Congratulations go to the following students (with advisors) who recently completed their PhD degrees:

We wish them every success in their future careers.

The School has a policy of awarding a once-only travel grant to be used to support the cost of research higher degree students presenting their research work at an international conference. I am pleased to announce the following recent recipients of these grants:

• Ashley Wilkinson: Experimental Biology Conference, San Diego
• Joanne Bradbury: The Third International Congress on Complementary Medicine Research, Sydney

The following School of Pharmacy academic staff were successful in gaining new funding to support their research:

• Dr Alexandra Clavarino
• Assoc Prof Allan Coombes
• Dr Lynne Emmerton
• Dr Sally Firth
• Dr Carl Kirkpatrick
• Mr Greg Kyle
• A/Prof. Greg Monteith
• Dr Lisa Nissen
• Dr Marie-Odile Parat
• Dr Harendra Parekh
• A/Prof. Sarah Roberts-Thomson
• Dr Ben Ross
• Prof. Nick Shaw
• Prof. Maree Smith
• Dr Christine Staatz
• Dr Kathryn Steadman
• Prof Sue Tett

We welcome the following students to the School as they commence their doctoral studies:

• Mr Ming Ni (Advisors: Dr John Duley, Associate Professor Bruce Charles & Dr Kathryn Steadman )
• Ms Christy Noble (Advisors: Dr Lisa Nissen )
• Mr Manoj Kumar Palanivelu (Advisors: Dr Ben Ross & Dr Ross McGeary)

The Research and Postgraduate Studies Team have now finalised the School’s grant readership scheme, the guidelines for which are published here . This hopefully will enhance the chances of grant success for our staff.

Associate Professor Bruce Charles,
Chair, Research and Postgraduate Studies

Three Pharmacy students took part in the 2nd Annual Health Care Team Challenge (HCTC), which was held on Monday, 19 May.

Emily Hay, Daniel Del Dot and Samantha Corrigan (pictured, with the subject of the HCTC case studies, "Jim") represented the School in this exciting new initiative aimed at fostering collaboration between students from across the health disciplines. Around 300 people attended, including participants, practitioners, students, academics, family members, Queensland Health representatives and interstate universities.

A prime focus of the HCTC is to increase inter-professional learning at a tertiary level, and provide students with challenging opportunities to learn with, and about each other in a competitive environment.

The HCTC is a public competition between inter-professional student teams with representatives from Audiology, Dentistry, Exercise Physiology, Medicine, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy and Speech Pathology.

The student teams are presented with a complex clinical case study and required to work together in order to present an effective management solution. Teams then present their management plans to an audience of local practitioners, interstate university representatives, academic staff, registry boards and students. Judging is done by an international, expert inter-professional panel. Cash prizes are awarded based on the level of inter-professional teamwork and the quality of the management plan.

Pharmacy student Emily Hay made up part of this year's winning team, “CAREAIDE”, which also included Kate Amos (Dentistry), Rachel Finbow (Audiology), Tanya Ann Bourke (Exercise Physiology), Sandra Concha Blamey (Medicine), Matilda Antonio (Nursing), Jessica Waite (Occupational Therapy), Meghann Geddes (Physiotherapy) and Brooke Grohn (Speech Pathology).

Faculty of Health Sciences Director of Studies, Professor Helen Chenery, said the event offered students an important opportunity.

“Most health science professionals do not get to experience inter-professional practice on a significant level until they graduate or achieve their relevant qualifications,” Helen said.

“The event not only gives students the chance to extend their knowledge about the dynamics and possible challenges of modern healthcare, but also enhances their knowledge about other health professions and their respective roles in the clinical area,” she said.

Dr Rosalie Boyce, one of the HCTC project directors, said further enhancements to future events were under consideration. She said a prize to an exemplary functioning healthcare team in a health service and a prize to one of the student teams based on audience voting were being considered.

“Work is advancing on holding a Queensland HCTC event and an Australia-wide event as a fore-runner to international expansion of the concept. Our analysis of audience feedback showed 96% would like to see an inter-university competition and 93% would like to see an Australian team in an international event," Rosalie said.

Congratulations go to our 3 participants this year on their fantastic effort in the event.

Pilot Project Targets English Language Skills

Academics from the School of Pharmacy and the Teaching & Educational Development Institute have secured funding to conduct a pilot project aimed at enhancing the English communication skills of first–year Pharmacy students.

Dr Lynne Emmerton, Ms Leigh McKauge and Dr Kathryn Steadman from the School of Pharmacy, together with Ms Terri Sweep and Dr Wendy Green of the Teaching & Educational Development Institute were awarded a UQ Teaching and Learning Strategic Grant which will support the project. Jacqueline Bond, from the School of Pharmacy, will be the project officer.

The pilot project will involve a trial of a customised series of workshops to improve English language skills for Pharmacy students.

While other English courses are available on campus, they are general in nature, and only free for international students.

Being a trial, the customised workshops will involve before-and-after self-assessments of language competency, feedback about the content, and tutors’ reflections on student progress and improvements to the content.

This project also involves interviews with a selection of community pharmacy preceptors about their experiences with students and communication challenges faced in practice.

The results of this project are expected to be released in December 2008. For enquiries, please contact Dr Lynne Emmerton on l.emmerton@pharmacy.uq.edu.au

School Offers Pharmacy Re-Entry Program

The School is running a Pharmacy Re-Entry program twice a year, designed to assist professional practice learning and the application of current pharmacy knowledge and skills.

It is a flexible program where pharmacists can choose to attend the five day session, or choose to attend individual days.

This practical program will provide knowledge and update professional skills in the following key areas:

• Professional Practice Updates
• Therapeutic Updates – Prescription and non-prescription medicines (including complementary medicines)

Professional updates are delivered by current Pharmacy organisational representatives and include:

• Quality Care Pharmacy Program
• Medicare Australia (HIC) and PBS
• Professional Practice
• Accessing Internet Drug Information

Therapeutic updates are delivered by University lecturers, hospital pharmacists and community pharmacists, covering such disease states as:

• Cardiovascular
• Neurological
• Respiratory
• Diabetes
• Gastro-intestinal
• Common fungal conditions

The cost of the program is $1760 for the 5-days or $396 per day (including GST).

The program is run only if there are a core number of participants.

The next Re-entry Program will be held in February 2009. Please contact the Re-entry program Co-ordinator (Leigh McKauge) if you would like more information or to register your name for the next program.

Email: reentryprogram@pharmacy.uq.edu.au
Phone: 61-7-3365-3336
Fax: 61-7-3365-1688.

The Awards recognise the achievements of a variety of QUM programs and activities that improve the health and wellbeing of the community through communication regarding the appropriate, quality use of medicines.

The School of Pharmacy was represented amongst the awardees with Dr Lisa Nissen, Dr Ian Coombes & Ms Wern Jing Ding all receiving accolades, which were announced and presented during the National Medicines Symposium (NMS), held this year in Canberra from May 14-16.

Dr Nissen received the Media QUM Award – Trade Media, for her regular column, “Old Drug – New Indication”, in Australian Pharmacist.

“Old Drug – New Indication” updates pharmacists on some of the ‘new’ and sometimes unregistered indications that old drugs (and some not so old) are being used for. It highlights the new and potentially useful indications for medicines by providing an overview of the evidence base for their use in various new indications.

Dr Ian Coombes (who was awarded his PhD earlier this month) and Ms Wern Jing Ding (a 2007 Bachelor of Pharmacy honours graduate) both received a Highly Commended in the Student QUM Award division.

Dr Coombes was recognised for development of the “Safe Medication Practice Tutorial Program for Medical Students”, while Ms Ding’s “Medication Alteration in Residential Aged Care Facilities” gained her the second Highly Commended in that division.

Rural Pharmacy Initiative Rewards Students

Hamish Heads (Warwick), Erin Jessen (Jondaryan) and Megan Steinberger (Bundaberg) have all received a 4 year Scholarship, which is jointly funded by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

The Rural and Remote Pharmacy Scholarship Scheme is an initiative of the Rural Pharmacy Workforce Program, established in recognition of the key role pharmacists play in maintaining the health of all Australians, particularly in rural and remote Australia.

The Rural Pharmacy Scholarships have been established to provide financial support to students from rural and remote communities, to encourage and enable them to undertake undergraduate or graduate studies in pharmacy at University.

Scholarship holders receive $10,000 per annum for up to four years of study (ie. $40,000 per student over a four year period). Scholarship recipients also participate in a Mentor Program and are encouraged to seek employment in rural and remote areas following graduation.

To be eligible for a scholarship students must be from a regional, rural or remote area and have been accepted to study pharmacy at any Australian University. Students are awarded a scholarship based on their application.

Scholarship holders are required to meet a number of acquittal requirements for each year of their scholarship. Meeting these requirements is imperative to enable the continuation of scholarship payments. Scholarship holders also have a responsibility to promote rural pharmacy as a career choice to rural secondary school students and to actively participate in rural health club activities.

The Rural and Remote Pharmacy Mentor Program is a significant component of the Scholarship Scheme. All scholarship holders are required to participate in the Mentor Program as part of their scholarship.

The aim of the Mentor Program is to reinforce the scholar’s ties to rural and regional Australia and provide support to scholars during each year of their pharmacy studies, outside of the university and formal study environment.

As part of the Mentor Program, students will regularly meet with their mentor to develop a learning plan and will have the opportunity to engage in day-to-day activities with their mentor to inform their understanding of rural health practice.

Congratulations go to our three recipients this year.

For more information on the Rural Pharmacy Scholarship Scheme, and for applications for 2009 please click here.

Dr Clavarino joined the School of Pharmacy as a Senior Lecturer in January 2008.

She completed her PhD in Sociology at the University of Queensland in 1997. Since that time she has worked as a Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Promotion and Cancer Prevention Research focusing on cancer prevention, control and management.

From 2003-2007 she worked as a Senior Research Fellow on an NHMRC Capacity Building Grant in the School of Population Health, at the University of Queensland working in the area of longitudinal studies.

During her research career Zandy has been a Chief Investigator on a number of successful, competitively funded grants from funding bodies including NHMRC, ARC and from State based Cancer Councils totaling in excess of $4 million.

Presently, she is leading a team of researchers on a large $1.6m NHMRC funded study of women at midlife.

Zandy has a strong publication track record with over 40 publications in peer reviewed journals.

Teaching

Coordinator of:

• PHRM3030 (Social and Professional Aspects of Pharmacy B)

• PHRM2030 (Social and Professional Aspects of Pharmacy A)
• PHRM7021 (Research Methods in Pharmacy)

Research

Zandy’s research interests encompass 3 main areas.

Cancer treatment and quality of life

• the evaluation of the effect of treatments on the quality of life of patients with cancer, particularly breast and ovarian cancers. Recent studies have examined the influence of response to treatments and specific symptoms such as dyspnoea, fatigue and nausea on patient quality of life. With colleagues she is currently investigating ways of managing dyspnoea in patients with lung cancer

The development and management of attention problems over the early life course

• the life course development and management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, involving the analysis of data from large cohort study as well as n-of-1 trials to evaluation treatments

The mental and physical health of women across their reproductive life course

• Dr. Clavarino presently leads a team of researchers investigating morbidity and the use of medicines by women at mid life and beyond. The study aims to understand medicines related issues associated with menopause, chronic illness and ageing.

The undergraduate experiential placements in community pharmacy were the focus of a research project undertaken by School of Pharmacy's Leigh McKauge.

The aim of the project was to better understand the role, purpose, and conduct of these experiential placements by investigating:

• how pharmacy students experience placements in the community pharmacy context;
• how pharmacist preceptors experience placements in the community pharmacy context

The study was undertaken as an action research project where a survey of the year 3 pharmacy undergraduate students and the pharmacist preceptors of the year 3 community pharmacy experiential placement.

Both surveys asked the respondents to report their views on a number of questions about the role, purpose, and content of the undergraduate pharmacy placement program.

The surveys were comprised of a mixture of closed and open-ended questions so the respondents had the opportunity to qualify or explain their responses.

The responses to the open-ended questions were analysed by identifying themes and sorting the data into categories based on these themes.

This data was used to develop Preceptor Workshops to discuss the placement issues raised by both preceptors and students. Changes to the experiential placement program were instigated due to the survey and workshop findings.

In the second cycle of the research, the preceptors were invited to meet at a second workshop, 15 months after the placement changes, to discuss and provide feedback on the placement program development.

At the end of the workshop, the preceptors were asked to complete a survey on the issues discussed and their views on this workshop format. Further changes to the placement program were initiated due to the outcomes from this workshop.

Apart from the benefits to the placement program, the interaction between practitioners, students and the university has helped to establish the concept of an ongoing learning community where there can be an active exchange of knowledge between the participants.

This co-operative model values collegiality, professional activity, and reflective practice – all participants in the research project, preceptors and students, are to be congratulated and sincerely thanked for their assistance.

The data from this project not only informed the placement educative processes but was the basis of Leigh McGauge’s Master of Philosophy degree.

Study To Identify Anxiety Causes In Mid-life Women

Dr. Zandy Clavarino, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Pharmacy, with Professor Gail Williams, Dr. Rosa Alati, Professor Jake Najman, and Dr. Abdullah Mamun from the School of Population Health and Dr. William Bor from the Mater Child and Youth Mental Health Service, has secured a $1,675,900 NHMRC grant to research the causes and consequences of anxiety disorders in mid-life women.

Anxiety is a major cause of morbidity in women, and appears to peak in mid-life, yet relatively little is known about its natural history, particularly whether an apparent peak in mid life has consequences for other health problems such as depression or, for other important aspects of women’s lives (e.g. menopause transition, marriage or employment).

Beyond motherhood: a 27 year follow-up of the mental health of mid-age women is a four year study that involves a 27 year follow-up of the Mater University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) mothers’ cohort at a time when over two-thirds of the women will have entered or completed the menopause transition and are reaching the end of their reproductive life cycle.

This project will follow up approximately 6000 mothers who were recruited between 1981 and 1983 into MUSP.

Scholarships Awarded

Congratulations go to the following Scholarship Awardees:

• Mr Ming Ni (PhD Candidate) - Australian Postgraduate Award
• Ms Christy Noble (PhD Candidate) - Alan Grant Taylor Scholarship
• Mr Manoj Kumar Palanivelu (PhD Candidate) - Endeavour Postgraduate Award & UQ International Research Tuition Award

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Congratulations to the following candidates who have been awarded their RHD:

Ian Coombes

Degree Conferred: Doctorate of Philosophy
Date Conferred: June 17th, 2008
Advisors: Dr Danielle Stowasser & A/Professor Charles Mitchell
Project Title: Junior doctor prescribing safety-systems, attitudes and behaviors




Helen Faddy

Degree Conferred: Doctorate of Philosophy
Date Conferred: June 16th, 2008
Advisors: A/Professor Sarah Roberts-Thomson & A/Professor Greg Monteith
Project Title: Plasmalemmal & secretory pathway Ca2+ AT passes in the mammary gland




Hoang Lam Pham

Degree Conferred: Doctorate of Philosophy
Date Conferred: June 20th, 2008
Advisors: Dr Nigel Davies, Professor Nick Shaw, Dr Ben Ross & Dr Ross McGeary
Project Title: Development of cationic complexes for targeted delivery of polynucleotide vaccines to skin cells

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The School of Pharmacy welcomes the following PhD Candidates:

Commencing PhD Candidates:

• Mr Ming Ni
  Advisor/s: Dr John Duley, Associate Professor Bruce Charles & Dr Kathryn Steadman
  Project Title: Clearance of pyrimidines and development of an oral screening test to predict susceptibility to fluoropyrimidine drug toxicity
• Ms Christy Noble
  Advisor/s: Dr Lisa Nissen
  Project Title: Future-proofing pharmacists: National evaluation of undergraduate pharmacy degree curricula
• Mr Manoj Kumar Palanivelu
  Advisor/s: Dr Ben Ross & Dr Ross McGeary
  Project Title: Design, synthesis and in vitro evaluation of polymers for the treatment of amyloid diseases

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Research Grants Received

• Funding Body: Australian Department of Health & Ageing
  Investigators: Prof. Sue Tett, Dr Carl Kirkpatrick, A/Prof. Greg Monteith, A/Prof. Libby Roughead
  Research Title: QUMmap and Website June 2008

• Funding Body: Australian Teaching & Learning Council
  Investigators: A/Prof. Ieva Stupens, A/Prof. Greg Ryan, Ms Leigh McKauge
  Research Title: Outcomes-based planning, graduated descriptors and quality indicators for pharmacy experiential placements

• Funding Body: ARC Linkage Grant
  Investigators: Prof. Mike Gidley, A/Prof Greg Monteith, A/Prof. Sarah Roberts-Thomson, Dr Ralph Dietzgen, Prof. Nick Shaw
  Research Title: Nutritional properties of mango fruits: linking plant genomics to cellular bioactivities

• Funding Body: ARC Linkage Grant
  Investigators: Prof. Maree Smith, Dr Bruce Wyse
  Research Title: Treatment of Inflammatory diseases

• Funding Body: Cancer Research Fund
  Investigators: Dr Marie-Odile Parat
  Research Title: Morphine in Breast Cancer Growth and Metastisis

• Funding Body: Gallipoli Research Foundation
  Investigators: Prof. M Smith, Dr Brendan Moore, Dr Lisa Nissen
  Research Title: Investigation of the relationship between cytokine levels and opioid analgesics in patients with chronic non-cancer pain receiving long term intrathecal opioid therapy for pain management
• Funding Body: Health Partnerships Initiative
  Investigators: A/Prof. Greg Monteith, Prof. Tom Gonda, A/Prof. Sarah Roberts-Thomson
  Research Title: High throughout identification of calcium transporter targets for breast cancer
• Funding Body: Lions Medical Research Foundation
  Investigators: Dr Christine Staatz
  Research Title: Senior Research Fellowship - Tailoring doses of the newer immunosuppressant drugs to improve outcomes after transplant
• Funding Body: NHMRC Project Grant
  Investigators: Prof. J. Lipman, Prof. M. Roberts, Dr D. Paterson, Dr Carl Kirkpatrick, Dr P.Kruger, Mr J. Roberts
  Research Title: Drug Dosing in the “at risk” critically ill patient
• Funding Body: NHMRC Project Grant
  Investigators: Dr Alexandra Clavarino, Prof. Gail Williams, Dr. Rosa Alati, Prof. Jake Najman, Dr. Abdullah Mamun, Dr. William Bor
  Research Title: Beyond motherhood: a 27-year follow-up of the mental health of mid-age women
• Funding Body: NHMRC Project Grant
  Investigators: Dr Christine Staatz, Prof. Sue Tett, Mr Paul Taylor, Prof. David Johnson, Prof. Stephen Lynch
  Research Title: Improved patient outcomes through dosage individualisation of the newer immunosuppressant drugs
• Funding: Pharmacy Guild of Australia
  Investigators: P. Aslani, L. Nissen, L. Gingold, T. Raynor, P. Knapp, B. Parkinson, J. Hughes.
  Research Title: Consumer Medicine Information Effectiveness
• Funding Body: PSA Pharmacy Practice Research Trust Grant
  Investigators: Dr Lisa Nissen, Dr Alison Hayward, Prof. Beverley Glass
  Research Title: Crushing or altering medications: what's happening in our local residential aged care facilities?
• Funding Body: PSA Pharmacy Practice Research Trust Grant
  Investigators: Dr Sally Firth, Dr Harendra Parekh
  Research Title: Localisation of sortilin in the developing retina: background for our model system for antibody targeted drug delivery to CNS tissue
• Funding Body: PSA Pharmacy Practice Research Trust Grant
  Investigators: Mr Greg Kyle, Dr Lisa Nissen, Prof. Sue Tett
  Research Title: Pilot study to include community pharmacies in distribution of prescription medicine starter packs
• Funding Body: Ramaciotti Foundation Research Grant
  Investigators: Dr Ben Ross
  Research Title: Novel anti-amyloidogenic therapies for Alzheimer’s disease
• Funding Body: Uniquest (Pathfinder Award)
  Investigators: A/Prof. Allan Coombes, A/Prof. Bhesh Bhandari
  Research Title: Continuous microparticle encapsulation
• Funding Body: UQ FirstLink Scheme
  Investigators: Dr Kathryn Steadman, A/Prof. Allan Coombes, A/Prof. Ian Godwin
  Research Title: Sorghum protein in the manufacture of controlled-release delivery systems for bioactives
• Funding Body: UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
  Investigators: Dr Marie-Odile Parat
  Research Title: Spatial modulation of nitric oxide production in angiogenic cells
• Funding Body: UQ T&L Strategic Grant
  Investigators: Ms Lousie McCuaig, Mr Peter Hay, Dr Lisa Nissen, Prof. Doune MacDonald
  Research Title: Enhancing secondary-tertiary transition: A focus on students’ experience of tertiary teacher-student pedagogical relationships
• Funding body: UQ T&L Strategic Grant
  Investigators: Dr Lynne Emmerton, Dr Kathryn Steadman, Ms Leigh McKauge, Ms Terrilyn Sweep, Dr Wendy Green.
  Research Title: Pilot project to enhance the communication skills of first-year Pharmacy students

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We are pleased to welcome the following staff to the School of Pharmacy:

• Ms Kristen Gurdler was appointed as the School's Finance Assistant in May
  
• Ms Kate Nuttall joined the School in June as Acting School Manager
  
• Ms Glynnis Shenfield started with the School in May – she will be working with Felicity Lindberg in the role of Research & Scholarships Officer.
  
• Ms Sue Therkelsen took up the position of Scientific Officer in the School in June
  

Farewells:

With our very best wishes we say farewell and thanks to the following staff:

• Ms Michele Dixon has finished her period of Acting School Manager as of June
  
• Ms Elizabeth Pyke left the School in June to pursue her acting career
  
• Ms Alesha Smith finished with the School in June
  
• Ms Julie Stokes has moved on to Queensland Health as of April
  

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