he realised his future wasn’t in engineering, as he’d always imagined, but in medicine.
At the time, Jesse’s mother had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. Jesse and his five brothers and sisters grew up in Craigieburn in Melbourne’s outer north, raised by their mum.
“Money was always tight but my mother was a pragmatic woman and we made things work,” says Jesse. She continued to work during punishing chemotherapy and radiation treatment, determined to continue to support her family.
“Mum’s illness certainly impacted my view of healthcare and the role of doctors. It was an overwhelming experience and by the time she died in 2012, I wanted a career in medicine,” says Jesse.
His initial application to Melbourne Medical School was unsuccessful and, after his mother died, Jesse faced many challenges. He became the major income earner in his family and took on responsibility for raising his two younger siblings. Already working part-time tutoring high school students, Jesse decided to start his own tutoring business so he could pay the household bills and care for his family.
However, the urge to study medicine remained and, in 2023, 10 years after his initial application to Melbourne Medical School, Jesse applied through the Graduate Access Melbourne program, which is a special entry scheme for students facing adversity or hardship.
“For a long time, I assumed I wasn’t going to be able to get myself back on track and to reapply after so many years out of university. There were barriers and it took a long time to be able to set myself up so going back to study was a possibility.”
Applying through the Graduate Access Melbourne program meant Jesse was automatically considered for the Penelope Foster and John McBain Medical Scholarship — an annually awarded fouryear scholarship that empowers students in need of assistance to complete a medical degree. Jesse is the 2023 recipient of the scholarship, which he describes as “life-changing”.
“It has allowed me to work a lot less and to focus on my studies. I haven’t had to sacrifice learning opportunities because I needed to work instead,” says Jesse.
“I am now based in hospitals, which is where I’ll spend most of the rest of my course, and I’ve been able to do things like go into an operating theatre and learn at the table, be part of study groups with my cohort and I’ve attended extracurricular workshops about everything from suturing and career planning to exam revision. Without the scholarship, I would have missed those opportunities because I would have had to work instead.”
Scholarship recipient Jesse Osbourne
Dr Penelope Foster (MBBS 1976) and her husband, Associate Professor John McBain AO, are pioneers of IVF medicine in Melbourne. Having faced challenges and difficulties themselves in earlier years, they established the scholarship to ease the journey of medical students demonstrating an obvious need for support.
Professor McBain was raised in social housing in Glasgow and his life may have looked very different if he hadn’t won a WH Rhodes Travelling Scholarship during his last year of high school. It allowed him to travel to Expo ’67 in Montreal, Canada, where he met a group of students who were intent on a career in medicine.
“And I thought, ‘I can do that too,’” he recalls. When he eventually graduated from the University of Glasgow, he was the first of his family to obtain a degree and has carved out a prolific medical career.
“At this stage in our lives, where we have had good fortune with our medical careers and investments, we can try to make it easier for someone else,” he says.
Similarly, Dr Foster’s career path has been forged through hard work and determination. As one of eight children, her parents made significant sacrifices to provide their children with access to private schooling and university.
Having made her own way through university on a Commonwealth scholarship and by working a series of jobs, Dr Foster wanted to establish a scholarship that would allow each recipient to be able to fully enjoy student life, to be able to make friends and socialise and to not have to worry about finding money to cover rent and living costs.
Deeply appreciative of the freedom he has to immerse himself in his medical studies thanks to the scholarship, Jesse reached out to this year’s scholarship recipient to offer mentorship. It was a kindness extended to Jesse by the 2022 scholarship recipient, too.
“Medicine is emotionally challenging and it’s quite a self-driven degree,” says Jesse. He credits an amazing support network as the key to his success.
“You can work hard, you can achieve your goals but it’s the people you surround yourself with that will make all the difference. This scholarship has allowed me the freedom to foster those connections with others and support and be supported by the people around me, and I include both Penelope and John in my circle of people.”
With a few more years of training ahead of him, Jesse is grateful for his scholarship every day and he fully intends to seize new opportunities now afforded to him, thanks to Penelope and John’s generosity.
“It has opened the door to a career path I had assumed was no longer possible for me. It has provided me a second chance and, most importantly, has set me up for success.”
Find out how you can make a difference to current students: medicine.unimelb.edu. au/engage/support
Associate Professor John McBain with Jesse and other scholarship recipients.
Inspiring confidence in the next generation
Recently retired, Dr Simon Madin (MBBS 1977) spent much of his career working as a rural and remote GP.
He is a mentor to future rural GP and current Doctor of Medicine student, Jacob Carmichael. But the learning is far from one-sided.
The MDHS Mentoring Program connects final year students with alumni volunteers who have experience in a student’s area of career interest.
The program supports students as they prepare to transition into the health workforce after university. Students ask questions and share their career aspirations and challenges with mentors, who can be an honest and valuable guide and sounding board.
Here, a mentor and mentee share their experiences of the 2024 Mentoring Program and highlight that mentoring is a two-way learning process that enriches students and their alumni mentors alike.
Interested in mentoring a student?
Express your interest and find out more here: mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/engage/ alumni/mentoring
Jacob Carmichael, final year Doctor of Medicine student
“Just after high school, a good friend passed away from an asthma attack. Seeing hospital staff trying to resuscitate her gave me the greatest respect for the medical profession. Not long after that I was involved in a resuscitation and realised I was capable of taking action in a stressful situation.
“As a result, I enrolled at Melbourne Medical School, which has been stimulating and rewarding. As graduation drew closer, I had a large bucket of interests. I joined the mentor program because I was at a crossroads. I was interested in rural medicine and I wanted to speak to someone with rural experience. Simon has been the perfect mentor to bounce ideas off.
“We met once every few weeks and he explained how he ended up working in the Northern Territory. We discussed how he managed in emergency situations when you have less support around you. I asked what additional skills he felt would be useful and he nominated anaesthetics and obstetrics.
“Next year I’ll be based in Warrnambool, in a hospital and with a local GP. Simon and I will stay in touch so I can continue to ask him questions. I see him as a friend as well as a mentor. Nothing can replace having a relationship with a senior doctor who works in the speciality you’re interested in.”
Dr Simon Madin (MBBS 1977)
“I was born in the country, and was always interested in country practice. As a student I did electives with a GP near Colac and the Royal Flying Doctor Service in the Kimberley. In the holidays I worked at Balgo, between Derby and Alice Springs.
“When I graduated, I did hospital rotations for surgical, anaesthetic and obstetric experience. I’ve worked in a number of remote locations, including 12 years in the Northern Territory. As a rural GP you treat [everyone from] newborns to the elderly. You look after people throughout their lives, which makes it a wonderful career.
“I offered to be a mentor to Jacob. I hope I was able to help him clarify his goals. I see mentoring as a listening role, sharing experiences and helping him clarify which direction he’d like to move in.
“The mentor-mentee relationship is very much a two-way process and I’ve learned about the current medical course structure and the options available. I’ve been impressed with Jacob’s commitment to his chosen path. It’s enriching to speak to a young person at the start of their medical career. I feel very confident about Australia’s medical future after meeting someone with Jacob’s character, drive and altruistic aims.”
Jacob Carmichael Doctor of Medicine Student
Dr Simon Madin (MBBS 1977)
Celebrating excellence in two cardiology PhD Theses
Completing a PhD is a huge achievement for anyone, but for two cardiologists there was even more to celebrate.
This year, Dr Elizabeth Paratz (BMedSci 2008, MBBS 2010, PhD 2023) and Dr David Chieng (GradCertClinUltrasound 2016, PhD 2023) were awarded the Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD Thesis.
This award celebrates research for its international reach and impact, publications and recognition by professional organisations, awards and conference presentations.
Interested in graduate research?
Find out more: mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/ research/research-training
A graduate from Melbourne Medical School, who specialised in cardiology at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Dr Paratz’s latest research focused on sudden cardiac death in young and middle-aged people.
Between 2019 and 2023, she created a statewide registry that links ambulance and forensic resources to examine every case of young cardiac arrest in Victoria, both on a case-based and a larger systems level.
This registry will be used to improve patient care and reduce deaths from sudden cardiac arrest, by providing largescale epidemiological information and highlighting at-risk subgroups, such as those experiencing cardiac arrest in pregnancy, people living with obesity, mental ill health and other medical conditions.
“Having studied over many years at Melbourne University, I know there are so many fabulous projects and areas of research, so it's an enormous honour to have my PhD thesis recognised with a Chancellor's Prize, knowing the incredible quality of the overall field,” Dr Paratz said.
Dr David Chieng, a cardiologist who specialises in the management of cardiac arrhythmias, was also awarded the Chancellor’s Prize this year. His research investigated catheter ablation for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).
The findings challenged the long-held view that doing more ablation was better in patients with persistent AF, a process that creates tiny scars in the heart to block faulty signals and restore a regular heartbeat. The research supports a more conservative ablation approach and highlights the need for alternative strategies.
For anyone doing a PhD or considering one, Dr Chieng reflected that it was crucial to have regular meetings with your supervisors, evaluate your work as it progresses, and to take breaks.
“My advice would be to persevere and to not give up. A PhD is hard work, and in the early stages the end goal may appear unclear. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel!”
Dr Chieng said.
Dr Elizabeth Paratz (BMedSci 2008, MBBS 2010, PhD 2023)
Dr David Chieng (GradCertClinUltrasound 2016, PhD 2023)
Vale
Dr John Samuel Yeatman (1928 – 2024)
John Yeatman (MMS 1954) was the third of four children. His grandfather, Samuel Mauger, was Australia’s seventh PostmasterGeneral. His father Leslie was a Victorian public servant, rising to the rank of Secretary and Permanent Head of the Victorian Health Department in 1955, as well as a magistrate. His mother, Florence, was an accomplished pianist.
John began studying medicine at Melbourne University in 1946. He graduated in 1954 and continued his career in medicine for 55 years. He completed his physician training (FRACP) and then embarked upon a career in medical administration. He was one of the “grandfathers” of the fledgling Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators (FRACMA) and served on the Board of Censors for 10 years and the Council and executive for eight years.
Some of his positions included medical superintendent at Preston and Northcote Community Hospital, medical superintendent at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Women’s Hospital.
In each of these roles he applied courtesy and compassion to all he met, whether they were patients, visitors, staff or bosses. He knew the names of most of the domestic and catering staff, the wards’ people and the switchboard operators. To follow him around a hospital was a terrific way to find out how it ticked and, importantly, who made it tick.
John was at the forefront of what has now become essential jargon in the health sector: “best practice”. His objective was always to do the very best for patients and their families. Whether it was by ensuring the best clinician was caring for the patient, or the clinician was up to date with the latest developments in medicine, John used all the tools at his disposal. He was still reading medical journals well into his 90s.
In 1979 he was seconded as a commissioner to the Commission of Inquiry into the Efficiency and Administration of Hospitals. John led the charge in attempting to ensure the health outcomes of patients were at the forefront. During the 1980s, John was asked to undertake a range of tasks in addition to his full-time job. For example, he undertook a project at Prince Henry’s Hospital which eventually saw that hospital merge with Queen Victoria — the latter having already been relocated to Monash Medical Centre in Clayton.
After what seemed a lifetime of working in hospitals, John followed in his father’s footsteps, venturing into the then Health Commission of Victoria when the state’s health system was regionalised. He was a Regional Director, a position he served with distinction. In his later years he worked in palliative care at Bethlehem Hospital (now Cavalry Bethlehem in Caulfield). He also established the Australian Association of Paediatric Teaching Centres, which is now Children’s Hospitals Australasia.
Work obviously took up a lot of time, but John had three great loves. The first was Margaret Elliot, who he met at a church dance when he was 20. Margaret was a triple certificate nurse so there was an abundance of care and love in a home that nurtured six children and many foster children. They were married for nearly 60 years. Sadly, Margaret died in 2014.
When the children were little, John took on extra work to pay the bills, including working at the blood bank and being the doctor at the trots — the latter he enjoyed as he liked to have an occasional punt!
Music was also a love and John was a dab hand at the trumpet — an instrument he picked up when he was five years old, together with the piano and violin. He played in a jazz ensemble that was formed when he had a bit more time in the 1980s.
Another love was any sport with a ball; predominantly following the St Kilda footy club through a mostly bleak history (he was invariably last in the hospital footy tipping competitions).
John’s legacy is six fabulous children and two long-time foster children, five marvellous sons- and daughters-inlaw, 21 grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren.
This article was prepared by Anne Cahill Lambert AM, based on a school assignment by one of John’s grandsons, Dr Eddie Proper.
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Associate Professor Jennifer Schwarz (1955 – 2024)
Associate Professor Jennifer (Jenny) Schwarz (MBBS 1979, PGDip.Palliative Medicine 2006) was born in Melbourne, the third child, and only daughter, to Marie and Kurt Schwarz. Sharing a birthday with her oldest brother, Paul, who was three years her senior and had multiple disabilities, she grew up in a family that knew a lot about caring for people with special needs.
Jenny attended Methodist Ladies’ College and was an excellent and well-liked student, although her forays into ballet and fencing were less successful than her academic pursuits. She graduated from Medicine at the University of Melbourne sandwiched between her older brother, Michael, and two cousins.
Jenny was attracted to connecting with the disadvantaged and the marginalised. Outside her professional life, she was an active supporter of Back to Back Theatre, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Brotherhood Books and Launch Housing.
As an advocate for the overlooked, her interest in Geriatric Medicine and its less glamorous areas was not surprising to many. She recalled many great teachers who were able to find teaching moments in everyday events and resolved to carry this legacy through her own work.
Jenny commenced her career as a consultant in aged care at the Mount Royal Hospital, now known as Royal Melbourne Hospital, Royal Park. Her many roles included leading the Falls and Balance Clinic and conducting community aged care assessments. She also coordinated student placements and found a new passion in education to complement her important clinical work.
Jenny moved to Western Health and took on the new role of Director of Training for Geriatric Medicine for the Western Training Alliance. She established the Department of Aged Care as a centre of excellence for geriatrics training for physician trainees and medical students. Jenny served as the Head of Aged Care at Western Health for many years before devoting herself to teaching medical students at the Western Clinical School at the university. In this role she demonstrated her supreme versatility, teaching communication skills, clinical medicine and professional practice. She served on many committees, and took on leadership roles including subject coordination and curriculum redesign within the Doctor of Medicine course. Moreover, Jenny inspired students to learn to teach. She reminded them that the patient was always front and centre and became renowned for her honest and insightful feedback.
Jenny displayed a rare ability to champion the cause of students and trainees who needed extra tuition. Of the many thousand she inspired, there are many who directly benefited from her compassionate teaching at an individual level. It was fitting that the medical student teaching award at the Western Clinical School was renamed The Jenny Schwarz Teaching Prize in 2023, just prior to her retirement.
Over recent years, she became committed to ‘end of life issues’ — partly through her experience of the deaths of her parents and brother, Paul, and partly through her desire to help other medical professionals in this difficult area. She was instrumental in developing the popular Discovery subject in the Doctor of Medicine entitled ‘Death and Dying’.
Jenny’s final meetings with her treating medical teams at both the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre provided a last opportunity for teaching as she instructed her doctors in the care of the dying patient. She was always adamant that a good doctor was aware that there is a difference between caring and merely providing care.
Jenny had a favourite proverb: ‘It is a sorry mouse that has only one hole.’ Recognising her imminent death, she made sure that others in her world were looked after and had their own ‘holes’ of support.
Her pragmatism, altruism and ‘no fuss’ approach are further exemplified by her wish to forgo a funeral and ask others to donate blood or to one of her charities.
Loved by many and respected by all, Jenny leaves behind three adult sons of whom she was immensely proud.
This article was prepared by Dr Michael Schwarz and Associate Professor Stephen Lew
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Associate Professor Alexander Dobrovic (1954
– 2024)
On 13 July 2024, a friend and colleague, a mentor and guide, a brilliant scientist and an innovative thinker, an esteemed researcher in the field of cancer molecular genetics and pathology, and an irreplaceable phenomenon with an immeasurable passion for science that we knew as Alex Dobrovic was unexpectedly lost to this world forever.
Alex was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 20 June, 1954. He completed his PhD at La Trobe University, under the supervision of the world-renowned geneticist Professor Jenny Graves, followed by post-doctoral work under Professor Ted Bradley in Montreal.
Alex began his own laboratory at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide, after which he moved to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for more than 10 years. He was a valued member of the Pathology Department in East Melbourne in his role as head of the Molecular Pathology Research and Development Lab. He moved to Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute prior to its opening in December 2014, establishing the Translational Genomics and Epigenomics Laboratory.
In 2020 he joined the University of Melbourne, Department of Surgery at Austin Precinct, transforming his lab to the BEACON Biomarker Laboratory and forming the core of a research collaborative, leading translational research in liver transplantation and gastrointestinal cancers.
Alex was dedicated to his passion, genetics and epigenetics. He was an innovative translational molecular pathologist who was an early adopter of liquid biopsies and new technologies. He had the rare ability to bridge the realms of laboratory science, clinical pathology and translational applications. He was driven by an inherent urge to improve the health and lives of others.
He was renowned for his pioneering work in personalised medicine and for developing innovative diagnostic methodologies, including tests for detecting specific mutations.
Alex’s expertise was highly sought after all over the world, including potential collaborators as well as product and technology developers. He was in demand as a speaker at national and international conferences. His contributions significantly advanced the understanding of cancer epigenetics and the development of targeted therapies.
Alex was kind, considerate and supportive, with an eye for talent and an ability to identify individual strengths over weaknesses. He was a much-loved lab member, mentor and supervisor who was still in contact with former colleagues whose careers last crossed his path many years ago.
Alex was dedicated to his family, both in his personal and scientific realms. He was passionate about food, art and culture, languages, the opera and classical music. He was a strong advocate for the environment and human rights. His talents included being a symphonic choir member in Montreal.
He is survived by his wife, sister, stepsons, their families and an extended family of scientists and clinicians whose lives were made better by his friendship. His life is no more, but the memory of his infectious smile, disarming charm and deep friendship will linger on, accompanying his immense scientific legacy.
This article was prepared by Professor Vijayaragavan Muralidharan
Detail from Progress of Medicine by Ernst Fries, the University of Melbourne Art Collection
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