A stunning summer sunset provided a backdrop to the College of Medicine and Public Health end-of-year awards night on Tuesday.
80 attendees joined the festivities at Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club in SA, to celebrate our people, their contributions, successes, and achievements during 2022.
It was a great opportunity to get together and acknowledge the commitment and dedication of MPH staff and recognise some standout performers within the College.
Award winners
Please join us in congratulating this year’s award winners:
VPED Lifetime Achievement
Peter Mackenzie: Professor Peter Mackenzie is an internationally acclaimed biochemist and pharmacologist and widely recognised as one of the pioneers of molecular biological approaches to the identification and study of drug-metabolising enzymes. He obtained Senior, Principal and Senior Principal NHMRC Fellowships, maintaining the highest level of NHMRC fellowship from 2000 to retirement. He has published over 200 high quality papers and has been cited over 20,000 times. He received continuous NHMRC funding throughout his Finders career and was a Chief Investigator on the first NHMRC Program grant awarded to Flinders in 2000. His total funding, exclusively from competitive grants, exceeds $37 million. He has received numerous honours and accolades throughout his distinguished research career. Importantly he nurtured and mentored numerous PhD students and EMCAs in their research careers.
VPED Service Award
Annabelle Wilson: As RAP Co-Chair (2022), Annabel facilitated identification of 3 areas of focus and created working groups. She created a mechanism for RAP members to document how they integrate the RAP into work and led communications to the University EO Officer about how racism is described on the website. She is President, and first Australian President, of the World Critical Dietetics Board. Annabelle contributed to the EPSW Bridging the Gap program and is co-founder of CILT Indigenous Knowledges Community of Practice.
Anthea Brand: Anthea is deserving of this award on account of agreeing to continue to provide oversight to the Remote Primary Health Care Manuals project and team despite taking a teaching position (with a full workload) at the beginning of the year and being promoted to Director of the UDRH mid-year. She is very deserving of recognition for her outstanding and selfless work, she has gone well above and beyond what could reasonably be expected of her. Her leadership has been inspirational and I have learnt so much from working with her. Anthea promotes our weekly morning tea at the Alice Springs campus and encourages us to celebrate birthdays together.
VPED Award for Outstanding Student Supervision
David Lynn: David has had an outstanding year with success in NHMRC Ideas grant and several significant and very high impact publications including Nature Reviews Immunology. He also supports the training and development of his staff and students as evidenced by two of his postdocs successfully attracting NHMRC funding in the last two years (1 Ideas, 1 Investigator), and PhD students attending the EMBL training course.
Early Career Researcher Award
Courtney Ryder: Despite only conferring her PhD in 2021, and being a balanced Teaching and Research academic, Courtney has achieved extraordinary research success in 2022. She has attracted significant funding, published 13 articles and Established Flinders Community of Practice on Indigenous Knowledges in Education and was recognised for her achievements with the 2022 VC ECR Award.
Mid-Career Researcher Award
Yee Lian Chew: Yee Lian is an emerging leader in molecular neuroscience, has published prolifically and has attracted significant Cat1 funding in the past year. She is a passionate and dedicated science communicator, and her enthusiasm is infectious and her public engagement inspires her colleagues to do the same. A SA Young Tall Poppy (2021), she co-organised Soapbox Science Adelaide (2022), an outreach event featuring women/gender-diverse experts in STEM. She is the Theme HDR Mentor for Molecular Biosciences (CMPH) and a GIDE Committee member. She is universally liked and respected member of FHMRI. The CMPH is a better place since Yee Lian joined our ranks in 2021.
Jacque Stephens: In 2022, Jacqueline was awarded over $4.38m in research funding. The funding supports her research in equitable health care access for people living in rural and remote locations, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She was invited by the International Science Council to review the United Nations’ 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), which is one of only two United Nations mandated reports. Jacque is highly active in research outreach and capacity building.
Senior Researcher Award
David Lynn: “I have been greatly impressed by the passion he has for helping his students succeed. David was there every step of the way, setting up weekly meetings to discuss my project, and I have met lots of people through David who have been very important in my career development. He has encouraged me to take part in many networking activities. We often enjoy an after-work drink on a Friday as a group, Christmas parties and lab retreats to the Flinders ranges and Iness National Park. This brings a sense of community to our lab, and many of us not only consider each other colleagues but also friends. I have never seen or heard of such a diligent, involved, and support supervisor.”
Teaching Innovation & Scholarship Award
James Pearce: James Pearce has been instrumental in the development and implementation of a new topic in the Bachelor of Paramedic Science Degree
Koshila Kumar: Through her roles, both as co-chair of the CMPH Learning and Teaching Academy and as Teaching Program Director for the Clinical Teaching Program, Koshila has continually influenced and enhanced learning and teaching in the college. Koshila has demonstrated exemplary leadership by activities which have had broad influence both within the college and on the profession in general, including the implementation of initiatives which offer all educators in the college a chance to learn and expand their educational practice.
Outstanding Student-centred Teaching and Learning Award
Karin Nordstrom: “The effort, care, and passion that Karin has put into redevelopment and delivery of this topic (Advanced Neuroscience) is exemplary.”
Professional Services Award
Kushari Burns: “Ms Kushari Burns’s continuous demonstration of excellence, commitment, professionalism, integrity & dedication to the College of Medicine and Public Health (CMPH)is exemplary. She always tries hard & makes an outstanding positive impact.”
Julie Herraman: Julie is the College’s IDS Education Planning and Analytics Business Partner and has continually demonstrated her commitment to the College. it is a privilege to work with Julie, she has been instrumental in helping me (and many others) to maximise our work and the resultant student experience, through her exemplary and continued service to the College. She has empowered us to ask better questions, to access better data and to enhance our educational mission.
Professional Research Staff Award
Lee Travis: Lee rapidly adopts and refines advanced techniques for gastrointestinal research. Lee has mentored numerous students and co-workers in research related tasks. Universally liked by co-workers and peers, he is a force contributing to a positive and productive work environment.
CMPH Reconciliation Award
Courtney Ryder & Jacque Stephens: Stephens (non-Aboriginal) and Ryder (Aboriginal) have an excellent way of working together, ensuring community needs are central. Their approach embeds respectful recognition, knowledge and awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories, and contributions into their work.
Kelly-Anne Browne: Across four years of the NT Medical Program, Kelly-Anne goes above and beyond to be a helping hand, mentor, listening ear, advocate for academic resources and financial assistance, organises social and cultural gatherings, liaises with academic staff regarding additional tutorial assistance, promotes social functions and attendance at AIDA and IAHA conferences, and provides professional and learning opportunities for Indigenous students across the board to build their skillset. She has ensured Indigenous student voices were heard and represented. She’s akin to the silent back stage director, running around supporting everyone but its never her that gets the accolades.
Social Accountability Award
Sleep Health Social Vision Committee (Susanne Taylor, Mandy O’Grady, Alison Teare, Alison Leviton,Alexander Sweetman, Gorica Micic, Amy Reynolds, Nicole Lovato, Ganesh Naik, Andrew Vakulin, Danny Eckert): The Sleep Health Social Vision Committee is a shared social vision that was co-developed with consultation from the team which is committed to creating and maintaining a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment built upon respect, dignity, fairness, caring and equity for all peoples, cultures and histories.
Gender, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (GIDE) Award
Mihir Wechalekar: Whilst “navigating my parental journey, Mihir has been unwaveringly supportive and flexible at every step. I am incredibly fortunate to have had a positive experience navigating my parental journey whilst being supervised by Mihir.”
Mary-Louise Rogers: Mary-Louise has been instrumental in supporting female academics to seek leadership and promotions with a peer-support scheme that enables mentoring and guidance to submit promotions applications that support females to gain higher level recognition at all levels and in particular D & E.
Thank you to Collette, Kiara, Vanessa, and Jess for organising what was a fantastic venue.
As we bid farewell to a fantastic year, the team is looking forward to another productive and educational year in 2023.