mediNEWSotago, March 2011

Tēnā koutou kātoa

 

Welcome to the first mediNEWSotago for 2011. I took up the role of Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in February and have very much enjoyed establishing myself in the Faculty office. Our academic programmes are now well underway for the year and 2011 promises to be a productive and enjoyable year for the Faculty. I look forward to meeting those staff members I haven’t yet met, and spending time with the medical classes and research students. The past month-and-a-half has been dominated by the Christchurch earthquake and again I would like to express to our students and colleagues in Christchurch the heartfelt sympathy and support of all those in the Faculty and the Division of Health Sciences.

We have now shifted from crisis management mode into recovery mode and I provide a brief summary below of current activities at the University of Otago Christchurch.

Christchurch update

Our overriding priority is that all students will have the opportunity to successfully complete their academic programmes this year. The Advanced Learning in Medicine programme recommenced for Years 4, 5 and 6 students on 14 March following a nearly three-week hiatus caused by earthquake disruption. The speed with which programmes have been recommenced is a wonderful testament to the commitment of our staff and students and to the passion and leadership provided by Dean Professor Peter Joyce, Heads of Department and Associate Deans. I would also like to thank and acknowledge the general staff at UOC for the critically important role they play and their unflagging hard work in helping to restore operations in Christchurch.

The main campus building is currently unavailable and is undergoing remedial work, under the guidance of our engineers. The aim is to have the building opened for business as soon as possible. The buildings on Oxford Terrace and elsewhere have similarly been assessed and are having tidy-up and remedial work carried out as required. In the meantime alternative accommodation has been secured for tutorials and lectures.

Research teams and research students at UOC have had their work seriously disrupted. Again, the leadership team in Christchurch is doing everything possible to get things back to some semblance of normality.

I wish everyone in the Faculty all best wishes for a happy and productive year, even with the unexpected challenges and obstacles presented to us by mother nature.

Nāhaku noa, nā

Peter Crampton
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine

UOC students praised for their efforts

Medical students from the University of Otago who pitched in to help Christchurch Hospital staff during last month’s earthquake have been praised for their work. The Otago Daily Times reported that many fourth, fifth and sixth-year Canterbury-based medical students worked behind the scenes to free up emergency department nurses and doctors, particularly in the 48 hours after the earthquake.

Emergency specialist Dr Mike Ardagh said many sixth-year students, called trainee interns, provided fantastic assistance to emergency department nurses and doctors. For the full report go to: http://www.odt.co.nz/campus/university-otago/152688/medical-students-praised-pitching

Other News

Welcome to the new Dean, UOW

Professor Sunny Collings has officially taken up the position of Dean and Head of Campus at the University of Otago, Wellington. After graduating in Medicine from Otago in 1984, Associate Professor Collings trained in Psychiatry at the Royal Free Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital in London. In addition to her specialist qualifications in Psychiatry, she has completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health (with Distinction) and a PhD at Otago.

Associate Professor Collings is Director of the Social Psychiatry and Population Mental Health Research Unit in the Department of Public Health at the Wellington campus. The Unit employs 28 staff and she currently supervises nine research students.

Her research interests include suicide, primary-care level interventions for mental health problems, carers for people with mental disorders, and the social experience of people with such disorders. Since 2007, her studies have attracted around $8.8 million in external research funding.

Associate Professor Collings became an Associate Dean at the Wellington campus in 2002, with responsibilities for Postgraduate Studies, and since 2008, for Research also.

Awards and Scholarships

BMed Sci (HONS) Awards 2011

This year’s recipients celebrated their success with colleagues and family recently at the annual awards ceremony for those undertaking the bachelor of medical science honours programme. The research projects range from health governance to investigating the anatomy of the hamstring muscles and a range of medical ethics issues such as end of life decision making. Professor Peter Crampton presented the following awards:

MAURICE AND PHYLLIS PAYKEL TRUST RESEARCH AWARD IN MEDICAL SCIENCES Value $8,000

• Oliver HANSBY Project Title:  Health Governance and New Zealand’s District Health Boards
• Richard STOREY Project Title:  The Anatomy of Hamstring Muscles
• Jane VERMUNT Project Title:  The Prevalence of Chronic Hepatitis C in the Asymptomatic Population of Dunedin

MARCUS FITCHETT AND REGINALD MEDLICOTT SCHOLARSHIP Value $5,000

• Hamish ANDERSON Project Title:  Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis: Clinical and Ethical Considerations

 

 

 

L F HALL SCHOLARSHIP Value $5,000

• James Van ROOYEN Project Title: Role of the Metabolic Hormones in the Neuroendocrine Control of Fertility

RANZCOG COLLABORATIVE BMedSc(Hons) SCHOLARSHIP Value $10,000

• Tristan BURNETT Project Title: Prolactin’s Site of Action and its Role for the Regulation of Glucose Homeostasis During Pregnancy

DR EDWARD KERKIN SCHOLARSHIP Value $5,000

• Sophie BRIDGE Project Title:  The Science and Ethics of Induced Pluripotent Stem (IPS) Cells

A F J MICKLE SCHOLARSHIP Value $600

• Richard STOREY Project Title:  The Anatomy of Hamstring Muscles

 

 

FACULTY OF MEDICINE SCHOLARSHIP Value $5,000

 

• Joshua CHAMBERLAIN Project Title:  Moral Psychology, Autonomy, and End of Life Decisions

• Christopher BLOOMER Project Title:  Analyzing the Relationship between Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Spondyloarthropathies(SpA)

• Ashton ELLISON Project Title: Peripheral Vision Impairment with Respect to Falls Prevention in Elderly People; Multifocal Glasses Versus Single Lens Glasses

• Jeong Hoon (Jon) HA Project Title:  Therapies for Acute Heart Attack and Prognosis Effect of Depression

• Kyle PATON Project Title:  The Anatomy of the Human Pancreaticobiliary Junction

University of Otago, Christchurch McGEE FELLOWSHIP Value $10,000

• Eng Ann TOH Project Title:  Saccadic Function and Relationship to Cognition in Huntington’s Disease.

RMIP scholarship awarded

A new scholarship has been established in memory of the late Queenstown GP and founder of the Rural Immersion Programme,  Dr Pat Farry.  The fifth-year students who are the first recipients are working currently in the Wakatipu Medical Centre and Lakes District Hospital, in Frankton, as part of their rural medical immersion programme.

Dunedin School of Medicine rural medical immersion students Thomas Kuperus (22), of Timaru, University of Otago Christchurch campus student Matt Restieaux (23), of Clinton, and University of Otago Wellington campus James Heaton (24), of Waihi Beach, will be formally awarded by letter the scholarship from the Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust, funded by $5000 from the Queenstown Medical Centre (QMC).

Congratulations to Courtney Macdonald Winner of the Prince of Wales Prize 2010

Applications sought:

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, ENGLAND

Applications close May 31, 2011

Applications are invited for an award under the Scheme for Oxford Nuffield Medical Fellowships in either a Clinical Medicine or Medical Science department of the University.  This prestigious fellowship carries an allowance of £41152 (plus any cost of living increases). Download Oxford Nuffield Information 2011

Please see the scholarships page for a full list of scholarships available to undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Sayers Building, Dunedin Renovations Nearing Completion

The Faculty Education Unit and the Otago School of Medical Sciences have recently returned to their refurbished offices in the Sayers Building on Great King Street. On Tuesday 22 March, a small gathering of staff celebrated the opening of the new OSMS office and Professor David Jones did the honours by cutting the ribbon and officially opened the new offices.

Joy Rudland, Karin Warnaar and Tony Barrett and colleagues from the Faculty education Unit (FEU) are now in their new offices and have relocated close to the reception area of the Sayers Building.

Remodeling of the space known as the Sayers Common Room is nearing completion and this will house the ELM teaching staff including Programme Module Convenors, Faculty Teaching fellows and some ELM administrative support staff. The area will also have a new staff tea room. Completion is expected to be at the end of April.

The final stage of refurbishment will be the office’s associated with the Dean and Faculty management which is expected to take place later in 2011. Faculty IT support staff will also move to the Sayers building when this phase is complete.