Medicine
Head:
Professor N M Thomson
Address: Department of Medicine, Monash Medical School, Alfred Hospital,
Prahran 3181
Telephone: (03) 9276 2640
Fax: (03) 9521 2124
Email: napier.thomson@med.monash.edu.au
- Allergy and clinical immunology Cellular immune response to
aeroallergens - T-cell epitopes, cytokine profiles, novel strategies for
immunotherapy; clinical investigation of latex allergy, T-cell latex epitopes,
antibiotic and insect venom allergy - desensitisation strategies; asthma -
Lignocaine on moderate and severe asthma, efficacy of asthma education programs.
- Cardiovascular Growth factors, hyperplasia and hypertrophy in
hypertension and re-stenosis after balloon angioplasty, sodium-hydrogen
exchange, noradrenaline release in myocardial ischaemia, physical training in
experimental hypertension, lipoproteins on vascular reactivity, heart failure;
cardiac and vascular hypertrophy in hypertension, novel risk factors;
sympathetic activity in hypertension, heart failure; autonomic activity and
sudden death; non-pharmacological treatment of hypertension; endothelial
dysfunction; nutrition mechanisms in obesity-related hypertension; molecular
biology of failing human heart.
- Nephrology Mechanisms of chronic renal injury in
glomerulonephritis with emphasis on the role of growth factors and apoptosis
(experimental animal and human studies); growth factors and apoptosis in
experimental and human allograft rejection (kidney, heart); ischaemia and its
relation to chronic rejection; renal disease in cardiac and lung transplant
recipients; peritoneal dialysis.
- Medical oncology Clinical trials and programs involving the study
of prognostic factors and systemic therapy in various malignancies, including
solid tumours and lymphomas; phase II and III collaborative studies of systemic
therapy. The role of supportive psychological counselling in the prognosis of
women with early stage or metastatic breast carcinoma.
- Haematology Characterisation of platelet and plasma von
Willebrand factor variants; clinical studies of transfusion transmitted viral
infection in haemophilia; clinical transfusion studies of new plasma derived
products for the treatment of haemophilia/von Willebrand's disease; data-base
studies on patients with congenital bleeding disorders; characterisation of
molecular changes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia; isolation and
characterisation of T lymphocyte clones reactive to minor histocompatibility
antigens; graft-versus-host disease. Optimisation of leucapheresis for
allogeneic BMT; T clonal restriction in haematological malignancies; methods to
eliminate alloreactive (GVDH inducing) T lymphocytes from the donor marrow;
assessment of minimal residual disease after autologous transplantation;
clinical database analysis of autologous or allogeneic transplant data;
clinical trials of various chemotherapeutic agents.
- Clinical pharmacology Autonomic and endothelial dysfunction in
cardiovascular disease; effect of drug therapies on gene expression in
cardiovascular disease; cytokine-endothelin interactions; new drug therapies
for hypertension and heart failure; drug-related hospitalisations; adverse drug
reactions; drug usage evaluation.
- Dermatology Melanoma risk in patients with displastic nevi;
sunlight in the causation of melonocytic nevi and melanoma; clinical trials
into adjuvant therapy for melanoma; skin surface microscopy in early diagnosis
of melanoma; topical treatments for hirsutes; androgenetic alopecia; loose
anogen syndrome; alopecia areata - genetics and treatment; genetic and
hereditary disorders of hair and nails; evaluation of the relative efficacies
of topical steriod preparations; development of teaching aids for medical
students, general practitioners and pharmacists; development and use of
iontopheresis; application of ultraviolet light in dermatological diseases.
- Rheumatology Database development in medicine - the Medical
Diagnostic Index programme; heat shock proteins and auto-immune disease;
methotrexate and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug interactions. Clinical use
of chondroprotective agents. Steroids and bone mineral density in patients with
inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Mechanisms of joint inflammation in
experimental arthritis in rats; the role of evidence-based medicine in the
outcome of treatment of acute musculo-skeletal problems (The National
Musculo-skeletal Initiative).
- Geriatrics Critical pathways for frail hospitalised elderly
patients; incontinence in the elderly; outcome measures; nocturia; evaluation
of continence management devices; and competence.
- Respiratory disease Asthma - airway inflammation, cytokines and
remodelling and fibrosis of the airways; molecular epidemiology; diet and home
environment; risk factors for mortality. Physiology - exercise limitation post
lung transplantation; nitric oxide source in the airways and relation to
disease; airway compliance in asthma. Cystic fibrosis - new antibiotic
regimes; prognostic indicators; home therapy. Transplantation - PCR for
cytomegalovirus; airway inflammation and relation to chronic rejection; use of
NO in pulmonary hypertension; muscle pathology in relation to medications.
Sleep medicine - OSA and heart disease. Allergy - T cell cytokine responses in
asthmatics.
- Endocrinology Clinical and experimental thyroidology;
abnormalities of serum binding; endogenous, exogenous and drug competitors for
extracellular and intracellular hormone binding sites; hormone uptake;
regulation of hormone responsiveness in cell culture; studies of the mechanism
of sick euthyroidism and methods of identification of hormone resistance.
Clinical endocrine hypertension. Studies of obesity and weight regulation.
- Palliative care Prospective studies of symptom patterns, their
degree of relief and their prognostic value from time of diagnosis in patients
with incurable cancer; opioid purchasing patterns in tertiary institutions and
impacting variables upon opioid purchasing patterns; collection of baseline
data of neuropathic pains including classification, current practice management
and responses.
- Neurology Cell biological mechanisms of neurodegenerative
disease; clinical diagnosis of dementia; assessment of diagnostic methods in
neuro-otology; migraine (trials of interval agents); stroke clinical trials -
secondary prevention and acute intervention.
Head:
Professor M L Wahlqvist
Address: Department of Medicine, Monash Medical Centre, 246 Clayton Road,
Clayton 3168
Telephone: (03) 9550 5525
Fax: (03) 9550 5524
Email: mark.wahlqvist@med.monash.edu.au
- Cardiovascular Heart failure - Regional sympathetic nerve
activity; the role of cardiac afferents; endogenous vasoactive hormones - ANP,
AVP, ANG II; cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death; regional blood flow at rest
and during exercise; factors influencing exercise tolerance in heart failure;
studies in animal models of heart failure eg AVP analogues, dopamine agonists;
clinical trials; nitrate-ACE inhibitor interaction; drug treatment of angina;
heart failure in Thalassaemia minor. Non-invasive ambulatory blood pressure
monitoring; cardiovascular pharmacology; clinical trials. Clinical research:
monitoring progression and regression of atherosclerotic plaques (using B mode
ultra sound scanning) in response to modification of cardiovascular risk
factors - hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, smoking, diabetes. Biochemical and
nutritional determinants of angiographically assessed coronary artery disease;
vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols) supplementation in
hypercholesterolaemia; determinants of fatness and coronary risk factor status
in adolescents and adults; comparison of lipoprotein (a) in Anglo-Celtic,
Greek, Chinese and Indian Australians; fish intake and arterial compliance;
food intake in Greek and Chinese Australian pre/ post menopausal women and
effect on macrovascular risk factors via hormonal status; dietary changes and
cardiovascular risks in Chinese Australians.
- Clinical nutrition See cardiovascular, respiratory, neurology,
immunology, and oncology.
- Public health nutrition Nutritional epidemiology; food intake
methodology; food beliefs and behaviours; food, health and lifestyle profiles
of Anglo-Celtic Australians - act as database and reference group for migrant
studies; nutrition and ethnicity especially of Chinese, Indians and elderly
Greeks; co-ordinating department for international study on food intake and
health of elderly in ten countries; coordinating Chinese food and health
research in the Asia Pacific region; preventive nutrition; gestational diabetes
in Asian Australian women; obesity; eating disorders; probiotic foods;
phytochemicals in food of biological significance such as phytoestrogens,
flavonoids, thiosulfinates and residues.
- Body composition Alcoholic cirrhosis; alcohol intake and body
composition in general population; total body nitrogen facility; low dose
D20 assay using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR); use
of bioelectrical impedance in the young and old; whole body potassium counter;
measurement of bone mineral content and density, and fat and lean mass using
dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA); distribution of body fat by DEXA,
computerised tomography (CT) scanning and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI);
cystic fibrosis.
- Respiratory Development of fetal cardio-respiratory system and
reflex control of pulmonary circulation; effect of nutrient supplementation on
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
- Neurology The role of peptides in the central and
peripheral system, especially in relation to pain; the neuropathology of
disorders of memory; L-dopa containing foods and Parkinson's disease.
- Immunology Nutritional intervention in the aged with
immunodeficiency; nutrition and AIDS; the immunological basis of diseases
including glomerulonephritis, vasculitis and arthritis; immunological
mechanisms of injury in atheroma and other vascular diseases.
- Oncology Nutrition and colorectal cancer (Australian Polyps
Prevention Project).
- Nephrology Pathophysiology of glomerulonephritis, renal
transplantation; body composition in chronic haemodialysis.
- Glomerulonephritis Animal models of crescentic
glomerulonephritis; molecular biology studies of the role of T lymphocytes and
cell adhesion; the role of mediators of thrombosis, particularly tissue factor
and its antagonists, in the evolution of crescentic glomerulonephritis .
- Arthritis Molecular and cellular mechanisms of joint inflammation
in the rat adjuvant arthritis model of human rheumatoid arthritis, and role of
endogenous glucocorticoid modulation of joint inflammation; in vivo
studies of hormonal manipulation and glucocorticoid mediator manipulation in
the control of joint inflammation.
- Rheumatology Clinical studies on Monash Medical Centre
rheumatology patients groups, including studies of novel drug therapies of
rheumatoid arthritis, mobidity studies in systemic lupus erythematosus, and
studies of pain in soft tissue rheumatoid disorders.
- Vascular inflammation The role of immune cells, especially
macrophages, in the development of arthrosclerosis in animal models of lipid
mediated arthrosclerotic vascular disease; in vivo manipulation, cell
culture and molecular biology techniques are used.
- Inflammatory liver disease The role of cells of the immune system
in the mediation of liver injury in hepatitis using in vivo and in
vitro techniques including molecular biology.
Head:
Professor H H Salem
Address: Department of Medicine, Box Hill Hospital, Clive Ward Centre, Box
Hill 3128
Telephone: (03) 9895 3540
Fax: (03) 9895 0332
Email: hatem.salem@med.monash.edu.au
- Hemostasis (general) Regulation of platelet adhesion and thrombus
formation under flow; purification and analysis of a novel platelet activator;
analysis of a novel platelet inhibitory mechanism involving secretory
phospholipase A2; study of the relationship between apolipoproteins and the
protective effect of estrogens on atheromatous; participating centre in an
international, triple-blind clinical trial of the safety and efficacy of a
platelet inhibitor, Clopidogrel, versus aspirin in patients at risk of
ischaemic events (Capri).
- Immunology/cell biology Regulation of programmed cell death
(apoptosis); cytotoxic lymphocyte function; serine proteinase inhibitors
(serpins) in apoptosis and cell differentiation.
- Fibrinolysis Regulation of the tissue plasminogen activator gene;
regulation of the plasminogen activator inhibitor 2 gene; RNA stabilising
elements and binding factors
- Signal transduction Cell biology, biochemistry and molecular
analysis of enzymes mediating inositol polyphosphate turnover; identification
of proteins interacting with key receptors and phosphoinositol 3 kinase in
platelets; investigation of the role of tyrosine kinases in platelets; LIM
proteins in muscle and platelet function.
wwwdev@monash.edu.au
Tue Oct 6 02:34:14 EST 1998