Sarah Luu

Graduate/Postgraduate Scholarship Recipient 2019

Supported by the MacRob Graduate Scholarship for 2019, I was granted the opportunity to attend multiple research meetings this year: the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases Annual Scientific Meeting (ASID 2019) in Darwin, the 2019 congress for the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH 2019) in Melbourne and Blood 2019 Meeting in Perth.

My PhD research focuses on evaluating strategies to improve outcomes for splenectomised individuals, including focusing on the role of platelets in the increased tendency of clotting after splenectomy.

Attendance at these conferences have not only provided me opportunities to present my work but have also given me opportunities to build new and maintain ongoing relationships with investigators in the field and foster collaborations to perform quality research. The meetings I attended were a congregation of expert scientists and clinicians from Australia and around the world, facilitating an environment for collaboration and learning. In doing so, these conferences have inspired me to critically evaluate my research questions from different perspectives and thus improve the quality of existing research.

I anticipate that the impact of attendance at these national and international conferences will not only affect current research but will also contribute to enabling collaborations in the near future.

I would like to thank the MacRob Foundation again for providing invaluable support towards my attendance at these conferences.