Peninsula Health’s status as an emerging leader in innovation and redesign was on full display during Celebrating Research 2020.

The new-look, fully virtual event ran from 17 – 19 November 2020. It featured a series of online webinars comprising thought-provoking speeches and presentations, including from internationally renowned members of the research community.

Celebrating Research is Peninsula Health’s annual research showcase, a time for our health service to reflect upon and highlight our peoples’ valuable research achievements.

“I was extremely impressed with the quality of this year’s Research Week, especially as we had to overcome the challenges of COVID,” says Peninsula Health Professor of Medicine, Velandai Srikanth.

“We not only managed to give due credit to some of the excellent research being conducted at Peninsula Health, but were also able to have nationally and internationally renowned scientific experts present to us using a Zoom platform.”

“The result was a great learning experience that would not usually have been accessible! I certainly hope we can capitalise on this approach in the coming years to generate more research enthusiasm amongst our staff.”

The event began last Tuesday with our Cardiovascular Symposium, which featured a series of talks from internationally renowned Australian cardiovascular researchers covering risk factor management, precision medicine, inflammation, frontier imaging techniques and the impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health. Wednesday’s agenda included two webinars featuring presentations from Peninsula Health’s own researchers, highlighting the various projects undertaken across our health service. Closing out the event on Thursday was our Research Showcase, which included outstanding presentations from some of our Senior Researchers who are undertaking, or have undertaken, novel, innovative and investigator-initiated projects. 

This year’s event also saw the formal launch of our 2020 Research Report and 2020 – 2024 Research Strategic Plan, which outline both the world-class research that Peninsula Health has recently undertaken, and will undertake in future. In addition, the event saw the launch of our new Peninsula Health Research Website. All the publications generated by Peninsula Health researchers in 2019-2020 can also be accessed here.

Special thanks must be given to Professor Stephen Nicholls (Director of MonashHeart & Director Victorian Heart Hospital, and Professor of Cardiology, Monash University), who delivered the 2020 Jeremy Anderson Oration. Professor Nicholls shared his expert knowledge on the various developments of new therapies and precision medicine for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which remains a leading cause of death in Australia. In addition, Professor Murray Esler (Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Monash University) delivered a keynote speech regarding discovery of the neural mechanisms of cardiovascular risks in acute mental stress and psychiatric illness, including novel ideas for prevention of these risks.​​​​​​​

 
Pictured: Professor Jamie Layland and Professor Velandai Srikanth at one of the online Celebrating Research events.
 

Prize winners

Congratulations to the below Celebrating Research 2020 prize winners:

Oral presentations – Session 1

Early Researcher Prize

  • Dr Timur Krivitsky
  • The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and Victorian stage 3 lockdown on the profile of presentations to the Frankston Hospital Emergency Department.

Oral presentations – Session 2

Experienced Researcher Prize

  • Mrs Rebecca Barnden
  • Identifying admission to permanent residential aged care in the 18 months following stroke using linked data.

Early Researcher Prize

  • Ms Qiantong Hua
  • A quantitative and qualitative assessment of drug-drug interaction alerts within an Electronic Health Record system.

Poster competition – The research challenge of 2020

First prize

  • Dr Subanki Rajanayagam, A/Prof Dr Debra Renouf
  • Screening and diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus during COVID-19 pandemic.

Equal second prize

  • Ms Tonya Jones.
  • Is Telehealth more effective than face-to-face physiotherapy at reducing pain and disability in adults with knee osteoarthritis?
  • Mr Nicholas Savage, Dr Leonardo Cordova, Dr Rashna Ram, Dr Lisa Ellis, Prof Warren Rozen, Mr Marc A Seifman
  • The effects of COVID-19 related movement restriction on emergency plastic surgery presentations.

Poster competition – Technological solutions for a healthy future

First prize

  • Dr Jeremy Lim, Dr Dynaroat Yit, Ms Melanie Werkmeister, Dr Manuja Premaratne
  • Broadening patient characteristics of Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography (CTCA) can result in increasing radiation doses despite best practice.

Second prize

  • Dr Reuben Lim, Dr John Du, Mr Nigel Broughton, Mr Kosta Calligeros
  • Clinical and radiological follow-up of 509 hip and knee arthroplasties: is ‘Virtual Clinic’ still a reliable standard of follow-up care?.

Poster competition – Health care innovation

First prize

  • Mr Lakmal Wanniarachchi, Ms Alice Lam, Ms Joanne Stewart, Ms Catherine McLeod
  • Identifying Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Occlusion rate – The PICCOC study.

Second prize

  • Mr Andy Tran, Ms Julie Metcalfe, Ms Gillian Oates, Dr Peter Kelley
  • An audit of compliance with local guidelines for the management of Clostridium difficile infections in a tertiary hospital (AUDIFF).

Poster competition – People at the centre of our research

First prize

  • Dr Stephanie Whittle , Ms Helene Angerer , Dr Manuja Premaratne, Ms Viviane Khalil
  • Discrepancies in post ST – Elevation Myocardial Infarction care in Women compared to Men: Evaluating for Implicit Bias- A single centre study.

Second prize

  • Ms Qiantong Hua, Ms Viviane Khalil
  • A quantitative and qualitative assessment of drug-drug interaction alerts within an Electronic Health Record system.