Northern Health’s Dr Zena Barakat has been honoured with the prestigious Shaun Summers Clinical Trainee Award at the 2024 Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN) Annual Scientific Meeting in Adelaide.
The award celebrates outstanding research contributions by ANZSN members working as clinical or advanced nephrology trainees. The ANZSN Annual Scientific Meeting is the pinnacle event for kidney health in Australia and New Zealand, bringing together leading minds in nephrology.
Under the mentorship of Dr Tim Pianta from Northern Health’s Department of Renal Medicine and the University of Melbourne’s Department of Medical Education, Dr Barakat’s research was deemed the most outstanding by a Nephrology Advanced Trainee across Australia and New Zealand.
Her presentation was titled Readmission and Mortality After an Admission with Acute Kidney Injury: A Victorianwide Data-linkage Analysis.
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) strikes when the kidneys abruptly lose function, leading to a dangerous build-up of waste products and an inability to balance electrolytes, acids, and water.
This condition can arise from various causes, most commonly a disruption in blood supply or severe inflammation. AKI is on the rise globally and often flies under the radar, yet it’s strongly linked to increased short and long-term health complications and mortality.
Historically, Australian understanding of AKI was limited to data from a handful of hospitals, including earlier work by Dr Barakat and Dr Pianta at Northern Health.
Although those studies could not track individual patient outcomes comprehensively, Dr Barakat’s recent research does.
Among her findings, Dr Barakat discovered that while AKI is often under-recognised, 11 per cent of patients admitted to Victorian hospitals are diagnosed with AKI, and over two-fifths of these patients experienced a recurrence of AKI within 12 months. Seventy per cent of AKI patients were readmitted to the hospital within a year, with over a quarter of patients passing away within 12 months.
Now, Dr Barakat is channelling her expertise into her Masters of Philosophy (Research) at the University of Melbourne.
Northern Health Chief Medical Officer and Chair of the Research Executive Committee,Professor Prahlad Ho offered his congratulations.
“My congratulations to both Dr Zena Barakat and Dr Tim Pianta. This is a significant achievement that underscores their dedication to advancing medical research and improving patient outcomes,” he said.
