COVID-19: What could happen next?

Maccabi LIFE together with Monash University event.

COVID-19: What could happen next?

Monash Uni’s diabetic & neurological complications registries.

Webinar: Wednesday 9 December 2020 – 7.00pm

Moderator: Dr. Terry O’brien

Panel: Professor Christina Mitchell OA, Professor Paul Zimmet AO, Dr Elspeth Hutton, Dr Robb Wesselingh

Monash University’s Central Clinical School and community organisation Maccabi Life partnered to present a public forum on 9 Dec 2020, “COVID-19: What could happen next?”, MC’d by Professor Terry O’Brien. The forum featured Professor Paul Zimmet AO, talking about the new CoviDIAB registry which is tracking patients with first-time onset diabetes; and Drs Elspeth Hutton and Robb Wesselingh talking about the new NeuroCOVID registry being set up to track patients with neurological complications. Professor Christina Mitchell AO, Dean of Monash’s Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, gave an introduction.

COVID-19 is a complex, highly infectious disease with a wide array of possible long-term and serious consequences for those infected. Hear our panel of diabetes and neurology experts discuss the urgent need to know the extent and causes of new-onset and dysfunction with diabetes and neurological conditions. They’ll outline how registries are vital to provide the best interventions and management for treatment, and to understand the potential longer-term impact on the health of people who have been infected.

Scroll timeline to see:

3:37 Professor Christina Mitchell AO,

15:05 Professor Paul Zimmet AO,

28:44 Dr Elspeth Hutton

Questions: 42:08

Find out more about the registries and our researchers:

CoviDIAB registry (Monash University-King’s College London collaboration) CLICK HERE

NeuroCOVID-19 registry: CLICK HERE

Prof. Paul Zimmet: CLICK HERE

Dr. Elspeth Hutton: CLICK HERE

Professor Christina Mitchell OA is Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University. Since her appointment as Dean in 2011, Professor Mitchell has led the Faculty to global recognition for excellence in research and education – ranked in the top 40 worldwide for pre-clinical, clinical and health sciences. Under her direction, the Faculty has adopted a translational research model, forged strong collaborative partnerships and become one of the country’s largest providers of health education. A trained physician-scientist specialising in clinical haematology, Professor Mitchell also maintains an active research profile as head of the Mitchell Laboratory for Intracellular Signalling in Development, Cancer and Human Disease. Professor Mitchell was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019 for her distinguished service to medicine, medical education and research, and academic leadership.

Professor Paul Zimmet AO is Professor of Diabetes, Monash University, Honorary President, International Diabetes Federation and Co-Principal Investigator of the COVIDIAB Registry, a joint project with King’s College London. An international leader in the field of diabetes for 40 years, Paul’s research in the 1980s predicted the current global epidemic of Type 2 diabetes. He founded the International Diabetes Institute in Melbourne in 1984, the first institute in Australia to target diabetes. His legacy is entrenched in numerous humanitarian programs advocating for healthier lifestyles to prevent diabetes and its complications. He was the 2018 Victorian Senior Australian of the Year. He has published more than 1000 research papers and has been named one of the world’s most influential scientific minds. He is listed in the top 10 diabetes researchers for global impact. He conceived the idea to establish the Global Covidiab Registry to record new cases of diabetes linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Elspeth Hutton heads the Peripheral Neuropathy, Pain and Headache Group at the Department of Neuroscience, Monash University. She is a specialist neurologist with an interest in headache, neuropathic pain, peripheral nerve disease and general neurology. She also heads the Headache and Neuromuscular Services at Alfred Health, as well as co-directing Post Graduate Neurology Training. Dr Hutton completed her MBBS at The University of Tasmania. She undertook specialist training in Neurology at The Alfred Hospital and Monash Medical Centre before being awarded the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists Fellowship at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), London. She was admitted as a Fellow of the Australasian College of Physicians in 2008 and was awarded her PhD from University College London in 2017.

Dr Robb Wesselingh is a specialist neurologist with an interest in multiple sclerosis, neuroimmunology and neuroinfectious diseases. Dr Wesselingh obtained his MBBS from Monash University and completed his clinical training in Neurology at Alfred Health and the Royal Melbourne Hospital before completing a Neuroimmunology Fellowship with the MS and Neuroimmunology Service at the Alfred Hospital. An aspiring academic-clinician, Dr Wesselingh is in his final year of a PhD with the Neurology, Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation Laboratory at Monash University in conjunction with the Australian Autoimmune Encephalitis Consortium investigating the immunological underpinnings of autoimmune encephalitis and its long-term complications, with the view to identify diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, as well as novel treatment targets.