University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences of the University of Melbourne has the largest number of post-graduate enrolments in the University of Melbourne^[1] and also hosts the most school departments and centres of all University of Melbourne Faculties, consisting of 52 faculty sub-organisations.^[2] In 2021, Melbourne Medical School was ranked 25th in the world and second in Australia in the 2021 QS Subject Rankings.^[3]

History

The University of Melbourne’s School of Medicine was founded in 1858 by Anthony Brownless, a graduate of the University of St Andrews School of Medicine. By Federation in 1901, the school had become the Faculty of Medicine.

When the Murray Committee reported in 1956 on the inadequacies of the nation's tertiary education sector, the mood to change medical education accelerated. The University was central to the revolution to medicalise society through the expansion of medical services. During the decades to follow, the University was the only tertiary institution to mentor the development of a number of medical institutions in South-East Asia and here in Victoria, the Monash Medical School.

In 1989 the University's Faculty of Dental Science amalgamated with Medicine to become the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and later expanded again to include Physiotherapy, Psychology and Nursing. The University established Australia's first School of Population and Global Health in 2001 and then the School of Rural Health in 2002. As of 2016, the faculty also includes the School of Social Work (having moved from the University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts) as well as the Nossal Institute for Global Health. ^[4][5]

• In line with the Melbourne Curriculum (formerly the 'Melbourne Model'), the Faculty provides the Bachelor of Biomedicine, a three-year, full-time degree that offers 12 majors across biomedical disciplines.
• For the year of 2016 The University of Melbourne attracted more nationally competitive research funding than any other Australian university^[6]
• In the year of 2010, Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne achieved the maximum world rating (5) in the Excellence in Research for Australia Report (scale of 1 o 5) in the areas of:^[7]
  • Medical and Health Sciences
  • Medical Biochemistry and Metabolomics
  • Cardiovascular Medicine and Haematology
  • Clinical Sciences Dentistry
  • Immunology
  • Neurosciences
  • Oncology and Carcinogenesis
  • Ophthalmology and Optometry
  • Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • Medical Physiology
• The Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences which forms part of the Faculty is one of the oldest and largest departments of psychology in Australia with its first paper on Psychology written in February 1888 and the Department of Psychology being founded in 1946^[8]
• In 2011 the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences introduced the Doctor of Physiotherapy as Australia’s first three-year entry to practice graduate level program^[9]
• The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences is the University of Melbourne’s largest faculty^[10]

Faculty structure

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences encompasses several Schools directly beneath it. Within each School, there are also several Departments, Research Centres, and Institutes that are contained. Each Department, Research Centre, and Institute can also contain several Research Unit sub-organisations which focus on specific research areas. An overview of the Faculty Schools and structure are as follows:^[11]

Melbourne Medical School

• Department of Clinical Pathology
• Department of Critical Care
• Department of Medicine and Radiology
• Department of Surgery
• Department of Psychiatry
• Department of Paediatrics
• Department of General Practice
• Department of Rural Health
• Department of Medical Education
• Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
• Mobile Learning Unit

Melbourne Dental School

Melbourne School of Health Sciences

• Department of Audiology & Speech Pathology
• Department of Nursing
  • Centre for Psychiatric Nursing
• Department of Social Work
• Department of Physiotherapy
  • Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine
• Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences

Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

• Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• Centre for Health Equity
• Centre for Health Policy
• Centre for Mental Health
• Nossal Institute for Global Health

Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences

• University Psychology Clinic

School of Biomedical Sciences

• Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience
• Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
• Department of Microbiology & Immunology
  • Microbiological Diagnostic Unit
• Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Department of Physiology

Faculty Institutes, Centres and Departments

• Health & Biomedical Informatics Centre
• Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health
• Melbourne Neuroscience Institute
• Doherty Institute
• Centre for Youth Mental Health
• Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI)
• Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
• Medical Bionics Department
• The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology
• Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
• Burnet Institute
• Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
• St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research

Research

The University of Melbourne was ranked ninth in the world in clinical, pre-clinical and health subjects by the 2018 QS World University Rankings.^[12] The Faculty is highly active with over 1400 researchers in eight broad research domains encompassing the breadth of medicine, dentistry and the health sciences.

As of 2016, some examples of research outcomes from the University of Melbourne School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences include the Stentrode a collaboration between the University of Melbourne, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health,^[13][14] and prosthetic body parts that can simulate touch sensations to amputees.^[15]

The Ultrasound Education Group (UEG) is a research and education group within the Department of Surgery, founded by Alistair and Colin Royse in 2004.^[16]

UEG’s research topics are transthoracic echocardiogram; transesophageal echocardiography for cardiac surgery; clinical point of care diagnostic ultrasound for heart, vascular, lungs, abdomen, invasive procedures. Other areas of research include cardiothoracic surgery; cardiothoracic anaesthesia; postoperative quality of recovery in surgery; and self-directed learning with ultrasound simulators.^[17]

UEG research outcomes include:

• Patients in heart surgery have better probabilities of survival if arteries from their chest wall and arms are used to replumb their heart, instead of leg veins. By scrutinising 51,000 Australian patients, Melbourne researchers discovered the risk of dying prematurely was at least 22 per cent higher if any leg vein was used in coronary bypass surgery^{[18][19][20][21][22]}
• Cardiac surgery relies heavily on donated blood because of the high blood transfusion rates. But a major study of over 5,000 heart surgery patients has now shown that surgeons can safely use significantly less blood than they have been. The potential saving is equivalent to around one blood donation (about 470 millilitres) per moderate-to-high risk patient.^[23][24][25]

Criticisms

In 2010 the Faculty drew criticism from the Australian Medical Students' Association (AMSA) over its decision to alter its course structure to allow full fee paying domestic student places:

"The Bradley report into Higher Education stated that participation by students from low socio-economic backgrounds in higher education in Australia needs to be increased. The Federal Government and Universities have been working hard to achieve this aim, which AMSA strongly supports. So for one of Australia's leading Universities to make an active decision to disadvantage students from low socio-economic backgrounds is very disappointing and will undermine much the good work being done around the nation", said Ross Roberts-Thomson, AMSA President.^[26] This alteration from labelling the course from "undergraduate" to "post-graduate" was seen as a way of avoiding the Australian Governments ban on full fee paying places for Undergraduate degrees, and as increasing potential barriers for applicants from low socio-economic background from enrolling.

Present and past Faculty Deans

Below is a List of all Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science Deans from 1876 to present^[27]

• 1876–1886 George Britton Halford
• 1886–1889 Harry Brookes Allen
• 1890–1896 George Britton Halford
• 1897–1924 Harry Brookes Allen
• 1925–1929 Richard James Arthur Berry
• 1929–1938 William Alexander Osborne
• 1939–1943 Peter MacCallum
• 1944–1945 Robert Marshall Allan
• 1946–1947 Roy Douglas Wright
• 1947–1949 Peter MacCallum
• 1950–1952 Roy Douglas Wright
• 1953–1971 Sydney Sunderland
• 1971–1977 Sydney Lance Townsend
• 1978–1985 David Geoffrey Penington
• 1986–1995 Graeme Bruce Ryan
• 1995–1997 Gordon James Aitken Clunie
• 1998–2003 Richard Graeme Larkins
• 2003 – 2013 James Alexander Angus
• 2013–2015 Stephen Kevin Smith
• 2015–2016 Mark Hargreaves
• 2015–Present Shitij Kapur^[28]

References

1. . Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
2. Porich, Jimmy (3 January 2017). "Our Schools". Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
3. "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021: Life Sciences & Medicine". Topuniversities.com. 12 March 2021.
4. Jones, R. L., "Humanity's Mirror: 150 Years of Anatomy in Melbourne", Haddington Press, 2007.
5. "Our History : Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences". Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. 1 July 2016.
6. "Research funding in 2016 for University of Melbourne, Department of Education, Australia" (PDF). Docs.education.gov.au. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
7. PDF, Excellence in Research for Australia Report 2010, Australian Research Council, Archive.arc.gov.au
8. "History : Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences". Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. 16 March 2017.
9. "Doctor of Physiotherapy: About DPhysio". University of Melbourne. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
10. mcd-web (20 January 2006). "Archived copies of University publications : About the University : University of Melbourne" (PDF).
11. Woodgyer, Alan (6 March 2018). "Our Structure : Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences". Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
12. "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015 - Medicine". QS World University Rankings. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
13. University of Melbourne joint project to create the Stentrode
14. Melbourne, Jane Gardner, University of (9 February 2016). "Moving with the power of thought". Pursuit. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
15. Dean, James (28 May 2016). "Robotic arm could give amputees the sensation of touch". ABC News. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
16. Lyon, Amanda. "RACGP - Wired for ultrasound". The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners at www.racgp.org.au. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
17. Canty, David; Barth, Jennifer; Yang, Yang; Peters, Nathan; Palmer, Andrew; Royse, Alistair; Royse, Colin (1 February 2019). "Comparison of learning outcomes for teaching focused cardiac ultrasound to physicians: A supervised human model course versus an eLearning guided self- directed simulator course". Journal of Critical Care. 49: 38–44. doi:10.1016/j.jcrc.2018.10.006. ISSN 0883-9441. PMID 30359924. S2CID 53115045.
18. Van Den Berg, Lucy (17 November 2017). "Hearty use of artery". Herald Sun www.heraldsun.com.au, p. 3. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
19. Wendling, Patrice (17 October 2018). "Forearm Blood Flow Preserved Long After Radial Artery Harvest". Medscape www.medscape.com. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
20. "Does any saphenous vein graft lead to worse late survival after coronary bypass surgery: A cohort study of 51,113 patients?" (PDF). The European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, p. 28.
21. Allar, Daniel. "Radial artery use for CABG doesn't impact blood flow 20 years later". Cardiovascular Business. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
22. McKeown, L.A. (8 October 2018). "Twenty-Year Data Show No Negative Impact of Radial Artery Harvest on Blood Flow of CABG Patients". TCTMD by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) at TCTMD.com. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
23. Wiedersehn, Sarah (20 November 2017). "Saving lives with less donor blood". Yahoo 7 News at au.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
24. Trounson, Andrew (13 November 2017). "Saving lives with less blood". Pursuit. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
25. Mazer, C. David; Whitlock, Richard P.; Fergusson, Dean A.; Belley-Cote, Emilie; Connolly, Katherine; Khanykin, Boris; Gregory, Alexander J.; de Médicis, Étienne; Carrier, François M. (27 September 2018). "Six-Month Outcomes after Restrictive or Liberal Transfusion for Cardiac Surgery" (PDF). New England Journal of Medicine. 379 (13): 1224–1233. doi:10.1056/nejmoa1808561. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 30146969.
26. . Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
27. Cigognini, Brendan; Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (23 December 2016). "List of Deans 1876 - present". Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
28. The University of Melbourne (6 May 2016). "Melbourne appoints new Dean of Medicine". Newsroom. The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 1 May 2020.

External links

• Neild, James Edward (1887). The Medical School of the Melbourne University: an address delivered on the twenty fifth anniversary of the opening of the Medical School . Melbourne: Stillwell & Co.

Coordinates: 37°47′58″S 144°57′32″E / 37.79944°S 144.95889°E / -37.79944; 144.95889