Bulletin
#85 WINTER 2016
Thanks to you, a new Community Fellowship One year ago we asked you to support our Community Fellowship Appeal. Thanks to an incredible response of more than $70,000, we are able to announce that Dr Catherine Blizzard is the inaugural Menzies Institute for Medical Research Community Fellow. Dr Blizzard’s research focus is on neurodegenerative diseases such as motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and fronto-temporal dementia and the money raised will go towards her salary. She is focused on determining the mechanisms underlying the role of proteins in nerve-cell death, a critical first step toward improving outcomes for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. In 2015, Dr Blizzard and
Associate Professor Tracey Dickson published exciting research that identified for the first time the primary site in the nervous system for the development of motor neurone disease. Dr Blizzard has two PhD students and one Honours student in her research team. She is passionate about nurturing the next generation of medical researchers and health professionals and co-supervises a further four PhD students. Dr Blizzard completed her PhD with the University of Tasmania. She has held prestigious research fellowships from the Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute of Australia and Alzheimer’s Australia. Her message for you: “It is a great opportunity to have
She is passionate about nurturing the next generation of medical researchers Determined: Dr Catherine Blizzard’s research focus is on neurodegenerative diseases.
the community behind me providing surety of funding for the next three years as I work toward building a successful research team
Time to check iodine Four hundred primary school children will undertake voluntary tests in the coming months to determine whether iodine levels in the Tasmanian population are adequate. The Menzies researcher leading the survey, Dr Kristen Hynes, said the testing would be done through home urine collection kits distributed to students whose parents have given consent. She said results from the survey, called the Tasmanian Urinary Iodine Survey of School Children 2016,
focused on understanding and improving outcomes for people with neurodegenerative diseases and brain injury. Thank you.”
Sandwiches for lunch ... Grade Four children at Montagu Bay Primary School in Hobart will be among those participating in the 2016 iodine survey.
would provide important information on the current iodine status of the general Tasmanian population. “We need to ensure that the population is not at risk of becoming deficient in
iodine as has happened in the past,” Dr Hynes said. Iodine is an essential nutrient needed for the normal development of the brain and nervous system. Sources of iodine include dairy milk, bread baked with iodised salt and seafood. The survey is part of the broader Tasmanian Iodine Monitoring Program led by the Department of Health and Human Services with guidance from the Tasmanian Thyroid Advisory Committee.
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