Dr Andrea
Coleman’s diverse career as a speech pathologist and now a Resident Medical
Officer, has taken another exceptional turn after she received a part-time
Avant Doctor in Training Research Scholarship 2015 to carry out new research
which aims to prevent otitis media in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
children.
Move from speech pathology to medicine
Her decision to transition from speech pathology to
medicine has paid off as she embarks on the two-phase prospective
cross-sectional study as part of her PhD at The University of
Queensland.
Dr Coleman, 31, (pictured) who commenced an
internship at The Townsville Hospital in Queensland last year after completing
a Doctorate of Medicine at Griffith University in Queensland, vividly recalls
the moment she decided to become a doctor.
“I was in a
multidisciplinary meeting and the doctors were doing their thing and I thought
‘ah, that job is way better than my job,’ she confides.
The two disciplines have provided a unique background for her research
and it was while she was undertaking a two-year stint as a speech pathologist
with the Deadly Ears Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Ear Health Program
that she witnessed the impact of ear disease in Aboriginal children first-hand.
Aboriginal children have highest rates of ear disease
in the world
“Aboriginal kids in Australia have
the worst rates of ear disease in the entire world,” she says. “The impacts are
far-reaching because otitis media often results in conductive hearing loss and
can have significant effects on speech and language development, and
subsequently educational and employment outcomes.”
However, despite a plethora of public health strategies and medical and
surgical treatment options for otitis media in Aboriginal children, Dr Coleman
says the burden of disease remains substantial, warranting a novel approach.
Promising results lead to exploration of probiotic use
The genesis of the research project followed
promising results from several studies investigating the use of probiotics in
otitis media via recolonization of nasal passages using the strains of the
bacteria alpha-haemolytic streptococci, often found in the nose and throat of
healthy people.
“Both methods showed promise in their
ability to reduce the rate of otitis media in children prone to otitis media,
however this research is in its infancy and no one has explored the use of
probiotics in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children,” she says.
Dr Coleman decided to commence the research project after
meeting with her principal supervisor and mentor, Anders Cervin, Professor of
Otolaryngology, University of Queensland and a staff specialist in the
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Royal Brisbane &
Women’s Hospital, to discuss research project ideas.
“I
was just walking out the door and he said ‘Hang on, I have an idea’” she
recalls. “I sat back down, listened to the idea and said ‘I know how to make
that work.’”
A new solution for an old problem
The first phase of the study will investigate the
microorganisms found in 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged
two to seven years recruited from the Deadly Ears ‘ENT Walkin’ Country’
Outreach Service and local health and educational services. The study will
compare swabs collected from the nose, oral cavity and tonsils of otitis
media-prone children with non-otitis media-prone children. Clinical history and
demographic information will also be obtained for each group based on
interviews with the parent/guardian of the child and their medical
records.
“The second phase of the study will analyse the
potential of microorganisms found in children who are not prone to otitis media,
to inhibit the growth of otitis media pathogens,” Dr Coleman says. “From there
our long term dream would be to make a collection of good bacteria strains into
a probiotic that you can use from infancy to stop the otitis media pathogens
from recolonising in the upper airways of Aboriginal children to see if we can
reduce otitis media.”
“Probiotics provide a low-cost, safe
alternative to the existing and often futile treatments for Aboriginal
children,” she says. “This simple treatment may provide a new solution to this
refractory problem and help close the long-standing socio-economic and health
gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.”
Scholarships supports next generation of translational
researchers
With a view to releasing preliminary
results from phase 1 this year, Dr Coleman believes the Avant Doctor in
Training Research Scholarships are crucial in developing translational
researchers.
“We always need to be developing new and
better ways to treat and prevent illness and the most pivotal people to advance
those ideas are clinicians because they see what needs are required and how
that can be sensibly implemented,” she says. “The Avant scholarships are key in
growing this next generation of translational researchers.”
On a personal level, Dr Coleman
says the scholarship has made a significant difference to her life and will
deliver essential funding to the research project which she has been working on
voluntarily for the past two years. “I had just spent 1000 dollars on an
otoscope and I didn’t even have the money in there – then I got the phone call
telling me that I had won an Avant scholarship,” she says. “The scholarship
will also allow me to buy equipment and flights and accommodation in Brisbane
so that I can meet with the project team and work in the lab.”
Does your research deserve funding?
Applications for the 2016 Avant Doctor in Training Research Scholarship
Program are open. Twenty-two scholarships are available – more than any
other year to date – worth $450,000, for both emerging and experienced
researchers.
Apply online on the Avant website
or for more information download our Doctor in Training Research Scholarship Information
Pack.
If you have any questions, please contact the
Doctor in Training Research Scholarship team at scholarship@avant.org.au.Applications close 31 May 2016.
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