PhD Scholars
Completed
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Dr Helen Ackland PhD
Email
Telephone +61 (0) 3 9076 8543
Helen's PhD, under the supervision of Professors Peter Cameron and Jamie Cooper, and Associate Professor Rory Wolfe, focused on the detection of occult cervical discoligamentous trauma, and the value of magnetic resonance imaging following normal acute CT findings in patients with persistent midline cervical tenderness. The study had three main components: (1) the assessment of cervical MRI findings in the acute phase, and the correlation of these findings with demographic, injury mechanism, radiographic and clinical factors, (2) the post-discharge review of these patients in the neurosurgical and orthopaedic outpatient clinics and follow-up to 12 months, including spine-specific clinical and functional outcomes, psychological status, timing of return to work and the use of post-acute medical and allied health resources and (3) the correlation of acute and post-acute health resource utilisation costs with acute and follow-up findings.
The publications related to the PhD are:
Ackland HM, Cameron PA, Varma DK, Fitt GJ, Cooper DJ, Wolfe R, Malham GM, Rosenfeld JV, Williamson OD, Liew SM. Cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging in alert, neurologically intact trauma patients with midline cervical tenderness and negative computed tomography. Annals Emerg Med. 2011; 58,6:521-530.
Ackland HM, Cameron PA. Cervical spine assessment following trauma. Aust Fam Physician. 2012; 41,4:196-201.
Ackland HM, Cameron PA, Wolfe R, Malham GM, Varma DK, Fitt, GJ, Cooper DJ, Rosenfeld JV, Liew SM. Outcomes at 12 months following early MRI in acute trauma patients with persistent midline cervical tenderness and negative CT. Spine. 2012 (E-Pub ahead of print: DOI:10.1097/BRS.0b013e31825e6442).
Ackland HM, Wolfe R, Cameron PA, Cooper DJ, Malham GM, Varma DK, Fitt, GJ, Rosenfeld JV, Liew SM. Health resource utilisation costs in acute patients with persistent midline cervical tenderness following road trauma. Injury. 2012; 43,11:1908-1916.
In progress
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Dr Rafidah Atan MBBS MAnaes FANZCA GCCS
PhD Scholar / Anaesthesiologist and Senior Lecturer, Monash University Sunway Campus, Malaysia
Email
Rafidah's PhD, under the supervision of Professors Rinaldo Bellomo and Anuar Zaini, centres around cytokine removal using extracorporeal techniques. The main trial which is central to her thesis is a double blind randomised controlled trial comparing high cut off hemofiltration with standard hemofiltration. The primary outcome of the study is hours off adrenaline but the study will also look at cytokine removal, toll-like receptor expression and effects on albumin loss. She is also working on a series of systematic reviews on cytokine removal using extracorporeal techniques looking at trials conducted under ex-vivo conditions, animal experimentation and human trials respectively. Rafidah is based in Malaysia and divides her time between working as a specialist in intensive care and her teaching commitments as a senior lecturer with the Malaysian campus of Monash University.
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Dr Dashiell Gantner BSc MBBS
PhD Scholar and Affiliate, ANZIC-RC
Email
Mobile 0401 048 431
Dashiell is currently undertaking a PhD entitled Knowledge Translation in the Management of Acute Traumatic Brain Injury and is the recipient of a Centre for Excellence in Traumatic Brain Injury Research (CETBIR) Fellowship at the National Trauma Research Institute (NTRI). In 2012 Dashiell was a Senior Research Fellow with the ANZIC-RC and was actively involved in the TRANFUSE-RCT (sTandaRd issue trANfusion versuS Fresher red blood cell Use in intenSive carE - Randomised Controlled Trial) study as well as a clinical advisor on POLAR (Prophylactic hypothermia trial to Lessen traumatic bRain injury). He is an Intensive Care Registrar, a member of the College of Intensive Care Medicine and the Royal Australian College of Physicians, and was shortlisted in the 2007 Young Voices in Research for Health, Global Forum for Health Research competition. In addition to extensive clinical experience, he previously undertook a research fellowship with The George Institute for Global Health, China, working with the Critical Care and Trauma and Neurological and Mental Health Divisions. His research interests include neurocritical care, transfusion medicine, sepsis, and fluid resuscitation.
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Dr Neil Glassford BSc MedSci(Hons) MBChB MRCP(UK)
PhD Scholar
Email
Mobile 0449 791 241
Neil has commenced his thesis on the "Epidemiology of fluid administration, accumulation and balance in the critically ill and relationship between intravenous fluid therapy amd patient-centred outcomes". His supervisors are Prof Rinaldo Bellomo and A/Prof Michael Bailey. He has a Bachelor's degree in Physiology, and trained in Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Neil was a Registrar in Acute Care Medicine on the West of Scotland training rotation. He previously completed projects looking at monitoring in cardiothoracic anaesthesia, and is specifically interested in clinical audit. He is working as a Research Fellow and Clinical Trainer at the Austin Hospital, and as a Clinical Fellow in Intensive Care at Epworth Eastern Hospital. Current research interests include systematic review, renal biomarkers and the importance of fluid balance in the critically ill.
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Ms Lisa Higgins BPhysio(Hons) MPH GDipBiostat
PhD Scholar and Research Fellow
Email
Telephone +61 3 9903 0348
Mobile 0400 658 694
Lisa's PhD thesis is entitled "The economics of severe sepsis in Australasia - a cost-effectiveness analysis alongside the ARISE RCT". Lisa has a background in intensive care physiotherapy, and previously worked as an intensive care research coordinator at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. More recently she worked at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre at the University of Sydney conducting systematic reviews and economic evaluations in addition to teaching epidemiology and biostatistics to Master in Public Health (MPH) students. Lisa has an MPH majoring in epidemiology and biostatistics and a Graduate Diploma in Biostatistics. She is also a Research Fellow with the ANZIC-RC.
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Dr Daryl Jones BSc(Hons) MBBS FRACP FCICM MD
PhD Scholar and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow
Email
Mobile 0439 069 402
Daryl's PhD will assess aspects of Medical Emergency Teams (METs) in a number of multi-centre studies. The first major area of investigation will involve assessment of the uptake of MET services in intensive care unit (ICU) equipped hospitals in Australia and New Zealand, particular in relation to the MERIT study. In conjunction with the Australian Commission for Quality and Safety in Health Care (ACQSHC) and Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Centre For Outcomes and Resources Evaluation (ANZICS-CORE), a 40 hospital study will be conducted to assess: 1) the changes in MET calls rates with time; 2) the effect of changing call rates on outcomes of hospitalized patients; and 3) predictors of changes in MET call rates. The second major area of the PhD will involve assessment of the epidemiology of the MET patient. A seven hospital study has recently been completed that will perform a detailed analysis of the role of METs in end-of-life care planning in hospitalised patients. It will also assess the circadian activation of MET calls to confirm or refute the findings seen at the Austin Hospital. Finally, a study will be conducted to assess for predictors of MET calls in surgical patients at the Austin. This thesis will provide new insights into the causes and outcomes of deterioration in hospitalized Australian patients, leading to strategies to improve the outcomes and safety of hospital admissions.
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Ms Elizabeth Moore MPH
PhD Scholar
Email
Telephone +61 3 9903 0930
Liz is currently investigating the influence of erythropoietin and early and sustained hypothermia on renal function and biomarkers in patients with traumatic brain injury. For her PhD thesis she is carrying out the Renal Sub-studies of the EPO-TBI and POLAR trials. Liz has a critical care nursing background and has completed a Master of Public Health involving a published investigation of the effect of preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and postoperative actue kidney injury on the outcomes after coronary bypass surgery. She has an ongoing interest in improving the outcomes of critically ill patients with or at risk of kidney injury.
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Dr Neil Orford MBBS FCICM FANZCA PGDip Echo
PhD Scholar
Email
Telephone +61 3 9903 0035
Mobile 0403 500 166
Neil has commenced a PhD on "The effect of critical illness on bone metabolism and bone mineral density". He has been an intensive care specialist since 2003, and the Director of Intensive Care at The Geelong Hospital since 2008. He is actively involved in clinical research as a member of the ANZICS Clinical Trials Group, the coordinator of research and clinical trials in critical care at The Geelong Hospital since 2003, and a member of the Barwon Health Human Research Ethics Committee since 2007.
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Mr Eldho Paul BSc MSc
PhD Scholar
Email
Telephone +61 3 9903 0932
Mobile 0421 863 211
Eldho recently commenced a PhD on "Development and validation of a mortality risk prediction model for modern intensive care practice in Australia and New Zealand" under the supervision of Associate Professors Michael Bailey and David Pilcher. He has a background in biostatistics and has previously worked as a biostatistician. Eldho concurrently works in Monash University's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine as a Research Fellow.
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Dr Antoine Schneider
PhD Scholar
Email
Antoine is a current PhD Scholar with the ANZIC-RC under the supervision of Professor Rinaldo Bellomo. His thesis title is "Renal Perfusion Evaluation with Contrast Enhanced Ultrasonography".
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Mr Ralph Tramm MAppSc (Research) RN
PhD Scholar
Email
Telephone +61 3 9903 0930
Ralph joined the ANZIC-RC team in 2012. He is a PhD Scholar investigating short and longer term health related outcomes in patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) under the supervision of Dr Carol Hodgson and Dr Dragan Ilic. He has a critical care background and more recently worked as a Research Associate after completing a Master of Applied Science (Research) program with Queensland University of Technology.
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Dr Ruwan Wijemunige MBBS
PhD Scholar
Email
Ruwan joined the ANZIC-RC in 2007 as its inaugural PhD Scholar. He is undertaking a PhD on "Improving the monitoring and protection of traumatically injured brain tissue" under the supervision of Professors Jamie Cooper and Jeffrey Rosenfeld. The research is being conducted at The Alfred Hospital in collaboration with the ANZIC-RC and Monash University. Ruwan graduated with his medical degree from the University of Melbourne in 2002 and will complete neurosurgical training after completing his PhD.
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Dr Nor'azim Mohd Yunos
Email
Telephone +607 219 0640
Nor'azim is a PhD Scholar investigating the biochemical and clinical outcome effects of restricting chloride-rich fluids in critically ill patients, under the supervision of Professor Rinaldo Bellomo and Associate Professor Michael Bailey. He is a Senior Lecturer with the Monash University Sunway Campus, Malaysia and an intensivist at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital, Johor Bahru.
BMedSc Students
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Mr Simon Landes
BMedSc Student
Email
Simon completed his BMedSc in 2012 as part of his medical course, investigating the use of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for improved outcome prediction in severe traumatic brain injury patients, under the supervision of Professor Jamie Cooper, Dr Jerome Maller and Ms Lynne Murray. He will complete his MBBS in 2013.
