Latest Posts

Crowd-funding and other social media use by families

One of the growing worldwide challenges in paediatric health care is how to understand and respond to some of the many ways in which families of sick children use social media. This presentation draws together a number of strands of thought from my recent sabbatical in the UK, where the paediatric hospital staff are still experiencing the flow-on effects of the high-profile (and high-conflict) social media campaigns run by parents of Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans. I will present some data from two recent studies of how families in UK and Australia use social media, especially crowd-funding, and then raise for discussion some of the ethical and social challenges arising from social media use.

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Influencing global immunisation policy through research in the Asia-Pacific region

Pneumonia is the commonest cause of childhood death throughout the world, especially in low and middle income countries. The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) has been available for 19 years, but there are still many outstanding issues in its use: how do we measure the impact of this vaccine when the causes of pneumonia are many; how do we monitor serotype replacement in the post-PCV era; how do we measure herd protection; and how many doses of the vaccine are really needed for optimal protection?

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RSV @ RCH (and elsewhere)

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in children in countries throughout the world. The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) emergency department, wards and intensive care unit are full of patients with RSV infections (including bronchiolitis) from April to September, with a peak in June-July. The Melbourne Children’s campus has a long history of RSV associated research, including clinical trials encompassing preventative, supportive and therapeutic strategies.

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Working effectively with gender and sexuality diverse children and young people in health care

Drawing on several recent and ongoing Australian research projects, funded by the Australian Research Council and the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC), ‘Young and Well’, this presentation focuses on how health care professionals can most effectively engage with sexuality and gender diverse children and young people to provide the most inclusive and affirmative care.

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Genetic epilepsies and precision medicine

This Grand Round, presented by Dr Annapurna Poduri from Boston will explore the role of genetics in epilepsy and the importance of pursuing genetic diagnoses in patients with epilepsy as a step toward refined treatment and precision medicine strategies. Dr Puduri will emphasize the importance of integrating what we know from the clinic into clinically relevant model systems.

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A child’s right to know – how far does it extend?

The child’s right to know is usually raised in discussions about whether a child should be given information about their medical condition – what it is, what treatment is proposed, what the outlook is long-term. The standard ethical position and usual clinical practice, is that children should receive developmentally appropriate information. Even on this matter, there are noticeable differences about what information is appropriate at what stage, and what counts as a sound reason to give that information

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Human Papilloma Virus, epidemiology and immunization in Victoria and the Pacific: implications for paediatricians

In this Grand Round Yasmin will discuss the evolution of our understanding of HPV and cervical cancers through the lens of a paediatric and adolescent gynaecologist. With the planned transition to later onset of cervical screening at 25 years with HPV DNA testing, she launched The Early-Onset Cervical Cancer Study Group in 2007, examining pre-vaccination virology, and cancer morphology, shedding light on predicted impact of HPV vaccination in those under 25 years.
Professor Fiona Russell and her team undertook cervical cancer epidemiology in Fiji and reviewed the cervical cancer screening program to enable the Fiji Ministry of Health to make an evidence-based decision on the introduction of HPV vaccine into the national immunisation schedule.

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Fearless, Tearless Transition: Improving long term outcomes for young people with Intellectual Disability or Autism Spectrum Disorder with mental health concerns and their families

Optimising the care and management of patients with behaviours of concern is a key priority for the Royal Children’s Hospital. Several departments have now embedded a new model of care introduced in 2016 for adolescents with an intellectual disability and or Autism Spectrum Disorder with mental health concerns. At this Grand Round, we will hear from a parent, a GP and clinicians who will provide insights into the challenges and progress of this important initiative.

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Neurons and growth factors: The good, the bad and the future

The Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) system plays a fundamental role throughout the life cycle, acting via both endocrine and paracrine mechanisms. Studies by Prof George Werther and the Endocrine Research team at the Melbourne Children’s Campus have shown that IGF is critical in early development, especially in the brain, where a deficiency leads to marked microcephaly, and it is essential in repair of ischaemic injury.

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