Seminar: Dr Kiran Thapaliya and Ms Breanna Weigel, Researchers

Dr Kiran Thapaliya

Dr Kiran Thapaliya is an early career researcher working as a post-doctoral research fellow at the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED) since 2019. He is one of Australia’s leading young scientists in the field of neuroimaging focusing on ME/CFS and Long COVID.

Dr Thapaliya collaborates with national and international research centres and has been invited to national and international conferences to share his MRI findings on ME/CFS and long COVID.

Breanna Weigel

Breanna Weigel is a third-year PhD candidate at the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases investigating the illness impacts and experiences of Australians living with ME/CFS and long COVID.

In 2020, Breanna received First Class Honours for her research project on gastrointestinal symptoms, diet, nutrition, and supplement use in ME/CFS, which was used to support policy in 2021. Breanna received a Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research Summer Research Scholarship in 2022 to develop a Health Policy Issues Brief about the role of patient experiences and engagement in health policy decisions around long COVID in Australia.

Breanna has shared research findings with local support groups for ME/CFS and long COVID, as well at national and international conferences. Breanna's research serves to further the current understanding of the burdens and challenges faced by people with ME/CFS and long COVID to help to inform changes to policy and care pathways for Australian patients.

National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases

NCNED’s priority is ME/CFS and Long COVID patients, with research primarily focused on priorities identified by the community. NCNED maintains a large clinical database and biobank for ME/CFS. This has supported publications on health economics, quality of life, and sociodemographic data. They are working toward a screening/diagnostic test, improved clinical guidelines, and effective treatments for ME/CFS, including pharmacotherapeutics and drug repurposing.

Seminar

Kiran and Breanna provided an update on the work that NCNED has been doing, as well as some of the current studies. It was a thorough, informative, and detailed talk, laying out the complex material in a way that enabled understanding.

Members can access a written summary of the talk, a transcript, the video, as well as the slides (pending), from their presentation, in Member Resources.