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CKR StaffStephen Alexander
Head, Laboratory Research Dr Alexander joined the Children's Hospital at Westmead in 2001 after 6 years away in the United States. He is originally from Melbourne, where he studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, and worked at the Royal Children's Hospital. He spent 6 years in Perth at the Princess Margaret Hospital completing his Fellowship in Pediatrics. During this time he worked in Kimberly as part of the pediatric service of the North-West. He completed his pediatric nephrology training at the Children's Hospital in Boston. His research was done in the Division of Immunology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He went on staff at the Massachusett's General Hospital for several years where his research interests were in tolerance and transplantation. In Sydney he plans to continue his research interest into the immunobiology of transplantation and tolerance. David AndresenMedical Microbiologist David graduated in Medicine from the University of NSW in 1994. He developed an interest in infection during a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in London in 1996 followed by 3 months working in the Solomon Islands. He returned to Sydney and began professional training in adult Infectious Diseases followed by Clinical Microbiology. During this training he completed a Masters in Medical Science (Clinical Epidemiology) through the University of Newcastle. David was appointed as a Staff Specialist in Medical Microbiology at the Childrens Hospital at Westmead in 2006. His interests include the prophylaxis and rapid diagnosis of invasive fungal infections in neuropaenic patients, the detection and control of antibiotic resistance in hospitals including appropriate antibiotic use, and the application of Clinical Epidemiology to the validation, selection and reporting of diagnostic tests. He is married with two sons, and his main regret is his inability to bowl a decent outswinger.
Tamara Borysko
Tamara commenced employment with The Children's Hospital at Westmead on 10th October 2000 at the Centre for Kidney Research. Tamara is currently working with the Privent study research team as their Administrative Assistant. Tamara is married and is the mother of nine years old triplets. Her hobbies are swimming, cycling and gardening.
Patrina Caldwell P/T Research Staff Specialist Patrina studied Medicine at Newcastle University, graduating B Med in 1985. After two years of medical residency at Royal North Shore Hospital, Patrina began paediatric training at Prince of Wales Children's Hospital [now Sydney Children's Hospital]. Patrina spent two years in Borneo and returned to the New Children's Hospital [now The Children's Hospital at Westmead] in 1996. Patrina joined the Centre for Kidney Research in 2000 and is involved in a urinary tract infection prevention study. Patrina researched recruitment strategies in paediatric trials as part of her PhD. She is a part-time staff specialist and is working on a urinary tract infection study and also a bedwetting study. Patrina is married to an engineer and has two children.
Denise Campbell
Senior Project Officer,CARI Denise completed her Bachelor of Science degree in 1985 and the Masters of Public Health in 2005. Denise worked in the medical publishing field in Hong Kong for many years, as a journals editor, a medical writer for medical newspapers, and in the medical communications field. She has also project managed and written for large communications projects for pharmaceutical companies and health bodies such as the Australian National Heart Foundation. Denise joined the CARI Guidelines Office in November 2002 and in this role, is assisting with the revision and publication of existing CARI guidelines and assisting with the development of new guidelines on various topics. In 2006, she plans to commence writing articles that appraise and explain the processes used by CARI in the development of their guidelines. Miriam CodariniSenior Medical officer 
Miriam Codarini joined the Centre for Kidney Research as a member of the FEVER study team when she started her PhD in 2002. She trained in paediatrics at Sydney Children's Hospital and The Children's Hospital at Westmead where she gained experience in clinical immunology and allergy, immunisation and clinical vaccine trials. Miriam recently completed a Masters in Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology) and is keen to learn more about the practicalities of clinical research through her involvement with the FEVER study and other CKR projects.
Jonathan Craig
Dr Jonathan Craig studied medicine at Otago University in New Zealand, graduating MBChB in 1986. After two years of general medical residency, he started training in paediatric medicine at Christchurch Hospital and came to Australia in 1992 for completion of his FRACP. He subsequently trained in paediatric nephrology and spent three years also training in clinical research methodology applied to urinary tract infection in children. He completed his PhD and Master of Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology) in 1997. From 1996 to 1997 he went to Toronto for further paediatric nephrology training. He returned to Australia and the New Children's Hospital [now The Children's Hospital at Westmead] in 1997 as a staff specialist in nephrology. He was also appointed as a senior lecturer in clinical epidemiology in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, at the University of Sydney, where he co-ordinates the Master of Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology) program. In 2000 he was appointed the co-ordinating editor of the Cochrane Renal Group. His research interests are randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and diagnostic test evaluation, applied to a variety of content areas, including urinary tract infection in children. He is married to a teacher and has three children.
Sonia Crampton
Clinical Research Assistant Sonia completed her Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Sydney in 1993. Clinical experience includes nursing in the areas of rehabilitation, peritoneal dialysis, kidney and liver transplantation and haemodialysis. She completed her renal certificate at University of Western Sydney - Westmead in 1997. She enjoyed working for Central Sydney Area Health Service as their Renal Anaemia Coordinator and commenced working at CKR June 2007 as Clinical Research Assistant for the FEVER Study.
Nick CrossPhD Student Dr Nick Cross graduated with a medical degree from Otago University in New Zealand in 1997. After residency in Hawkes' Bay and Auckland, he commenced adult Nephrology training at Christchurch and Dunedin hospitals in 2003. In 2005 he relocated to Westmead Hospital for further clinical training with a focus on renal transplantation. In 2006 he has commenced a PhD entitled "Clinical Monitoring in Renal Transplant Recipients" and is also studying for Master of Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology) through Sydney University. His other areas of interest include clinical pharmacology and palliative care. He is married to Dr Siobhan Cross and they have one son, Sam, born in February 2006. When not changing nappies, Nick enjoys cooking, swimming, watching rugby and tinkering with computers
Leslee Edwards
Administration Officer,Cochrane Renal Group Leslee has many years of experience working as an Administrative Assistant for various organisations. Early in her career, after completing a number of internal courses with an IT Company, she moved into Computer Operations, working on an IT Help Desk where she assisted company employees with email, word processing and general computer problems. In the early 1990s she completed a TAFE Instructor's course, qualifying her to teach MS Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint. Leslee then worked as a casual TAFE teacher for a short time at the Sydney Institute of Technology, Ultimo. Before joining the CARI Guidelines Office at the Centre for Kidney Research in 2003, she worked for four years as Office/Outreach Coordinator at The Children's Hospital Education Research Institute (CHERI), being responsible for the general administration of CHERI and organisation/coordination of their annual conferences. In May 2005 Leslee moved to a position as Administration Officer with the Cochrane Renal Group.
Dr Jeff FletcherNephrology Research Fellow Dr Jeff Fletcher completed a Bachelor of Science Honours degree from the University of Sydney in 1991 concentrating his honours research in retinal development. He continued at the University of Sydney and completed a Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery degree in 1996. Jeff joined the Children's Hospital at Westmead as a Resident Medical Officer in 1998 and his association with CKR in 2002. He completed his physician training in Paediatric Nephrology in 2004. Jeff received a Postgraduate Medical NHMRC scholarship in 2005 for PhD studies and is currently in the second year of his PhD focussing on chronic renal injury - genetic and immunological approaches. His PhD study is investigating genetic aspects and mechanisms of several paediatric renal diseases including paediatric kidney cancers. He is also interested in researching the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms with chronic allograft nephropathy in renal transplantation. He has established a paediatric kidney gene bank with Dr Stephen Alexander in the hope to improve research into genetic renal disease in Australia. Jeff is married to Vicki and they have three children. Hasantha Gunasekera
Hasantha is a general paediatrician with an interest in International Public Health and Australian Indigenous Health. He is currently working on a PhD examining otitis media (middle ear disease) in urban Aboriginal children and is supported by an NHMRC scholarship. His PhD forms part of the SEARCH (Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health). SEARCH has NHMRC funding to follow-up a cohort of urban Aboriginal children for 5 years (possibly 20 years funding permitting!) a nd will focus on specific child health issues such as otitis media and its management. His other research interests include the public health impact of popular movies, the management of diabetic children in summer camps, the quality of general paediatric training in Australia and the promotion of breastfeeding. Hasantha maintains his clinical skills with regular locum work around the country, particularly in rural NSW, as well as an ongoing appointment as a VMO Paediatrician in Auburn Hospital. His spare time is spent frittering away all his scholarship money on his pet Rhodesian Ridgeback (Kimba), flying single engine planes and in his quest to dine in every restaurant in Sydney before he dies. Sana HamiltonResearch Nurse
Leigh HaysomPhD Student Leigh Haysom started at CKR in 2004 as a PhD student working on the ARDAC study. She has come from Sydney Children's Hospital where she completed paediatric and paediatric nephrology training in 2003. Leigh will be combining PhD studies with a degree in Clinical Epidemiology, statistics not being her forte. She is looking forward to working in a research environment, especially with the dynamic group that is CKR!
Gail Higgins
Gail Higgins completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Sydney. In 1981 she completed a Graduate Diploma in Library Science from Kuringai College of Advanced Education. Following a number of years as a Teacher Librarian, she changed tack in 1989 and spent 3 years with the NSW TAFE Information Systems Division, In 1994 she joined the University of Sydney Library and worked as Pharmacy Librarian, and then Internet Training Librarian. She worked as a Trials Search Coordinator for the Cochrane Haematological Malignancies Group in Germany and the Cochrane Cancer Network in the UK, before returning to the Renal Group.
Elisabeth HodsonHead, Department of Nephrology Dr Elisabeth Hodson completed her medical studies at the London Hospital Medical College in the University of London in 1970. After obtaining MRCP (UK) in 1973, she commenced her paediatric training in England. She moved to Australia in 1975 and trained in paediatric nephrology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children [ now The Children's Hospital at Westmead]. In 1976/1977 she spent a year as Fellow in Renal Transplantation and Chief Resident in Haemodialysis at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In 1979 she obtained FRACP and was appointed staff specialist in the Department of Nephrology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. In 1982 she married Tom Karplus and went with him to San Diego, California for three years. There she worked for two years as Fellow in Paediatric Haematology and Oncology and then spent a year doing research on platelet receptors at Scripps Clinic, La Jolla. In 1986 she returned to Australia and a position in Nephrology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children and at Prince of Wales Children's Hospital [now Sydney Children's Hospital]. In 1989 she moved to Westmead Hospital to establish a paediatric nephrology service. This was done in association with Jill Farquhar, who is now the Clinical Nurse Consultant and Head of the Renal Treatment Centre at The Children's Hospital at Westmead. In 1994 Elisabeth became Director of the Division of Paediatrics at Westmead Hospital. In 1995 she moved to the New Children's Hospital [now The Children's Hospital at Westmead] and was appointed Head of the Department of Nephrology following Paul Roy's resignation. Her research interests have included studies in growth and bone disease in children with renal failure. Recently she has commenced systematic reviews on nephrotic syndrome for the Cochrane Collaboration and a study through the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit to determine the incidence of nephrotic syndrome in Australian children. Most of her leisure time is spent bird watching in Australia and overseas. She lives with Tom, who is a staff specialist in Vascular Medicine at Concord Hospital, and a black cat. Min Hu
Dr Min Hu graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Medicine from Shanghai Second Medical University in China. Min was a senior clinical test officer in China working at Shanghai Second Medical University Rui Jin Hospital, in the Department of Paediatrics, where she was involved in studying correlations between ECG and viral infection as a cause of myocarditis in children. Dr Min Hu joined the Centre for Kidney Research in January 1999 as a Renal Research Fellow, and she is involved in transplant immunology research. Min is also working on T cell receptor gene usage in mouse allograft models. Michelle IrvingSenior Research Officer, CARI Michelle Irving has a background in dental health and a Master in Health Sciences Education. She has spent time in roles in public relations and health promotion in various health services in NSW. She moved into health guideline implementation research in 2004 and started a PhD in 2006 researching implementation of guidelines in patients with chronic kidney disease. She has lead or is leading projects in implementation research on the implementation of the CARI iron and vascular access guidelines, a survey of Australian/New Zealand nephrologists and renal nurses on their opinions of the CARI guidelines and a systematic review of implementation of guidelines in renal medicine. Mike Jones
Dr Michael Jones has a PhD in biostatistics from Macquarie University and has been professionally accredited as a statistician in both Australia and the UK. Michael has worked in clinical research in both hospital and public health environments. For eight years he was the biostatistical consultant at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney working across a variety of medical disciplines in statistical experimental design, analysis and reporting and provided training in biostatistics and research methods to medical postgraduate students. Since then Michael has continued to collaborate with a number of medical research groups in Australia and overseas that bridge academic medical research and pharmaceutical development in the US and Europe. Michael's other major professional avenue has been health policy research. In particular Michael has been part of collaboration that undertook a series of studies in rural medical workforce issues, particularly quantifying the extent and distribution of medical workforce deficits in Australia as well as attempting to understand the structural causes and possible solutions. Other studies have included the use of pathology services in Australia by General Practitioners and evaluation of standards for accreditation of general practices. Michael is currently a senior lecturer in biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney in the Screening and Test Evaluation Program. It is in this capacity that he collaborates closely with researchers in the Centre for Kidney Research. Marianne KerrResearch Nurse,FEVER After acquiring her Registered Nurse qualifications from The University of New England (1987), Marianne gained experience working in hospital wards, private community nursing, and pathology collecting centres. She then worked for the National Heart Foundation on a rural risk factor study, which sparked her interest in research and prompted her to complete a degree in Public Health through La Trobe University (1994). She then worked for the Western Sydney Public Health unit in the area of communicable disease control and immunisation promotion. She recently joined the research department at The Children's Hospital, Westmead as a Research Assistant working on the FEVER project. She is married to a IT Education Manager and has two children.
Anh Kieu
Clinical Research Assistant, FEVER
Pamela Lopez-Vargas
Research Nurse, ARDAC After graduating as a Registered Nurse from Cumberland College of Health Sciences in 1996, Pamela undertook her New Graduate Programme at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in the Cardiology and Cardio-Thoracic departments. The following year whilst working part-time at RPA, she decided to complete her science degree majoring in microbiology and biochemistry. She then worked as a Clinical Trials coordinator for the Endocrine and Diabetes Department at Westmead Hospital. Pamela returned to university to study Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University of Technology Sydney. Before graduating in 2003, Pamela completed her clinical experience at the Red Cross hospital in Hang Zhou, China. In 2003 she started working for CKR as a research nurse with the FEVER study. She is currently working in the ARDAC study and with CARI guidelines as a project officer in implementation research. Her current project is the implementation of vascular access guidelines. Alison LoweStudy Coordinator, PRIVENT Alison studied psychology at Chester University in the north west of England and graduated in 2000 with a BSc (Hons). In 2001 she travelled to Australia on 12 month working holiday visa. During Alison's first 12 months in Australia she was employed by Select Education and worked in many childcare centres in the Sydney metropolitan area as a casual child care worker. In June 2002 following a trip to New Zealand for visa reasons she commenced employment with The Children's Hospital at Westmead as a Research Assistant with the Department of Respiratory Medicine. The research undertaken involved conducting sleep studies on adolescent children with Cystic Fibrosis. After completing this research Alison worked on a research project studying non-invasive ventilation in children with neuromuscular disease. In October 2004 after travelling to Vanuatu for an Australia residency visa Alison commenced employment with the Centre for Kidney Research as the PRIVENT Trial co-ordinator. Alison has a keen interest in qualitative research and she is currently conducting a systematic review of qualitative studies.
Ruth Mitchell
Trials Search Co-ordinator, Cochrane Renal Group 
Following Ruth's graduation with a BA at Macquarie University in 1974, she had a diverse range of work, including music administration, running patient activity groups in the Renal Unit at Prince Henry Hospital, and PR Assistant at the RAHC. She completed the Graduate Diploma of Library Science at the Ku-ring-gai College of Advanced Education in 1991, and then worked for nine years as Librarian at the Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney. She joined the Cochrane Renal Group in August 2000, and is one of its two Trials Search Co-ordinators. She enjoys the wide variety of work - from assisting review authors from all over the world with their search strategies to preparing a regular column for the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. She completed a Master of Arts, Information at the University of Technology, Sydney in 2004, and is currently working with authors piloting systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies, and with the Collaboration's Diagnostic Test Working Group in developing a register of diagnostic test accuracy studies.
Sandra PuckeridgeResources Manager Sandra Puckeridge completed her Secretarial Certificate at Meadowbank Technical College in 1976. Since then she has worked in several administrative positions, the last being in the hospitality industry. She commenced employment at the the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children [now The Children's Hospital at Westmead] in June 1995 before the big move to Westmead. Sandra works for the Centre for Kidney Research as well as the Research & Development Office. In 1999 she changed direction working solely for the Centre for Kidney Research. Her husband is a jeweller and she has 2 teenage daughters.
Paul RoyClinical Researcher Dr Paul Roy trained at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children [ now The Children's Hospital at Westmead] in Sydney. He then trained in paediatric nephrology at the University of Minnesota, USA. On his return to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Paul set up the first comprehensive renal unit in Australia. This unit, now headed by Dr Elisabeth Hodson, provides a full range of services for children with diseases of the urinary tract and has supervised renal transplantation in over 100 children. The unit is active in clinical and basic research and has trained paediatric nephrologists who now practice both in Australia and overseas. He was appointed as a Clinical Associate Professor in Paediatrics, at the University of Sydney in 1993. He has been a guest lecturer in the United States of America, Sweden, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Paul was awarded the Royal Australian College of Physicians Medal in 1995. In October 1995 he accepted the Appointment as Director of Paediatric Services for the Central Sydney Area Health Service following the relocation of Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children from central Sydney to its current site at Westmead. aul remains a member of the Department of Nephrology both as a clinician and as the Principal Investigator of clinical studies of urinary tract infection and vesicoureteric reflux funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. His research interests have included hypertension in children, use of cysteamine in the management of cystinosis, and epidemiologic studies of urinary tract infections and vesico-ureteric reflux. In 1999 Paul became a member of the American Education Research Association and after three months as Visiting Professor to the Centre for Research In Education, University Health Network, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada was elected a Life Time Honorary Member. In 2005 Paul was admitted to the degree Doctor of Medicine (MD) by the University of Sydney. Rachelle SamuelsAdministrative Officer, CARI Rachelle has 9 years of hospital administration experience. She has studied for 2 years at TAFE and gained certificates in Business Administration. She also completed a Toastmasters course which focused on public speaking skills. Rachelle joined the CARI Guidelines office in June 2005 and is currently responsible for assisting those developing new guidelines, the coordination of revision of existing CARI guidelines, updating the CARI website and maintaining CARI's database, as well as general administrative duties.
Yashwant Sinha
Dr Yashwant Sinha joined the Centre for Kidney Research in July 2006 to commence a PhD She trained in paediatrics at the Children's Hospital at Westmead from 1998-2001 and subsequently completed paediatric clinical pharmacology training at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne and Sydney Children's Hospital Randwick, gaining the FRACP in 2004. Yashwant has gained experience in early phase clinical trials for the pharmaceutical industry through an 18 month secondment to the James Lance GlaxoSmithKline Medicines Research Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick ( Jan 2005-July 2006) where she was a co-investigator for first time in man through to phase III trials including drug interaction, pharmacokinetic and proof of concept studies. Yashwant's responsibilities at the Centre for Kidney Research include medical management of patients enrolled in the PRIVENT trial. She has commenced a PhD entitled "Medicines in children: clinical trials, ethics and access." supported by a three year NHMRC postgraduate scholarship, the Faculty of Pharmacy and School of Public Health, University of Sydney. Her supervisors are Prof Jo-anne Brien(Pharmacy) and A/Prof Jonathan Craig(Public Health).She also works as a general paediatrician in private practice. Yashwant is married and has one child. She enjoys playing the violin, cooking gourmet French food and travelling.
Giovanni FM StrippoliEditor and Regional Co-ordinator of the Cochrane Renal Group Dr. Giovanni FM Strippoli studied medicine at the University of Bari, Italy, graduating in 1999. He subsequently undertook adult nephrology training at the University of Bari, Italy, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre, USA. He trained in clinical epidemiology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata where he completed a Master of Medicine (Epidemiology of Health Services). Subseuqnetly he moved to Australia in 2002 for clinical research and epidemiology training at the Centre for Kidney Research, the School of Public Health of the University of Sydney and the Cochrane Renal Group. He completed a Masters of Public Health (Hons) in 2004. In 2004 Giovanni was appointed an Editor of the Cochrane Renal Group and an Italian/European Regional Coordinator of the Group. In 2006 he was appointed an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine. He is also a Coordinator of the Centre and Atelier for Epidemiological Studies and Research (CAESAR) at the University of Bari, Italy and actively involved in clinical research with several institutions including the University of Foggia, Italy, the Mario Negri Sud Institute of Research and other Universities in Italy and internationally. His research interests are epidemiological studies of renal diseases, including general nephrology, dialysis and transplantation. He has conducted many systematic reviews of randomized studies and is involved in numerous primary studies including randomized trials, cohort studies, cross-sectional analytic studies and diagnostic test studies. Specific research interests are diabetic nephropathy, hypertension, renal anemia, nutritional risk factors for chronic kidney disease. As a Cochrane Editor, he is involved in disseminating the culture of evidence-based medicine and training researchers in epidemiological methods of primary studies and systematic reviews. He has research collaborations with over 20 scientists in Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand and has published substantially in the field both in the form or original research, invited editorials, book chapters. He has also delivered several talks on addressing intervention questions in nephrology by an 'evidence-based' approach. Giovanni breeds numerous species of parrots including rare exotic macaws, collects bonsai trees and plays piano. Premala SureshkumarPhD Premala Sureshkumar earned her Bachelor of Science from Macquarie University in Sydney. After graduating and entering the real world, Premala joined the Centre for Kidney Research at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, and she has been involved in clinical research since. Her research interests have included kidney diseases in children closely associated with urinary incontinence, vesico-ureteric reflux and urinary tract infections. She has been involved in several publications on Urinary Incontinence and urinary tract infections in children. Premala completed a PhD, supported by an NHMRC Research Scholarship, in Urinary Tract Infections and daytime incontinence in schoolchildren. Outside work, she is married to a Computer Scientist and has two children.
Allison TongResearch Officer, CARI Allison completed her Medical Science degree in 2003 and the Masters of Public Health in 2005. During her Masters Degree, Allison did some work as a co-reviewer of Cochrane Systematic Reviews. Midway 2005, she joined the CARI team as a Research Officer and commenced a PhD. Her main research project involves the use of qualitative methods to study the psychosocial aspects of chronic kidney disease. Allison has a keen interest in qualitative research, which compelled her to coordinate the Qual Group at Sydney University. In particular, she is interested in the methods of conducting systematic reviews of qualitative studies.
Yuan Min Wang Senior Research Officer Yuan joined the Centre for Kidney research in July 2003. Her work involves gene transfer and gene therapy by retroviral infection for renal diseases on animal models. Yuan has studied in China, Singapore and Australia. In China Yuan worked as a Gastroenterologist, then she did a Masters in Singapore while working in the Hepatology Diagnostic Lab, Dept. of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Since arriving in Australia Yuan completed a PHD while working at the Retroviral Genetics Laboratory Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney. Just before coming to the Centre for Kidney research Yuan did a year as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Science Food and Horticulture at the University of Western Sydney.
Debbie WatsonDoctoral Student Debbie Watson graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in 1997. She started working in the renal research laboratory at the Centre for Kidney Research in December 1997 as a Research Assistant and is currently enrolled in a PhD at the University of Sydney working on models of tolerance in the mouse. She was recently awarded the President's prize at TSANZ 2002.
Angela Webster
Dr Angela Webster studied medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north east of England, graduating in 1995. She moved to Scotland to complete her basic physician training, and completed the MRCP(UK) in 1998. She subsequently undertook specialist training in Nephrology and General Internal Medicine in Edinburgh. To further her experience she moved to Westmead hospital as an Advanced Trainee in Nephrology and Transplantation in 2001 and could not be convinced to leave. She joined the CKR in February 2002 and is currently working on several systematic reviews for the Cochrane Renal Group in the field of renal transplantation, whilst studying for a Masters of Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology) at the University of Sydney. She is also currently the Novartis fellow in cancer epidemiology for the ANZDATA registry and intends to combine this with her CKR projects to form the basis of a PhD. To make up for lack of husband and children she grows vegetables, paints and surfs. Gabrielle Williams Senior Research Officer Gabrielle Williams is a Senior Research Officer in the Centre for Kidney Research working as project manager for the FEVER study as well as coordinating systematic reviews and other studies of diagnostic tests. Gabrielle has worked in research for over 15 years firstly in a laboratory setting and, from 1998, in clinical research. Her qualifications are a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours from Macquarie University, a PhD from the Australian National University and a Masters of Public Health from the University of Sydney. Gabrielle is a member for the Scientific Advisory Committee at the Childrens' Hospital and has an interest in study design and conduct. She currently balances work and home life working 4 days a week in the Centre for Kidney research and the remainder as mother of 2 boys and helper in her husbands' mechanic repair business.
Narelle Williams
Narelle became a Registered Nurse in 1993 after completing her Bachelor of Nursing Degree at Cumberland College of Health Sciences, a part of Sydney University. She has also gained a Graduate Diploma in Nursing from the University of Western Sydney. Her clinical experience includes working in High Dependency and ward areas, predominantly at Westmead Hospital. She has also enjoyed working as an RN in Intensive Care and High Dependency units in the UK. Narelle has been at CKR since January 2006 in her role as Research Nurse for the Fever Study and is currently undertaking some postgraduate study in Epidemiology.
Rita WilliamsResearch Education Officer, ARDAC Rita Williams completed a Bachelor of Arts at Macquarie University graduating with a double major in Aboriginal studies and Anthropology in 1995. In 1997, Rita completed a graduate certificate in Population Health at Newcastle University. In 1988 Rita was appointed State co-ordinator for Drug and Alcohol with the Aboriginal Health Branch. From her insight into drug and alcohol problem among the Aboriginal adults, Rita discovered that the problem was common among Aboriginal children as well. Therefore Rita was motivated to seek a position with the Life Education Centre where she was then appointed Aboriginal Program Co-ordinator in 1989. Rita was successful in implementation of life education programs into the Far West education system, where the programs aimed at reducing the number of Aboriginal young children (as young as 5 years old) sniffing petrol in the town of Wilcannia The tour commenced from Sydney through to the Mid North Coast, and also covered some of the most remote areas of the Northern Territory such as Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, and Ulura before heading back to Sydney via South Australia. In 1989 Rita commenced at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children [now The Children's Hospital at Westmead], where she was employed as an Aboriginal Health Education Officer. During her working years at the Hospital, in 1996 Rita made two recommendations in an article titled "Aboriginal Children in Hospital". The recommendations were strongly supported by the Hospital. Below is a brief capture of the two recommendations:
The Hospital has also implemented substantial services based on the above two recommendations. These include the Outreach ENT Services at Thawaral Aboriginal Medical Service, Campbelltown. In February 2001 an outreach service was launched at Southern Area Health Services, Goulburn. Discussions will take place in early December 2000 for the possibility of implementation of Outreach ENT services at Daruk Aboriginal Mount Druitt. In early November 2000 Rita was seconded to the Centre for Kidney Research. Rita has been appointed Aboriginal Health Education Office and one of the investigators in a new survey calledAntecedents of Renal Disease in Aboriginal Children within NSW. Narelle WillisCo-ordinator, Cochrane Renal Group Narelle Willis completed the Pathology Technicians Certificate in 1979 and worked at the Department of Medicine, University of Sydney developing animal models for the study of asthma. In 1980 she was employed as a Technical Officer in the Renal Laboratory, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and was involved in the international multi-centre study on Cyclosporin use in transplantation. In 1994, after 6 long years, she completed a BSc in Environmental Biology at the University of Technology, Sydney (now a qualified greenie) receiving the Environmental Biology Prize and the Dean's Merit Award. In 1997 a career change was decided and she began work at the Centre for Kidney Research as a Research Assistant involved in an NHMRC funded study looking at the natural history of urinary tract infections in preschool children. In 1998 she completed a MSc at UTS. In 1999 she was employed as the Information Manager forthe Centre for Kidney Research and the Department of Nephrology, before taking on her current role as Review Group Co-ordinator of the Cochrane Renal Group. She is married to a Marketing Director/fisherman and has 2 sons who are taller than her. Germaine Wong PhD Student I first graduated in Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Sydney in 1999. I then spent most of my working life at Westmead hospital. Starting as an intern then commenced my Advanced training in Nephrology in 2004. I've just started my PhD in the Centre of Kidney Research at the Children's Hospital this year. My area of interests include: Cancer screening in dialysis and renal transplantation, and cancer in chronic kidney disease. Having found Epidemiology and Statistics as one of the hardest subjects in my undergraduate years, I am undertaking the Masters of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Sydney as a tool to aid my research work. One of the difficulties in research and medicine is balancing and juggling time between my 9 month old baby and work commitments. But I've found the research work both challenging and exciting. Geoff ZhangSenior Scientist Dr Geoff Zhang started at CKR in 1990 as a Hospital Scientist and later as a Senior Scientist. He studied Medicine in Beijing Medical University (BMU) and graduated with a Master of Medicine in 1985. He finished postgraduate training in Orthopaedics and related research in BMU before he was granted a postdoctoral fellowship to the United States in 1988. He spent 2 years in St. Louis University Medical School, Missouri USA before coming to Australia and joined the Renal Research Laboratory in 1990. His current research involves studies of T cell receptor V gene usage in allograft rejection and donor specific transfusion induced transplantation tolerance in animal models. |
Administrative Assistant
Head, Clinical Research
PhD Student, School of Public Health
Trials Search Coordinator, Cochrane Renal Group
MMed Student
Senior Lecturer Biostatistics (STEP)
Clinical Research Fellow
Research Fellow
Research Nurse, FEVER
