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Tuesday 4 November 2014

Vale Dr William (Bill) Orchard

1956 Olympics men's waterpolo team.
Bill Orchard front row, 2nd from right.
Photo courtesy ow.ly/DBdlF
Renowned psychiatrist and former Olympian Dr Bill Orchard died last week at the age of 84.   Dr Orchard was the driving force behind the development of mental health services in Victorian general hospitals in the 1970s.

Dr Orchard studied to be a psychiatrist in the US and UK as a Fulbright scholar and was later appointed Honorary Psychiatrist, Head of Unit at Prince Henry’s Hospital.

He played a seminal role in the establishment of the revitalised Psychiatry Unit and a Psychiatry Training program at Prince Henry's.  This in turn provided a fertile context for the establishment of the Monash University Department of Psychological Medicine.

Unique opportunity for GPs in mental health

GPs working in mental health in south east Melbourne are being offered an opportunity to participate in an Australian-first project.

The PULSAR project (Principles Unite Local Services Assisting Recovery) aims to implement and evaluate recovery-oriented practice in mental health across primary care sites and specialist mental health services in the catchment of Monash Health

Recovery-oriented practice aims to support people in their personal recovery goals by improving their mental health and wellness, live in a self-directed life, and reach their full potential. 

The $2.3 million project is being funded by the Victorian Government to set up training and assess the application of recovery-oriented practice in primary care and specialist mental health. 

Death of Dr William Henry Orchard - Obituary by Emeritus Professor Graeme Smith

"The Age" newspaper of 29 October records the death of Dr Bill Orchard, who played a foundational and seminal role in the establishment of a revitalised Psychiatry Unit and a Psychiatry Training program at Prince Henry's, which in turn provided a fertile context for the establishment of the Monash University Department of Psychological Medicine. 

I witnessed the transformation of the Psychiatry Unit at Prince Henry's from a traditional General Hospital , skeletal in structure, under Dr Preston Guy Reynolds in 1963 to a comprehensive, innovative service and training program which by the early 1970's had 11 Psychiatry Registrars, some 12 consultant psychiatrists, and well staffed Psychology, Social work and Occupational Therapy components. This became a model for the development of Mental Health services in General Hospitals in the 1970s.

Dr Orchard was the driving force in this development. He was appointed Honorary Psychiatrist, Head of Unit, in 1964, after having trained in the United Kingdom and USA. He attracted a broad range of Honorary Psychiatrist colleagues, many of whom had been trained in those countries. Although heavily influenced by Psychoanalysis, their experience and approach was broad, as was required in a training program. The appointment of Wallace Ironside as Monash University Foundation Professor of Psychological Medicine in 1969 complemented and extended the depth and breadth of the service and training program and a joint Psychiatric Treatment Centre was established. It highlighted Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry service to the numerous Medical and Surgical Units, facilitating the consideration of psychological issues in all patients. It produced psychiatrists and allied professionals who went on to alter the shape of private and public Mental Health practice in Victoria. They included a number of Professors of Psychiatry, including David Clarke, David Copolov, David Kissane, Nicholas Keks, Jayashri Kulkarni and Graeme Smith. Others occupied senior positions and were influential in the public sphere, as well as in professional organisations in the Mental Health field.

Dr Orchard displayed enormous enthusiasm in promoting the field of Mental Health and insisting on adequate funding for services and training. He eagerly confronted those whom he felt were discriminating against patients with mental health problems, and was not afraid of the repercussions of his advocacy. He challenged politicians and administrators to think through the logistics and consequences of the relocation and amalgamation of Prince Henry's and Queen Victoria Hospitals to Clayton. The prominent position of the Psychological Medicine building at the front of Monash Medical Centre is testimony to this. The enclosed glass corridor connecting it to the main hospital building is there because he insisted that "there be no bare-headed distance between Psychiatry and the rest of Medicine at MMC". Naming it after him would be an appropriate testimonial.

Dr Orchard was an inspiring and effective teacher and clinical supervisor, frequently demonstrating his clinical skills to students and trainees. He took a particular interest in the welfare of trainees, giving wise counsel to many. They, and many others, owe a great debt to him for his generous and formative contributions to the field.


Outstanding surgery research at Monash recognised by RACS

William Berry
Two SCS staff were recognised for their outstanding research at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Victorian Scientific Meeting last Saturday in Melbourne.

William Berry, a BMedSci student at SCS won the award for the Best Medical Student Research presentation for his work on Pancreatic Fine Needle Aspirate and Cytology in pancreatic cancer. 

"I watched Bill present and he did extremely well, to the point that the judges were concerned he was not, in fact, a medical student," said Mr Paul Cashin, Upper Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary  surgeon and Monash University Adjunct Senior Lecturer. 
Josh Hammershlag

Also recognised was recent Registrar Josh Hammershlag received the award for best registrar clinical research presentation (The RC Bennett Prize) for his work on creating an iPhone App for measuring degree of hip flexion to monitor orthopaedic recovery after hip surgery. 

"This was a really novel way of easily quantifying improvement and typical of the e-Generation to use an App to solve a problem," added Mr Cashin.

"Awards were given in various categories and the quality of the presentations was very strong," said Mr Cashin.

"Well done to both as they did Monash Health, Monash University and particularly Monash Surgery proud."



SCS Launch of new Postgraduate Training Program – 8th December at 2.30pm


This session will introduce the new precinct-wide format for management of SCS HDR training and provide information to all SCS/MIMR-PHI supervisors about the new Monash Doctoral Program for PhD training which begins in January 2015.

Who Should Attend: ALL SCS/MIMR-PHI supervisors of HDR students

When: Monday 8 December, 2.30pm - 3.30pm
Location: MIMR-PHI Boardroom, MIMR Building Level 3, 27-31 Wright Street CLAYTON 

Speakers include Dr Priscilla Johanesen, Project Officer Faculty PhD Training Programs and Dr Steven Petratos, Project Officer Translational PhD Program

Further information: Rachael.Unwin@monash.edu

ACBD/Monash Health - Clinical Haematology Symposium 12 Nov at AMREP

Wednesday 12 November,  9.00 am - 5.00 pm
Hosted by the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD)
Location: AMREP Lecture Theatre (AMREP Education Centre), Commercial Road, Prahran
Speakers: Monash Health and ACBD researchers

Twitter tag for following live tweets: #ACBD_Haem 
Details attached here.



Immunology Synopsium - Dendritic Cells, Interferon and Vaccines, 24 November

Hosted by the MonasDepartment of Immunology and the Burnet Institute

November 24, 12pm - 6pm 
Alfred Centre, Commercial Rd, Prahran  

Program attached here.

11th Annual Ritchie Centre Colloquium - 24 November 2014

This year the program From Bench to Bedside: Improving Health for Women, Babies and Children will showcase the research being carried out across The Ritchie Centre and the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Paediatrics. The Colloquium aims to facilitate established research collaborations and also to initiate new research relationships with the goal of better integrating basic science, clinical and population health research. 

We particularly want to encourage clinicians to attend so that they can see the breadth of research being conducted within the Monash Women's and Children's Program. We are looking forward to an exciting day of plenary talks, brief communications and poster blitzs which will cover current research in Women's Health, Fetal and Neonatal Health, Infant and Child Health and Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine.   Please see details here.

There is no charge for this event but we ask that you RSVP to Lisieux Jones lisieux.jones@monash.edu by 17 November for catering purposes.   
We look forward to seeing you all at the Colloquium!


Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: - Grand Round - 5 November

Unit:  General Medicine
Presented by: A/Prof Michael Farmer and A/Prof Parm Naidoo
Topic:  "Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: The new paradigm”

Wednesday 5thNovember, 12pm
Lecture Theatre 2, MMC, Clayton   Flyer attached.




CID presentation - 11 November

Presented by Dr Jane Oliaro:  The role of polarity proteins in lymphocyte fate and function

12pm, 11 November, Medicine Seminar Room, Level 5 Block E

Special Ethics Event - Hypothetical: Pandemics, Ethics and Emergencies, Thurs 13 Nov at 5.30pm

We are delighted to advise that Monash Health’s Clinical Ethics Committee is delivering a Special Ethics Educational Event: The Hypothetical: Pandemics, Ethics and Emergencies.

A group of Australia’s leading experts have been invited to form a guest panel from the areas of ethics, medical professions, health care administration and public health policy development for this Hypothetical including eminent Australian ethicist Emeritus Professor Tony Coady.

The Hypothetical will be held on Thu 13 Nov 2014 between 5.30-6.30pm in LT2, Monash Medical Centre Clayton. This event is free to all staff and students of the Monash Health Translation Precinct.

Please see flyer attached for details and to register your attendance for this event.


Should you have any queries, please email: mededucation@monashhealth.org

VicHealth Innovation Challenge: Alcohol - Ideas Jam 5 November

Applications are currently open for the VicHealth Innovation Challenge  - Alcohol.

The Challenge is about changing the culture of drinking alcohol in Victoria, with $300K in funding to share between successful projects. After the Challenge closes on November 21, the applicants with the most promising ideas will be provided with support to develop a business case for their projects in preparation for a final pitch to decide the finalists. The winners will be announced in January 2015.


On Wednesday 5 November, we will be running an Ideas Jam workshop for anyone who wants to submit a proposal to the Challenge. This will focus on defining target audience, developing an idea and testing it among peers. More details available here

How do we know for sure if someone is unconscious? (SBS Insight)

Insight looks at what we do know about consciousness and asks whether we can know for certain if someone is conscious or not.

Dominic Thyagarajan, Head of Neuroscience Research in the Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences and is the director of neurology at Monash Health. He encounters people in comas and other states in the grey zone of consciousness.  He says “consciousness is a thorny issue” because “we don’t have direct access to a person’s inner experience.” He says when someone appears to be awake but not aware and is unable to communicate, a neurologist can only make inferences about the contents of their mind.
Watch the episode here.

Monday 3 November 2014

Monash University 2014 OHS conference

More than 250 delegates attended the highly successful Monash University 2014 Occupational Health and Safety Conference last week.

Mr John Todor, Divisonal Commander, Specialist Response Division, Victoria Police (pictured) delivered the first keynote address. Mr Todor gave an insightful presentation of how he managed activities on-site during the recent earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The second keynote address was an entertaining and inspiring presentation about health and nutrition from former Olympic and World Champion Australian swimmer, Mr Matt Welsh.

Other presentations included "The Dangers of Complacency in a Workplace Environment",Mr Simon Brown, Victorian WorkCover Authority; "Smoking and its Effects", Prof Ian David, Medical Oncologist, Eastern Health; "The Aging Workforce", Dr Sid O'Toole, Occupational Physician; and "Return on Investment in OHS - Case Studies from the Alfred",Mr Gavin Horrigan, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

The next Monash University OHS conference will be held in 2016.