Monash Trauma group

Get in touch | Our people | Our work | Our achievements | Publications

The Monash Trauma Group focuses on applied research in traumatic brain injury, aiming to translate its findings into real-world applications. We seek to enhance the detection and management of brain injuries across diverse populations, including individuals affected by intimate partner violence, sport-related concussions, and older adults.


Monash Trauma group. Back row (L - R): James Hickey , Dr Stuart McDonald (Co-lead), Charlotte Copas, Dr Georgia Symons, Gershon Spitz, Sandy Shultz (Co-lead), Mr William O'Brien, Front row (L - R): Rhiannon Rowse, Jen Makovic Knight, Beatrice Duarte Martins, Abi Astridge Clarke, Jemma Davidson, Joshua Allen, Tamara Baker, Becca Xie, Dr Mujun Sun, Lauren Evans.  Absent: Ren Gisler, Jake Mitchell, Steven Mutimer

Follow us on Twitter @MonashTrauma

Get in touch

Whether you want to be involved in our research, you wish to study with us, you want to collaborate with us or donate to our work, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Email us – (sandy.shultz@monash.edu; stuart.mcdonald@monash.edu; gershon.spitz@monash.edu)

A list of our current projects in SupervisorConnect.

Follow us for the latest updates – @shultz_sandy; @McDonaldStu_; @gershonspitz; @GeorgiaSymons; @Will_T_OBrien

Our people

Principal Investigators

Our work

While our program investigates traumatic brain injury in various contexts, including hospital and community settings, the three primary programs are:

Brain Injury due to Intimate Partner Violence

Plain language summary (Pdf)
Led by Professor Sandy Shultz and Dr Georgia Symons, this program is at the forefront of developing improved methods for detecting brain injury in survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Their research involves multi-site clinical studies with emergency department patients and community-based survivors, focusing on how blood-based biomarkers, screening questionnaires, and different types of neuroimaging (e.g., PET and MRI) can be utilised to assess brain injury in IPV cases. In addition to studying methods for identifying the short- and long-term effects of IPV, their program also includes trials on the effectiveness of both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions such as exercise and psychedelic-assisted therapies. They also conduct research with preclinical models to complement their clinical research. See news article

Sport-Related Concussion

Dr Stuart McDonald and Dr William O’Brien lead a large, internationally unique research program focused on enhancing the detection and management of concussions in sport. Collaborating with amateur and professional teams, they investigate how tools like instrumented mouthguards (e.g. a technology used to measure features of head impacts), blood-based biomarkers (e.g. proteins indicating brain injury), and brain MRI can be effectively integrated into a process beginning with timely removal from play, followed by a data-informed medical review and recovery plan, culminating in a safe return to play. The current research program involves over 100 sub-elite Australian football teams (men’s and women’s) and includes strong partnerships with the Victorian Amateur Football Association, and concussion clinics at Alfred Health, Performe Sports Medicine, and Sportsmed Biologic. See news article

Brain Injury and Aging

Dr Gershon Spitz leads a comprehensive research program focused on the experience of ageing with brain injury, covering both mild and severe cases. This program employs a multidisciplinary and translational approach, combining fluid biomarkers, advanced neuroimaging, neuropsychology, and rehabilitation to investigate how brain injuries influence the ageing process. A central aim of this research is to identify risk factors that may contribute to accelerated decline in individuals with brain injuries, providing insights into at-risk trajectories and informing strategies for promoting healthier ageing. Additionally, recognizing that traumatic brain injury is more common in older adults, this program examines how objective tests can be tailored for emergency department settings to enhance the assessment and management in this vulnerable population.See news article

Our achievements

Selection of research grants

  • NHMRC Ideas Grant 2021-2024. Serum neurofilament light as a biomarker to improve management of mild traumatic brain injuries. CIA McDonald
  • NHMRC Ideas Grant 2022-2024. Brain injury in intimate partner violence: Insight into a silent pandemic. CIA Shultz
  • MRFF Grant 2022-2025. INFORMED: INtegrative approaches For Optimizing Recognition, Management and Education of concussion at the community sports level. CIB McDonald, CID Shultz

Selected recent publications

Below is a selection of some of the recent peer reviewed original research publications reflecting our high impact work. For a full list of our publications, please visit Pubmed.

Associations between instrumented mouthguard-measured head acceleration events and post-match biomarkers of astroglial and axonal injury in male amateur Australian football players. Sports Medicine. Evans LJ, O'Brien WT, Spitz GS, Hickey JW, Mutimer S, Xie B, Giesler LP, Major BP, Roberts SSH, Mitra B, O’Brien TJ, Shultz SR, McDonald SJ.

Pathophysiology, blood biomarkers, and functional deficits after intimate partner violence-related brain injury: Insights from emergency department patients and a new rat model. 2024. Sun M*, Symons GF*, Spitz G, O’Brien WT, Baker TL, Fan J, Martins BD, Allen J, Giesler LP, Mychasiuk R, van Donkelaar P, Brand J, Christie B, O’Brien TJ, O’Sullivan MJ, Mitra B, Wellington C, McDonald SJ, Shultz SR. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

Plasma biomarkers in chronic single moderate-severe traumatic brain injury. 2024. Spitz G, Hicks AJ, McDonald SJ, Dore V, Krishnadas N, O’Brien TJ, O’Brien WT, Vivash L, Law M, Ponsford JL, Rowe C, Shultz SR. Brain.

Biomarkers of neurobiologic recovery in adults with sport-related concussion. 2024. O’Brien WT, Spitz G, Xie B, Major BP, Mutimer S, Giesler LP, Bain J, Evans LJ, Duarte Martins B, Piantella S, Alhassan A, Brady S, Cappellari D, Somma V, McColl T, Symons GF, Gore T, Sun M, Kuek T, Horan S, Bei M, Ponsford JL, Willmott C, Reyes J, Ashton NJ, Zetterberg H, Mitra B, O’Brien TJ, Shultz SR, McDonald SJ. JAMA Network Open.

Altered grey matter structural covariance in chronic moderate–severe traumatic brain injury. 2024. Symons F, Gregg MC, Hicks AJ, Rowe CC, Shultz SR, Ponsford JL, Spitz G. Scientific Reports.

Utility of acute and sub-acute blood biomarkers to assist diagnosis in CT negative isolated mild traumatic brain injury. 2023. Reyes J*, Spitz, G*, Major, BP, O’Brien, WT, Giesler, L, Bain, J, Xie B, Rosenfeld JV, Law M, Ponsford JL, O’Brien TJ, Shultz SR, Willmott C, Mitra B, McDonald SJ. Neurology.

Serum neurofilament light as a biomarker of vulnerability to a second mild traumatic brain injury. 2023. O’Brien WT, Wright DK, van Emmerik ALJJ, Bain J, Brkljaca R, Christensen J, Yamakawa GR, Chen Z, Giesler LP, Sun M, O'Brien TJ, Monif M, Shultz SR, McDonald SJ. Translational Research.

Clinical and blood biomarker trajectories after concussion. New insights from a longitudinal pilot study of professional flat-track jockeys.. 2023. McDonald SJ, Piantella S, O’Brien WT, Hale M, O’Halloran P, Kinsella G, O’Brien TJ, Maruff P, Shultz SR, Wright BJ. Journal of Neurotrauma.

Temporal proteomics of human cerebrospinal fluid after severe traumatic brain injury. 2022. Shultz SR, Shah AD, Huang C, Dill L, Schittenhelm RB, Morganti-Kossman, Semple BD. Journal of Neuroinflammation.

Prolonged elevation of serum neurofilament light after concussion in male Australian football players. 2021. McDonald SJ, O’Brien WT, Symons GF, Chen Z, Bain J, Major BP, Costello D, Yamakawa G, Sun M, Brady RD, Mitra B, Mychasiuk, R, O’Brien TJ, Shultz SR. Biomarker Research.