Monash University: University Handbooks: Postgraduate Handbook 2002: Units indexed by faculty
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Graduate research programs


The following is a brief summary of the research programs currently offered through the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

Anaesthesia

Pain; antinociception; spinal cord mechanisms; chronic pain syndromes; and epidemiology.
Contact: colin.goodchild@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/anaesthesia/

Anatomy and Cell Biology

Kidney development; kidney disease in Aborigines; renal scarring; testicular function; testis development; neurodegeneration; regeneration of motor neurones; cardiovascular cell biology; hypertension; thalassaemia; repair of ligaments; bone and cartilage biology; stereology; transgenic mice/molecular biology and cell biology.
Contact: nigel.wreford@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ anatomy/

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Autoimmune diseases, autophagy and mitochondrial turnover, bioprocess technology, cancer, connective tissue, cyclosporins/immunophilins and apoptosis, renal disease, hyaluronan metabolism, interferons, mammalian mitochondria, membrane trafficking and diabetes, Mitochondrial ATP synthase, molecular parasitology, neutrophils, nuclear-cytoplasmic transport, obesity and diabetes, peptide/protein structure and drug design, proteases, protease inhibitor, protein tyrosine phosphatases, signal transduction, and yeast.
Contact: rod.devenish@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ biochem/

Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine

All aspects of the clinical evaluation of drugs including physiological studies in animals and man, drug trials and drug safety studies; public health research; asthma and respiratory disease; epidemiology neuro-epidemiology; clinical epidemiology, including clinical measurement and systematic reviews; infectious disease epidemiology; cost-effectiveness studies; health services research; environmental health; preventive medicine; occupational health; and arthritis epidemiology.
Contact: michael.abramson@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/

Forensic Medicine

All aspects of the interface between law and medicine including forensic pathology, clinical forensic medicine, forensic toxicology, molecular biology and tissue banking; intravenous drug abuse, death, injury and prevention; adverse events in hospital practice; patterns of injury; sexual assault; traumatic neuropathology; ageing of injuries; traffic medicine including drugs and driving; post mortem drug redistribution; wound ballistics; SIDS; tissue banking including allograft incorporation and tissue engineering.
Contact: olaf.drummer@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.vifp.monash.edu.au/

General Practice

Health promotion; preventive care; medical education by distance education; intellectual disability and psychiatric comorbidity; rational prescribing; communication strategies for medical practitioners; occupational stress; and GP secondary care integration.
Contact: leon.piterman@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ general-practice/

Medicine

Apoptosis; asthma and airways disease; anticoagulants; bioethics, bowel cancer; liver disease; cardiovascular disease, especially atherosclerotic and cardiac failure as well as hypertension; clinical and public health nutrition; cytotoxic lymphocytes; diabetes; gene regulation; haemostasis; oncology; inflammatory disease (joints, skin and kidneys); infectious diseases; intensive care medicine; intracellular signalling; movement disorders; osteoporosis; osteoarthritis; peptic ulcer; proteases and protease inhibitors; platelet biology; renal disease; rheumatology, serine proteinase inhibitors; skin cancer; psoriasis; clinical pharmacology; gerontology; palliative care; neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease; neuro-otology; clinical and basic research in cardiology, vascular and respiratory areas including vascular biology, physiology and pharmacology of the peripheral and coronary vasculature; metabolic vasodilation; vascular effects of hormone replacement, vitamin therapy, hypercholesterolaemia; pathophysiology of left atrial thrombus; mitral stenosis; atrial fibrillation; pulmonary circulation; pulmonary hypertension; cardiac function, coagulation activity; acute coronary syndromes; inotropic agents; asthma; bronchiectasis; sleep disorders; thrombosis; platelets; Von Willebrand factor; fibrinogen; intracellular signalling; glycoprotein [alpha]IIb[beta]3, RhoA, actin cytoskeleton, haemopoiesis; serpins; yeast-2-hybrid; fibrinolysis; tissue plasminogen activator; urokinase plasminogen activator; plasminogen activator inhibitor-2.
Contact -- Alfred Hospital
napier.thomson@med.monash.edu.au
http://www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/alfred/
Contact -- Box Hill Hospital
robert.medcalf@med.monash.edu.au
http://www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/box_hill/
Contact -- Monash Medical Centre
peter.tipping@med.monash.edu.au
http://www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/mmc/

Microbiology

Immunity; pathogenesis; gene probes; transposons; gonococci; meningococci; repetitive DNA; gonorrhoea; pili; regulon; environmental microbiology; molecular microbiology; dengue; coronavirus; measles virus; fungal viruses; molecular virology; respiratory syncytial virus; rubella virus; clostridial genetics; transposable genetic elements; two-component signal transduction; footrot; antibiotic resistance; calicivirus; viral gastroenteritis; Plasmodium falciparum; malaria; vaccines; DNA vaccination; transgenic plants as vaccines; malaria antigens; biorheology of malaria infected red blood cells; seroepidemiology of malaria infection; tuberculosis; genome databases; cell wall synthetic pathways; bioinformatics; protein-protein infections in malaria-infected cells; signal transduction regulation; mycoviruses; leptospirosis; pasteurella pathogenesis and vaccines; shigella virulence; bacillary dysentery; Buruli ulcer; Bairnsdale ulcer, diarheagenic E. coli; bacterial adhesins.
Contact: andrew.davidson@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/microbiology/

Nursing

Community nursing; nurse education; acute care; palliative care; ethical/ moral issues; legal issues; rural health care practice issues and models; health care management in a range of settings; paediatric/child health; family health; women's health; sexual health and adolescents; nursing informatics; gerontics and health services operation management.
Contact: tony.barnett@nursing.monash.edu.au, http://www.nursing.monash.edu.au/
Centre for Health Services Operation Management -- development of workflow process and analysis communications (eg internet-based, multidisciplinary) cost management (eg casemix) systems analysis and design systems optimisation (utilisation review) and simulation use of IT tools for clinical/financial decision support.
Contact liza.heslop@nursing.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ chsom/

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Reproductive endocrinology; reproductive hormones; menstruation; implantation; infertility; labour; trophoblast function; regulation of placental blood flow; preterm labour; low birth weight; prenatal diagnosis; models of antenatal care; endometriosis; preeclampsia; ovarian cancer; molecular obstetrics; molecular gynaecology; angiogenesis (control of blood vessel growth); and factors in fibroid growth and development, investigating why these common benign tumours develop and grow.
Contact: peter.rogers@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ob-gyn/

Paediatrics

Fetal and neonatal physiology; fetal surgery; adaptation at birth; cot death studies (SIDS); sleep studies; lung growth and development; neonatal neurological outcomes; growth disorders; childhood diabetes and endocrinology; pathogenesis of viral infections; antiviral agents (clinical trials); developmental disability; adolescent medicine; clinical and interventional cardiology.
Contact: rosemary.horne@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ paediatrics/

Pathology and Immunology

Autoimmunity; allergy; thymus biology; NK cells; exocytosis; endocytosis; cell division; plasma membrane proteins; transferrin receptor; obesity gene; gastric proton pump development; and acid secretion.
Contact: richard.boyd@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ path/

Pharmacology

Anti-obesity drugs; autacoids; diabetes; drug development; drug receptor mechanisms; hypertension; molecular pharmacology; neuropharmacology; neurotransmitters; endocrine pharmacology; peptides; confocal microscopy; pharmacology of potassium channels.
Contact: phil.beart@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ pharmacology/

Physiology

Human and animal physiology of:
Cardiovascular and renal systems -- including hypertension, renin-angiotensin system, renomedullary vasodperessor substances, renal vascular growth, neural and hormone control of kidney, kidney development, cardiac function and vascular physiology.
Cell physiology -- ion channels, ion channel function, cell surface receptors and second messengers, membrane transport, erythropoiesis, genetics of cell determination, endothelial and pancreatic cell physiology.
Muscle physiology -- including motility, energetics and mechanics of striated, cardiac and smooth muscle, exercise physiology and muscle metabolism, exercise and muscle damage, development of muscle, intestinal and urinary tract motility, vascular and uterine muscle physiology.
Nervous system -- including sense organs, processing of sensory information, proprioception, reflexes, hearing, vision, neurobiology of memory and learning, autonomic nervous system, neurogenesis and neurodegeneration, brain development and brain aging, physiology of the cerebellum, control of body movement, sleep and circadian physiology.
Neuroendocrinology -- including hypothalamatic and pituitary physiology, physiology of stress, stress and reproduction, sex differences and stress, steroid actions in the brain, endocrine control of gonadal function, appetite and growth.
Reproductive and fetal neonatal physiology -- including lung development, placenta, ovarian function, endocrinology of pregnancy and parturition, fetal growth retardation, brain development, perinatal brain demage, cot death syndrome, endocrinology of fetal neonatal stress, resuscitation of the newborn.
Vertebrate developmental biology -- including blood cell and blood vessel development and differentiation, organisation of the body plan, cancer genetics, genetics of the mouse, zebrafish and human.
Contact: david.walker@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ physiology/

Psychological Medicine

Psychiatric aspects of general medicine; general practice psychiatry; psychotic illnesses; psychogeriatrics; developmental forensic, community, child and adolescent psychiatry; psychoanalytic studies; behavioural neurobiology; psychopharmacology; health psychology; and medical education.
Contact: nicholas.keks@boxhill.org,au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ psychmed/

Psychology

The PhD and MSc programs offered by the Department of Psychology involve a research project supervised by a member of staff and regular attendance at and participation in seminar programs. Current areas of active interest and inquiry in the department include analysis of human skill, animal and human interaction, animal and human learning, animal welfare, animal-assisted therapy, attachment theory, attentional and movement disorders, behavioural medicine, biochemistry of memory, clinical psychology and clinical neuropsychology, chronobiology (circadian rhythms), counselling psychology, cross-cultural psychology, developmental psychopathology, emotional development, engineering psychology, environmental psychology, families and parenting, health psychology and health behaviours, human evolution, human information processing, human memory and cognitive processes, nature and psychological well-being, neuropsychology and neuroscience, organisational psychology, personality, play and aggression in children, psycholinguistics, psychology of ageing, psychometrics, road user behaviour, sensory processes and perception, sound localisation, stress management, vocational psychology. Graduates interested in pursuing research in these or related areas of interdisciplinary studies involving human or animal behaviour towards a higher degree should consult the postgraduate studies officer, Department of Psychology.
Contact: psychology.enquiries@sci.monash.edu.au, http://www.sci.monash.edu.edu.au/psych/

Radiography and Medical Imaging

Contact: marilyn.baird @med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/radiography/

Rural Health

Rural health workforce (recruitment and retention issues, education and training, the roles and functions of health practitioners, and gender issues), sustainable health services in rural and remote areas (self-sufficiency, sustainability, community development and capacity building, service delivery models, workforce support); determinant of health and population health issues; rural nursing; rural general practice; rural health service delivery, rural health quality assurance, pre-hospital care; rural and gender issues in rural medicine, rural health policy, pre-hospital care, rural mental health and mental illness services, sexual diversity in rural places, complementary therapies, migrant health and health services needs in rural/urban Australia, farm injuries and rural rehabilitation.
Contact: gil.han@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/crh/

Social Work

Casework; child abuse; child protection; community health; community services; corrections; ethnic welfare; Family and Children's courts; family intervention; family violence; globalisation; management; policy development; poverty; residential care; women and social work; the welfare lobby; drug law reform; child abuse and the media; aged care.
Contact: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/social_work/

Surgery

Experimental colorectal cancer; liver metastases; the vascular response to inflammation; ulcer healing; surgical education; laparoscopic surgery; cultured epithelial grafts; organ transplantation; microsurgery; gastrointestinal motility and endovascular stents and grafts.
Contact -- Alfred Hospital
paul.obrien@med.monash.edu.au
http://www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/alfred/
Contact -- Monash Medical Centre
http://www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/mmc/

Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development

Molecular reproduction and endocrinology; genetics of male infertility; immunocontrception; inflammation biology cell-based therapies and transgene/gene knockout technology; prostate development; prostate disease; endometrial physiology and angiogenesis; early human development; human infertility and fertility, fertilisation and embryogenesis; multipotential stem cells (embryonic stem cells); nuclear transfer, cloning and transgenesis in animals, gene expression in oogenesis and development, primate reproductive biology, developmental biology; molecular embryology and birth defects; fetal physiology; neonatal intensive care, sleep physiology and medicine; animal research program; functional genomics; genetics and human disease; cancer biology and genetics; tumor immunity; cytokine signaling, transcription factors; apoptosis and inflammatory diseases.
Contact: gail.risbridger@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ird/

Monash Institute of Health Services Research

Clinical decision-making and decision support systems, evaluation of the impact of evidence-based practice in clinical environments; community-based lifestyle interventions (especially in disadvantaged communities); innovative evidence-based health promotion; empowerment of consumers in health care decision-making; and cost-effectiveness and economic modelling of health care interventions.
Contact: jeremy.anderson@med.monash.edu.au, http://www.med.monash.edu.au/publichealth/
Centre for Medical Informatics -- internet, networking and telecommunications; educational technology; databases; evaluation of information technology in general practice, health informatics via distance education, standards, knowledge management, electronic health record, the interface between computers and people, change management, project management in the health arena.
Contact: cmi@med.monash.edu.au

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