Verity Vol. 21 December 2012 Pg 8
Our million dollar lifesaver By Mr Matt Hustwaite
Class of 1991 graduate Dr Michelle McIntosh is leading ground-breaking research to save female lives in third world countries, and now everyone from Hilary Clinton to Bill Gates is paying attention. www.loreto.vic.edu.au
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When I was in second year at Uni I realised that I was more interested in a career in the pharmaceutical industry rather than working as a more traditional pharmacist in a community or hospital setting. “I remember her!” recalls Loreto College science teacher Graham Thurgood. “What a lovely, hardworking student. She really knew what she wanted and chased it. I would love a class full of students like her!” That hard worker was Dr Michelle McIntosh, the Warnambool born, Ballarat bred girl who recently received a $1 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for ground-breaking research that will save female lives in third world countries. But she didn’t always envisage this career path. As a Year 9 at Loreto College Ballarat, Michelle had every intent on becoming a paramedic, a direction that she had been heading in since becoming a member of the Ballarat division of St John Ambulance from age 11. This interest evolved into career interests in health care. “When I was growing up I was planning on a career in health care. This led me to enrol in a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree at Monash University” said Michelle. “When I was in second year at Uni I realised that I was more interested in a career in the pharmaceutical industry rather than working as a more traditional pharmacist in a community or hospital setting.” Michelle’s family moved to Ballarat from Warnambool when Michelle was in grade 3. After completing primary school at St Thomas More in the Ballarat suburb of Alfredton, Michelle became part of the Loreto family.
www.loreto.vic.edu.au
I loved my time at Loreto College and am extremely grateful for the education and opportunities I received from the school.
Verity Vol. 21 December 2012 Pg 12
Her academic aptitude was well catered for, studying chemistry, biology, physics and double maths during Year 12. “I loved my time at Loreto College and am extremely grateful for the education and opportunities I received from the school. I was fortunate to be able to serve as the school vice-captain with Jodie Thompson in 1991” says Michelle. Testament to her success during her years at Loreto College, Michelle was the recipient of the Constance May Christie Award in her graduating year. A prestigious award within our community, Michelle’s win is even more special to her, as it was the only award presented by the College at the time. Following her undergraduate BPharm (Hons) degree and PhD at Monash University, and a 7 year stint at the University of Kansas in the United States, Michelle re-joined Monash University as a Senior Lecturer in 2006, along with another new researcher, Dr David Morton. “David and I both joined Monash and his background was in engineering dry powders for inhaled delivery” recalls Michelle. “David and I had been working on a couple of projects with Dr Richard Prankerd who specialised in understanding the physicochemical properties of drug molecules. The three of us were talking one day about what we could give to a student from Botswana who wanted to come to Monash to study his Masters degree. Richard thought oxytocin would be a good candidate for inhaled delivery and that was the beginning of the project.” The project Michelle refers to is Inhaled Oxytocin PPH. Born from the above mentioned Masters with the aim of making a dry powder aerosol
It was an honour to meet with the Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton. It lead to a considerable amount of publicity for the project and created a number of opportunities for collaborations with other researchers in the area and that was invaluable.
containing oxytocin, Michelle and her team responded to an open call from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in 2010 aimed at improving maternal and neonatal healthcare in developing countries. Oxytocin is widely used to rapidly induce a contraction of the uterine muscle after birth, preventing potentially fatal excessive bleeding. By developing oxytocin for aerosol delivery it would remove the need for refrigerated storage and allow women to inhale the drug immediately after childbirth, removing barriers in developing countries. The first grant they received from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was a 2 page application for Phase I funding of $100,000 in 2010. This was followed by Phase 2 funding of $1 million in November. Inhaled Oxytocin PPH received more financial support in 2011 from the Saving Lives at Birth Challenge (SL@B). Through this challenge, Michelle also met and received endorsement from the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. “It was an honour to meet with the Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton. It lead to a considerable amount of publicity for the project and created a number of opportunities for collaborations with other researchers in the area and that was invaluable.” Despite her successes and incredible achievements so far, Michelle is always looking to the future. “I hope that we are able to progress the development of inhaled oxytocin and have a product on the market that empowers women in developing countries to make decisions around their own healthcare. I hope that I can direct more of my research efforts into projects aimed at improving global access to medicines.” www.loreto.vic.edu.au