Prince of Wales Clinical School congratulates its NHMRC winners

The Prince of Wales Clinical School congratulates their researchers on their NHMRC wins.

PhD student and clinician Dr Praveen Indraratna has been awarded an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship titled:

A randomised controlled trial of a comprehensive smartphone application-centric model of care  to improve outcomes in patients  with cardiovascular disease

This research project will examine the use of a smartphone application and an associated care model. 1,080 participants will be recruited and randomised to either receiving the application and two peripheral devices - a blood pressure machine and a weighing scale - both of which wirelessly transmit.

Researcher Dr Ashwin Unnikrishnan has been awarded an NHMRC New Investigator Project Grant titled:

Beyond Azacitidine: Investigating new therapeutic targets for the treatment of Myelodysplastic Syndrome

The drug Azacitidine (AZA) is the best available treatment for patients with the blood cancer Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS). However, more than half of the treated patients will never respond to treatment. Furthermore, a significant fraction of the patients will eventually relapse, highlighting a need to develop more effective and durable therapies. Ashwin will investigate molecular mechanisms within MDS cells affected by AZA, as a means to develop new treatment options for MDS.

Conjoint Professor Jacqueline Close has been awarded an NHMRC Discovery Project grant:

Identifying and addressing unwarranted clinical variation in hip fracture care to improve health outcomes

Identifying and addressing unwarranted clinical variation (UCV) results in measurable improvements in health outcomes through reduced complications, length of stay, readmissions and mortality. This innovative national data-linkage project will identify unwarranted clinical variation in service delivery and outcomes for hip fracture, and for the first time, put a price on the observed variation to drive improvements in practice and health outcomes for hip fracture patients in Australia.