Showcasing urogynaecology to the world

Thanks to a RANZCOG Women’s Health Foundation scholarship, FRANZCOG Dr Jerome Melon has been able to take his work onto the world stage.

A third year urogynaecology fellow currently undertaking his final year of subspecialty training at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, Dr Melon was awarded the Brown Craig Travelling Fellowship.

This scholarship helped Dr Melon travel to the US in September last year and present his research at the American Urogynecologic Society/International Urogynaecological Association Joint Scientific Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, the largest meeting in urogynaecology, held only every three years.

Dr Jerome Melon

The Brown Craig Travelling Fellowship

The Brown Craig Travelling Fellowship, established 1964, helps applicants present a scientific paper at a RANZCOG Annual Scientific Meeting or another relevant interstate or international scientific meeting, or to visit any country outside Australia or New Zealand for the purpose of making a particular study of any scientific, research or clinical subject relating to the practice of obstetrics or gynaecology.

Learn more about the RANZCOG Women’s Health Foundation at https://ranzcog.edu.au/womens-health/foundation.

A positive step

At the meeting, Dr Melon presented two of his research projects, including: a cohort study looking at the medium-term clinical efficacy and safety of two types of single incision mid-urethral slings compared with transobturator controls; the other study investigating the association between a reduction in levator hiatal parameters on transperineal ultrasound and symptoms and bother of obstructed defecation and anismus.

The abstracts for both podium presentations have since been published in the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Journal.

‘Showcasing my research on the international stage was a positive step forward for me and has permitted me the opportunities to network with clinicians working on similar projects internationally,’ Dr Melon says.

‘Out of this experience I have since been collaborating with a physiotherapist who is currently researching the posterior vaginal compartment and obstructed defaecation. Both of us are now involved and collaborating with each other’s research.

‘Likewise, through the experience of presenting at this international meeting, I met two other urogynaecology fellows – in the USA and Netherlands – and we are collaborating together and writing a review article on sacrohysteropexy.

‘All in all the experience of attending this meeting, presenting my research on the international stage, and the opportunities to meet like-minded clinicians in the field with which to ongoingly collaborate has been extremely enjoyable, rewarding, and invaluable for my future career.’