Congratulations to our 2022 NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship recipients
The Melbourne Medical School is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022 NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarships commencing in 2023.
The NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship scheme aims to support outstanding health and medical graduates early in their career to attain a research based postgraduate degree (PhD or Masters), positioning them to conduct research that is internationally competitive and develop a capacity for original independent research within Australia.
Presenting the Medical School's NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship recipients
Dr Hannah Gordon
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Diabetes in pregnancy: pharmacological management and childhood outcomes
Hannah is an Obstetrics and Gynaecology Registrar at the Mercy Hospital for Women. Her early research through King’s College London focused on perinatal mental health. Through her clinical work, she has come to appreciate the increasing significance of diabetes in pregnancy. Her PhD project will analyse population-based cohorts from Victoria and Scotland to investigate long-term outcomes for children born to diabetic mothers.
Ms Nina Leggett
Department of Critical Care
Digital health to assist recovery after critical illness
Nina is a PhD candidate at the Department of Critical Care at University of Melbourne, and senior clinician Physiotherapist in the Intensive Care Unit at Western Health. Her PhD is focused on digital health innovations to improve recovery following critical illness. Australian survivors of critical illness currently receive no specialised follow up, yet have significant ongoing mental, physical and cognitive disability. Nina’s research is investigating current gaps in care following surviving critical illness, digital health literacy of critical care survivors, and piloting a virtual peer support program to improve patient outcomes.
Dr Michael Moso
Department of Infectious Diseases
Nanoparticle and gene therapy approaches to HIV cure
Dr Michael Moso is an infectious diseases registrar completing his advanced training with the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service (VIDS) at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) at the Doherty Institute. He has been awarded an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship to investigate gene therapy approaches for HIV cure using the CRISPR-Cas system and lipid nanoparticle delivery.
Dr Gia (Toan) Tang
Department of Medicine, Austin Health
The impact of gender-affirming hormone therapy on scalp hair pattern and distribution
Dr Gia (Toan) Tang is a clinical doctor with a passion for improving health equity and has engaged with the LGBTQIA+ sector through various community works. His research focuses on identifying the effect of gender-affirming hormone therapy on hair growth in transgender individuals in a collaborative research team involving endocrinologists at Austin Health and dermatologists at Sinclair Dermatology.
The award will enable him to recruit transgender men newly commencing on testosterone therapy in clinical trials to identify how to minimise scalp hair loss, with a goal to provide low cost-effective treatment and improve quality of life during gender affirmation. His research will enable more high evidence-based clinical guidelines to be implemented and enhance care in transgender health.
Miss Nga Yan (Connie) Tse
Department of Psychiatry
Optimisation of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment for young individuals diagnosed with treatment-resistant Major Depressive Disorder
Nga Yan is a first-year PhD student under the supervision of Associate Professor Andrew Zalesky, Dr Robin Cash, and Dr Aswin Ratheesh. Nga Yan's PhD aims to establish a robust understanding of functional connectivity disruption underlying adolescent depression and integrate this knowledge to improve repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment efficacy.
Dr Shuyu Wang
Department of Medicine, Austin Health
Advancing precision therapies for epilepsy
Dr Shuyu Wang is a final year neurology trainee. Her PhD is set at the Epilepsy Research Center of The University of Melbourne, a pioneer of many discoveries in epilepsy genetics and management. Her research project aims to translate the wealth of progress in epilepsy genetics into improved treatment outcomes, by investigating the effectiveness of precision therapies that target the underlying genetic mechanisms of epilepsy. Her studies will attempt to create a roadmap for the discovery of new epilepsy treatments, which has the potential to directly improve the outcomes of patients.