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Handbooks Courses Units
 
Monash University

Principal areas of research - Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Anatomy and cell biology

Cardiovascular and renal cell biology

  • Foetal heart development; effect of premature birth on heart structure and function.

Cutaneous developmental biology

  • Development of the skin, our largest organ.

Developmental neuropharmacology

  • Memory formation process, the role of noradrenaline and prenatal compromise.

Kidney and ureter development

  • Molecular regulation of kidney and ureter development; identifying the roles of specific genes in kidney and ureter development; effect of premature birth on kidney structure and function.

Developmental renal programming

  • Identifying the effects of foetal perturbations (including dietary manipulations, natural and synthetic glucocorticoids, alcohol, estrogens, ultrasound radiation) on kidney development, and the consequences for adult kidney function and disease.

Epithelial regeneration

  • The cellular changes involved in the initiation of colorectal cancer; differentiation of stem cells; gut development.

Human nephron number, kidney disease and hypertension

  • Nephron number in different racial groups and the link to adult hypertension and renal disease and function - studies in Australian, US and African populations; national audit of Aboriginal renal biopsies

Developmental neuroscience

  • Development and maturation of the cerebral cortex of mammals.

Male reproductive biology

  • Testicular function; testis development.

Female reproductive biology

  • Development of the ovary; renewal and replacement of ovarian follicles.

Pulmonary development and programming

  • Mechanisms underlying the effects of foetal and postnatal growth restriction on adult lung structure and function; the role of premature birth in the early developmental origins of cardio-respiratory diseases; mechanisms of foetal brain injury caused by hypoxia and/or inflammation: the development of neuroprotective strategies; effects of alcohol exposure on the foetus during late gestation.

Down syndrome/Alzheimer's disease

  • Functional characterisation of the genes involved in the neuropathology of Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease using genetically modified mice; epithelial ETS transcription factors, ELF3 and ELF5; Determining the roles played by ELF3/5 in the normal development and function of epithelial cells, and whether they contribute to diseases such as cancer.

Obesity related hypertension; Is it all in our heads?

  • Obesity and related conditions are a major threat to human health. This research asks two fundamental questions - Which areas of the brain control obesity related hypertension and how does a mother's diet in pregnancy programme obesity and hypertension in her children?

Contact details

Dr Mary Jane Black: telephone +61 3 9905 9225; email jane.black@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/anatomy/research/

Biochemistry and molecular biology

  • Signal transduction in the regulation of secretion; cytoskeletal rearrangements and cellular proliferation in cancer; proteases and their inhibitors and receptors in degenerative diseases; the role of protein folding and misfolding in disease; nuclear protein transport in medicine and development; bioinformatics: searching for novel protein domains in the human proteome; structural biology (crystallography) of medically important proteins; molecular analysis of the cause and expression of autoimmune diseases; peptide folding, biomembrane nanotechnology and drug design; the molecular neurobiology of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders; proteomics and the functional analysis of vascular proteases; autophagy and organelle turnover; subversion of autophagy during bacterial infection; fluorescent proteins with novel proteins; functional and biochemical aspects of hyaluronan with special reference to its role in disease; adrenal steroid signalling and actions in embryonic development, heart failure and obesity; response of neuronal cells to stress in stroke and neurodegenerative disorders; bacterial host-pathogen interactions; trans plasma membrane electron transport; environmental causes of type 1 diabetes; protein tyrosine phosphatases in cancer and diabetes; biology of the skin and hair; epidermal stem cell biology; animal models of skin disease; novel genes and therapies in breast cancer metastasis; bone metastasis; heat shock proteins in cancer; molecular virology; virus-host interactions; viral RNA structure and function.

Contact details

Professor Rod Devenish: telephone +61 3 9905 3782; email rod.devenish@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/biochem/research/

Community emergency health and paramedic practice

  • Emergency medical services; Pre-hospital emergency medical care; Paramedic education.

Contact details

Associate Professor Frank Archer: telephone · 61 3 9904 4330; email frank.archer@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/cehpp/research

Epidemiology and preventive medicine

All aspects of the public health research and preventive medicine, including:

  • Chronic disease epidemiology (cardiovascular, respiratory and rheumatic diseases); clinical pharmacology; the clinical evaluation of drugs including physiological studies in humans, drug trials and drug safety studies; toxicology; clinical epidemiology and biostatistical methods (including diagnostic tests, clinical measurement and systematic reviews); infectious diseases neuro-epidemiology; epidemiological modelling; health services delivery; health economics and cost-effectiveness studies; health services research; environmental health, including health risk assessment: evidence-based medicine, preventive medicine and occupational health; health promotion; health policy development; quality assessment and outcomes in healthcare.

Contact details

Professor John McNeil: telephone +61 3 9903 0565; email john.mcneil@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/research/

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 details

Professor Stephen Cordner: telephone +61 3 9684 4301; email stephenc@vifm.org or visit http://www.vifm.org/

General practice

Mental health

  • Assessment and management of depressive and anxiety disorders, internet-based mental health, primary care of mental illness, problem gambling.

Developmental disability

  • Mental health of people with disabilities, sexuality, human relations, health and well-being, challenging behaviours, Down's syndrome and rural disability care.

Medical education research

  • Evaluation of medical education.

Health and medical services

  • Integration of evidence-based medicine, quality improvement, informatics in primary care use of computers in primary care, workforce violence and stress.

Cardiovascular health and illness

  • Prevention and treatment programs, management and hospitalisation.

Men's sexual health

  • Management of erectile disorders, hormone replacement therapy, infertility, testosterone deficiency and prostate disease.

Ageing

  • Conceptualisation of healthy ageing, predictors of healthy ageing and ageing outcomes, primary care services and older people, cultural factors

Cultural factors in health

  • Primary health service design and delivery to culturally and linguistically diverse groups, outcomes studies

Family violence

Medical ethics

Contact details

Associate Professor Neil Spike: telephone +61 3 8575 2212; email neil.spike@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/general-practice/research/

Health sciences

Health promotion/public health

  • Equity-focused health promotion programs; health promotion/social science theory; community engagement; community-based planning and strategies; social determinants approaches; change management; physical activity; community wellbeing; evidence-base for health promotion; quality measurement/outcomes and indicators; quantitative and qualitative evaluation; reliability and validity of measures; mass media and social marketing strategies; role of media, media discourses in population health; body image.

Health determinants

  • Population based studies; psychological, social, organisational, environmental, gendered and cultural contributors to health needs in communities; social ecological and other models of health determinants.

Health policy

  • Health impact assessment; gambling and public health; health service delivery; healthy public policy; management; public health ethics; primary care; primary health care; health service funding systems; social and economic costs of disease burden.

Health service delivery

  • Primary care; practice nursing; community nursing; community health nursing; chronic disease strategy; integrated approaches; practice change; evaluation of healthcare; women's health; rural primary care.

Chronic disease prevention

  • Chronic disease prevention; evaluation of prevention strategies in health care, worksite, school and neighbourhood settings; knowledge translation/evidence based approaches.

Contact details

Department of Health Science: Monash University, Peninsula Campus, PO Box 527, Frankston, Victoria 3199 Australia; telephone +61 3 9904 4466; fax: +61 3 9904 4812; email healthsciences@med.monash.edu.au

Immunology

See also `Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories' under `Monash institutes of research'

Allergic diseases

  • Allergy; asthma; cytokines; allergens; T-cell responses; immunotherapy.

Tolerance and autoimmunity

  • Autoimmune gastritis; type 1 diabetes; atherosclerosis; immunopathogenesis; transgenic and genetically engineered mice; stem cells engineering; bone marrow transplantation.

Inflammation

  • Thrombosis; platelet adhesion; platelet activation; glycoprotein 1b-IX-V.

Cell biology

  • Cell immoralisation; cell senescence; telomeres; cell division; cancer; secretory pathway and the Golgi.

Contact details

Professor Michael Berndt: telephone +61 3 9905 3721; email michael.berndt@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/immunology/research/

Medical imaging and radiation sciences

All aspects of medical imaging and image-guide interventions, as well as radiation therapy, including:

  • Clinical studies in radiography; ultrasound; CT; MRI; MR spectroscopy; PET; PET/CT; vascular imaging; radiobiology and radiation physics specifically anatomical and functional imaging of tumours; musculo-skeletal pathologies and injuries; development of new contrast media; evaluations of work practices of sonographers and radiographers and studies into professional and educational issues of imaging practitioners; Animal-model based studies are conducted into bioeffects of ultrasound during pregnancy.

Contact details

Dr Michal Schneider-Kolsky: telephone +61 3 9905 1348; email michal.schneider-kolsky@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/radiography/

Medicine

The Alfred Hospital

  • Organ transplantation; renal disease; respiratory disease; clinical pharmacology; infectious diseases; oncology; rheumatology; dermatology and palliative care.

Contact details

Professor Napier Thompson, the Alfred Hospital: telephone +61 3 9903 0640; email napier.thomson@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/alfred/research

Dr Robert Medcalf, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases: telephone +61 3 9903 0133; email robert.medcalf@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.acbd.monash.org/

Box Hill

  • Inflammatory bowel disease, functional gut disorders and irritable bowel syndrome, coeliac disease, dietary therapy of gastrointestinal disease, dietary short-chain carbohydrates, oesophageal physiology, stroke, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, coronary heart disease, clinical and physiological studies in cardiology, role of nurse practitioners in multidisciplinary management, clinical trail methodologies.

Contact details

Professor Peter Gibson: telephone +61 3 9895 0349; email peter.gibson@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/box_hill/research/

Monash Medical Centre

  • Apoptosis; asthma and airways disease; anticoagulants; Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA); autoimmunity; bioethics, liver disease; cardiovascular disease, especially atherosclerotic and cardiac failure and hypertension; clinical and public health nutrition; cytotoxic lymphocytes; diabetes; gene regulation; glomerulonephritis; inflammatory disease (joints, skin and kidneys); infectious diseases; intensive care medicine; intracellular signalling; movement disorders; osteoporosis; osteoarthritis; peptic ulcer; proteases and protease inhibitors; renal disease; rheumatology, serine proteinase inhibitors; 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, vasculitis; 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; fibrinogen; intracellular signalling; serpins; tissue plasminogen activator; urokinase plasminogen activator; plasminogen activator inhibitor-2; neurodegeneration; gene regulation.

Contact details

Professor Stephen Holdsworth: telephone +61 3 9594 5525; email stephen.holdsworth@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/mmc/research/

Microbiology

Molecular virology

  • Coronavirus; measles virus; respiratory syncytial virus; rubella virus; hepatitis B, hepatitis C and D; virus-like particle, vaccination strategy.

Parasitology

  • Plasmodium; falciparum; malaria; malaria antigens; biorheology of malaria; infected red blood cells; seroepidemiology of malaria infection; protein-protein interactions in malaria-infected cells; discovery of malaria protein function; babesiosis; adhesion molecules of babesia bovis.

Molecular bacteriology

  • Pathogenesis; transposons; gonococci; meningococci; gonorrhoea; pili; regulon; toxins and pathogenesis; Clostridium difficile-associated disease, clostridial myonecrosis; clostridial genetics; transposable genetic elements; conjugative plasmids, two-component signal transduction; footrot; antibiotic resistance; tuberculosis; genome databases; cell wall synthetic pathways; cell wall synthesis; bioinformatics; signal transduction; gene regulation; leptospirosis; pasteurella pathogenesis and vaccines; shigella virulence; bacillary dysentery; Buruli ulcer; Bairnsdale ulcer; diarheagenic E. coli; bacterial adhesions; melioidosis; biofilms; bacterial respiratory infection; helicobacter pylon; pseudomonas aeruginosa; haemophilus influenzae; opportunistic pathogens; nosocomial infections; mycobacteria; cell-cell interactions; protein trafficking; host cell targets of baceterial virulence factors; staphylococcal infections; meningitis; septicaemia.

Immunity to infection

  • Immunity; vaccines; DNA vaccination; transgenic plants as vaccines; immunization; gastrointestinal inflammation; innate immunity; toll-like receptors; nod proteins; muscosal immunity.

Contact details

Professor John Davies: telephone +61 3 9905 4824; email john.davies@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/microbiology/pgrad/index.html

Nursing and midwifery

  • Acute clinical nursing; health services operations management; mental health nursing; midwifery; nursing education; palliative care; rural nursing and rural health.

Contact details

Associate Professor Tony Barnett: telephone +61 3 9902 6636; email tony.barnett@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/nursing/research/

Obstetrics and gynaecology

  • Gynaecology and infertility; maternal-foetal medicine; reproductive and endothelial cell biology; 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; virtual reality, computerised surgery; angiogenesis (control of blood vessel growth); and factors in fibroid growth and development, investigating why these common benign tumours develop and grow.

Contact details

Professor David Healy: telephone +61 3 9594 5488; email david.healy@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ob-gyn/

Occupational Therapy

  • Acquired brain injury, forensic occupational therapy, community-based practice, paediatric occupational therapy practice, occupational therapy theory, occupational science, evidence-based practice and research utilisation, client-centred practice, problem-based learning as a teaching method, test development and evaluation, role of the environment in occupational performance, activity and participation, interprofessional education, assistive technology, occupation-based practice, time-use and health, hand injury rehabilitation, program development and evaluation, professional accreditation and competence, fieldwork education, roles of health professionals and professional associations, assessment issues related to clinical practice, learning disabilities and developmental delay, visual motor integration, visual perception and motor skill development

Contact details

Dr. Ted Brown: telephone +61 3 9904 4462; email ted.brown@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ot

Paediatrics

  • Neonatal research; paediatric sleep studies; Cystic Fibrosis and pathogenesis of lung infection in CF; developmental disabilities; clinical genetics; foetal and neonatal physiology; foetal surgery; adaption at birth; 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; and clinical and interventional cardiology.

Contact details

Telephone +61 3 9594 4490; or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/paediatrics/programs/research.html

Pharmacology

  • Neuropharmacology; molecular pharmacology; cardiovascular pharmacology; reproductive and genitourinary pharmacology; venoms and toxins; anti-obesity drugs; autacoids; drug discovery and development; drug receptor mechanisms; hypertension; G-protein coupled receptors; free radicals; neurotransmitters; endocrine pharmacology; peptides; pharmacology of potassium channels; knock-out mice; drug target validation; gene targeting; imaging techniques; biomarkers.

Contact details

Associate Professor Wayne Hodgson: telephone +61 3 9905 4861; email wayne.hodgson@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/pharmacology/research/

Physiology

High blood pressure

  • Role of the kidney in blood pressure control; renal disease and nephron endowment; physiological mechanisms regulating glomerular capillary pressure; renal innervation and renal medulla anti-hypertensive mechanisms; blood pressure regulation in diabetes; hypertension and obesity.

Foetal and neonatal

  • Causes and consequences of preterm birth; growth and development of the foetus; foetal lung development; transition to air-breathing at birth and mechanisms of ventilator-induced lung injury; foetal brain injury and neuroprotective treatments for the foetus and neonate.

Metabolic neuroscience

  • Central neural control of energy expenditure and body weight; thirst and body fluid homeostasis; obesity hypertension; antipsychotic drugs and weight gain.

Muscle and exercise

  • Exercise and women's health; exercise and muscle gene expression; mitogenic signalling; proprioception and factors affecting limb position sense.

Neuroendocrinology

  • Obesity and appetite regulation; neuronedocrine predisposition to obesity; neroendocrine regulation of reproduction; the gonadotropin releasing hormone system; impact of stress on physiological systems and the influence of sex and sex steroids on the response to stress; neuroendocrine behavioural interactions.

Smooth and cardiac muscle

  • Endothelial control of blood vessel diameter; vitamin D deficiency; uterine physiology and dysfunction in labour; function and dysfunction of the upper urinary tract; sex hormone modulation of cardiac hypertrophy; synchrotron radiation studies of cardiac function.

Sensory and motor neuroscience

  • Structure and function of the auditory system; structure and function of the visual system; central and peripheral mechanisms of sensation; physiology of tactile discrimination; neuroanatomy of the cerebal cortex circuits involved in sensory cognition.

Cognitive and motor neuroscience

  • Learning and memory for auditory and visual discriminations.

Immunology and Biotechnology

  • Infectious and allergic diseases in humans.

Contact details

Associate Professor Alan Tilbrook: telephone +61 3 9905 2551; email alan.tilbrook@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/physiology/research/index.html

Physiotherapy

Musculoskeletal physiotherapy

Low back pain

  • Predicting outcomes, effects of exercise interventions, first onset of low back pain, outcome measures, implementing best practice guidelines.

Assessment

  • Mobility of older people, assessment of physiotherapy practical skills, assessment of mobility in dogs, Rasch analysis, real time ultrasound, gait

Systematic review

  • Cochrane reviews, systematic reviews of observational studies.

Clinical trials

  • Exercise for back pain, exercise for older medical patients.

Cardiorespiratory

Assessment

  • Risk prediction in upper abdominal surgery.

Clinical trials

  • Lung recruitment manoeuvres, cystic fibrosis and education, cystic fibrosis and exercise, mobilisation following upper abdominal surgery.

Neurological physiotherapy

Therapeutic intervention

  • Mechanisms for efficacy of therapeutic exercise, facilitatory and inhibitory techniques, electromyographic feedback and electrical stimulation in patients with neurological disorders, gait variability in neurological disorders.

Motor control

  • Integration of neuroscience and biomechanics to investigate the nervous system control of joint stability and movement including effect of pain on motor control, mechanism of efficacy of therapeutic exercise, mobilisation techniques, electromyographic feedback and electrical stimulation in joint syndromes, tendon injuries and muscle strain or sprain.

Non-clinical studies

  • Electromyography, nerve conduction velocity, H-reflex, transcranial magnetic stimulation and accelerometry in conjunction with different clinical outcome measures.

Education

Interprofessional education

  • Effects on attitudes to disability, attitudes to other health care professionals

Teaching and learning

  • Clinical education, case-based learning, clinical simulations, feedback, computer-based learning, keypad technology, reducing the burden of clinical placements.

Contact details

Dr Shapour Jaberzadeh: telephone +61 3 99044816; email shapour.jaberzadeh@med.monash.edu.au

Psychology, psychiatry and psychological medicine

Animal welfare

  • Animal and human interaction; animal-assisted therapy; animal welfare practice; primate vocal communication.

Contact details

Professor G Coleman: email grahame.colemen@med.monash.edu.au

Developmental psychology and psychiatry

  • Child and adolescent psychiatry; cortical inhibition; depression; developmental delay; intellectual disability; developmental disorders; autism; attention deficit disorder; anxiety; psychosis; conduct; children's response to trauma; abuse; behaviour based therapies; drug based therapies; personality; play and aggression in children; psychobiology of emotion; psycholinguistics; psychological assessment; psychology of aging; developmental psychopathology.

Contact details

Professor B Tonge: email bruce.tong@med.monash.edu.au

Forensic mental health

  • Assessment and treatment of mental illness; developmental forensic; jury behaviour and decision making; stalking; sexual abuse of children; mental illness in prisons; effects of crime on victims; involuntary hospitalisation in civil or forensic psychiatric facilities; strategies and interventions for reducing criminal behaviour and violence; the legal system and the interface with offenders with psychiatric, psychological or behavioural disorders; substance abuse and addiction psychiatry; families and parenting; developmental forensic.

Contact details

Professor J Ogloff: email james.ogloff@med.monash.edu.au

Health psychology and psychiatry

  • Psychological and psychiatric aspects of general health; human behaviour, depression, anxiety, cognitive disturbance and its relationship to physical health and well-being; physical disease and its effects on psychological well-being; health outcomes; psychiatric aspects of general medicine; resilience in the face of physical ill health; psychiatry in general practice; health psychology and health behaviours.

Contact details

Professor D Clarke: email david.clarke@med.monash.edu.au

Neuroscience and neuropsychology

  • Neuroanatomy; neurobiology; neurodegenerative disorders; neurodevelopmental disorders; neuroethology; neurophysiology; neuropsychology; behavioural neurobiology; psychoneuroendocrinology; cognitive neuroscience; comparative neuroscience; clinical neuropsychology; biological mechanisms underlying sleep, learning, language behaviours; dementia; insomnia; addiction; Parkinson's disease; Huntington's disease; Alzheimer's disease; autism; brain function and social, physical and biological environments; cognition; bodily function; experimental neuropsychology.

Contact details

Associate Professor S Robinson: email stephen.robinson@med.monash.edu.au

Clinical Psychiatry Research

  • Developing new treatments for severe mental illnesses including schizophrenia, depression, bipolar affective disorder, anxiety disorders using hormonal treatment strategies, brain stimulation and advances in psychopharmacology. Understanding more about the causes of mental illnesses using the neurobiological tools of transcranial magnetic stimulation; brain imaging, and other electrophysiological technology. Exploring biological, psychological and social approaches for special groups of people with mental illness such as Women's Mental Health, treatment resistant depression, and schizophrenia.

Contact details

Professor J Kulkarni: email jayashi.kulkarni@med.monash.edu.au

Behavioural ecology

  • Community health economics; health outcomes; rural mental health; service evaluation research; women's mental health; environmental psychology; health care management; information processing; innovation and creativity; medical simulation; road user behaviour; values, culture and climate; cross-cultural psychology; epidemiology; nature and psychological well-being, ; behavioural medicine; behavioural neuroscience.

Contact details

Email: research.spppm@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/spppm/research

Education

  • Educational psychology; educational technologies; learning; medical education; perceptual learning.

Contact details

Email: research.spppm@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/spppm/research

Organisational psychology

  • Professional identity; performance in the workplace; vocational psychology; organisational change; organisational psychology; change management; leadership development; leadership succession; leadership; psychology of groups and teams.

Contact details

Email: research.spppm@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/spppm/research

Rural health

Rural health workforce issues

  • Rural medicine and allied health workforce recruitment and retention; advanced nursing practice; gender issues in rural health workforce; international medical graduates; rural and remote classification.

Models of health services in rural and remote areas

  • Sustainable service delivery models; service accessibility; the role of information technology; delivery of mental health services.

Rural medical health education and support

  • The medical schools outcomes database project; rural exposure and medical placements programs.

Rural community development and capacity building

  • Change and restructuring within rural communities; rural and regional development.

Indigenous health

Determinants of rural health and population health issues

  • Rural and environmental epidemiology; health behaviour of rural youth; ageing in rural areas; rural injuries; rural consumer preferences for health services and involvement in quality improvement.

Clinical topics

  • Management of chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis, diabetes, cancer; mental health; disabilities; rural surgery; rural pharmacy.

Rural health research methodologies

  • Research capacity building.

Rural health policy and program evaluation

Contact details

Professor John Humphreys: telephone +61 3 5440 9082; email john.humphreys@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/mrh/research

Social work

Casework

Child welfare including:

  • Child protection; child welfare and the law.

Health including:

  • Community services; mental health; management of health and welfare services.
  • Corrections including forensic health

Family law including:

  • Family and children's courts; family interventions; family violence.

Management including:

  • Policy development.

Other

  • Poverty; the welfare lobby; drug law reform; aged care.

Contact details

Associate Professor Rosemary Sheehan: telephone +61 3 9903 1134; email rosemary.sheehan@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/socialwork/research/

Surgery

The Alfred Hospital

  • Neurotrauma research (Professor Rosenfeld) associated with National Trauma Research Institute (NTRI), Alfred Hospital, brain tumour research (calcitonin receptor), spinal disc regeneration and causes of disc degeneration (Professor Rosenfeld and Mr Malham) in collaboration with Stem Cell Institute, TPA in neurotrauma associated with Centre for Blood Diseases, cerebral autoregulation associated with Department of Neurosurgery and the Royal Children's Hospital, endocrine surgery research (Professor Serpell), endocrine surgery database (Professor Serpell) cardiovascular research (Professor Rosenfeldt) associated with ardiothoracic unit and the Baker Institute, Alfred Hospital, molecular biology laboratory and cell culture laboratory for colorectal and burns research, evaluation of laparoscopic procedures, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, diseases of the liver and bile ducts.

Contact details

Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld: telephone +61 3 9903 0190; email j.rosefeld@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/alfred/

Cabrini Hospital

  • Investigation of bowel disorders; colorectal cancer; chemoprevention of colorectal cancer; evaluation of laparoscopic surgery for colorectal surgery; genetic predisposition of colorectal cancer; genetic mutations associated with colorectal cancer; assessment of diagnostic techniques for the early detection of colon cancer; applications of new clinical treatments for colorectal cancer; determining incidence between colorectal and other cancers; pain control after colorectal surgery; epidemiology of colorectal cancer and risk factors for mortality; evaluation of endoscopic sterilization; outcome of anal fissure surgery; investigation of gastric and oesophageal motility disorders, with particular reference to function after treatment of oesophageal or gastric cancer; management of refractory gastroparesis; investigation of outcomes of bariatric surgery - particularly revisional surgery.

Contact details

Professor Adrian Polglase: telephone +61 3 9508 1651; email adrian.polglase@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/cabrini/research/

Monash Medical Centre

  • Retinal and other opthalmological research; vascular and transplantation surgery; the vascular response to inflammation; ulcer healing; surgical education; laparoscopic surgery; cultured epithelial grafts; microsurgery; endovascular stents and grafts: minimally invasive surgery; robotically assisted surgery; cognitive function after major surgery; activin and related peptides in cancer; urological malignancy.

Contact details

Professor Julian Smith: telephone +61 3 9594 5400; email julian.smith@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/mmc/research.html