Find out what's happening in clinical trials and research in regional Victoria.
This year, Grampians Health has welcomed a new researcher to the mental health team. Mental Health Research Officer, Sammy Russell, joined the health service in January. She will spend time working on her own research project, as well as working with clinicians on research projects to give advice and build research capacity in mental health.
"I wanted to work within my community and make a difference where I live. I understand the challenges regional hospitals face and want to be able to help where I can to ease the disparities for patients and the community.
Worldwide, stroke is the second leading cause of mortality and morbidity. What many people might not know is that in-hospital stroke (IHS) accounts for approximately 4-17 per cent of these strokes.
An in-hospital stroke is a stroke that occurs during hospitalisation in an already admitted patient. Research has determined that patients who have a stroke while in-hospital have a worse outcome than patients who suffer an out of hospital stroke.
Read more about research to reduce stroke risk of in-hospital patients.
Multiple myeloma, or myeloma, is a type of blood cancer that affects plasma cells that produces antibodies to help fight infections. In myeloma, abnormal plasma cells grow uncontrollably in the bone marrow and form tumours in the bone or soft tissue.
Grampians Health's Haematology Lead, Doctor Swe Htet, has enrolled Grampians Health Ballarat into Myeloma and Related Diseases Registry and Myeloma 1000 project. The Myeloma 1000 project aims to establish a repository of samples for future patient assessment to better predict individuals at risk of developing multiple myeloma or a related disease, accelerated disease progression, and treatment response.
Grampians Health has released its 2022-23 Research Annual Report, which shows the health service going from strength to strength in clinical research.
In 2022 and 2023, the hospital approved 161 new research projects and had 272 active research projects.
“With most clinical research being conducted in metropolitan areas, it’s significant that Grampians Health has had over 200 research projects running in regional Victoria,” Grampians Health Chief Medical Officer Professor Matthew Hadfield said.
Grampians Health has several cardiology studies open, with the most recent looking at treatments for heart failure in patients with mildly reduced or preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.
Ejection fraction is one of the ways of measuring the heart function. Heart failure is a condition where the heart doesn’t pump blood as well as it should, causing symptoms like shortness of breath and fatigue.
Medical Oncologist Dr Geoffrey Chong is the local site principal investigator for a chemotherapy-free trial for follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) at Grampians Health.
Dr Chong has been in the medical field for over 30 years and specialises in gastrointestinal cancer and lymphoma. He established the cancer trials clinical program at Ballarat in 2006.
A registered nurse for over 10 years, Grampians Health Clinical Trial Coordinator Maggie Zhang is working to improve the overall survival rate of patients diagnosed with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
At Grampians Health, clinical trial pharmacists Wei Soh and Jieun Bae are an integral part of research being undertaken at the hospital.
Across the more than 100 clinical trials that are currently active at Grampians Health, clinical trial pharmacists play a vital role in ensuring that trial investigational medicines being dispensed to patients meet rigorous safety standards. And for Mr Soh, each day can be quite varied depending on the type of clinical trial that he is a part of.
Read more about Grampians Health's clinical trial pharmacists.
Victoria’s regional cancer patients are lucky enough to have access to phase I clinical trials, based out of Ballarat.
Grampians Health is the only regional centre running phase I oncology clinical trials for patients, under the care of Medical Oncologist Dr Lizzie Lim and her colleagues.
Read more about Dr Lim's phase I clinical trials at Grampians Health.
Clinical trials are an important part of the advancement of medical research and treatment helping patients find the best treatment for them, now and into the future. Clinical trials researchers are at the forefront of medical breakthroughs and this year's Clinical Trials Day theme "They are the trailblazers among us" emphasises their role at the leading edge of medicine.
"Our clinical researchers are all trailblazers in their fields," Grampians Health Chief Medical Officer Professor Matthew Hadfield said. "They're committed to bringing the best to patient care, always looking for better and more effective ways of helping treat patients across the various and intricate fields of medicine."
Grampians Health has joined an international trial conducted by teams at Auckland University, the Liggins Institute and the University of Melbourne which asks the question: "Can we safely reduce the risk of breathing problems for newborn babies by giving corticosteroid injections to their mother before a planned caesarean section?"
Read more about the obstetrics and gynaecology research team's first clinical trial.
Grampians Health’s medical oncology specialist Dr Wasek Faisal has been awarded a Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
Fellowships with the prestigious college recognise clinical achievement, confer international peer recognition and present enhanced professional opportunities to contribute to standard-setting and policy influencing activities.
Read more about Dr Faisal's lung cancer research recognition.
Grampians Health's Research and Innovation on the Run Symposium has concluded for the year. Featuring presentations from researchers from across Grampians Health, this year's symposium showcased the depth and breadth of research happening at the regional and rural hospitals.
Read more about the 2023 Research and Innovation on the Run Symposium.
Grampians Health's Dr Vanessa Wong, in conjunction with the breast cancer team from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), is contributing to the creation of a breast cancer registry, named ARORA.
Grampians Health infectious diseases specialist Dr Rob Commons has recently had two studies published in the world-renowned The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. The studies reviewed the efficacy and safety of primaquine doses used to prevent relapses of Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) malaria.
Grampians Health’s Medical Oncologist and Associate Investigator Dr Wasek Faisal and Clinical Trial Coordinator Mr Ethan Pitman recently represented Australia at an international investigator meeting for a lung cancer clinical trial targeting a rare cancer mutation.
Grampians Health Anaesthetic Research Coordinator Natasha Brice is proud of the success of the ROCKet (Reduction Of Chronic post-surgical pain with Ketamine) trial in Ballarat.
Two of Grampians Health’s PhD scholars, Michael Pang and Cara Hill, have successfully received scholarships from the Western Alliance’s Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Scholarship program to pursue their research that addresses the unique healthcare challenges faced by rural and regional communities.
Grampians Health has joined an innovative clinical trial of a new point-of-care testing solution that will enable our staff to quickly and efficiently test those presenting to our Emergency Department (ED) for COVID or flu, leading to a faster triaging process.
Two staff members of Grampians Health have been selected to participate in the Learning Health System Academy, a professional development program run by the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health at The University of Melbourne.
The program equips healthcare professionals with the skills to identify best digital health practice and improve patient outcomes.
Grampians Health has delivered the first clinical trial consumer awareness session as part of a new educational initiative by the VCCC Alliance.
Read more about the clinical trial consumer awareness session.
Doctor Khaled El-Khawas is an intensive care doctor at Grampians Health in Ballarat. He is committed to finding the best ways to help his patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).
His latest research is seeing him partner up with Austin Health in Melbourne to run a clinical trial using magnesium to find the best way to treat patients admitted to the ICU who need help keeping their blood pressure in the normal range and their heartbeat regular.
Read more about the research to keep heartbeats regular in ICU.
May 20 is International Clinical Trials Day, and Grampians Health is celebrating a milestone of over 100 clinical trials currently open. Clinical trials are an important part of the advancement of medical research and treatment, helping patients find the best treatment for them, now and into the future.
Grampians Health’s Consultant Neurologist and Associate Professor Dr Ramesh Sahathevan is hoping to bring about a major shift in how strokes are treated.
Dr Sahathevan is the local Principal Investigator at Grampians Health for a multicenter study to investigate the effectiveness and safety of a new anticoagulant after a stroke.
Read more about the investigation of a new medicine for stroke patients.
Grampians Health is excited to take part in an international study into pain medicine prescription and use after surgery, with medical students and junior doctors taking the lead.
Read more about medical students taking the lead in clinical research.
Grampians Health has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Deakin Rural Health to collaborate on research to improve health care delivery and services in western Victoria.
The pact will allow both organisations to advance their common goals of promoting excellence in health care delivery, improve health outcomes for patients in western Victoria and strengthen the contribution of allied health and nursing.
Read more about the regional research collaboration with Deakin Rural Health.
Following International Clinical Trials Day (20 May), Grampians Health reflecting on the more than 90 clinical trials the teams are currently participating in, including a world-first trial for treating preschool wheeze in Australia and New Zealand.
Read more about the Australian-first study of preschool wheeze treatment.
A Grampians Health staff member has won first prize in the PharmAlliance Graduate Research E-Symposium and has been invited to present next month at The University of North Carolina, Monash University and the University College London.
Ballarat Health Services will deliver enhanced healthcare at home for older people in rural and regional Western Victoria through a project in partnership with the Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre (Western Alliance).
International Clinical Trials Day is a time to pause and reflect on the efforts of those working in medical research, the need to identify patients to participate in trials, and why funding to support research is so important.
Paul is the first pilot patient to take part in the PROTECT trial, a study for patients with prostate, colorectal and breast cancer who will be undergoing surgery.
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