Scholarships & General Information

The Southern Clinical School (SCS) links Monash University to Southern Health, the largest hospital network in Australia. The major activities of the SCS are undergraduate (medical, biomedical and nursing) and postgraduate teaching and research. Many of the SCS academics are specialists in fields such as medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry and paediatrics. The Southern Clinical School offers a comprehensive range of research projects from basic science to patient-based projects. Our main emphasis is on translational projects that combine both science and clinical medicine.

Scholarships

We offer summer scholarships for students and for outstanding students, Honours scholarships.

Summer/vacation scholarships

These will be paid at standard Research Assistant rates

Honours scholarships

Applicants will need to be an Australian/New Zealand citizen, have a permanent visa or be an international student and be an Honours student in Bachelor of Science/Biomedical Science enrolled at the Southern Clinical School

Scholarships will be given to the highest ranked students with a minimum of high distinction weighted average mark (80%) for the 3 years of undergraduate study. There will be one to two Honours scholarships for 2010 valued at $6000.

 Application

For potential students who are interested in applying for summer/vacation or Honours scholarships please mail/email your details (name, student number, home address, contact phone number), name of project and supervisor (and those interested in applying for an Honours scholarship a copy of your academic transcript/results) to the SCS Honours coordinator; (paul.king@med.monash.edu.au)

Dr Paul King,
Department of Medicine,
Monash Medical Centre,
246 Clayton Rd,
Clayton 3168.

Our Location

The Southern Clinical School incorporates the 4 hospitals of Southern Health but is principally based at Monash Medical Centre (MMC), Clayton. This is approximately a 15 minute walk (south) from the main Monash University campus at Clayton. The Clayton railway station is several minutes walk and a number of bus services stop at MMC.

The main administration centre is located in The Department of Medicine, Block E, Level 5, MMC.

Facilities

Over 15 000 people work at Southern Health and there are a large number of facilities available. There is an extensive education program run both by Monash University and Southern Health on campus at MMC with daily meetings covering all areas of medicine and biomedicine.

Library MMC

The MMC Clayton library has a collection of 16,000 books, approximately 700 journals and access to around 1,500 electronic journal titles. The library cooperates with the other Southern Health libraries located at Dandenong, Moorabbin, Kingston, and Casey as well as the Monash University Library. Opening hours are 8.00am - 5.30pm Monday to Friday.

There is also an on-campus gym, on-site banking, shops and an extensive cafe.

Departments

The Southern Clinical School is composed of a number of Departments. Some of the main centres offering research projects are listed below.

Department of Medicine/Centre for Inflammatory Diseases

The Department of Medicine/Centre for Inflammatory Diseases runs active programs in key areas of inflammation, with an emphasis on translational research. Human diseases caused by immune/inflammatory tissue injury are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Australia. Understanding the critical pathways involved in inflammation is essential for the development of improved therapies, and the studies contained in this proposal have the potential to lead to more targeted treatments for human disease. The Centre is engaged in a series of investigations designed to unravel the pathogenesis of human chronic inflammatory diseases. The Centre for Inflammatory Diseases is a recognized Monash Research Strength and currently receives NH&MRC funding in excess of $1.2 million per annum. We have a long tradition of training honours, PhD and post-doctoral scientist and staff have had significant success in publishing in the highest impact journals including; Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and Nature Medicine.

Key research areas include

Mechanisms by which immune cells induce renal injury

New roles for coagulation molecules in enhancing inflammation

Mechanisms of injury in arthritis

Mechanisms of fibrosis in the liver and kidney

Mechanisms of leukocyte recruitment and migration

Mechanisms of inflammation in asthma

Tolerance and its breakdown in autoimmunity

Mechanisms of atherosclerosis

Innate immunity and infection

Respiratory infection and immunity

Inflammation in type 2 diabetes and its complications

Neurosciences

The Neurosciences group is closely affiliated with clinical neurology and has a well established research record with NHMRC funding including program grant success. The primary focus of this group is to investigate the effects and mechanisms of brain ageing, with particular reference to the interface between cerebrovascular disease and neurodegeneration. This is conducted in population-based settings, enriched clinical samples and collaboratively in translational work involving experimental animal models.

Monash Cardiovascular Research Centre

The Monash Cardiovascular Research Centre (MCRC) is a combined research group of Monash University (Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences) and of Southern Health (MonashHEART). The MCRC is the recognised research arm of MonashHEART including both adult and paediatric cardiology researchers as well as researchers from The Department of Cardiothoracic. MCRC and MonashHeart are located within the Monash Medical Centre, Clayton.

Human Nutrition and Dietetics

Dietary intake and nutrition has a fundamental role in human health. Eating food is widely practiced and health concerns are often a relatively weak influence. There are a wide variety of groups with vested interests in dietary intake. We are interested in determinants for healthy or unhealthy food habits and influencing behaviour change. Our interests include television advertising of food, food labelling, access to food and food costs, the use of manufactured food, salt in food, fluid intake, micronutrient nutrition, dietary issues for Victorian Aboriginals, and nutrition for elderly people.

Vascular Research Group

This group studies a wide variety of vascular disease including hypertension and thrombosis.

Nutrition Research

This group studies a wide variety of nutritional issues including osteoporosis, obesity and malnutrition.

Surgery Research

This group studies all aspects of surgery