Dr Jesse Zanker helped develop clinical guidelines for the management of sarcopenia – muscle loss in old age – during his PhD. Since graduating, his clinical work continues to generate interesting research questions, while his research skills feed into clinical decision-making.
“I think a PhD gives you more tools to address problems. And there are a lot of problems in the world,” says University of Melbourne PhD graduate Dr Jesse Zanker.
Dr Zanker is a practising geriatrician and has a PhD from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. His PhD aimed to improve how we manage muscle loss in old age.
“If you ask older people – or even people of any age – what they fear most about the future, many people will say it’s losing independence,” he says.
“My ultimate goal in both clinical practice and in research is to give people the best support to have the best life possible for as long as possible.”
Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass and function when we get older. It can limit daily activities, which can accelerate the muscle loss and lead to a cycle of progressive decline.
People with sarcopenia might experience weakness, fatigue and an increased risk of falls and fractures. But they may also experience depression and loneliness as a result of their reduced independence.
“Sarcopenia is a relatively new field, and so there are still many unknowns and a lack of consensus around how we define it. And how do we approach treatment, if we don’t know how to define it?”