Here's Health. Health Research at UniSA
The Division of Health Sciences hosted Here's Health. Research at
UniSA on Wednesday 11th August 2010.
Showcasing a variety of research currently undertaken in the Division of
Health Sciences, this event offered prospective Honours and research
students a chance to hear from researchers with various levels of experience
and meet with them in an informal setting at the conclusion of the
presentations.
If you weren't able to attend the event, or want to review one of the
sessions, please select a session title below to download
the podcast.
Division of Health Sciences research contacts:
Assoc Prof Pat Buckley Dean, Research & Research Education
pat.buckley@unisa.edu.au
Ms Charlotte Ferrier, Research Coordinator
charlotte.ferrier@unisa.edu.au
Find out more
about doing a research degree at UniSA.
| Session Speaker | Session title |
| Assoc Prof Pat Buckley |
Welcome and introduction to health
research in the Division of Health Science |
| Dr Andrea Gordon,
Dr Dominic Thewlis and
Dr Catherine O'Doherty |
Research stories from early career
researchers making their mark - Dr Gordon's presentation - Dr Thewlis' presentation - Dr O'Doherty's presentation |
| Ms Josie Woll,
Mr Torbjorn van Heeswijck
and Dr Cara Fraser |
Panel discussion with postgraduate students
|
Speaker information
Assoc Prof Pat Buckley
Dean: Research & Research Education
Division of Health Sciences
Visit
Pat's homepage for more details.
Dr Andrea Gordon
Andrea is a pharmacologist who has a strong research interest in the area of
substance use and pregnancy, with particular interest in opioid maintenance
substitution therapies. Women with substance use issues during pregnancy
often do not seek antenatal care due to beliefs associated with attached
stigmas. Substance use during pregnancy can cause interruptions to pregnancy
as a direct result of substance use, or as a result of maternal withdrawal
from substance use. In addition, infant withdrawal from the substance used
by the mother during pregnancy can in the most severe cases lead to infant
brain damage and death and general infant morbidity causing extended
hospital stays posing significant interruptions to mother infant bonding.
This area of clinical research sees Andrea working closely with a
challenging, yet highly rewarding population, in an attempt to improve both
antenatal care for the mother and unborn child, and also establish better
methods to predict, and therefore minimise withdrawal in the exposed
infants.
Dr Dominic Thewlis
Dominic moved to UniSA in 2009 after completing his PhD in the UK. He is now
a lecturer in biomechanics in the School of Health Sciences and works in the
area of clinical and orthopaedic biomechanics. His primary research
interests are based around arthritic disease; its onset and how these
conditions can be managed with surgical and conservative techniques. He uses
an array of equipment and techniques including mechanical testing of
biomaterials, motion capture for analysis of movement and forces, MRI and CT
imaging, serum biomarkers and clinical measures of patient function. The
primary goal of his research is to develop an understanding of the body’s
response to mechanical loading from the joint down to the cellular level
using computational modelling.
Dr Catherine O'Doherty
Catherine's research interests include genetic susceptibility to multiple
sclerosis (MS) and pharmacogenomics of treatment response in these patients.
Her work has also delved into genetic susceptibility to other autoimmune
diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. She is currently working with a team
of neurologists in Australia and worldwide to determine genetic variations
which predict interferon beta response in MS patients. Catherine received a
CAST award scholarship sponsored by Biogen Idec© in 2003 to undertake a PhD
at Queens University Belfast. She also spent part of her studentship working
at Biogen Idec's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Catherine
completed her PhD in 2007. She is a currently a lecturer in the School of
Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, and a registered pharmacist in both the UK
and Australia.
Ms Josie Woll
Josie commenced her PhD in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in March
2010. Her project will look at elder abuse within residential aged care
facilities. The aim is to determine the prevalence of elder abuse, to
understand what residents, family and health care workers understand by the
term elder abuse and how they approach these violations and decisions to
report incidents. Josie currently holds a University of South Australia
Postgraduate Award. In her spare time, Josie enjoys spending time with her
young family and also works within the aged care industry and tutors in the
School of Nursing and Midwifery.
Mr Torbjorn van Heeswijck
Torbjorn became a PhD candidate in Social Epidemiology, in search of a new
field having completed an Honours year in Chemical Engineering. His research
involves an investigation of associations between the urban built
environment, active forms of transportation and population rates of
cardiovascular disease on the Island of Montreal, Canada. His work brings
unique data sources together in a Geographical Information System, with the
aim of identifying features of urban design that could be used to encourage
and support greater physical activity in modern lifestyles. Torbjorn holds
an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship.
Dr Cara Fraser
Cara's primary research interest is in the area of applying immunology to
improve vaccination strategies and cancer therapy. Cara has recently
completed her PhD which characterised some of the immunomodulatory and
anti-metastatic effects of dasatinib treatment, a drug that is currently
used in the clinic for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia. The
information gained from this research may contribute to the design of
improved cancer treatment regimens that incorporate dasatinib as well as
revealing potential off-target applications of the drug for diseases that
involve an overactive immune system.