Critical Care Honours Program

Overview

The Bachelor of Biomedicine Critical Care honours program commenced in 2022. Projects are supervised by leading clinician scientists in the areas of anaesthesia, emergency medicine and intensive care medicine, across a range of University-affiliated hospital sites. All primary supervisors have prominent national or international profiles with outstanding track records of exceptional mentorship and supervision.

The research project is complemented by a series of advanced seminars in critical care research. The focus of the coursework is to provide students a comprehensive knowledge base to facilitate a pragmatic approach that can be used for both research and clinical care purposes.

Prospective students can enrol in the BH-BMED: Bachelor of Biomedicine (Degree with Honours) choosing the Critical Care specialisation.

2023 information

Note: applications for 2023 have now closed.

Critical Care Honours Projects 2023 (Version 7 dated 25/10/2022)

Information session recording: Wednesday 7 September 2022 at 3pm via zoom

Research projects and supervision

• Research projects offered by individual research groups within the department have been overseen by the Research Committee
• All projects address fundamental scientific questions/ or key questions in improving care for the high-risk, deteriorating and critical ill patients
• Supervisors have extensive experience in research and graduate supervision and student assessment
• At least two supervisors are assigned to every student to ensure the best quality student experience
• A comprehensive seminar program complements the research project, comprising weekly presentations from world leading critical care researchers.

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Meet  some of our supervisors

Associate Professor Kimberley Haines (PhD, BHSc (Physiotherapy))The Physiotherapy Research Lead and Critical Care Physiotherapist at Western Health and a Clinical Associate Professor at the Department of Critical Care.

Associate Professor Kimberley Haines' research has largely focused on recovery following critical illness – to measure, predict, and improve patient and caregiver outcomes. More recently Associate Professor Haines has led some of the first co-designed studies in critical care - a co-designed critical care recovery program that is currently being testing via a virtual platform. She has also led large, international qualitative studies for the Society of Critical Care Medicine evaluating the implementation of ICU recovery programs, and describing patient and caregiver experiences of ICU survivorship.

Associate Professor Haines has supervisory experience (including in medicine), and currently supervises 2 PhD and 2 Masters students, and several clinician-researchers.

Associate Professor Lachlan Miles (MBBS (Hons), PhD, FANZCA) Staff Specialist and Deputy Head of Research in the Department of Anaesthesia at Austin Health, and an Honorary Principal Fellow of the Department of Critical Care.

Associate Professor Lachlan Miles' subspecialty clinical practice involves cardiothoracic and major hepatobiliary anaesthesia (including liver transplant) and peri-operative medicine.

Lachlan balances his clinical interests with a substantial research portfolio. He completed his PhD at University of Melbourne in 2021, where his thesis examined the identification and management of non-anaemic iron deficiency in patients undergoing cardiac and colorectal surgery. He has published 30+ original manuscripts in high-impact anaesthesia and general medicine journals in the last 5 years, and is the principal chief investigator of the IDOCS and NATO studies.

He is a previous winner of the Douglas Renton Medal for the Primary Fellowship Examination in 2010, the Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Emerging Researcher Award in 2019, and the Gilbert Brown Prize in 2020. He is an Editor of the journal Anaesthesia Reports.

Dr Yasmine Ali Abdelhamid (MBBS, PhD, FRACP, FCICM) Academic Coordinator of the Honours program, a Specialist Intensivist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Honorary Senior Clinical Fellow at the Department of Critical Care, University of Melbourne.

Dr Ali Abdelhamid’s research interests include glycaemia, nutrition and metabolism in critical illness; muscle physiology and critical illness weakness; reducing morbidity after traumatic brain injury and multitrauma; and optimising follow-up care and long-term outcomes in patients following critical illness. She has specific expertise in complex physiological studies of critical illness, clinical trial design, and long-term functional outcome assessment in survivors of critical illness. She has experience in supervising Honours students, as well as medical students undertaking research projects.

Dr Ali Abdelhamid’s research program receives support from research nurses, a research scientist and study manager with expertise in electronic medical records – who will all be able to assist the successful applicant/s.

Course structure

• BIOM40001 Introduction to Biomedical Research (12.5 points)
• BMSC40009 Research Project – Critical Care Part 1 (25 points)
• BMSC40010 Research Project – Critical Care Part 2 (75 points)
• BMSC40011 Advancing Critical Care (12.5 points) - seminar series

Contact

Honours Program Coordinator:

Dr Yasmine Ali Abdelhamid
yasmine.aliabdelhamid@mh.org.au