Dominic Truong awarded 2nd place in VYT Competition

Congratulations to PhD Candidate Dominic Truong from the Department of Physiotherapy who was awarded 2nd place in the Visualise your Thesis (VYT) Competition for his research on ‘Understanding muscle dysfunction in survivors of critical illness’.

Dom is currently in his fourth year of a PhD within the Department of Physiotherapy under the supervision of A/Prof Selina Parry, Prof Catherine Granger, A/Prof Sunita Mathur and Dr Shaza Abo. His research focuses on understanding muscle dysfunction in survivors of critical illness, looking specifically at physical function and muscle ultrasound.

Reflecting on his experience in the competition, Dom discussed the various opportunities for learning he gained, including video editing, effective communication to a lay audience, and thinking of ways to make his story engaging. “It was rewarding to see the impact of science communication and how it can effectively convey your research to the wider community,” he said.

Continuing his research, Dom is now analysing data from a survey with 642 responses from 10 health professions across 45 countries and 7 regions, looking at how muscle ultrasound is being used internationally in the acute adult hospital setting as well as the barriers and facilitators associated. These findings will hopefully provide insight into how future healthcare workers can facilitate and support the clinical use of muscle ultrasound to improve patient outcomes.

As a final word, Dom wanted to encourage all RHD candidates to consider participating in VYT next year and take advantage of the opportunities and resources the university has to offer to develop skills as a RHD candidate.

Dom's VYT video entry can be watched here.