Posted 13 August 2024

SVI’s August Highlights

Davis McCarthy promoted to Associate Professor 

Davis is the head of the Bioinformatics and Cellular Genomics Lab and recently conducted a world-first study on the genetic factors that influence the development and progression of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), an incurable respiratory disease diagnosed in over 1,250 Australians each year.  

The recent research findings, published in Nature Genetics, identified different factors found either only in healthy lung tissue or only in diseased lung tissue, and that these were highly cell type specific. This suggests that these factors may be important contributors to disease. 

Congratulations Associate Professor Davis McCarthy! 

Dr Jarmon Lees has been appointed as Chair of the 2025 International Society for Heart Research Early Career Investigator Committee (ISHR ECI) 

The ISHR aims to promote the discovery and dissemination of knowledge in the cardiovascular sciences worldwide. The ISHR Australasia Early Career Investigator (ECI) Committee was established in 2021 to promote, support and connect the ECI community through regular networking events, by highlighting emerging ECI members and supporting professional development and career progression. 

Professor Louise Purton joins Women & Leadership Australia Panel Discussion about ‘Allyship in the Workplace: Building Collaborative Networks for Impact 

Allies play an important role in advancing inclusion in our workplaces and communities by supporting people or groups who are underrepresented, marginalised, or experiencing discrimination. Louise has been a leader in this space for several years. In 2021 she founded Equity in Australian STEMM, which is a grassroots organisation comprising Australian academic researchers (women, men and non-binary people) who recognise the inequities that currently exist that contribute to the lack of retention of people in underrepresented groups in Australian STEMM. In 2023 she was awarded the ISEH Award for Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion. Louise has had a profound bilateral hearing impairment since she was a child, became a cochlear implant recipient in 2018. 

PhD top up scholarships 

PhD students Vita Sukonthamarn and Li Li have recently been awarded top up scholarships, which have been generously funded by the SVI Support Group. Students in this program receive $17,500 over three years to ease the financial pressures of studying full-time.  

To find out how you can support one of Australia’s brightest PhD students click here