17/03/25
On Monday 17th March 2025, Prof Rachael Morton, Deputy Director at CTC, was invited by the Austin Foundation in Melbourne, to give the inaugural plenary lecture to launch the Stephen Meese renal research scholarship. Rachael’s lecture titled “What’s Love got to do with it? Exploring the compassionate side of renal research and person-centred care”, explored her career to date in health economics and motivation for patient reported outcomes research including the Symptom management WIth Feedback Trial (SWIFT). Starting with her time working with Indigenous people in Alice Springs hospital, she spoke about the trade-offs people made to accept a life on dialysis. Rachael highlighted her dialysis research at the Austin hospital; her international quality of life and health equity research in kidney disease, and the inspiring people she met along the way who helped shape her career.
Stephen Meese was an extraordinary man, who was on dialysis for over 40 years at the Austin hospital, and died in 2020. Stephen’s sister Susan Ronaldson, set up a Renal Research Scholarship through the Austin Foundation in his honour.
The first scholarship was awarded to Natalie McCall, a renal nurse, who is developing a patient experience measure for dialysis cannulation.
You can learn more about the SWIFT study here.
Pictured (L-R): Laura Meese, John Meese, Prof Peter Mount (SWIFT Clinical Lead, Victoria), Prof Rachael Morton (SWIFT PI), Dr Phil Ronaldson, Dr Sue Ronaldson, Annette Marcon, Danielle Marcon, Adrian Marcon, Vincent Ramos (CEO Austin Foundation)