finding cures improving care

RESEARCHIMPACTEDITION 3 2016 HOSPITALRESEARCH.COM.AU

CANCER RESEARCH - IT WILL SAVE LIVES!

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CARE FOR YOUR HEART

YOU’RE HELPING OUR AGEING POPULATION

“100% OF MY DONATIONS WILL HELP FIND CURES.”Anne Wight, Regular Giver

Thank you for playing a very important role in helping us fund this research, which may one day save the life of you or someone you love.With this support, we are delighted to announce the recipients of our recent 2016 Grant Funding for the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research (BHI) and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (TQEH).

2 0 1 6 G r a n t R e c i p i e n t s , B H I & T Q E H

UPCOMING EVENTS!6th October 2016BHI Public Tour – Topic: Breast CancerApril 2017Mercer SuperCycle - Registrations now open! www.supercycle.org.au

Dr Isuru Ranasinghe, $100,000 (Mid-Career Fellowship)Project Title: Reducing unwanted variation in early complications after cardiac pacemaker and defibrillator implantation among Australian hospitals “I am very grateful for the support from THRF because it gives me certainty about research funding so I can concentrate on the task of making my ideas into reality. My research focuses on improving safety and quality of hospital care and I am thrilled that the THRF community has supported this work because it makes a big difference to patients and families that walk through our hospital doors every day.”

NEW LIFESAVING RESEARCH - THANKS TO YOU!Each year you enable us to proudly provide financial support to vital medical and clinical research teams and individuals whose endeavours translate into improved treatments and healthcare outcomes for the Australian community.

Associate Professor Wendy Ingman, $100,000 (Research Grant)Project Title: Exploring the impact of menstrual cycling on personalised medicine for premenopausal breast cancer patients “We’re really excited that THRF have provided the opportunity for us to do this exciting research. This work will make such a big difference to the future of how we treat breast cancer in young women.”

We are looking forward to bringing you more exciting news about these inspiring researchers and their projects throughout 2016. In fact, on page 4 you can read about Dr Ranasinghe’s research project! Thank you for your support!

Professor John Beltrame, $100,000 (Research Grant)Project Title: Coronary Haemodynamic Indices – their clinical usefulness for predicting persistent symptoms in patients with chest pain and non-obstructive coronary arteries “I am honoured to receive this highly competitive grant that will make a real difference to patients who suffer with coronary microvascular disorders. Thank you to the THRF donors for supporting this important research.”

Professor Eric Gowans, $100,000 (Research Grant)Project Title: A DNA vaccine to induce protective neutralizing antibodies to the HIV Tat protein “These funds will allow us to continue our important HIV vaccine studies. The researchers in my group and I are incredibly grateful to THRF donors who made this possible and wish to thank them for their valuable contributions.”

Featured on Pg 4!

2

REINVENTING MEDICATION TO TACKLE A GLOBAL ISSUE

Superbugs are antibiotic resistant bacteria, and Dr Nicky Thomas and his team are in a race against time to halt them in their tracks. You are part of this important project – thank you for your support!“The main reason these superbugs exist is because antibiotics are being used too much. On top of that, most bacteria are surrounded by a slime that protects them from antibiotics rendering the medication ineffective and leading to chronic infections,” Dr Thomas explained. Working as a Pharmacist in Germany and Switzerland for over six years, Dr Thomas would constantly see patients suffering from chronic infections come in regularly for antibiotics that weren’t working.

“It was frustrating for me as a health professional to see so many people suffering for months and years. They would come in over and over again for a new course of antibiotics that couldn’t provide the expected remedy,” he said.

“Today we are facing the global and growing problem of ineffective antibiotics and we need to do something about it now.” Determined to play his part in the fight against superbugs, Dr Thomas eventually landed in Adelaide where he now works between the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research (BHI) and the University of South Australia’s School of Pharmacy and Medical Science where he supervises PhD and Honours students and also teaches undergraduate students in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. His team’s goal is to find a way to improve the effectiveness of current medications to ensure patients receive the best treatments available to them. “We are not trying to develop new antibiotics through our research. What we are doing is to make existing antibiotics more effective against bacteria by combining them with other compounds that are not antibiotics but complement their action.” Dr Thomas and his team have been developing a multi-step approach to killing these superbugs. Their first hurdle was determining how to penetrate the barrier, or biofilm, that is shielding the bacteria from antibiotics.

“These biofilms essentially form an armour around the bacteria, so if we can strip them off this armour we can target the bacteria residing inside the biofilm and then the antibiotics can do the job they are supposed to,” he said. “We’re using a few different approaches to rip apart the biofilm and make bacteria more vulnerable. One approach is to camouflage medicine so they look like food to the bacteria. However, once inside the biofilm this smart medicine disrupts the biofilm.“By opening gates for the actual antibiotics to find their way to the bacteria we have made antibiotics up to 100 times more efficient in killing the bacteria.This means we can use far less antibiotics with better effects, which also means less side effects that are typically associated with antibiotic therapy.”

With his research Dr Thomas is confident the re-designed antibiotics will beat a diverse range of debilitating diseases including lung, bone and wound infections and chronic rhinosinusitis. Continuing his efforts to deliver the best treatments for the community, Dr Thomas is also furthering his PhD research focusing on re-designing medications that currently have to be consumed with food. “Many drugs have to be taken with a meal so they can work properly. If patients don’t do this, the drugs cannot achieve their best effect. In my current research we have been looking at how to formulate anti-cancer drugs and anti-psychotic drugs that will mimic food so that a patient doesn’t have to take it at the same time as a meal,” Dr Thomas said. “By doing this we are improving the uptake of the drug and making it work consistently better and reliable for the patient. While improving the desired therapeutic effects of the drug we can reduce the dose of the drug which means there are less side effects.”“That’s my overall goal – to make the best medicine available for patients.” Exuding passion for his research Dr Thomas is excited about the translational potential of these projects, made possible thanks to the generosity of THRF community. “After six years working in pharmacies I got a great idea of how antibiotic resistance affects people, how sub-optimal medication leads to poor patient compliance and how side effects stops patients taking their medicine leading to dangerous therapy failures. I am now thrilled my research will help those people.” “That’s extremely important to me, that my research is going to be useful and applicable for the wider community.” Thank you for making this possible!

The World Health Organisation predicts by 2050 superbugs will be the cause of 10 million deaths each year. This is far more deaths than from cancer and diabetes combined.

“That’s my overall goal – to make the best medicine available for patients.”

3

Vahid Atashgaran.

As the recent recipient of THRF’s Mid-Career Fellowship, this research began for Dr Ranasinghe at Yale University where he was measuring healthcare quality and outcomes (the end results of care) in the hopes of reducing hospital readmissions among patients who have suffered from conditions such as heart attacks and heart failure. At the TQEH, Dr Ranasinghe works in the University of Adelaide’s Discipline of Medicine and is very passionate about his area of research, with a hope to directly benefit patients. He is now able to continue this work thanks to you as one of our generous donors – thank you! “After finishing my cardiology training I was planning on working as a full-time cardiologist but I ended up becoming involved in research and discovered from travelling all over the country how differently hospitals treated patients for the same condition,” Dr Ranasinghe said. “What was concerning was that we started seeing very different end results for patients, where some patients did well while others were readmitted.“Some of the variation was due to the underlying condition but some of it was due to variation in care at different hospitals.” According to Dr Ranasinghe, readmissions are a major concern because about one in five heart patients end up coming back to the hospital unexpectedly within 30 days of discharge and many of these readmissions are potentially preventable. “Unexpected readmissions are incredibly distressing for patients,” Dr Ranasinghe said.“No one wants to end up back in the hospital after being told it is safe for them to go home. It also exposes patients to unnecessary harm such as hospital-acquired infection and is costly for hospitals because the average cost for a hospital admission is around three to five thousand dollars.”Currently, Australia does not have systems in place to routinely monitor important end results of care such as deaths or readmissions after patients leave the hospital. “The irony is that cardiology often provides lifesaving

treatments but we have no way of routinely monitoring how many people survive (or get readmitted) after a patient leaves the hospital,” said Dr Ranasinghe.“How can we improve hospital care if we don’t routinely monitor the end results of that care? How do doctors and hospitals learn to improve care if they have no way of knowing what they got right and what got wrong?”“My goal is to develop systems to routinely monitor patient outcomes particularly in the early period after leaving the hospital,” said Dr Ranasinghe. By developing data to inform who is being readmitted and for what condition, Dr Ranasinghe said such systems could potentially save lives and save the health care system thousands of dollars. “What I want to implement, and what the United States do well, is measuring readmissions and reporting back to the hospital and doctors about why that patient came back,” Dr Ranasinghe said.“If you can see what you are doing is causing harm down the track, you are more likely to do everything you can to make sure that doesn’t happen again. It is an opportunity for doctors, and hospitals to learn from every patient that we see so that we get the best possible outcomes for our patients.” If you’re interested in finding out more about this research as it progresses, please contact us on (08) 8244 1100.

Dr Isuru Ranasinghe.

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CARE FOR YOUR HEART Joining The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (TQEH) in 2015, Clinician and Researcher Dr Isuru Ranasinghe is passionate about developing data systems to monitor what happens to patients after hospital admissions for heart conditions.

4

FUN. SIMPLE. LIFESAVING!

CANCER RESEARCH: IT WILL SAVE LIVES!

PhD candidate Vahid Atashgaran’s exciting research has promising outcomes for the prevention of breast cancer in the future.Did you know one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 85? This heartbreaking statistic is one of the reasons why breast cancer is such an important area that you help us support and you can feel good knowing this critical research is aiming to change the lives of women all over the world.Working in Associate Professor Wendy Ingman’s team at the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health

Research (BHI), Vahid’s research is investigating the link between increased menstrual cycling and breast cancer.“Based on the analysis of over 100 past studies we know there is a high correlation between an increased number of menstrual cycles and the development of breast cancer in women,” Vahid said.Past research has confirmed that for each year younger a girl begins her menstrual cycle there is a five per cent higher chance of developing breast cancer. Similarly for each year older a woman is at the time of menopause, there is a three and a half per cent increase in her risk of breast cancer.“While we know this important information, it is not yet fully understood how the way the breast functions and changes during a menstrual cycle affects a woman’s cancer risk,” Vahid explained.“What we do know is that fluctuations of the ovarian hormones (estrogen and progesterone) during a woman’s menstrual cycle affect the structure of the breast. So in every cycle that occurs over a 28 to 31 day period, the

structure of the breast is changing.”Based on this knowledge, Vahid’s project is focusing on the effects of estrogen and progesterone on the milk producing cells in the human breast. He says the results have been quite interesting, showing particular genes, if treated with estrogen and progesterone, are significantly regulated in the breast. Vahid is eager to gain a larger sample size to confirm his findings and ultimately play a part in the fight for prevention of breast cancer in the future.“Our goal is to identify potential genes or proteins that can be targeted with drugs and then hopefully we can prevent breast cancer in the future. I think prevention is more worthy than a cure – we are trying to prevent breast cancer for a better future,” he said.

“I hope that one day I will find the solution to prevent breast cancer in women. Thank you to the THRF supporters for helping make breast cancer research here at the BHI a reality!”

You can feel proud knowing you’re supporting research at all career levels, including the fresh young minds who are the future of medical research!

Vahid Atashgaran.

Dr Isuru Ranasinghe.

The Longest Table (TLT) came alive across the country on Saturday June 18, 2016 – the official date to #forkcancer by raising money for much needed cancer research. If you haven’t heard of TLT yet, we’re quite confident it’s something you’ll want to get on board with next year in 2017 – it’s fun, simple and most of all lifesaving! The concept is easy! People sign up to host their own Longest Table, invite their friends and family over and make the evening whatever they want it to be. From burger nights to degustation meals – TLT has seen it all! “The Longest Table is so much fun! If there is a cure for most cancers within the next 10-15 years due to our fundraising efforts, wouldn’t that be amazing? I personally don’t need to lose too many more friends to this horrible disease,” said 2016 host Delia Matthews. Thank you to the fabulous hosts who held their own Longest Table dinners this year – we are so grateful to you and the money you helped raise! Remember 100 per cent of funds raised go directly to our cancer researchers! Thank you for helping us beat this heartbreaking disease.www.thelongesttable.com.au

5

Joe Wrin in the lab at the BHI.So here I am, sitting at my desk and typing on my aging MacBook, surrounded by a burgeoning pile of breast cancer papers and a litter of coffee cups. I have just started my PhD at the BHI with Associate Professor Wendy Ingman on a project that will probe the interactions of the immune system with normal breast tissue. A few months ago, I sat at a different desk, working on a different cancer. So, how did I get here? Let me tell you my story…Born in California, I grew up with a love of the natural world and never deviated from the path of becoming a research scientist. After a few years in biotechnology, I crossed the Pacific to live in Adelaide and work on research in the area of chronic inflammation. After two years, I had intended to move again and had picked out a lab in the UK, when a scientist arrived in our lab from overseas. She was returning to Adelaide after post-doctoral work in the UK and settled at the bench next to mine. I was a bit shy but found we could talk easily about dogs and horses. She had an infectious laugh. We went dancing after the lab Christmas dinner and I went to see her horse that weekend. We fell in love. Her name was Leeanne.We started our life together on a property in Strathalbyn with three horses and as many dogs, and duly commuted each day to Adelaide. When we added two children to the mix, we said goodbye to our little farm and moved back to Adelaide. The years passed, as they do, and Leeanne took a year off work to spend more time with the children. I took advantage of this opportunity to visit my parents in California. Next thing I knew, our lives began falling apart.I arrived at the airport only to be greeted with a text message: could I get a cab home? Alarm bells rang, Lee was ever-dependable. At home, I found her suffering such terrible pain in her joints that medication barely touched. And so, our medical odyssey began. Her bloods came back abnormal, something was wrong with her bone marrow. Leukaemia? Whatever it was, it was bad. Very bad. She went to a haematologist and the problem became clear. She had a lump in her breast, and it was cancerous.

We began living a nightmare, a series of events that couldn’t be happening. The doctors were wonderful but they couldn’t do a lot for her. The disease had gone too far, it had metastasised to her bones. There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer, chemo would only offer limited control of the disease and help relieve her pain. She was given twelve to eighteen months to live.She endured the chemo: a beautiful orange solution, but so terribly toxic. Coming out the other end of the chemo cycles, a little miracle happened. Lee’s tumour shrank and disappeared. It was almost like she was normal again. We enjoyed a golden time together as the meds controlled the residual disease in her bones. She was only out of bed about half the time–– her bones hurt if she tried anymore–– but it was a precious time for us.Eventually, her tumour marker began to spike, the disease was progressing. Different chemo, different medications, but the marker kept rising. The disease started appearing in her lungs, her liver, her brain. Then there was radiotherapy. Lee became bed-ridden. Her pain grew until it was out of control. I couldn’t look after her adequately anymore, she was suffering too much. I moved her to hospice care and she was kept heavily sedated. The doctor advised: tell her to let go. Lee died the next day, one month shy of her 50th birthday. She lived three and a half years past her diagnosis.

And that’s the short version of why I’m here. Following Lee’s death, I returned to work, researching colon cancer therapy and working with patients. It was worthy work and quite satisfying, but my heart kept urging me to do breast cancer research.So this year I started PhD study, working on immune interactions during breast cancer onset, and will do my part to help defeat breast cancer. My work here is only possible thanks to your kind and generous support. And I am shooting for the moon: a future in which no woman will ever have to suffer the tragedy of breast cancer again.

Sh

SHOOTING FOR THE MOON -A FUTURE FREE OF BREAST CANCERJoe Wrin, Breast Cancer Researcher from the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research (BHI) would like to share with you why your support means so much to him...

“I will do my best to help defeat breast cancer, the disease that tragically took the life of my Leeanne.”

Researcher Art ic le

6

This safe haven was Mercer House, one of two beautiful family-sized homes in the Under Our Roof project. These homes provide comfortable accommodation for country cancer patients while they receive treatment in hospitals in Adelaide. Here, they can spend time with their families in a home away from home. For Daniel Hall, Mercer House enabled him to have close access to the treatment he required for his brain tumour while having the support of his family. Early one morning in December last year, Maria Hall woke to find her 41 year old husband having a seizure in his sleep. The MRI at the hospital showed a mass in the right side of his brain.Daniel was flown from Whyalla to the Royal Adelaide Hospital via the Flying Doctor Service. Maria was unable to fly with her husband and had to make her own travel arrangements for their three daughters Isabella 17, Amelia 15 and Jessica 12 to get to Adelaide. “After a four hour drive, we booked into a hotel close by to the hospital. It was a very stressful time and accommodating five of us was quite difficult,” Maria said.“Being in the city was very expensive for us all and unsettling to the family. Our lives changed, routines were disrupted and living away from home was very difficult.”Daniel’s formal diagnosis was a Grade 2 Astrocytoma – a brain tumour. The Hall family moved three times in the city while undergoing all the tests and treatments that went along with the diagnosis until they discovered the Under Our Roof homes. Spending six weeks in Mercer House – their spacious and comfortable ‘home away from home’, made a difficult time a little more bearable.

“Being in a community setting has been lovely and we have found easy access to everything we need,” Maria said.“Being able to have family and friends socialise is important to us, so having the space to be able to do this has really eased some of the burden of being away from home.“Everything has been thought of in these homes, such as the internet connection, which was important for our three girls to keep up their homework.”

The Hall family is so grateful to all the kind hearted people and organisations that have made this project a reality, including major fundraising partner Mercer SuperCycle.“Words alone cannot express our gratitude and appreciation for the generosity of these groups of incredible people who raised the funds and supported this project,” Maria said.“Being able to stay in a community home environment has made our stay away from home a much better experience than we could ever have anticipated. It has also made Daniel’s treatment that little bit less stressful.”We are so proud to be able to provide a safe, secure and comfortable home for families like the Halls when they needed it the most. Thank you once again to everyone who is a part of this incredibly special project!

A HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Amid the toughest times of their lives, the Hall family from Whyalla found a safe haven to spend precious time together – The Hospital Research Foundation’s Under Our Roof project.

You may have recently met the Hall Family in a letter we sent to you. We kindly asked for your support to help us make these houses into homes. It’s thanks to your donations that we have been able to supply the final touches for the two Under Our Roof homes, ensuring they are the perfect environment for patients to recover. It’s the little details that make all the difference. Thank you so much for your support of the Under Our Roof project. Thanks to you, we’re able to make sure the families staying in the homes feel safe, comfortable and importantly, at home.To find out how you can continue to support the Under Our Roof project, please contact Fiona Smithson on (08) 8244 1100 or underourroof@hospitalresearch.com.au.

Library

Comfort Pack

Entertainment

Package

Interior DecorKids Activity Pack

Help make this house a home...

7

As an Occupational Therapist, Mark Thompson understands how frailty, a generally reversible condition, can impact a person’s quality of life.

YOU’RE HELPING OUR AGEING POPULATION!

Mark is hopeful his research will be able to feed into the bigger international picture of frailty.

HomeLottery.com.au 1300 852 177South Australia’s Biggest Home Lottery. Finding cures and improving care in SA’s Hospitals.

WINTHIS LUXURY HOME

IN HENLEY BEACH PLUS $250,000 CASH!

1ST PRIZE PACKAGE VALUE OVER $1.6M

Custom designed and built by

Licence #M13131

The ability to participate in simple tasks, such as walking down the road, playing with grandchildren or even getting up out of a chair can be difficult if not impossible for someone classified as frail. Thanks to your support, critical research is being undertaken into areas that impact our ageing community, Mark is now undertaking post-graduate research aimed at assessing the prevalence of frailty in older adults in the North West of Adelaide. This includes the impact frailty has on mortality over four years as well as the impact on a person’s quality of life. Like you, Mark wants to make a difference in the lives of our community. Working under the guidance of Professor Renuka Visvanathan, he hopes to transfer his Masters study into a PhD. You may remember reading about Prof Visvanathan and her team in the previous edition of our newsletter, after she secured a National Health and Medical Research grant to establish a Centre of Research Excellence: Frailty Trans-Disciplinary Research To Achieve Healthy Ageing.For Mark, he hopes his current project will contribute to frailty research on a global scale and improve the health of our local community. “Data has been collected in the North West Adelaide cohort for a number of years, and we looked at people aged over 65 at phase two of the data, recorded in 2004-2006. We assessed how many of those were frail, how many were vulnerable of being frail and how many weren’t frail at all,” Mark explained.“We use a phenotype approach to assess frailty where we look at five key areas in a person – weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slowness and low energy expenditure. We’ve worked out about 18 per cent of the northwest of Adelaide, over the age of 65, are frail and interestingly 51 per cent are classified as pre-frail, so they are vulnerable.”

Now, Mark and his team are looking at these people four years on, seeing how proportions have changed and determining if there is a higher risk of death in the frail group. The other key part of this project is looking at frailty and the impact it has on a person’s quality of life. Mark is hopeful his research will be able to feed into the bigger international picture of frailty, to ensure that collaboratively, this problem can be tackled on a global level.

You can read more about this project on our website and we look forward to updating you on the progress of this much-needed research in the near future. Thank you for supporting research that is geared towards a healthier community for you and your family!

8

It was a record year for Mercer SuperCycle 2016 with 69 cyclists and 22 support crew participating in a cycling challenge across some of the most stunning parts of rural South Australia. They raised an incredible $471,105 to support country cancer patients and their families through The Hospital Research Foundation’s Under Our Roof project, providing accommodation to country cancer patients and their families in Adelaide. Rider Anton Marrone from Bendigo Bank described the Mercer SuperCycle experience as one that “exceeds every expectation.”

“The SuperCycle experience extends beyond the seven days you’re on the road. The experience includes the months of preparation and training and the camaraderie of the team environment.”“Over and above the cycling experience, SuperCycle gives you a great sense of achievement, particularly because you’re making a tangible contribution to something much bigger than yourself. When you’re all ‘on the front pulling’ for such a fantastic cause, it really brings the entire week into perspective. If you’re considering signing up I can assure you that SuperCycle is worth EVERY little bit of effort you put in.”Sincerest thanks must go to Mercer SuperCycle major event sponsors Mercer and Bendigo Bank, and every rider, support crew member, donor and the tireless SuperCycle Inc. volunteer committee for their incredible achievement of a record fundraising total.

If you’d like to experience a ride like no other, join us on Mercer SuperCycle 2017!

Registrations are now open until November 30, unless our limited places are filled prior.

Visit www.supercycle.org.au or call Bianca on (08) 7002 0806 for more information.

THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME

SUPERCYCLE

9

BIG DREAMS FOR YOUNG FEMALE RESEARCHERCould stem cell therapy replace a patient’s dependence on pharmaceutical drugs following an organ transplant?

Thank you for supporting Kisha and her big research dreams!

It could be possible, thanks to your support and the work of researchers all over the globe, including local Adelaide researcher, Ms Kisha Sivanathan.Working with Professor Toby Coates who is supported by The Hospital Research Foundation, Kisha has recently submitted her PhD at the Centre for Clinical and Experimental Transplantation at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH). Here, she has made some incredible progress in her investigation of this new stem cell therapy that may replace current treatments for patients undergoing transplantation rejection.In recognition of her talent and hard work, Kisha was recently awarded the University of Adelaide’s Women’s Research Excellence Award for her outstanding achievements as a young researcher. “This award supports my professional and personal development as a woman in the field of transplantation research,” Kisha said. Explaining her research, Kisha said “current organ transplant patients are dependent on life-long administration of pharmaceutical immunosuppressive drugs. The problem is long term dependence on these non-specific drugs can result in life threatening conditions such as cancer. “I’ve been investigating adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), which can be obtained from many tissues in the body, are therapeutic in nature and have the ability to cultivate quickly.“MSC can migrate specifically to sites of transplantation rejection to facilitate tissue repair and prevent inflammatory response in rejection.”Through this research, Kisha discovered an influential protein that combined with MSC therapy could be a more effective way of controlling rejection response that occur following a patient’s organ transplantation.

“My research focuses on this interaction of MSC with this potent protein that occurs naturally in the body during severe inflammation and in patients who are undergoing transplantation rejection,” she said.“MSC treated with this protein grows faster than untreated MSC and are more effective at preventing and treating human immune inflammatory diseases – particularly in controlling rejection responses that occur following organ transplantation.”Given her promising findings and with this prestigious award under her belt, Kisha is eager to follow her PhD findings through to clinical trials, hoping the future will hold

a new treatment option for patients suffering from organ rejection.

“The development of this new stem cell therapy may help patients ‘accept’ transplants while repairing tissue damage. It may thereby reduce the detrimental side effects such as cancer.” Thanks to her recent Women’s Research Award, Kisha was recently able to attend the American Transplant Congress and a meeting at the Harvard Medical Institute, in Boston. She is now more determined than ever to one day achieve her ultimate research goal – a world without dependence on pharmaceutical drugs after a transplant. “The holy grail of transplantation is to achieve tolerance, a term defined as the long-term acceptance and survival of a transplanted organ without ongoing use of pharmaceutical drugs,” she said.

“My career aspiration is to develop a new adult stem cell therapy to prevent, treat and promote tolerance in transplant patients, thereby reducing side effects of long-term drug administration.” Grateful for the support of Professor Toby Coates, his research team and you as part of our community, Kisha is eagerly leading the way for women working in the field of research in transplantation. If you’re interested in further supporting the young minds of research like Kisha, you can do this easily by making a regular monthly donation. Please contact our Donor Relations Specialist Bonnie Stewart on (08) 8244 1100 or email bstewart@hospitalresearch.com.au.

10

Mental health is a crucial area of our healthcare system that we’re very proud to support with your generous support. Thank you for making this possible!

YOUR SUPPORT IS HELPING TO ADDRESS DEPRESSION

Dancing for Cancer Research Long-time supporters, Maria and Chris held their annual Cancer Support Dinner Dance on April 2nd, raising an incredible amount for cancer research – $30,810.This was their 15th annual Cancer Support Dinner Dance and the money raised will be directed to cancer research at the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research.Thank you so much to Maria and Chris and everyone who attended this wonderful event for a very special cause. We’re so proud we can ensure the funds raised are directed to researchers who are doing all they can to find ways to prevent, treat and ultimately cure cancer. Ladies Day Supports Local Research!The Rosewater Football club held their annual ladies day recently, donating $1,000 of their proceeds to support local research and patient care! Thank you to all the ladies who got involved and we look forward to having you back on board in 2017!

“Research into more effective treatments for depression in COPD is vital.”

PhD Candidate Justyna Pollok is dedicated to progressing research in this area and eager to address the significant and growing rates of depression in Australia.Beginning her PhD project last year and supported by you through a scholarship from The Hospital Research Foundation, Justyna is researching treatments for depression in two patient groups at high risk – Indigenous Australians and patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). “Depression is a huge disease burden,” Juystna said.

“The World Health Organisation says that by 2020 it will be the second leading cause of global disease burden following cardiovascular disease.”“My project is an evaluation of existing evidence for treatment of depression in these two high risk patient groups. Depression in these groups is either not treated or it’s under-treated and there’s a lack of conclusive evidence for the effectiveness of existing treatments. This is why there is a need to support the current clinical guidelines to hopefully inform policy and help these two groups in the future.” To understand the Indigenous community perspective on depression, Justyna will be working closely with an Indigenous Health Clinic Nunkuwarrin Yunti conducting surveys, interviews and focus groups with doctors, healthcare workers and patients. “I’m looking at the Indigenous community because in Australia there is a huge health and life expectancy gap of approximately 10 years between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This is the biggest gap out of all Indigenous populations around the world. I’ll be running focus groups and interviews with doctors and healthcare workers who work with Aboriginal patients and I’ll be recruiting community members who are willing to be involved.”“I will also be working closely with Lifeline to determine

why only three to five per cent of the Indigenous community use the service and if there is something that needs to change to make them more likely to call up.” Whilst running this aspect of her project, Justyna will also be furthering her research into the growing prevalence of depression in patients with COPD. “Physical activity is often encouraged in COPD patients to improve their condition, but if a patient is depressed, the physical activity is likely to be reduced. This in turn may worsen their COPD symptoms leading to increased hospitalisation rates and high costs to the healthcare system,” she explained.

“This is why research into more effective treatments for depression in COPD is vital.”“If we can find the right way to treat these patient’s depression this could in fact be linked with more positive outcomes including better quality of life and a longer life expectancy.” Keeping herself busy between the two groups, Justyna is confident by the end of her three year project she will be able to provide doctors and health care workers with an updated guideline on the most effective treatments for the different patient cohorts. We look forward to providing you with an update on Justyna’s research as it progresses! If you would like more information on this project please let us know via email - contactus@hospitalresearch.com.au or phone – (08) 8244 1100.

11

finding cures improving care

60 WOODVILLE RD WOODVILLE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 5011PH: 08 8244 1100 FAX: 08 8244 1200 HOSPITALRESEARCH.COM.AU

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY OF CARE!

As a valued member of our Community of Care, you will enable us to fund major medical research programs, purchase the most advanced research equipment, continue important patient care projects and develop lifesaving treatments and potential cures for so many heartbreaking diseases. We would love for you to join us!You may already support us regularly and if you do, thank you! Joining our Community of Care will make giving regularly to us even easier for you! Your monthly gift will be deducted automatically and you will receive one receipt in July each year to help you claim your tax deduction. Your monthly gift also allows us to reduce our administration costs, supporting more research and further enhancing patient care at hospitals in South Australia. Medical research breakthroughs often take years to reach a point where they are proven safe and effective for patients. For this reason, medical research is an investment that requires dedicated financial support to be able to improve treatments and even find cures for devastating conditions. Your regular donation will ensure our researchers are supported at all stages of their research – from bench to bedside. To join our Community of Care, please fill in the enclosed form and send it back in the reply paid envelope or phone Bonnie Stewart, our Donor Relations Specialist on (08) 8244 1100.

IN MEMORY GIFTS

• Ana Brand• Bruno Berno• Carlo Boniciolli• Concetta Callisto• Dean Tostevin• Dino Milanese• Dorothy Kotlowy• Edward Thicthener• Ellie Verrall• Enid Gow• Erminia Scarpa• George Harous• Gordon Stansfield• Jennifer Dann• John Finlay• Judith Just

• Konstantinos Takos• Lucia Tassone• Malcolm Jorgensen• Marjorie Passmore • Martha Lysikatos• Maxwell Filmer• Michael Fuller• Nikolaos Konistis• Remo Paris• Rita Milani• Rocco D’Alessandro• Ronald Passmore• RosaMaria Caristo• Thi Du Anh• Umberto Tamburin• Warren Lee

DO YOU HAVE A STORY YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE? GET IN TOUCH WITH US AT CONTACTUS@HOSPITALRESEARCH.COM.AU OR ON 08 8244 1100

THRF gratefully acknowledges donations in memory of:

100% OF YOUR DONATIONS GO DIRECTLY TO MEDICAL RESEARCH AND PATIENT CARE PROJECTS. YES IT’S TRUE!

Join our Community of Care like John Rippon, Anne Wight and Pam and Graham Irish

You can join an inspiring group of people who belong to our Community of Care, providing monthly support for vital medical research and patient care at hospitals in South Australia.