Paediatrics
Professor Ralph Nanan
Professor, Dr med. habil (University of Wuerzburg)
CHAIR OF PAEDIATRICS
SUB-DEAN OF RESEARCH
Professor Ralph Nanan is a Paediatrician, who joined the Nepean Hospital from Germany in 2002. He was appointed Chair of Paediatrics in March 2005. Professor Nanan has a special research interest in infectious diseases, clinical immunology and neonatology. He was the first to describe measles virus epitopes recognised by human T lymphocytes. In addition, his research has contributed to our understanding of which elements of the immune system confer long-term protection after immunisation.
At Nepean Professor Nanan is developing a feto-maternal sheep model to investigate the use of stem cells to repair damaged tissues in newborns. Besides this Professor Nanan is investigating the role of T regulatory cells in newborns as well as in children suffering from atopic eczema.
Contact:
Phone: +61 2 4737 2612
Fax: +61 2 4734 2561
Email:
Nepean Hospital
P.O Box 63
Penrith NSW 2751
Dr Alison (Sally) Poulton
Senior Lecturer, MA MBBChir MRCP(UK) FRACP
PAEDIATRICIAN
Dr Poulton was appointed senior lecturer in 2006. Her research interest is in the effect of stimulant medication, used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), on growth and physical maturation in children. She is looking prospectively at body composition, rate of progression of skeletal maturation and attainment of puberty in children on stimulant medication.
Contact:
Phone: +61 2 4734 3363
Fax: +61 2 4734 2561
Email:
Nepean Hospital
P.O Box 63
Penrith NSW 2751
Dr Anthony Liu
MBBS (USyd), DCH, FRACP, MPH
PAEDIATRICIAN
Dr Liu was appointed Lecturer in Paediatrics in 2006 having been a Staff Specialist Paediatrician at Nepean Hospital. Dr Liu has a keen interest in teaching and is currently enrolled in the Master of Medical Education at the University of Sydney. His research interest revolves around the effects of illicit drug use in pregnancy on the newborn infant.
Contact:
Phone: +61 2 47343363
Fax: +61 2 4734 2561
Email:
Nepean Hospital
P.O Box 63
Penrith NSW 2751
Dr. Jeff Fletcher
BSc (Hons), MBBS, DCH, FRACP
PAEDIATRICIAN
Dr. Jeff Fletcher joined Nepean Hospital as a staff specialist paediatrician in 2007. Dr. Fletcher has an interest in Paediatric Nephrology and Genetic Kidney Disease. Jeff received a Post-Graduate Medical NHMRC scholarship in 2005 for PhD studies and is currently in the third year of his PhD (part time) focussing on chronic renal injury, genetic and immunological approaches. His PhD study is investigating genetics aspects and mechanisms of several paediatric renal diseases including paediatric kidney cancers. He is also intertested in researching the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms with chronic allograft nephropathy in renal transplantation. He has established a paediatric kidney gene bank at the Children's Hospital at Westmead with Dr. Stephen Alexander in the hope to improve research into genetic renal disease in Australia.
Contact:
Phone: +61 2 4734 3363
Fax: +61 2 4734 2561
Email:
Nepean Hospital
P.O Box 63
Penrith NSW 2751
Research projects
Project 1: Phenotypic and functional analysis of regulatory T cells in adults and newborns
Regulatory T cells have been identified as playing an important role in a variety of immune disorders such as auto immune diseases, cancers and allergic disorders. We have shown that regulatory T cells are also highly active in cord blood and might play a major part in the control of immune responses in the feto maternal interface. Their physiologic role in early childhood through to adulthood is now being investigated. In addition, we systematically analyse their function and distribution in children with atopic eczema.
Contact: Professor Ralph Nanan
Project 2: Amelioration of tissue damage in newborn infants using autologous umbilical cord stem cells
This project aims to investigate the potential of umbilical cord stem cells to ameliorate tissue damage in newborns. For this purpose a feto maternal sheep model is used. In the first part of this project we are establishing ovine stem cell markers. This is a collaborative project with the Peter McCallum Institute in Melbourne. In the second part of the project, umbilical cord stem cells would be used in sheep fetus to trace to effects on artificially induced hypoxic ischemic tissue damage.
Contacts: Professor Ralph Nanan, Professor Michael Peek
Project 3: Can sucrose enhance the effectiveness of opiate medication that is administered for the treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome?
When sucrose is administered to infants, there is a release of endogenous endorphins. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that oral sucrose will ameliorate opiate medication given to treat the symptoms of neonatal withdrawal.
Contacts: James Marceau, Professor Ralph Nanan, Dr Henry Murray
Project 4: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Treatment Predictor Index Study
Retrospective cross sectional study aimed at developing a composite index to approximate the average length of opiate treatment for infants of substance abusing mothers (ISAM). This index might also help us predict which infants will withdraw and have the potential to be the basis for a more stratified treatment of ISAMs as well as have implications in regards to an improved discharge planning process. For this purpose parameters from approximately 400 ISAM babies will be retrospectively analysed.
Contact: Dr Anthony Liu
Project 5: The use of oral sucrose in children having bladder catheterisation to reduce pain and distress
While sucrose is known to be useful in neonates to reduce the pain associated with venipuncture and vaccination, its usefulness with bladder catheterisation is not known. This project is a randomised, double-blinded placebo-controlled trial involving infants and young children. It uses physiologic responses, crying times and quantified behaviours to assess the effect of oral sucrose on pain and distress.
Contact: Dr Samson Kwok
Project 6: Investigation of height, weight and pubertal status of adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Stimulant medication can be associated with slowing of growth in children with ADHD, but there very little information on the effect on pubertal development. The aim of this cross sectional study is to show that growth delay is associated with maturational delay. Adolescents on stimulant medication aged 12-16 years are weighed and measured and invited to self stage their pubertal status using a pictorial questionnaire. This is compared with data from normal adolescents. This is a collaborative study with Dr Simon Clarke at Westmead.
Contact: Dr. Alison(Sally) Poulton
Project 7: The effect of stimulant medication on appetite and hormone levels and correlation with clinical effect on alertness
When children start taking stimulant medication most lose weight, possibly due to appetite suppression. In this study a single dose of stimulant medication is given to healthy adult volunteers to see if there is any change in the levels of hormones that regulate appetite. The effect on appetite is correlated with performance using an auditory vigilance test in collaboration with the Psychology Department of the University of Sydney.
Contact: Dr. Alison(Sally) Poulton