Growing Minds: Building Brains, Shaping Futures
A child’s brain is one of nature’s most extraordinary feats. At birth, the brain is primed for connection, curiosity, and change-forming over a million new neural connections every second in the early years. But building a brain doesn’t always go to plan. Sometimes the pathways diverge, stall, or regress.
Conditions like autism, ADHD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), Williams syndrome, and spina bifida each reflect different journeys in how a child learns, communicates, and experiences the world. Behind each diagnosis is a story—of families navigating uncertainty, of clinicians seeking answers, and of a health system learning to respond with care and innovation.
For sixty years, the Department of Paediatrics at Monash University, working closely with clinician colleagues at the Monash Children's Hospital, has grown alongside these stories. Today, it leads a developmental paediatrics program that is not only internationally recognised, but embedded in real-world impact. And it began with pioneers who reshaped what care could look like.
Foundations: The visionaries who redefined care
Dr Philip Graves, a paediatrician and fierce advocate for children with disabilities, was among the founding voices of Developmental paediatrics at Monash Children’s Hospital. He championed a multidisciplinary model that gave weight to psychology and speech pathology, not just medicine.
“He prioritised team input over hierarchy,” recalls colleagues. “The clinic he designed ensured that developmental assessments reflected the whole child—not just their diagnosis.”
Working alongside him was psychologist and researcher Dr Lawrie Bartek, and in the 1980s they ran some of Victoria’s most comprehensive assessments for autism, intellectual disability, and learning difficulties. Outpatient-only developmental paediatrics, with integrated physical disability care, laid the groundwork for today’s inclusive services.
Their work didn’t just address medical needs. It connected with schools, families, and the community, acknowledging that education, disability support, and early therapy must work in tandem.
From clinical service to clinical care integrated with research
In 2015, paediatrician Adjunct Associate Professor Katrina Harris took on leadership of Monash Children’s Hospital’s Developmental Paediatrics Unit, drawing on insights from her time working in Northern Australia. There, she saw firsthand the challenges families face in accessing support—an experience that informed her focus on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and continues to shape her inclusive, family-first model of care.
“Genetics and scans only tell part of the story,” she says. “We need to understand how children connect with the world. Every child is different, and our approach has to reflect that. One size doesn’t fit all.”
Since becoming Head of Unit, Dr Harris oversaw remarkable growth—from seven part-time staff to over 50, from a handful of clinics to a network of regional and specialist services, and the start of research embedded services.
The unit now hosts the state-wide Victorian Fetal Alcohol Service (VicFAS). Working with clinical researcher Dr Ali Crichton, the VicFAS team has built a data resource that has enabled novel studies, including rare "n=1" trials testing stimulant efficacy in children with FASD and co-occurring ADHD. These individualised studies are hard to run, but for children with complex needs, they can be transformative.
“Due to the challenges for families in attending clinics, many services wouldn’t see this cohort, let alone successfully enroll them in research,” says Harris. “We’ve built trust through flexible, family-centred care. That’s what makes it possible.”
Expanding research through integration
Today, Developmental paediatrics at Monash Children’s sits at the intersection of clinical excellence and scientific discovery. Interdisciplinary teams-including psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, nurses, social workers, neurogeneticists and paediatricians-work together not just to assess but to understand.
Since 2019, Professor Katrina Williams, a paediatrician and clinical epidemiologist has been Head of the Department of Paediatrics at Monash University, and has led the Complex Autism and Neurodevelopment (CAN) research group. CAN’s focus has been on understanding and improving outcomes for children with complex autism and communication difficulties, developmental regression, and intellectual disability. Williams has embedded research and academic training more deeply into clinical care. She points to the “Regression Clinic” as an example of this model in action.
Co-led by Williams and paediatrician-researcher Dr Kirsten Furley, the clinic investigates developmental regression-the loss of previously acquired skills, often seen in autism or childhood neurodegenerative disorders. The clinic draws on genetic testing, parent-submitted videos, and behavioural coding to capture what’s happening before and after regression. It also links with the GenV cohort study and partners with the Childhood Dementia Initiative.
The team is also rethinking how the health system supports children with complex needs. Dr Amanda Brignell is creating a clinic tailored to minimally verbal children, where research and care go hand in hand. Dr Alex Ure is designing an app to help families communicate their child’s needs in hospital, and building new services to guide them after diagnosis. And through immersive staff training, Dr Marijke Mitchell is making hospitals safer and more responsive for autistic children—work that’s already earned her university-wide recognition.
“We’re trying to flip the model,” says Williams. “Rather than waiting for diagnosis, we’re building services as tools to detect risk earlier-and intervene sooner.”
These projects rely on co-design with families. The questions being asked-about skills lost, timing, and impact-came directly from parent input. Their feedback also shaped an online intervention tool, now in development.
“Our clinical research is embedded,” says Williams. “Every family interaction is an opportunity to learn-and to improve what we offer and provide excellent care.”
What’s next for growing minds
As the program moves into its next phase, the team is focused on deepening partnerships with discovery scientists, expanding biobanking and biomarker research, and embedding early intervention at scale.
CAN currently supports 10 higher degree research students across speech pathology, psychology, paediatrics and epidemiology—most of them clinician-scientists. The program is building a strong future pipeline of clinician-researchers, underpinned by a positive culture of collaboration and support.
This work is powered by government, MRFF, and philanthropic funding, and driven by a shared commitment to transform care.
“We’re at an incredible stage of growth,” says Williams. “There’s energy, excellence and a culture of collaboration. We’re ready to level up.”
Her vision? A platform that redefines what paediatrics can offer: personalised, integrated, and responsive to the needs of every child and their future.
This article is part of the “60 Years of Impact” series celebrating the Department of Paediatrics at Monash University.
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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