Newsletter September 2014

Anatomage The Anatomage table has arrived and is now set up in it’s designated room (formerly Tute Room 1) near to the Lecture Theatre. Various craft groups have been undergoing training under the supervision of key people in-cluding A/Prof Preddy, A/Prof Rashid Hashmi and Kylie Pleming. Discussion is underway to decide on how best to structure the use of the table for undergraduate and postgraduate training. Enquiries in respect to it’s useage or teaching for students should be directed to the key people.

The 2014 Academic year seems to be progressing extremely fast. We’re now 2-3 weeks away from Year 6 final

exams and I’m sure many of you have noticed students are busy scurrying around doing last minute preparation. The

best of luck to them during the 8 day final examination session. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the

examiners who’ve volunteered to take part in the Year 6, Year 5 and Phase 2 exams. Without quality experienced

examiners we would not be able to hold the exams locally. Congratulations to Jonathan Bleasel, one of our Year 6

students who went one better than last year winning this years Wagga Marathon in an amazingly fast time.

Over the last few weeks we’ve taken delivery and been trained in the application of the Anatomage Table imported

from the USA. The table has amazing IT which allows us to look at detailed anatomy in 3d. We are in the process of

establishing the Table for teaching of our students and also looking at how the Table can be utilised for other aspects

of medical education such as training Surgical Registrars, particularly for the Fellowship examination. We are

delighted to have such an innovative piece of equipment.

Lastly, our student allocation has taken place for 2015. I’m pleased to report we have yet another excellent cohort of

students, almost all of whom are from rural Australia. The Wagga Wagga campus of UNSW has been gaining in

popularity principally due to the excellent teaching program which has been established over the past 13 years. As

always we are indebted to all the Clinicians in the area who assist us with teaching undergraduate medical students.

John Preddy, Head of Campus

One Health/Zoonoses Study Day On Wednesday 13th and 14th August, Year 5 students from both Albury and Wagga Wagga campuses joined with CSU Wagga campus Veterinary students for a combined Zoonoses teaching session. The students were fortunate to experience presentations from local, national and international speakers including Prof Hazel Mitchell and A/Prof Debbie Marriott from UNSW, Dr Jane Heller from Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health at CSU Wagga, Dr Richard Malik, University of Sydney, Prof Ed Breitschweidt, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, Duke University Medical Centre, USA. The 2 day program included a variety of disease processes that are com-mon to man and animals— antimicrobial resistance, the variation in risk and consequence of disease for differ-ent demographic groups and potential situations where vets and medics work together ie One Health.

WINNERS! JONATHAN BLEASEL: Year 6 student, Jonathan, was one of 450 competitors who, on August 17, ran Wagga’s Premier long-distance event, the Wagga Wagga Trail Marathon 2014. The race started at the Wagga Beach on the Murrumbidgee and the course skirted the perimeter of Wagga finishing at Pomingalarna Reserve. The uni-versal marathon distance of 42 kilometres is gruelling enough but this year’s runners endured rough, muddy,

and hilly terrain on one of Wagga coldest and wettest winter days. Jonathan was runner up in 2013 and trailed last years winner eventually hitting the front to claim victory in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 14 seconds. This is an outstanding personal achievement for Jonathan and we’re all immensely pleased for him. Congratulations AMELIA TAN: There were a series of jokes circulating among students from Phase 2 and 3 and it was decided to submit them to RM Williams Outback magazine’s Laughline comp. Phase 2 student Amelia submitted a win-ner which was published in the Aug/Sept issue. “Quiet Flight A farmer and his wife went to a fair. The farmer decided to take a joy flight in an open-cockpit plane and asked a pilot how much a ride would cost. “Fifty bucks for 3 minutes,” replied the pilot. “That’s too much” said the farmer. The pilot thought for a second and then said: ”I’ll make you a deal. If you and your wife ride for 3 minutes without uttering a sound, the ride will be free. But if you make a sound, you’ll have to pay the $50”.

The farmer and his wife agreed and went for a wild ride. On landing, the pilot said to the farmer, “I want to congratulate you for not making a sound. You are a brave man”. “Maybe so,” said the farmer. “But I gotta tell ya, I almost lost it when my wife fell out.”

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 15—22 August 2014 Recently, Wagga campus Year 5 students were invited to sail as crew on Dr Paul Mara’s yacht, Helsal 3, in the

prestigious Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Australia’s

premier offshore sailing regatta. Yachties and spectators gathered at Hamilton Island where 182 yachts set sail. 2014 was the 31st race and marked nine years of Audi’s title spon-sorship of this yachting event. The students had a whale of a time working hard on board but also enjoying the spectacle of the myriad of islands which is the beautiful Whitsundays. All students agreed, it was unique and fantastic experience

Christmas in August On Saturday, August 2nd, John and Ruth Preddy opened their home and garden to host approx. 40 students

and staff for a midyear Christmas celebration. It was a cold but sunny afternoon with a few games of “friendly” tennis being enjoyed before being seated for a very fes-tive and bountiful Christmas dinner. It was an “all in” catering feast with students, staff and the Preddy family providing for a memorable dinner including Christmas

pud. In the late afternoon, the bonfire in the front pad-dock kept the chill at bay along with the mulled wine!

UPCOMING DATES:

Student Exams:

Year 6 MCQ Monday 15 September

Clinical Tuesday 15 September

VIVA Wednesday 16 September

Portfolio Monday 22 September

Year 5 Biomedical Examination Thursday 13 November

Phase 2 MCQ Monday 14 October

UPDATE:

WEDNESDAY 1st October 2014 A Renal Presentation by

Rural Clinical School Dr Edward Tai, Riverina Nephrology

“Riverina Renal Services: Management of End Stage Renal Failure”

and

Prof Mark Brown, Dept of Nephrology, St George Hospital

“HOPE: Helping Older Patients with Ends Stage Kidney Disease

PUBLIC HEALTH FORUM: “Organ Donation—make your wish count”

WEDNESDAY 15th October 2014 Presenter: Ms Sarah Woolley

Mirage Room, RSL Club, Wagga Organ Donation Coordinator and guests with personal stories