Top marks for Dr Hugh Gao

Dr Hugh Gao

Dr Hugh Gao has been awarded the 2017 Shaun Summers Award for Medical Student Research in recognition of his top academic mark in his cohort at the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS).

Dr Gao, who undertook his BMedSc(Hons) in the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases in 2016, investigated IFN-epsilon—a type of interferon protein that helps regulate activity of the immune system.

“My research focussed on the potential role of IFN-epsilon in serous ovarian cancer progression using gene expression data from existing serous ovarian cancer cohorts,” Dr Gao said.

“The loss of IFN-epsilon expression is associated with reduced overall survival in serious ovarian tumours, with reduced tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes.”

"Hugh deserves accolades for being brave enough to undertake a project requiring computational and statistical approaches to a research problem—a task at which he shone," said supervisor Professor Paul Hertzog.

Dr Gao said his award is a testament to the excellent training at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research under the guidance of Professor Paul Hertzog, Dr Helen Cumming, Dr Jamie Gearing and the rest of the Hertzog group.

Dr Gao will receive his award at the MUMUS Graduation Brunch and Prize Ceremony.