General News


UNSW team achieves 2nd place in international physiology quiz


In the first appearance of a team from Australia, four students from UNSW finished in 2nd place out of a record 38 participating teams in the 6th Inter Medical School Physiology Quiz, the Professor A. Raman Challenge Trophy.

They were narrowly beaten by the host team from the University of Malaya. Jenny Liu, Tao Shen, Joshua Goldstein and Scott Jones performed exceptionally well to progress through a knock-out competition to the finals.

The quiz has been held annually since 2003 and the competition has grown larger each year, with teams from the Czech Republic, Russia and UNSW competing for the first time in 2008. This quiz has provided a vehicle for bringing together staff and students from medical schools around the globe.

Full story: http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/medweb.nsf/page/shownewsstory?OpenDocument&LinkID=B900073F87



New Appointment in Primary Care


Dr Meredith Makeham has been appointed senior lecturer in primary care succeeding Dr Barbara Booth.

Meredith graduated in Medicine with honours from University of Newcastle in 1996, was awarded fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in 2001, Master of Public Health (honours) from University fo Sydney 2003 and PhD from University of Sydney 2008. Meredith was awarded the College Medal in 2001 for services to the Council of the RACGP and the Alan Chancellor Award in 2002 for the best scientific paper by a first time presenter at the RACGP Annual Scientific Convention. Meredith has experience teaching the undergraduate program at University of Sydney including in problem-based learning. Meredith has also been a chief investigator on a NMHRC funded study - the Threats to Australian Patient Safety study (TAPS) and has already had thirteen publications in peer reviewed journals.

Meredith will be taking over responsibility for convening the primary care course in phase 3 from Barbara who is retiring from her current role but will continue to be associated with the School as she completes her PhD on quality improvement in general practice. Barbara's enormous contribution to the School and in particular to undergraduate teaching and her leadership in developing and delivering the new phase 3 primary care course is gratefully acknowledged.

Nicholas Zwar
Professor of General Practice
School of Public Health and Community Medicine


Research News


Faculty Research Day - 7 October


Date changed to Tuesday, 7 October 2008.
  • Poster competition exhibition for postgraduate research students - Mathews Pavilions 2pm to 4pm
  • Nibblies - Mathews Pavilions 4pm to 5pm
  • Evening talks and prize ceremony - Ritchie Theatre 5pm to 7pm
For more information, contact Petrina Choong (, or 9385 2457)



Please complete this survey: Education and Treatment of Anxiety and Depression via the Internet



Dear Colleague

You are warmly invited to complete our survey. We are exploring attitudes towards using the Internet for the education and treatment of anxiety and depression. This project is being conducted by Dr Nickolai Titov and Ms Jane Gun, from the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales.

As you are aware, many websites provide education or treatment for people with anxiety or depression. However, little is known about what health professionals or the public think about such programs. Your responses will help to inform the development of future programs and websites. To complete this survey now, or to read more about it, please click on the following link (or paste it in your browser):

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ZoH4LFBKL4ruSU83ksmSsw_3d_3d

This survey will take between 5 – 10 minutes of your time and of course, all responses are anonymous. We would also be very pleased if you would circulate this email to your colleagues in the mental health field including psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, GPs, and consumers. Responses from the general public are also welcome. Please feel free to contact Dr Nickolai Titov ( or ph 02 8382 1732) with any questions.

Thank you for your time.

Dr Nickolai Titov and Ms Jane Gun
School of Psychiatry



Health Data Linkage Committee Applications Now Open


The next round for HDL Committee applications is open this Friday (5th September) and will close on Friday 26th September

Applications and further Information: http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/medweb.nsf/page/HDLC


IT News



IT Desktop Support Manager


Houssein Hallani will be taking over from Jodi Sweeney as the IT Desktop Support Manager in the Medicine Computing Support Unit. Jodi is taking maternity leave and we thank her for her excellent work in this role over the past 4+ years. Houssein has been working with MCSU since 2000 and should be a familiar face. Speaking of faces, a close approximation of all of our faces can be found on our website along with some other more relevant information. You can trust these faces to look after your computing requirements. Any wonderful compliments on our excellent service should be passed on directly to the relevant team members. Any problems should however, be addressed either to Houssein or myself.

http://mcsu.med.unsw.edu.au/MCSUWeb.nsf/page/Contacts

Cheers,

Luc Betbeder
IT Manager


Library News



New Side Effects of Drugs resource


The Library has purchased Meylers Side Effects of Drugs an online text detailing adverse drug reactions and interactions.



Google books links added to Library Catalogue (LRD)


Some books on the catalogue now have a link to Google books available from the full catalogue record. Click on “More about this book”. Google Book records usually contain an abstract as a bare minimum and will often have some quite detailed information available including Tables of Contents, an Index, and in some cases full text.

For further information please contact the Faculty's Outreach Librarian Kate Dunn ( or (02) 9385 8241)


Current Events



BioCareers Night 2008


Who should attend: All undergraduate & postgraduate bioscience, biotech & bio-engineering students
When: Tuesday 16th September, from 5:30 pm for 6pm start. Conclusion 8:30 pm
Where: NSW Dept State & Regional Development Trade & Investment Centre, Level 47 MLC Centre, 19 Martin Place, Sydney
Cost: Free for AusBiotech Student members (registrations necessary) | Non-member students only $10
Register online at http://www.ausbiotech.org






Keep in touch with faculty news and events on our website. If you have an upcoming event or story please submit it for display.

http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/medweb.nsf/page/News+and+Events (Staff ID and UniPass required to submit)

If you have any research in press, which would be of interest to a general audience, please contact Susi Hamilton in the Media unit at UNSW on 9385 1583 or


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Page Last Updated: 11:05:53 AM, Wednesday 3 December 2008
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