HOT NORTH News - Issue 3
22 March 2018
Improving Health Outcomes in the Tropical North: A Multidisciplinary Collaboration
Welcome to the first edition of 2018 and the third edition overall. Much has happened since the last time we touched base and we're hoping this newsletter serves to get you up to speed with all of the HOT NORTH activities. In this newsletter you will find information on the newest research projects and the people leading them, key dates for 2018, workshop results and future opportunities, publications and much more.
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 From the Director
Hello to our ever growing community of HOT NORTH researchers and stakeholders. It's great to be back in touch and able to report on the progress we've made over the last few months.
Since January of this year we've welcomed on board 16 new researchers who have joined us as Fellows, Pilot Project Leads, or Scholarship holders. As we've said all along our goal is to develop the capacity of the north while improving the health outcomes of people living in northern Australia and our regional neighbours abroad. With 33 projects funded in just over 15 months, we are hoping for a proliferation of high-quality researchers travelling north to fulfil career opportunities that cannot be found anywhere else in Australia.
In addition to an expanding portfolio of cutting edge tropical health research, we are working closely with health professionals on the ground to ensure we're sharing the latest in evidence based best practice for the prevention, diagnoses, and management of tropical diseases affecting the north. We are doing this by hosting a number of workshops in regional locations across the north of Australia. Our recent workshop in Katherine showed the demand for this knowledge, with over 110 people packing out the venue.
If you're interested, or know of someone who might be interested in joining the HOT NORTH initiative or attending one of our workshops, please feel free to get in touch with us at HOTNORTH@menzies.edu.au.
Professor Bart Currie
Director, HOT NORTH
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KEY DATES AND UPCOMING EVENTS
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HOT NORTH Pilot Projects - Round 4 Now Open
Applications close 13 April 2018
HOT NORTH offers competitive research funding of up to $36,500 for pilot projects focused on northern Australia and the region and aligned with the five HOT NORTH research themes: skin health, respiratory health, antimicrobial resistance, chronic diseases, and vector borne and emerging diseases.
Applicants should note that:
• A HOT NORTH Chief Investigator or Associate Investigator must be an investigator on the project.
• Pilot projects must focus on one or several of the HOT NORTH research themes, and must identify one theme as the primary focus.
• Applicants must discuss the planned project with, and obtain approval from, one or more of the relevant Theme Leaders before submission.
Apply now
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Annual Scientific Meeting
The program outline for the upcoming inaugural 2018 HOT NORTH Annual Scientific Symposium held in Darwin, Australia on 24-25 May 2018 is now available.
The two-day event will feature an engaging and informative mix of speakers that showcase the breadth of work by HOT NORTH researchers along with a program of professional development activities for emerging researchers.
Download the Program
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Thursday Island Workshop
HOT NORTH will be on Thursday Island on 24-25 July 2018 hosting the first ever Queensland professional development workshop for health staff.
Hear from HOT NORTH clinicians, researchers and local and interstate colleagues about the latest work in northern Australia and beyond on:
- Renal disease, diabetes in pregnancy and youth
- Vector borne diseases and cross-border issues
- Sepsis, pneumonia and melioidosis
- New initiatives in rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease
- Rehab, lifestyle and health in chronic disease
- Local Torres Strait research interests and priorities
Program to be released shortly
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Broome Workshop
The Hot North Workshop is returning to Broome in 2018.
This two day event offers participants the opportunity to hear about the latest in health research and more across northern Australia and beyond from a great mix of engaging and highly respected local and interstate researchers and health care professionals.
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In Review: Katherine Workshop 20-21 February 2018
"There were so many great presentations." "Raising awareness to all these topics is essential for improvement/research ideas." - Feedback from participants following the workshop
In addition to conducting research, HOT NORTH annually hosts a series of three regional teaching workshops across northern Australia. The first for 2018 was in Katherine last month.
Read more....
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New Mosquito Trap Set to Revolutionise Disease Detection in Northern Australia
Researchers involved in the HOT NORTH research initiative are trialling new mosquito traps that will allow for the rapid detection of a range of mosquito-borne illnesses threatening northern Australia.
Dr Dagmar Meyer, a research fellow with HOT NORTH, is testing a range of traps located around Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.
“The hope is that we can detect mosquito-borne diseases earlier than we can now and in an easier and more cost-effective manner,” said Dr Meyer.
The new traps are designed to catch mosquito excreta, more commonly known as mosquito ‘poo’. Recent research has indicated that testing mosquito poo is a quicker and more accurate method of detecting diseases such as malaria, dengue, Murray Valley encephalitis and a host of other mosquito-borne diseases, with an added benefit of being more cost effective than current practices.
Read more....
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NEWS AND FEATURED READING
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In the News
Click here to access our news page
- Katherine doctors push for more public housing
- HOT NORTH Katherine Teaching Workshop 20-21
- Territory FM | Morning with Mel Little. Professor Bart Currie
- Townsville Bulletin | HOT NORTH funding
- HOT NORTH 2018 funding awards released
- Inspire Magazine | HOT NORTH
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Featured Journal Article
NATURE REVIEWS | DISEASE PRIMERS
Melioidosis
W. Joost Wiersinga, Harjeet S. Virk, Alfredo G. Torres, Bart J. Currie, Sharon J. Peacock, David A. B. Dance and Direk Limmathurotsakul
Abstract | Burkholderia pseudomallei is a Gram-negative environmental bacterium and the aetiological agent of melioidosis, a life-threatening infection that is estimated to account for ~89,000 deaths per year worldwide. Diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor for melioidosis, and the global diabetes pandemic could increase the number of fatalities caused by melioidosis. Melioidosis is endemic across tropical areas, especially in southeast Asia and northern Australia. Disease manifestations can range from acute septicaemia to chronic infection, as the facultative intracellular lifestyle and virulence factors of B. pseudomallei promote survival and persistence of the pathogen within a broad range of cells, and the bacteria can manipulate the host's immune responses and signalling pathways to escape surveillance. The majority of patients present with sepsis, but specific clinical presentations and their severity vary depending on the route of bacterial entry (skin penetration, inhalation or ingestion), host immune function and bacterial strain and load. Diagnosis is based on clinical and epidemiological features as well as bacterial culture. Treatment requires long-term intravenous and oral antibiotic courses. Delays in treatment due to difficulties in clinical recognition and laboratory diagnosis often lead to poor outcomes and mortality can exceed 40% in some regions. Research into B. pseudomallei is increasing, owing to the biothreat potential of this pathogen and increasing awareness of the disease and its burden; however, better diagnostic tests are needed to improve early confirmation of diagnosis, which would enable better therapeutic efficacy and survival.
Read the paper....
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Women in Tropical Health Update
In late 2017, the Women In Tropical Health (WITH) network was established. We have since conducted a survey to better understand the need for a formalized mentoring program in the region. The survey was distributed to Menzies staff and beyond reaching women in Western Australia, far north Queensland and remote areas of Northern Territory.
We had a total of 33 respondents to the survey, with half reporting to be at mid-career stage and the remaining two quarters early or leadership stage. An overwhelming majority of participants were in favour of an established mentoring program and hoped that it would provide them with mentoring from both women and men working in diverse roles and / at diverse organizations. A majority (88%) of participants indicated this would be the first time that they were offered a program to support their career development.
We are now taking the next step to establishing the cohort of mentors and mentees within the WITH network. Keep an eye out for further updates and opportunities. If this is the first time you've heard about WITH and would like to be part of the network, please get in contact with Teresa.wozniak@menzies.edu.au
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New Projects for 2018
A total of 16 new HOT NORTH health research projects have been announced so far in 2018. The new projects will examine some of Australia’s most pressing health concerns affecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in the north of Australia and our regional neighbours abroad.
From biosecurity threats to health management plans, the large breadth of targeted research is developing the research and clinical capacity of health professionals in the north and producing real and meaningful changes on the ground.
See all the projects
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Undergraduate Scholarships |
Researcher |
Institute |
Theme |
Supervisor |
Project Title |
Lucy Davidson |
Telethon Kids Institute |
Skin Health |
Asha Bowen |
Baseline data collection for the SToP trial: See, Treat, Prevent Skin Sores and Scabies |
| Sara Pearce |
Telethon Kids Institute |
Skin Health |
Asha Bowen |
Measuring the burden of pharyngitis and impetigo in Australian Aboriginal children |
| Jack Anstey |
University of Melbourne |
Skin Health |
Asha Bowen |
A comparison of media for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Streptococcus pyogenes – is blood required in media? |
Round 2 Fellowships |
Researcher |
Institute |
Theme |
Supervisor |
Project Title |
Sarah Auburn |
Menzies |
Vector Borne and Emerging Infectious Diseases |
Ric Price |
Molecular epidemiology of P. vivax: Monitoring parasite transmission and drug resistance in the Asia-Pacific region |
| Timothy Barnett |
Telethon Kids Institute |
Skin Health |
Jonathan Carapetis |
Group A Streptococcus skin infections, antibiotic resistance and acute rheumatic fever |
| Alice Cairns |
James Cook University |
Chronic Diseases |
Robyn McDermott |
Implementation and evaluation of an innovative student-led rehabilitation and lifestyle service in Northern Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with chronic and disabling conditions: A pilot study |
| Renae Kirkham |
Menzies |
Chronic Diseases |
Louise Maple-Brown |
A case-study approach to understanding complexities of Type 2 diabetes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged 15-24 in Northern Australia. |
| Dagmar Meyer |
James Cook University |
Vector Borne and Emerging Infectious Diseases |
Scott Richie |
Development of a non-powered and CO2- free system for mosquito-borne disease surveillance |
| Teresa Wozniak |
Menzies |
Antimicrobial Resistance |
Anna Ralph |
Cross jurisdictional surveillance of drug resistant infections across northern Australia: a system-level approach to surveillance and response |
Round 3 Pilots |
Researcher |
Institute |
Theme |
Supervisor |
Project Title |
Aveni Haynes |
Menzies |
Chronic Diseases |
Louise Maple-Brown & Alex Brown |
Estimating the prevalence of diabetes diagnosed in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth aged <25 years, across northern Australia via an audit of all available primary health care, community-based and hospital-based resources |
| Paul Horwood |
James Cook University |
Vector Borne and Emerging Infectious Diseases |
John McBride |
Genomics for Undiagnosed Infectious Disease Evaluation and Diagnosis in Northern Australia (GUIDED-North Australia) |
| Gabrielle McCallum |
Menzies |
Respiratory Health |
Anne Chang |
Dual-centre double blind randomised controlled trial (RCT) on the utility of personalised bronchiectasis action management plans (BAMP) for children with bronchiectasis |
| James McCarthy |
QIMR |
Skin Health |
Bart Currie |
Molecular Detection of Scabies by PCR Using a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Approach |
| Andrew van den Hurk |
James Cook University |
Vector Borne and Emerging Infectious Diseases |
Scott Richie |
Application of Next Generation Sequencing of mosquito excreta to identify arboviruses, microorganisms and mosquito species |
CDU - Funded Scholarships |
Researcher |
Institute |
Theme |
Supervisor |
Project Title |
Will Cunningham |
Menzies/Charles Darwin University |
Antimicrobial Resistance |
Anna Ralph |
Epidemiology and Economic Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance in Northern Australia. |
| Vicki Kerrigan |
Menzies/Charles Darwin University |
Chronic Diseases |
Anna Ralph |
Intercultural communication between Indigenous patients and non-Indigenous health practitioners in the Northern Territory |
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