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Innovative technology from Israel is revolutionising the way students at Monash University are being trained in the field of medical imaging.
The technology, an ultrasound simulator based on an original aircraft simulator and developed by Israeli company MedSim, has been installed in the university's Department of Radiography and Medical Imaging at Monash Medical Centre.
The head of that department, Dr Marilyn Baird, said the simulator was on loan to Monash courtesy of MedSim until July, whereafter corporate sponsorship would be sought for it to remain at Monash.
The simulator will be used by undergraduate and postgraduate radiography and medical imaging students and by students of obstetrics and gynaecology.
According to Professor David Healy, head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the simulator, known as UltraSim, represents a major breakthrough in medical imaging training.
"Regular training for students in ultrasound has been extremely difficult to arrange in the past," he said. "Australia imports medical imaging experts because we cannot train them fast enough here.
"Acquiring the simulator is a huge step forward. It will enable us to provide students with the ongoing training and experience they need to become fully qualified."
Until now, Professor Healy said, students had to learn on real patients. "The new equipment allows students to develop their ultrasound skills in a controlled environment, where they can be introduced to a range of 'patients' and diseases."
MedSim marketing director Mr Larry Shertz, who was at Monash early last month to launch the simulator, said there were currently about 100 units in use around the world. He said MedSim hoped to encourage wider interest in their simulator in Australia by using the Monash machine as a demonstration model.
"It was not until we found the best of possible partners in Monash University that we were prepared to make the commitment to this part of the world," he said.
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Monash vice-chancellor
Professor David Robinson with |
The Latrobe Valley and East Gippsland region could be empowered by maintaining effective cooperatives and embracing new communications technologies, a senior US bureaucrat told a conference held at the Gippsland campus recently.
The keynote address by Dr Jill Long Thompson, US Under Secretary for Rural Development, to a conference on electronic information and communications network praised the efforts of women in these regions and urged them to continue striving for their goals.
"We are here today uniting to help solve some of the problems that plague rural communities around the globe," she said.
Dr Long Thompson, who is responsible for regional development policy in the US, spoke of her youth in rural Indiana and of the benefits of establishing organised groups to help solve the problems collectively being faced in such areas.
She said there were many benefits for regional areas which established "good cooperatives".
"They can increase the bargaining power and income of their members, reduce the cost of goods and services for members, obtain products or services otherwise unavailable in rural communities, expand the existing marketing opportunities, and improve product and service quality."
Dr Long Thompson urged women to use their votes wisely and to work together to effect change for future generations.
"By working together cooperatively, there is nothing that we cannot achieve."
The conference was organised by Uniting Our Rural Communities Inc, an organisation supporting rural communities and rural families and backed by Monash University.
Breakfast
brings
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At the breakfast were, from left, deputy vice-chancellor (Research) Professor Peter Darvall, ASSN convenor Ms Bev Olbrich and guest speaker Professor Don Edgar. |
When Walter Giardini built a teaching planetarium as a Monash honours student 23 years ago, he probably never guessed it would still be in use at the university today.
And while the planetarium has had a chequered history in the intervening years, Mr Giardini officially reopened his planetarium in the first-year physics laboratories last month, surrounded by Monash staff who had assisted in its original construction.
A thrilled Mr Giardini, who now works as a scientist at CSIRO, was presented with the first operator's licence, certifying his credentials as a 'cosmic navigator'.
Designed and constructed by Mr Giardini as his Bachelor of Science honours project in 1976, the planetarium was used in the astronomy teaching program of the Physics department in the 1970s and 1980s. It was also used to educate physics students and school children in the intricacies of astronomy.
But when the laboratory that housed the planetarium was earmarked for use by the Department of Geography in the early 1990s, the planetarium found itself without a home, according to physics senior lecturer Dr Don Hutton.
"Unbeknown
to physics staff, the planetarium was being dismantled and was destined for
the local tip!" he said.
"Of course, when we found out, we put a stop to that. A large number of school children had visited the planetarium at Monash over the years, and Pinewood Primary School offered to rehouse it in a spare classroom. And that is where it stayed until early this year."
When the primary school ran out of space for the planetarium, the facility was reclaimed by the Physics department.
The planetarium will now be used in the astronomy and astrophysics undergraduate teaching programs, and will again be available to visiting primary and secondary school groups. It will also be open to the ublic during this year's Monash Day.
Involved in the recommissioning of the planetarium were astronomy honours students Robert Thomson and Grant Martin, who reassembled and redecorated the planetarium with horizon artwork. The pair will also be involved in demonstrating the facility to fellow students.
Cosmic navigation returns to Clayton. From left to right: Physics staff Mr Alan Holland and Mr Ron Harrison (now retired), Mr Walter Giardini, and senior physics lecturer Dr Don Hutton.
An Orientation 2000 Summit will be held at Clayton campus on Friday 16 April to discuss the future direction of student orientation.
The summit, which will start at 2 pm in the South One lecture theatre and foyer, will be facilitated by the coordinator of Monash transitions programs and new director of Orientation Dr Mark Peel.
Organisers hope the summit will help identify key directions for the Orientation program, based on research and experience about the social and academic orientation and integration of students within the university.
A paper written by Dr Peel has been made available before the summit for discussion and acceptance at the meeting.
Monash Briefs
A new cross-campus seminar series on humanities and social sciences will be launched in Melbourne later this month. The Europe-Australia Institute Global Seminar series gets under way at Victoria University's city campus on 23 April. The first seminar, 'Modernity and its mixtures', will start at 2.15 pm on level 12, Victoria University city campus, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne. For more details, contact Mr Patrick Wolfe at patrick.wolfe@staff.vu.edu.au
Some of the university's fittest are testing their mettle against tough competition as part of the Body Electric Challenge on Clayton campus this week. The challenge, a fitness gym triathlon, is being fought out at the Monash University fitness gym. For further details, contact assistant gym manager Mr Brett Campbell on extn 54103.
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