News & Events

Purple Day
At just 12 months old, Bronte had her first seizure. It was a febrile convulsion with a very high fever, which isn’t uncommon for babies. However, from that time on she continued having seizures and some would go for over an hour. At five years old Bronte was diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome. Dravet Syndrome starts in early infancy and is characterised by frequen...
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Purple Day
With over 50 subtypes and 400 known genes, epilepsy is one of the most genetically studied disorders. It affects one in 200 children in Australia and one in 20 children will have at least one seizure during their childhood. Currently, there is no cure. Dedicated to delivering hopeful outcomes for these children are the teams across Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN). It’s an effort nee...
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Grant Success
Kids Research would like to congratulate Dr Michelle Lorentzos, Clinical Trials Lead at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, for receiving a Pfizer Global Medical Grant. The grant has been awarded for her project “Multidisciplinary Gene Therapy Education - Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus (rAAV)” which is a multidisciplinary approach to education regarding AAV gene therapy in Australia. “...
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International Women's Day
Dr Ketaki Sharma is a staff specialist at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), whose role involves anything and everything relating to vaccines. She helps summarise the latest evidence on COVID-19 vaccines for the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and occasionally for other countries in the region. "I...
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International Women's Day
Kiya Shipley is an Aboriginal Population Health Trainee (APHTI), which involves working in various areas and undertaking a range of work placements. She is currently working with the team at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) in the Surveillance Coverage Evaluation and Social Science (SuCESS) team. "I am passionate about my people, community and...
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International Women's Day
Dr Paula Bray is the Acting Director of Research for the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network (SCHN). As a member of the executive team, she works to lead, monitor and evaluate research ensuring careful alignment with SCHN strategic and operational plans and is responsible for leading research strategy, research governance, policy and operations. With a drive for solving complex problems, resea...
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International Women's Day
Dr Michelle Lorentzos is a paediatric neurologist, meaning she looks after children who have conditions affecting their brain, nerves or muscles. She has a particular interest in finding treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive and life-limiting neuromuscular disease affecting boys in childhood.   She also works in the very exciting...
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International Women's Day
Today on this International Women's Day we are recognising the incredible achievements of women in all of their diversities. This day of celebration is also a day of action, where we can raise awareness about the inequalities faced by women and girls and acknowledge what needs to be done. This year we are being challenged to break the bias and imagine a gender equal world. We've spok...
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International Women's Day
Sarah Alshammery is a PhD student at the Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. She is based at the Kids Neuroscience Centre, Kids Research at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Her role involves investigating the immune response and epigenetics in children with neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders and she does this through de...
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International Women's Day
Wendy Gold is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney in the School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health and a Neurobiologist based in the Kids Neuroscience Centre, Kids Research at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. She teaches third year Medical Science students on the subject of translating medical discoveries into the clinic and leads a research team who...
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