Patricia Verne Kailis

Last updated

Patricia Verne Kailis, AM, OBE, FTSE (born 19 August 1933) is an Australian business woman, geneticist and neurologist noted for her work in genetic counseling for neurological and neuromuscular disorders. [1]

Contents

Life and career

Patricia Kailis was born Patricia Verne Hurse in Castlemaine, Victoria. [2] She attended Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne and then studied medicine at Melbourne University. [3] In 1958, she moved to Perth to work at Royal Perth, Princess Margaret and King Edward Memorial hospitals. [4]

In 1960, she married Michael Kailis and the couple moved to Dongara, Western Australia, in 1961 to establish a crayfish factory. Here, Kailis became the local general practitioner. [4] The couple also established themselves in ship building, the prawning industry in Exmouth, and the pearling industry in Broome. [4]

In 1969 Kailis, her husband, and their four children (Maria, George, Amanda and Alex) moved back to Perth. Between 1970 and 1995 Kailis held honorary positions in neurology and genetics at Royal Perth Hospital. [2] During this time, Kailis introduced a program for predictive testing of Huntington's disease and was involved in research into motor neuron disease and muscular dystrophy. [3] [4] In 1978, Kailis successfully contained the spread of disease in the family's pearl farms by insisting on hygienic practices in the processing of the oysters. [3] In 1999, on the death of her husband Michael, Kailis became the Governing Director of MG Kailis Group of Companies. [2]

Awards and honours

In 1979, Kailis was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions in the fields of carrier detection and the detection of inherited diseases. [5] In 1996 she was named a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to medicine as a genetic counselor for neurological and neuromuscular disorders to the Human Genetics Societies of WA, the Royal Perth Hospital and to Rocky Bay Inc for over 20 years. [1] That same year, Kailis became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. [2]

In 2001, the Australian Government awarded Kailis the Centenary Medal for service to medicine and the community. [6]

In 2010, Rocky Bay Inc opened the Patricia Kailis Centre in Cockburn Central. The Centre is dedicated to Kailis for her support of Rocky Bay over four decades. It provides therapy and support for families living with disabilities.

Related Research Articles

Angela Vincent is emeritus professor at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford.

Neurology Medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system

Neurology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Neurology deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the central and peripheral nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue, such as muscle. Neurological practice relies heavily on the field of neuroscience, the scientific study of the nervous system.

Fiona Stanley Australian epidemiologist

Fiona Juliet Stanley is an Australian epidemiologist noted for her public health work, her research into child and maternal health as well as birth disorders such as cerebral palsy. Stanley is the patron of the Telethon Kids Institute and a distinguished professorial fellow in the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia. From 1990 to December 2011 she was the founding director of Telethon Kids.

Emeritus Professor Nancy Fannie Millis AC MBE FAA FTSE was an Australian microbiologist who introduced fermentation technologies to Australia, and created the first applied microbiology course taught in an Australian university.

Neuromuscular disease neuropathy that affect the nerves that control the voluntary muscles

Neuromuscular disease is a broad term that encompasses many diseases and ailments that impair the functioning of the muscles, either directly, being pathologies of the voluntary muscle, or indirectly, being pathologies of nerves or neuromuscular junctions.

Neuromuscular medicine is subspecialty of neurology and physiatry that focuses the diagnosis and treatment of neuromuscular diseases. The field encompasses issues related to both diagnosis and medical treatment of these conditions, as well as relevant rehabilitation interventions to optimize the quality of life of individuals with these conditions. This field encompasses disorders that impact both adults and children. Neuromuscular disease can be caused by autoimmune disorders, genetic/hereditary disorders such as channelopathies, or neurodegenerative diseases. Because they frequently have no cure, the focus is managing the condition to provide improvements in the patients quality. Rehabilitation robotics is a new frontier for neurological rehabilitation treatments.

Congenital myopathy is a very broad term for any muscle disorder present at birth. This defect primarily affects skeletal muscle fibres and causes muscular weakness and/or hypotonia. Congenital myopathies account for one of the top neuromuscular disorders in the world today, comprising approximately 6 in 100,000 live births every year. As a whole, congenital myopathies can be broadly classified as follows:

Orla Hardiman is an Irish consultant neurologist. She was appointed Professor of Neurology by Trinity College University of Dublin in 2014, where she heads the Academic Unit of Neurology, housed in Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute. She is a HRB Clinician Scientist and Consultant Neurologist at the National Neuroscience Center of Ireland at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. She leads a team of 30 researchers focussing on clinical and translational aspects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and related neurodegenerations. Hardiman has become a prominent advocate for neurological patients in Ireland, and for patients within the Irish health system generally. She is co-Founder of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, and Doctors Alliance for Better Public Healthcare. In the past, she established the bi-annual Diaspora Meeting, a forum for Irish neurologists based overseas to present and discuss their research findings with neurologists working in Ireland.

Edward Byrne is a neuroscientist currently serving as Principal of King's College London, having replaced Sir Rick Trainor in August 2014.

Huda Zoghbi Lebanese scientist

Huda Yahya Zoghbi, born Huda El-Hibri, is a Lebanese-born American geneticist, and a professor at the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine. Her work helped elucidate mechanisms of Rett syndrome and spinocerebellar ataxia type 1. In 2017, she was awarded the Canada Gairdner International Award and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

Burke Rehabilitation Hospital Hospital in New York, USA

Burke Rehabilitation Hospital is a non-profit, 150-bed acute rehabilitation hospital located in White Plains, New York. It is the only hospital in Westchester County entirely dedicated to rehabilitation medicine. Opened in 1915, Burke has been involved in medical rehabilitation for over one hundred years. As of January 2016, Burke is a member of the Montefiore Health System, Inc.

Victor Dubowitz, FRCP, Hon FRCPCH is a British neurologist and professor emeritus at Imperial College London. He is principally known along with his wife Lilly Dubowitz for developing two clinical tests, the Dubowitz Score to estimate gestational age and the other for the systematic neurological examination of the newborn.

Ingrid Scheffer Australian paediatric neurologist

Ingrid Eileen Scheffer is an Australian paediatric neurologist and senior research fellow at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. She has made several major advances in the field of epilepsy research. Scheffer is credited with finding the first gene implicated in epilepsy. She has also described and classified novel epileptic syndromes such as Epilepsy limited to Females with Mental Retardation.

Electrodiagnosis (EDX) is a method of medical diagnosis that obtains information about diseases by passively recording the electrical activity of body parts or by measuring their response to external electrical stimuli. The most widely used methods of recording spontaneous electrical activity are various forms of electrodiagnostic testing (electrography) such as electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG), and electromyography (EMG). Electrodiagnostic medicine is a medical subspecialty of neurology, clinical neurophysiology, cardiology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation. Electrodiagnostic physicians apply electrophysiologic techniques, including needle electromyography and nerve conduction studies to diagnose, evaluate, and treat people with impairments of the neurologic, neuromuscular, and/or muscular systems. The provision of a quality electrodiagnostic medical evaluation requires extensive scientific knowledge that includes anatomy and physiology of the peripheral nerves and muscles, the physics and biology of the electrical signals generated by muscle and nerve, the instrumentation used to process these signals, and techniques for clinical evaluation of diseases of the peripheral nerves and sensory pathways.

Mary Pauline Galea is an Australian physiotherapist and neuroscientist at University of Melbourne. She resides in Melbourne, Australia. Galea is a professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne's Department of Medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and a Senior Principal Fellow in the Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Health. She was foundation professor of clinical physiotherapy and director of the Rehabilitation Sciences Research Centre at the University of Melbourne and Austin Health. She is internationally recognised for her work in spinal cord injury and rehabilitative interventions.

Richard Cotton (geneticist) Australian geneticist

Richard Cotton AM was an Australian medical researcher and founder of the Murdoch Institute and the Human Variome Project. Cotton focused on the prevention and treatment of genetic disorders and birth defects.

Kathryn Nance North is an internationally renowned paediatric physician, neurologist, and clinical geneticist. In 2013, she was appointed Director of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and was named the David Danks Professor of Child Health Research at the University of Melbourne. In 2012, North was appointed Chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council Research Committee. In 2014, she was appointed Vice Chair of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) and Co-Chair of its Clinical Working Group.

Colin Louis MastersMD is an Australian neuropathologist who researches Alzheimer's Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. He is laureate professor of pathology at the University of Melbourne.

Mary M. Reilly FRCP is an Irish neurologist who works at National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. She studies peripheral neuropathy. She is the President of the Association of British Neurologists.

Professor Robyn Guymer was awarded an Elizabeth Blackburn Fellow from the NHMRC, and works in Ophthalmology at Melbourne University. Guymer is a senior retinal specialist within the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, and is the Deputy Director, Centre for Eye Research Australia. She works in age-related macular degeneration as a clinician, academic and researcher, and has used nano-lasers to treat Age-related Macular Degeneration.

References

  1. 1 2 "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours". Itsanhonour.gov.au. 1996-06-11. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Kailis, Patricia Verne - Biographical entry - Encyclopedia of Australian Science". Eoas.info. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  3. 1 2 3 "Patricia Kailis - rural doctor, genetic researcher and pearl queen". Theaustralian.com.au. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hosking, Julie, 'Pearls & wisdom', West Weekend, November 16–17, 2013.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours". Itsanhonour.gov.au. 2001-01-01. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.