Graduate student profiles

Jodie successfully completed her PhD studies and passed in 2015. She was in the Department of Immunology where she was researching shellfish allergies, supervised by Prof Jennifer Rolland and Prof Robyn O'Hehir. This interview was published in 2014. Jodie now works as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Allergy Laboratory at Monash.

Maha successfully completed her PhD in 2016. She was a student in the Department of Medicine. Her supervisors were Dr Steven Petrotos and Prof Richard Boyd, and her research focused on identifying the immune function of NGR1 in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. This interview was published during Maha's PhD.

Victoria Berquist began her first year as an intern at Alfred Health in 2017. She studied undergraduate medicine at Monash University and in 2015, Victoria undertook a Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours) research year at the Central Clinical School for which she was awarded the Hatem Salem Award for Medical Research Student Excellence.

Michael successfully completed his PhD with the Department of Medicine in 2015, where he was supervised by Professor Steve Jane and Dr Charbel Darido. He is now working as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at ETH Zurich, Institute for Molecule Health Sciences. This interview was originally published in 2014.

Sarah successfully completed her PhD in 2015 through the Burnet Institute where she studied Malaria parasite survival in the human body. She now works as a Research Officer at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. This interview was originally published during Sarah's PhD.

Alicia is a PhD student in the Hogarth lab at the Burnet Institute where she is supervised by Professor Mark Hogarth and Dr Bruce Wines. While visiting a friend in Melbourne, Alicia found her current PhD project and decided to pursue it, on novel roles of Fc receptors in inflammation.

Perdita successfully completed her PhD in 2014. She worked as a Research Assistant in the Burns Unit at the Alfred Hospital, and completed her PhD in the Van Cleef Roet Centre for Nervous Diseases on Parkinson's Disease and how patients react with some of the treatments for the disease. Her supervisors were Associate Professor David Williams and Professor Elsdon Storey

Paddy Dempsey was a PhD student at Baker Institute in the Physical Activity Laboratory where he was supervised by Professor David Dunstan, Professor Neville Owen, Professor Bronwyn Kingwell and Dr Julian Sacre. He studied exercise physiology in his home country of New Zealand before moving to Melbourne for his PhD. Paddy successfully completed his PhD in 2017, he now works as a researcher at Baker Institute.

Shauna French is a PhD student in the Platelets and Thrombosis Lab at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases where she is supervised by Dr Justin Hamilton. She studied a Bachelor of Applied Science and Honours at Queensland University of Technology, before moving to Melbourne for her PhD on defining the role of protease activated receptor 4 in thrombosis.

Timothy Gottschalk completed his PhD in 2018. He undertook his PhD in the Leukocyte Signaling Laboratory at the Department of Immunology and Pathology where he was supervised by Associate Professor Margaret Hibbs. He studied a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and is interested in learning about what causes and drives autoimmune disease.

Dr Kathryn Hackman completed her PhD in 2014 through the Department of Medicine where she looked at the relationship between diabetes and lung transplants. Dr Hackman is an endocrinologist and continues to work in the Alfred Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes. Her supervisors were Professor Leon Bach and Professor Greg Snell.

Kye completed her PhD and has now gone on to work as a lecturer at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. She undertook her PhD at the Burnet Institute under the supervision of A/Prof David Anderson. Dr Hanafiah was recently named the world's best science communicator. She continues to collaborate on research with the Burnet Institute.

Aron completed his PhD in 2018 at MAPrc where he was investigating neuroimgaing techniques in the Cognitive Therapeutics Research Group. Dr Hill was supervised by A/Prof Kate Hoy, Dr Nigel Rogasch and Prof Paul Fitzgerald. He now works as a post-doctoral researcher within the Therapeutic Brain Stimulation team at MAPrc.

Miriel completed her PhD in 2014. She was a PhD student at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases and researching the relationship between bone and bone marrow interface with haematopoiesis. Her supervisors were Professor Hatem Salem and Professor Robert Medcalf.

Jay completed his PhD in 2014 with the Baker Institute. Dr Jha now works as a research fellow in the Monash Department of Diabetes in the Diabetes and Kidney Disease Group. Dr Jha completed his PhD research on the complications of diabetes, especially in relation to kidney disease. His supervisor was Professor Karin Jandeleit-Dahm.

Melissa completed her PhD in 2015 with MAPrc where she was looking at neural connectivity in autism spectrum disorders. She now works as a research fellow with the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at Deakin University, and continues to collaborate on publications with MAPrc.

Nitasha completed her PhD in 2016 at the Burnet Institute. Her research looked at the interaction between two immune cells in the HIV virus. Her supervisors were Professor Sharon Lewin and Associate Professor Paul Cameron.

Nicholas completed his PhD in 2014, he is now working as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in Dallas. His PhD was conducted in the Department of Medicine where he looked at the heart's ability to repair itself and 'effective nerve growth factor'. His supervisors were Professor David Kaye and Professor Nadia Rosenthal.

Phil was a PhD student with the Department of Surgery, co-supervised by Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld. He successfully completed his PhD in 2014. Phil works as an adjunct senior research fellow in Surgery at the Alfred Hospital.

James completed his PhD in the Department of Infectious Diseases, and his research was focused on looking at clinical research in HIV. James' supervisors were Prof Sharon Lewin and Dr Julian Elliott. Dr McMahon works as an Infectious Diseases Physician at the Alfred Hospital and Monash Health, he also conducts HIV research with the Burnet Institute and Monash Department of Infectious Diseases.

Aislin Meehan successfully completed her PhD in 2014. She looked at the role of Natural Killer (NK) cells after human lung transplantation. Aislin was supervised by Dr Glen Westall and co supervised by Dr Nicole Mifsud and A/Prof Tom Kotsimbos in the Department of Immunology.

Sara Mokhtar completed her PhD in 2016 in the Department of Medicine. Her supervisors were Dr Steven Petratos and Prof Richard Boyd. Sara’s research looked at how amyloid beta protein phosphorylation of CRMP-2 regulates neuritic dystrophy in alzheimer's disease. Dr Mokhtar is now working at KA University in Saudi Arabia.

My-Nhan completed her PhD in 2018 in the Experimental Cardiology lab at the Baker Research Institute. My-Nhan studied an undergraduate degree in Science majoring in Physiology where she gained an interest in cardiovascular disease, which she continued with in her Honours and PhD studies. Dr Nguyen is now working as a post-doctoral researcher with in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford.

Hannah completed her PhD in 2017. She was a PhD student in the Department of Immunology, and her research looked at using gene therapy to prevent the build up of plaque in blood vessels. Hannah was supervised by Prof Christoph Hagemeyer in the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases.

Maria is a PhD student in the Platelet and Thrombosis Lab where she is supervised by Dr Justin Hamilton. She studied a Science degree majoring in Pathology and Biochemistry before completing Honours and starting a combined PhD/Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery.

Waled Shihata is a Monash University PhD student in the Vascular Pharmacology Laboratory and the Haematopoiesis and Leukocyte Biology Laboratory at the Baker Research Institute, where he is supervised respectively by Prof Jaye Chin-Dusting and A/Prof Andrew Murphy.

Emma completed her PhD in 2014 in the Department of surgery and at the National Trauma Research Institute, her research looked at how to improve the management of mild head injured patients in the emergency department. Dr Tavender now works as an Associate Editor at Cochrane Australia as well as in the Emergency Research Group and the Murdoch Institute.

Lizzie Thomas is a PhD student in the Cognitive Neuropsychiatry lab at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) where she is supervised by Dr Caroline Gurvich, Professor Susan Rossell and Dr Kiymet Bozaoglu. She studied a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and decided to undertake an Honours project which incorporated her interest in genetics.

Melanie was a PhD student in the Department of Medicine. Her topic was 'Can dieticians turn the obesity epidemic around?'and she is supervised by Paul Komesaroff.