Our researchers shine at 2023 WA Child Health Research Symposium

Researchers working across the Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) got to showcase some of the exciting research that is taking place across the service during last week’s WA Child Health Research Symposium.

They were among more than 200 researchers who presented during the symposium which ran over three days.

The annual symposium, which had returned after a hiatus last year due to COVID-19, has become a highlight of WA’s Child Health research calendar.

This year’s program featured more than 100 oral presentations and around 90 poster projects and a speaker line-up of local, national and international researchers.

Built around the theme Celebrating Innovation, Collaboration and Translation, the 2023 symposium was presented by the Child and Adolescent Health Service, in partnership with the Telethon Kids Institute.

Prizes were presented for the best presentations of the symposium, with CAHS researchers well represented among the accolades.

Award winners for the 2023 Child Health Research Symposium were:

• Highest scoring abstract

Dr Bernadette Ricciardo and Jacinta Walton
Moorditj Skin Means Moorditj Health

• Best lightning presentation

Maheshwar Bhasin
Non-exclusive colostrum feeding is associated with increased risk of peanut sensitization in one year old infants

• The Best lightning presentation - runner-up (joint winners)

Bradley Roberts
Utility of Pharmacogenetic Testing for Youth Mental Health

Keerthi Anpalagan
Staphylococcus aureus Network Adaptive Platform – Paediatrics and Youths (SNAP-PY): A novel approach to including children in whole-of-life infectious diseases trials

• Best poster presentation: people’s choice

Aiden Boonnark
Elucidating Mechanisms of Late Effects in Children After Radiotherapy for CNS Cancer

• Best poster presentation: People’s choice - runner-up

Two presentations tied for this award. They were:

• Terry Preston
  The Aboriginal Cultural Awareness and Clinical Development Training Program

• Denise McNab
  Child Protection Unit: Medical Evaluations in the era of COVID

• Best poster presentation: Peer presenters’ choice

Dr Valeksa Berg
The digital identify of young children is in the hands of parents

• Best Allied Health presentation

Lucy Simmer
Pain in children with cerebral palsy following reconstructive hip surgery

• Best Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service presentation

Jamie Beros
Non-invasive brain stimulation in a preclinical model of adolescent mood disorders

• Best presentation by a Royal Australasian College of Physicians trainee

Dr Wei Hao Lee
Study of Paediatric Appendicitis Scores and Management Strategies

• Best Nursing presentation

Dr Sharon O'Brien
Evaluation of the impact of site-adapted implementation interventions for reducing the use of low-value investigations and/or therapies for infants with bronchiolitis

• Best presentation by an early-career researcher

Jacob Byrne
Prexasertib radiosensitises paediatric medulloblastoma cells by exploiting the DNA damage response pathway

• Best presentation by an early-career researcher - runner-up

Savannah Machado
Colostrum - the missing link for successful food allergy prevention?