Medicine
Head:
Professor N M Thomson
Address: Department of Medicine, Monash Medical School, Alfred Hospital,
Prahran 3181
Telephone: (03) 9276 2640
- + Allergy and clinical immunology Cellular immune response to
aeroallergens: T cell epitopes, cytokine profiles, novel strategies for
immunotherapy; clinical investigation of latex allergy in spina bifida
patients; antibiotic and insect venom allergy - desensitisation strategies;
asthma: oral gold in severe asthma.
- + Cardiovascular Growth factors; hyperplasia and hypertrophy in
hypertension and re-stenosis after balloon angioplasty; sodium-hydrogen
exchange; noradrenaline release in myocardial ischaemia; mechanisms of the
effects of physical training in experimental hypertension; effects of
lipoproteins on vascular reactivity; heart failure; cardiac and vascular
hypertrophy in hypertension; novel risk factors; risk markers for coronary
disease; sympathetic activity in hypertension; heart failure; autonomic
activity and sudden death; non-pharmacological treatment of hypertension;
cardiovascular effect of exercise; endothelial dysfunction in hyperlipidaemia
and hypertension; nutrition mechanisms of obesity and 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 (experimental
animal and human studies); growth factors in experimental and human allograft
rejection (kidney, heart, pancreas and gout); 11-b-hydroxysteriod dehydrogenase
in hypertension associated with renal disease; renal disease in cardiac
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 alone or as part of a combined modality treatment
program in various malignancies; the role of supportive psychological
counselling in the prognosis of women with early stage breast carcinoma who are
also receiving adjuvant treatment as well as in women with metastatic breast
carcinoma receiving standard therapy.
- + 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; minimal peridual disease in
lymphoid malignancy; isolation and characterisation of T lymphocyte clones
reactive to leukaemia-associated or leukaemia-specific antigens; isolation and
characterisation of T lymphocyte clones reactive to minor histocompatibility
antigens; development of in vitro assays to assess the risk of
graft-versus-host disease in patients undergoing allogeneic BMT; optimisation
of leucapheresis to obtain adequate numbers of peripheral blood stem cells for
allogeneic BMT; assessment of T clonal restriction in patients with
haematological malignancies; methods to eliminate alloreactive (GVDH inducing)
T lymphocytes from the donor marrow; assessment of minimal residual
disease after autologous transplantation for chronic myeloid leukaemia;
clinical database analysis of various pre- and post-autologous or allogeneic
transplant data; numerous clinical trials of various chemotherapeutic agents as
well as autologous and allogeneic transplantation in the management of
haematological and non-haematological malignancies (Bone Marrow Transplant
Program).
- + Clinical pharmacology In vitro simulations of aminoglycoside
concentration-time profiles and effect on gram negative bacterial kill; hepatic
interactions of beta-blockers and calcium antagonists, food effect on drug
bio-availability, heavy metal excretion by the kidney and liver; aminoglycoside
pharmacokinetics: oxygen supplementation and vasodilator use in patients with
cirrhosis, audit of antibiotic prescribing, parenteral nutrition, drug-related
hospitalisations; adverse drug reactions; drug usage evaluation; 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.
- + Dermatology Melanoma risk in patients with dysplastic naevi,
sunlight in the causation of melanocytic naevi; factors associated with the
development of other melanocytic lesions in Australian schoolchildren;
biological behaviour between different morphological sub-types of basal cell
carcinoma; skin surface microscopy in the early diagnosis of melanoma;
cyclosporin in psoriasis; spironolactone in acne.
- + Rheumatology Database development in medicine - the Medical
Diagnostic Index Program ; head shock problems and auto-immune disease;
methotrexate and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug interactions; cyclosporin
and grape fruit juice interactions. Clinical use of chondroprotective agents
(pentosan polysulphate and hyaluronic acid) in osteoarthritis of the knee.
Steroids and bone mineral density in patients with inflammatory rheumatic
diseases.
- + 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; new drugs; molecular epidemiology;
diet; home environment as modulator of asthma. Physiology - exercise limitation
post lung transplantation; nitric oxide source in the airways and relation to
disease; airway compliance in asthma. CF - new antibiotic regimes; prognostic
indicators; home therapy. Transplantation - PCR for cytomegalovirus,
relationship to outcomes; airway inflammation and relation to non specific
hyperresponsiveness and bronchiolitis obliterans. Use of NO in pulmonary
hypertension. Sleep Medicine - OSA and heart disease. Allergy - T cell cytokine
responses.
- + 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.
Head:
Professor M L Wahlqvist
Address: Department of Medicine, Monash Medical Centre, 246 Clayton Road,
Clayton 3168
Telephone: (03) 9550 5525
- + 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, endocrinology,
gastroenterology, 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 in Region 8 served by Monash Medical Centre -
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; preventive nutrition; 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.
- + Gastroenterology GI hormones, gastric function, drugs and
peptic ulcer, lower oesophageal sphincter function, bile acid function;
helicobacter pylori and peptic ulcer disease in Chinese and Anglo-Celtic
Australians; hepatitis; chronic inflammatory bowel disease; nutritional
prevention of large bowel cancer.
- + 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
- + Hemostasis (general) 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
stabilizing 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.