Archive for the ‘Our News’ Category

Rotary District 9810 is assisting the CRF in association with the CSA to build awareness and increase the diagnosis rate of coeliac disease.  We are delivering the message that Coelaic Disease is truely a hidden epidemic, that symptoms are varied, it runs in families and if there are a number of on-going symptoms to get checked out by your GP via a the simple blood test whilst on a diet that include gluten.  The simple test can change lives around.  Rotarians are taking information received to members of their families, their local schools, businesses and friends asking the question, ‘Could this by you?’ 

This simple, grass-roots approach is making a difference many Rotarians who are at the presentations are identifying those who may need to seek assistance from their GPs because of the presentations we have delivered.  We are grateful to District Governor David Alexander for his interest in this topic and the support of Rotary in helping us raise diagnosis rates.

Kristine Ash presented at the Rotary Club of Warandyte and Donvale in August and received a very warm welcome, as is the case with all clubs visited.

Coeliac Disease Matters - Four Educational Outreach Programs Planned

We extend our gratitude to the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust for their support of our planned Educational Outreach Programs in collaboration with The Coeliac Society Victoria. 

Recognising the need to develop a high calibre educational outreach program to disseminate key, up-to-date messages about coeliac disease, the CRF and CSVic have combined to ensure delivery of four educational programs each comprising a general public session and one designed for GPs and allied health professionals.  Programs will be delivered in the western suburbs, eastern suburbs, Bairnsdale and Warnambool and will form the basis of an educational model which can be delivered interstate.

Now that funding has generously been agreed by the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, we can begin planning in earnest for this exciting new project - watch this space for upcoming dates and venues.

Guests at the Melbourne breakfast seminar applauded as Professor Markku Mäki was awarded the inaugural PQLPY Prize sponsored by Inova, Integrated Sciences and Nexpep for his contribution to coeliac disease awareness and diagnosis.  The PQLPY Prize will be awarded by the Coeliac Research Fund from time to time when a suitable recipient is identified that has made a significant contribution in the field of coeliac disease awareness, diagnosis or research.  Dr Bob Anderson presented the prize to Professor Mäki highlighting the contribution, over many years, Professor Mäki has made to coeliac disease.

PQLPY is the core sequence of the immundominant gluten epitope in coeliac disease.

An outstanding contribution

Professor Markku Mäki, MD, PhD is the Chair and Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital in Finland and is one of the world’s foremost innovative opinion leaders in coeliac disease.

More than two decades ago, he joined the Finnish Coeliac Society began research that was inspired by the needs of coeliac sufferers.  Markku Mäki was soon leading a multi-diciplinary Coeliac Disease Study Group including paediatricians, primary care physicians, internists, dentists, dermatologists, neurologists, epidemiologists, and life science researchers.   The outcome of his group research is the understanding of the broad clinical spectrum of gluten-induced disease entities, the correct use of serologic biomarker tests and a rapid point of care test in the primary health care, leading to a 20-fold increase of diagnosed coeliac disease in adults in Finland.

Professor Mäki was elected as the President of the nationwide Finnish Coeliac Society, and he is still the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. He is a permanent member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and the President of Finland granted him the honour of Knight, First Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland in 2006.  Professor Mäki has published over 200 scientific articles on coeliac disease in international journals, many of which have made significant contribution to the understanding of coeliac disease.