Health Sciences

School of Public Health

Mr Stephen Polgar

Contact Details

Email: S.Polgar@latrobe.edu.au
Phone: (03) 9479 1748
International: +61 3 9479 1748
Fax: (03) 9479 1783
International: +61 3 9479 1783
Office: HS1-315

Qualifications

BSc Syd., MSc Melb

Interests

Steve graduated from the University of Sydney with a BSc (Hons) and obtained post-graduate qualifications with a M.Sc from Melbourne University. He is interested in multi-disciplinary teaching and research including ongoing work in the areas of: the cost and health consequences of smoking and nicotine addiction in people with mental illness; the mechanisms and outcomes of reconstructive neurosurgery as a novel technology; the importance of rehabilitation for recovery following neural grafting and; the subjective interpretation and social implications of producing composite brains.

Current academic research interests:

• Social determinants of population health - Steve Polgar is interested in the economic and health related consequences of nicotine replacement therapy in people with mental illness.
• Methods in public health research - Steve Polgar is interested in research methods for evidence based health practice. Rosalie Aroni and Steve Polgar are working on ways for combining qualitative and quantitative methods for teaching and research.
• Rehabilitation - Recent advances in the therapeutic use of fetal cells and stem cells are being applied to treating people with a variety of neurological disorders. Steve Polgar is currently working with Prof. M. Morris (LaTrobe University) and US researchers, Prof. P. Sanberg (University of South Florida) and Prof. C. Borlongan (National Institute of Health) in identifying how environmental stimulation/rehabilitation might be used to enhance the recovery of patients with neural transplantation

Publications

Polgar, S. (2006). Evidence-based methodology for advancing neural reconstruction. In P. R. Sanberg & C. D. Davis (Eds.), Contemporary neuroscience: Cell therapy for brain repair (pp. 325-339). Totowa, NJ: Humana Press: Scientific and Medical Publishers.

Polgar, S., & Morris, M. E. (2006). Reconstructive neurosurgery: Progress towards a best practice treatment for people with Parkinson's Disease. In M. J. Willow (Ed.), Parkinson's Disease: New research (pp. 41-68). New York: Nova Biomedical Books.

Polgar, S. (2006). Book Review: Statistics for health care professionals: An introduction. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 30(1), 93.

Polgar, Stephen, and Joanna Ng. 2005. Ethics, Methodology and the use of Placebo Controls in Surgical Trials. Brain Research Bulletin 67 (7):290-299.

Polgar, S., Morris, M. E., Reilly, S., Bilney, B., & Sanberg, P. R. (2003). Reconstructive neurosurgery for Parkinson's disease: A systematic review and preliminary meta-analysis. Brain Research Bulletin, 60, 1-24.

Schwartz, M., & Polgar, S. (2003). Statistics for evidence-based health care. Melbourne: Tertiary Press.

Polgar S. and Thomas S. (2000). Introduction to Research in the Health Sciences. Churchill Livingstone: Melbourne, Australia.

Polgar, S.; Borlongan, C.; Saporta, S.; Cahill, D. and Saanberg, P. (1999). Composite Brains: A hypothetical model for recovery following neural transplantations. Conference proceedings at Clearwater, Florida 1999: American Society for Neural Transplantation and Repair. 5/6: p26.

Polgar, S.; Borlongan, C.; Koutouzis, K.; Todd, S.; Cahill, D. and Sanberg, R. (1997). Implications of Neurological Rehabilitation for Advancing Intracerebral Transplantation. Brain Research Bulletin. 44(3): 229-232.

Research

Stem cells and neural reconstruction