The Health News – 7 November 2016
Overview:
• Gynaecologist Rosemary Jones in Adelaide says Transgender people are facing waiting lists of up to six months to see a specialist and a lack of training is compounding the issue.
• The AMA is now accepting applications for the 2017 AMA Indigenous Peoples’ Medical Scholarship. The successful applicant will receive $10,000 each year for the duration of their course. AMA President, Dr Michael Gannon said the Scholarship, the AMA Indigenous Health Report Card, and the work of the AMA Taskforce on Indigenous Health are all part of the AMA’s commitment to reconciliation.
• Dr Amali Mallawaarachchi, a genomics researcher at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and a nephrologist at Sydney’s Liverpool Hospital recently spoke to an audience of clinicians and researchers at the 2016 Renal Genetics Symposium, organized by KidGen, at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne. Her talk focused on autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), an inherited disorder in which cysts progressively expand and destroy the kidneys, eventually causing renal failure.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 7th of November 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News
Transgender people are facing waiting lists of up to six months to see a specialist and a lack of training is compounding the issue, a leading specialist says.
Gynaecologist Rosemary Jones is among the very few doctors in Adelaide that specialise in gender work.
She considered access to specially trained health professionals, including psychiatrists, vital for transgender men and women.
She said there was a serious lack of training in the area.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said improving transgender services was high on the Government’s agenda.
https://ama.com.au/media/indigenous-medical-students-encouraged-apply-ama-scholarship-1
The AMA is now accepting applications for the 2017 AMA Indigenous Peoples’ Medical Scholarship.
The successful applicant will receive $10,000 each year for the duration of their course.
AMA President, Dr Michael Gannon, said … that a highly skilled medical workforce that includes more Indigenous doctors and health professionals will help reduce health inequalities for Indigenous Australians.
Dr Gannon said the Scholarship, the AMA Indigenous Health Report Card, and the work of the AMA Taskforce on Indigenous Health are all part of the AMA’s commitment to reconciliation.
Applications for the Scholarship must be received by 31 January 2017.
To be eligible for the Scholarship, applicants must be currently enrolled at an Australian medical school, and be in at least their first year of medicine. Applicants must be people of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background.
For further information on how to apply for the 2017 AMA Indigenous Peoples’ Medical Scholarship visit:https://www.ama.com.au/indigenous-peoples-medical-scholarship-2017
Information on previous recipients can be found at https://ama.com.au/advocacy/indigenous-peoples-medical-scholarship
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has the potential to transform clinical approaches to inherited kidney disease by making the diagnostic process cheaper and more accurate, says Dr Amali Mallawaarachchi, a genomics researcher at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and a nephrologist at Sydney’s Liverpool Hospital.
Dr Mallawaarachchi [recently spoke]… to an audience of clinicians and researchers at the 2016 Renal Genetics Symposium, organized by KidGen, at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne.
Her talk focused on autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), an inherited disorder in which cysts progressively expand and destroy the kidneys, eventually causing renal failure.
The work she described was initiated when nephrologist Dr Tim Furlong from St Vincent’s Hospital approached Professor John Shine (at Garvan) about the need for Australians to get access to better genetic tests for inherited kidney disease. Close to 1 in 500 Australians are affected by this incurable disease, at an annual cost of about $80 million.
In a recent paper in the European Journal of Human Genetics, Dr Mallawaarachchi and colleagues at Garvan and St Vincent’s Hospital used WGS to accurately diagnose ADPKD in 86% of study participants – a substantial improvement on single-gene testing, which typically delivers an accurate result in only 60% of cases. This demonstrates the potential for a new diagnostic test, which has big implications for people with ADPKD.
The project is a close collaboration between Garvan and St Vincent’s Hospital, which sit on the same Research Precinct in Sydney’s Darlinghurst
The research team are now working to develop the WGS-based test for use in the clinic.