Biography
Jessica Vitkovic started her academic career as a research assistant at the Dept of Paediatrics at Monash University. Her work there involved undertaking daytime infant sleep studies to investigate the causes of sudden infant death syndrome. Jessica then completed her Master of Clinical Audiology degree and commenced her appointment with the Vestibular Investigation Unit at Dept of Otolaryngology in 2001. Her initial appointment was as a clinician specialising in vestibular (inner ear balance function) assessment. She is currently a senior clinician and consultant in the area. She has been responsible for the introduction of a new test of balance function (cVEMP test) and for the initial set-up of the vestibular physiotherapy services to the facility. These new services are now an integral part of the clinical protocol and diagnostic service in helping people with inner ear related dizziness/imbalance. Her clinical work has born an interest in migraine related dizziness. This is where her current PhD research interests lie. Her project area aims to better understand the migrainous vertigo pathology which can cause patients to experience dizziness/vertigo and nausea lasting from minutes to days. The neural pathways affected by migraine are being investigated. It is hoped this information will help us to understand why patients with migrainous vertigo may not perform as well as expected with physiotherapy treatment. Other factors such as the high incidence of motion sickness and anxiety in this population is also being studied.
Jessica’s role has expanded into teaching in the Master of clinical Audiology course and recently won the Dept’s teaching award. She is currently responsible for co-ordinating the practical clinical teaching of the course, lecturing and the supervision of Masters of Audiology research projects. She is the executive officer of the Dept teaching committee and responsible for a number of projects related to the development of the Audiology programs and teaching staff.
Research Expertise and International Linkages
Research Expertise
| Research Interest |
Key Words |
Country of Expertise |
| Migraine related dizziness/vestibular function |
physiotherapy |
Australia |
International Linkages
Qualifications, Honours, Fellowships and Other
Awards
Qualifications
| Title |
Institution |
Date Awarded |
Abbreviation |
| Science |
Monash University |
26-Nov-1998 |
|
| Clinical Audiology |
University of Melbourne |
27-Nov-2001 |
|
Memberships
| Membership Type |
Membership Body |
Description |
Start Date |
End Date |
| Member |
Audiological Society of Australia |
Full Member/CCP |
01-Jan-2002 |
|
Other Awards
| Award Type |
Awarding Body |
Comments |
Date Awarded |
| Other (Award) |
The University of Melbourne Dept of Otolaryngology |
Teaching Award |
14-Nov-2007 |
Government Research Classifications
Research Fields, Courses and Discipline Classifications
Socio-Economic Objective Classifications
Publications
Publications produced at the University of Melbourne and reported in the Annual Publications Collection and 'Research Report' since 2001. The Themis Publications module, released in November 2006, allows additional publications from previous institutions and publications from past years to be entered.
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