Poonam Mudgil

Learning & Teaching

Dr Poonam Mudgil

BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA, FARVO

Year 1 Convenor / Senior Lecturer in Medicine
Orange
Building 1008, Room 244

Dr Poonam Mudgil has a PhD in Molecular Microbiology. She held research fellowships at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology and the University of New South Wales, before joining the Western Sydney University where she was an Australian Research Council (ARC)-Linkage scheme Research Fellow collaborating with industry internationally, followed by a postdoctoral Research Officer position. Currently she is a Sr Lecturer at CSU teaching medicine students and supervising higher degree research students. Her research aims to address major public health issues in eye and infectious diseases using research approaches in microbiology, biophysics, biochemistry, and molecular biology.

She is a 2021 Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) with Advance Higher Education, UK for her professional recognition of university teaching and higher degree research supervision.

She is a 2022 Gold Fellow of Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (FARVO), USA for her contributions, leadership and services in research.

ORCiD

Google Scholar

Professional Memberships

  • Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), USA
  • Australian Society for Microbiology (ASM), Australia
  • Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS), USA
  • STEM Professionals in Schools, CSIRO, Australia
  • Mentor, Women’s Leadership Development Program, ARVO, USA
  • Mentor, Global Mentorship Program, ARVO, USA
  • Mentor, Developing Country Eye Researcher Travel Fellow Program, ARVO Foundation for Eye Research, USA
  • Women in Eye and Vision Research (WEAVR), ARVO, USA
  • Diversity Initiative Committee, ARVO, USA
  • Global Members Committee, ARVO, USA
  • Commercial Relationships Committee, ARVO, USA
  • Ethics and Regulations in Human Research Committee, ARVO, USA
  • Member Communications Working Group, ARVO Strategic Plan (Science Pillar), USA
  • Media coverage:
    • International Collaboration (Spotlight on research: International collaborations support our understanding of the eye),
    • News (Meibomian lipids possess antimicrobial properties, study finds),
    • The News Feed (Fatty Acids Can Enhance Eye Drops)

Dr Poonam Mudgil is an experienced tertiary educator in the biomedical sciences and medicine curriculum and is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK. She had Lecturer positions at the University of Delhi and Western Sydney University.

She is currently teaching medicine students in pre-clinical years in the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program and is the Year 1 Coordinator.

Dr Poonam Mudgil’s research areas are ophthalmology, microbiology and infectious diseases. Her research in ophthalmology has revealed new structural features of the tear film on the ocular surface, discovered antimicrobial role of tear lipids, and found causative mechanisms and treatments for the dry eye disease which affects millions of people worldwide. Her research in microbiology and infectious diseases has investigated antibiotic resistance in bacteria and explored lipids and other biomolecules as alternatives to antibiotics for addressing the problem of antimicrobial resistance which is a crucial global public health issue.

She has over 65 peer-reviewed publications (>80% as first/senior author) and her research has been funded through government, industry and university grants. She has developed active research collaborations with national and international organisations including University of Louisville USA, University of Colorado USA, University of Texas USA, University of New South Wales, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, and South-West Sydney Local Health District. She has peer-reviewed for 18 international journals, served on 5 committees of Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, USA, and mentored 22 early career researchers from 12 countries. She has a track record of supervising Undergraduate, Honours, Master’s, PhD, and MD research projects in ophthalmology, microbiology and infectious diseases.

Dr Mudgil is available to be a principal supervisor for PhD, Master’s and MD research projects.

Current projects:

  • Ocular surface diseases - dry-eye and microbial infections
  • Tear film in health and disease using biophysical, microbiological and biochemical approaches
  • Infectious diseases
  • Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria, alternatives to antibiotics, and novel antimicrobials