What a night it was! After the postponement of the Awards in 2020, and the uncertainty of 2021, Research Australia was delighted to host the 18th Annual Health and Medical Research Awards in December 2021. And to celebrate our 20th anniversary as Australia’s only peak body to represent the entire health and medical research pipeline, from the laboratory through to the patient and the marketplace. The winners and finalists in every category had demonstrated undeniably, how invaluable health and medical research is to ensuring Australia’s ongoing health and prosperity. This extends equally to those who support this research, through philanthropy and advocacy – meeting unmet need and therefore bringing hope, to those who most need it. Like research itself, Research Australia’s Health and Medical Research Awards occurs because of a collective effort and so a heartfelt thank you to all our nominators and sponsors, the Australian National University, the NSW Government, Griffith University, Bupa Health Foundation, and GSK. I look forward to Research Australia’s 2022 Health and Medical Research Awards to see the continuation of our sector’s impressive work delivering better health outcomes for all Australians.
Nadia Levin CEO & Managing Director, Research Australia 2
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Dr Brendan Murphy Dr Brendan Murphy commenced as the Secretary of the Department of Health on 13 July 2020. Prior to his appointment as Secretary, Brendan was the Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Government and prior to this, the Chief Executive Officer of Austin Health in Victoria. Dr Murphy is: • • • • •
a Professorial Associate with the title of Professor at the University of Melbourne an Adjunct Professor at Monash University and at the Australian National University a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
He was formerly CMO and director of Nephrology at St Vincent’s Health, and sat on the Boards of the Centenary Institute, Health Workforce Australia, the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. He is also a former president of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology.
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Knowledge for the nation. Our DNA. Celebrating innovative research at the frontiers of human health. Congratulations to the winners of the annual Health and Medical Research Awards.
CRICOS Provider #00120C
anu.edu.au
ANU College of Health and Medicine
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Professor Jamie Cooper & Professor Rinaldo Bellomo
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Professor Jamie Cooper AO and Professor Rinaldo Bellomo AO are the 2021 winners of the GSK Award for Research Excellence. Over a 20 year collaboration, their innovative research and leadership has revolutionised the approach to clinical research in the treatment of critically ill patients in intensive care on a global scale. Together, they have led the way in establishing large, multi-centric collaborative investigator initiated clinical trials as best practice for critical care research. Their landmark trials have significantly improved outcomes for patients being treated for critical conditions, like sepsis, traumatic brain injuries, acute kidney failure and acute respiratory failure. Their work has also transformed worldwide clinical guidelines and contributed major financial savings to healthcare systems, placing Australia at the forefront of research in intensive care.
overseeing critical care research in areas such as ECMO. The GSK Award for Research Excellence that has been presented to Professor Jamie Cooper and Professor Rinaldo Bellomo is one of the most prestigious awards available to the Australian medical research community. It has been awarded since 1980 to recognise outstanding achievements in medical research with potential importance to human health. It has awarded almost $3 million* to support Australian research and innovation through the last 40 years. *2020 value of cumulative grant calculated by adjusting for inflation on the yearly grant value via the Reserve Bank of Australia Inflation Calculator. This is a guide only and should not be regarded as and ‘official’ calculations.
Professor Cooper (who is a Senior Specialist in Intensive Care, at The Alfred Hospital, and a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor at Monash University) and Professor Bellomo (who is the Director of Intensive Care Research and Staff Specialist in Intensive Care at Austin Health) are Co-Directors of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre (ANZIC-RC). Under their directorship, the ANZIC-RC is currently focused on improving the global understanding of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for the management of cardiac arrest, severe cardiac failure, and severe respiratory failure, including in COVID-19 patients. Not content to rest on their laurels, they will use the $80,000 prize money to support early and mid-career researchers 7
Miller Foundation Mr Andrew & Jean Miller The Miller Foundation was established in 1974 through the vision of Mr Andrew Miller’s parents and Mrs Jean Miller’s parents-in-law, Noel Keith Miller and Mary Olive Miller. Over the nearly five decades the Foundation has provided more than $100million across the charitable sector with an emphasis on medical research, the socially disadvantaged and climate change. The Foundation’s impact has been significant, helping establish many research programs and supporting early career researchers across several medical research institutes. They are inspired by, and encourage big ideas that have impact, where their support can help initiate or progress programs that will lead to life changing vaccines, diagnostics and treatments or result in policy shift, and where their support can make a measurable impact, help scale, and leverage additional funding.
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Through their enormous generosity over many years, the Miller Family has provided funding support to Burnet Institute, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Baker Institute, Peter Mac, Heart Foundation, and more recently the Doherty Institute, to establish and develop research focused on maternal and child health, infectious diseases, heart disease, diabetes, genetic disorders, cancer research and many other programs which have resulted in improved health outcomes and many lives saved.
The vision and values of the Foundation remain today, with family members continuing to volunteer as trustees, taking a very proactive and personal approach to philanthropy. For many decades the Foundation has avoided publicity as this was not the driver of their generosity. However, in agreeing to be nominated for the Great Australian Philanthropy Award the Foundation hopes to normalise the conversation about philanthropy and to encourage others to consider their
own personal giving, including the joy of seeing the outcomes from giving. “You can leave a clause in your will to support charities, but it’s much better, much more rewarding to do it while you’re alive.” said Andrew. “You can see the benefit of the research and the outcomes it achieves. So, I would recommend that those that can afford it should put aside something, a part of their accumulation to support research, medical research, or people in need, the environment”.
Dr Bruce William Neill
Tasmanian Businessman and Philanthropist Born, raised and educated in Sydney, Bruce moved to Tasmania in 1977 to play cricket, competing in Tasmania’s first ever Sheffield Shield Team. His Tasmanian business career commenced in 1979 when he established a one man financial services company. Over the next twenty-five years he built the business into a national operation culminating in a listing on the ASX. After retiring from that business he established a family office to meet future investment objectives and foundations to meet philanthropic endeavours. The Select Foundation focuses on supporting medical research, principally at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research and also supports Tasmanian humanities. Over the past 15 years the Select Foundation has funded many Menzies fellowships. Bruce became Chair of the
Menzies Board in 2014 and upon retiring as Chair he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Tasmania for leadership and generosity. Bruce says “Being Chair of the Menzies Board I saw firsthand what a high quality institution it is.” “I thoroughly enjoyed working with a competitive and experienced board, strong outcomes delivered by leadership and management, and passionate and high achieving researchers. We collectively worked to build better, healthier and longer lives for all Tasmanians.”
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Dr Mo Chen Dr Mo Chen’s expertise is in threedimensional (3D) cell culture, and he has worked with both discovery and translational research projects. Based on these experiences, he developed a system for purification of glia from primary mouse culture using a combination method of 3D cell culture and drug treatment. With this purification system, the purity of glia (olfactory ensheathing cells) has been significantly increased from 8% to 90%. Dr Chen started his Ph.D. research in 2016, which focuses on the identification of natural products that enhance spinal cord regeneration.
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Dr Chen completed his PhD in neuroscience at the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery in 2019 during which he produced eight publications and two patent applications. In 2019, Dr Chen took up a post-doctoral position at the Clem Jones Centre for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research.
and form 3D constructs suitable for surgical applications.
During his PhD Dr Chen developed a novel 3D cell culturing system (the naked liquid marble 3D cell culture system, NLM) and is an inventor for two patent applications associated with the NLM system. NLM allows cells to self-assemble
Dr Chen recently invented an additional organoid 3D culture technique with a patent application currently being finalised. This system can generate large, complex 3D nerve bridges for in vivo neural regeneration.
Dr Natalie Hyde Deakin University
Dr Natalie Hyde is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Population Health theme at the Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation, Deakin University in Geelong, Australia. To date her research has largely focused on the role of maternal vitamin D and offspring health outcomes, with a focus on musculoskeletal health. Currently she is developing a program of research investigating the role of early-life exposures with various physical and mental health outcomes in both mother and child. To do this, she is working with a number of existing long-term cohort studies in the Geelong region, including the Vitamin D in Pregnancy Study, Barwon
Infant Study and the Geelong Osteoporosis study to identify novel predictors of maternal and child health. Furthermore, she is currently championing a program of research aimed at examining access to nutritional and exercise education during antenatal care and related maternal and child outcomes. Natalie is actively engaged in professional societies and is currently an early-career representative for both the Society for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (ANZ) and the Australia and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society.
Dr Heidi Staudacher Deakin University
Dr Heidi Staudacher is an accredited practising dietitian and Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University. Her PhD at King’s College London, funded by a prestigious NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship, and subsequent postdoctoral work has focused on evaluating the role of diet for disorders of gut-brain interaction. Her research also investigates the nature and relevance of diet-induced microbiome shifts in these disorders with the ultimate aim of developing better
treatments. Heidi has published many highly influential papers on the dietary management of IBS and has received over AU$1.1 million of competitive funding. Her research has gained international recognition, significantly expanded knowledge on IBS treatment and underpins clinical guidelines globally. She has received several institutional and dietetic awards and serves on the Rome V Treatment Trials committee. 11
Sponsored by The NSW Government
Professor Brett Mitchell Professor Brett Mitchell is an internationally renowned expert and researcher in the field of infection prevention and control. He is a Professor of Nursing within the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Newcastle and has recently been appointed as an Executive Director at COVID Quarantine Victoria. He is also a conjoint scholar at the Central Coast Local Health District. He has led national work and initiatives with the NHMRC and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare. As a clinician, Brett has worked in a variety of positions both in Australia and abroad, including in developing countries. Professor Mitchell has over 150 peer reviewed publications and conference presentations, is a Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing and a Fellow of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control. Professor Mitchell and is Editor-in-Chief of Infection, Disease and Health and a member of the National COVID-19 Evidence Taskforce Leadership Group. His particular area of research interest in 12
the prevention of infections.
Professor Imogen Mitchell & Professor Brett Scholz Australian National University
Professor Imogen Mitchell is an intensive care specialist at the Canberra Hospital, Executive Director, Research and Academic Partnerships at Canberra Health Services and the Clinical Director for the ACT COVID-19 Response. She was recently Dean of Medicine at the Australian National University. Her research interests include improving health care systems in the acute care sector including patient deterioration and end of life care. Brett Scholz is a Critical Health Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow working on Ngunnawal Country in the ANU Medical School at the Australian National University. He is committed to supporting consumer leadership in health policy, services, research and education.
Most of his publications are led or co-authored by consumer researchers. He is a founding editorial board member of the International Mad Studies Journal, the Secretary of the International Society of Critical Health Psychology, and holds adjunct appointments in the Faculty of Health at the University of Canberra and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at The University of Adelaide.
Professor Catherine Mihalopoulos Deakin University
Professor Cathy Mihalopoulos is currently Professor of Health Economics at Deakin University and Head and Chair of Deakin Health Economics. Her major field of research interest is the economics of mental health and psychosocial care, with a special focus on economic evaluation. She has over 170 publications in this area and has been a named investigator on grants, tenders and consultancies totalling over $70M dollars.
She has a broad range of experience in mental health and psychosocial care economics ranging from the conduct of economic evaluations alongside clinical trials, economic modelling, broad-based prioritysetting projects which simultaneously compare multiple interventions and methodological research around outcome measurement for economics. 13
Sponsored by Bupa Health Foundation
Dr Tracy Dudding-Byth As a consultant clinical geneticist with the NSW Genetics of Learning Disability service, A/Prof Tracy Dudding-Byth sees children with severe developmental delay or intellectual disability. As facial features can provide a clue to the diagnosis in around 50% of children with intellectual disability, A/Prof Dudding-Byth developed the innovative international FaceMatch project. The vision of FaceMatch is to help find a diagnosis for children with an intellectual disability where genetic testing has not provided an answer. By matching images, the project aims to improve the interpretation of DNA variant data. A/ Prof Dudding-Byth has shown an extraordinary commitment to patients, including co-founding Rare Voices Australia to unite and advocate for people living with a rare disease. She is honoured to sit on the Steve Waugh Foundation, Medical Advisory Committee.
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A/ Prof Dudding-Byth has recently received $1.6 M funding through the Medical Research Future Fund to lead a research team to understand the genetic basis for variability in cutaneous neurofibroma burden in adults with the rare disease, neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1).
Dr Qing Zhong CMRI
Dr Zhong is a data scientist with background in computer science, applied statistics and cancer proteogenomics. He completed his undergraduate study in computer science and obtained a Doctor of Sciences degree in biochemistry and computer science at ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) in Switzerland. In 2017, he was recruited as the group leader for Cancer Data Science at Children’s Medical Research Institute and was subsequently appointed as a conjoint senior lecturer at the University of Sydney. Dr Zhong has published more than 40 research papers and has a track record of publishing in high-impact journals such as Nature Methods, Nature Communications, and Nature Medicine. Dr Zhong’s group aims to collate and mine big biomedical data to achieve the goals of personalised medicine, such as the prediction of the most effective cancer treatments for individual patients. The major research areas include development of data-driven, evidence-based computational tools and sophisticated machine learning algorithms, proteogenomic data mining and management, genome-proteome association analysis, and multi-omics data integration for large-scale cancer cohorts.
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Damien, Bob & Debbie Thompson After being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at 23, Damien developed Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD) following a bone marrow transplant.
Berghofer Medical Research Institute, the Leukaemia Foundation, the Sony You Can Youth Centre, Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Australian Red Cross and Transplant Australia.
He then went on to have a double lung transplant and two hip replacements. Damien’s story of survival alone is incredible with his treating doctors calling him a walking bionic man thanks to these two life-saving transplants over the past 10 years.
Damien was awarded the Queensland Community Foundation’s Emerging Philanthropist of the Year award for his work delivering Virtual Reality programs to patients in hospital. Damien was nominated for the award by QIMR Berghofer’s Professor Fabienne Mackay.
Now 34, Damien is an active supporter of medical research and a campaigner for organ donation for more than a decade having raised about $245,000 for QIMR
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Professor Megan Munsie University of Melbourne
Professor Munsie is an internationally recognised leader in the stem cell research community and serves on advisory committees to national and international scientific organisations. She has led engagement and policy activities for a series of major Australian Government funded programs in stem cell science and is currently the convenor of Stem Cells Australia. She holds a joint appointment across the University of Melbourne’s School of Biomedical Sciences and the Melbourne Medical School and heads a highly regarded interdisciplinary research program examining the ethical, legal and social implications of stem cell research.
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Dr John Parker Doctor John Parker is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Saluda Medical Pty Ltd, a start-up company, established in 2013 with the goal of commercialising four years of neuromodulation research from NICTA, Australia’s information communications technology Centre of Excellence. Dr Parker has over 20 years of experience in medical devices, including 13 years at Cochlear Limited, where he served in the role of Chief Technology Officer / executive member of the board of directors. He has experience working in every aspect of commercialisation of R&D, from pure research through to full industrialisation. Dr Parker has an academic background (PhD ANU) and has worked in both Australian and international universities. He has authored numerous scientific publications and patents. Dr Parker is an ATSE fellow, Harvard Business School (PMD) graduate, Docent at the Royal Institute of technology in Stockholm Sweden, ATSE Clunies Ross Medallist (2010) and Adjunct Professor UNSW School of Biomedical Engineering.
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Professor Wojtek Chrzanowski University of Sydney
Wojciech Chrzanowski is a Professor of Nanomedicine. He joined the University of Sydney in 2010 and independently carved out an area of research which centres on programming of cells to promote functional tissue regeneration. He is a Deputy Director at the Sydney Nano Institute and V-President of Asian Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences. He leads the Nanomedicine Group and Nano-Bio-Characterisation facility, which features unique instrumentation for extracellular vehicles characterisation. He authored >200 peer reviewed publications. In recognition of his research leadership, he received 16 inter/ national awards and prizes for innovation
in extracellular vesicles science and characterisation, including 2019 the Barry Inglis Medal from the National Measurement Institute, 2018 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and Education, 2018 Best Presentation Award from The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and 2018 Outstanding Paper Award from Royal Society of Chemistry.
Professor Robert Newton Edith Cowan University
Professor Robert Newton is Professor of Exercise Medicine in the Exercise Medicine Research Institute that he established in 2004 at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia. Current major research directions include exercise medicine as neoadjuvant, adjuvant and rehabilitative cancer therapy to reduce side-effects and enhance effectiveness of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy; the influence of targeted exercise medicine on tumour biology and exercise medicine for reducing decline in quality of life, strength, body composition and
functional ability in cancer patients. Professor Newton has supervised 8 postdoctoral fellows, 44 PhD students, 23 Masters Students and 3 Honours students to successful completion. He is currently supervising 11 PhD students and 4 Masters students.
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On behalf of the Board and the Research Australia team, thank you to all nominators, finalists and attendees for supporting this important event. Research Australia also extends its gratitude and appreciation to all the sponsors of this year’s Health and Medical Research Awards, your contribution helps us make this event what it is.