VIVA

Asthma affects more than 300 million people worldwide, with Australian’s suffering more from asthma (one in ten) than almost any other people in the world. Asthma is a major burden on Australia’s health care system and the economy. It can affect people of all ages - some people get asthma when they are young, others when they are older.

Smoking leads to lung inflammation that causes emphysema - a major health problem in Australia. Emphysema progressively declines even if smoking stops and there are no treatments.

Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy, or CBT, is one of the few effective therapies for children with functional abdominal pain. But CBT sessions can be costly and difficult to access, particularly as multiple sessions are required.

Children born to mothers with asthma are three times more likely to develop asthma themselves than those with asthmatic fathers, which suggests that a risk factor extends beyond genetics. There is emerging evidence that bacteria in the infant’s gut can impact immune function and contribute to the types of immune responses that are seen in asthma.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a condition of persistent, progressive lung destruction caused by inhalation of damaging particles. Many current treatments are expensive, come with side-effects, or have very little effect on some patients.

Current therapies prevent only ~40% of asthma exacerbations. These figures are in the context of clinical trials - real life asthma exacerbations are even less likely to be prevented.

Net will use her Jennie Thomas medical research travel grant to travel to two conferences -the first being the Annual Scientific meeting of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand in perth and the European Respiratory Society International COngress in London.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that affects 1 in 2,500 people born in Australia. 

Early-life lung infections, caused by respiratory bacteria and viruses, lead to permanent alterations in lung structure and function that predispose children to the development of chronic lung diseases such as asthma and emphysema in later-life.

If I am successful, the Jennie Thomas Medical research travel grant will be used to support my travel to two of the worlds biggest immunology conferences. 

Smoking leads to lung inflammation that causes emphysema - a major health problem in Australia.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is the umbrella term for a group of chronic gastrointestinal diseases which include Crohn’s (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), affecting over 70,000 Australians, for which there is no cure.

Over 70,000 hip and knee replacements are performed in Australia each year. Unfortunately approximately 2% of these will become infected and there is a lack of high quality evidence to guide the management of these prosthetic joint infections (PJI). 

In patients with asthma, the airways narrow leading to shortness of breath, cough and asthma attacks.

If persistent painful ear infections of childhood can lead to long-term hearing and learning difficulties. 

An acute exacerbation (also known as infection) is a critical event for a CF patient.  

While symptoms of food allergy range from mild to severe, patients with peanut allergy are at the highest risk of a potentially life threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis affecting up to half of all individuals who are allergic to peanut. 

The first paper from Hayley’s PhD was published in the highly prestigious journal, European Respiratory Journal. 

Immunological aging in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Six to eight percent of children suffer from clinically relevant food allergy and the prevalence is increasing worldwide(1-3).

Asthma prevelance has increased in many western countries over recent decades. Currently, 1 in 6 children in Australia are affected by the disease. Over this time, obesity rates have also increased, and obesity now effects around 10% of Australian children.