2021 Parkville Precinct Student Awards

Outstanding honours, Master of Biomedical Science and PhD students celebrated at awards.

The annual Parkville Precinct Student awards ceremony was held as a virtual event for the second consecutive year on Friday 28 May. The event recognises and celebrates outstanding honours, Master of Biomedical Science and PhD students from the Departments of Medicine and Radiology (RMH), Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Psychiatry, and Surgery (RMH) from the previous year.

Hosted by Dr Adrian Achuthan, Honours Academic Coordinator, who congratulated all supervisors and students for a successful year despite the challenges that COVID-19 presented. Ms Simone Stahli Quinn, Honours Coordinator was congratulated for the support provided to students and supervisors in 2020 and for organising an excellent event.

Professor Jo Douglass, James Stewart Chair of Medicine (RMH) and Director of Research (RMH) also recognised and acknowledged students and supervisors for successfully contributing to research in the Parkville precinct which is recognised as the biomedical research engine hub of Australia and the significant global influence it has on clinical science.

The Department Honours Awards recognises top students who completed their course from each department. The 2020 awardees are:

  • Dawson Bi-Even Ling – Department of Medicine and Radiology (supervisor Dr Paul Gilson)
  • Christopher Siderakis – Department of Surgery (RMH) (supervisor Professor Alistair Royse)
  • Bianca Fato – Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (supervisor Associate Professor Natalie Hannan)
  • Julia Kim – Department of Psychiatry (supervisor Associate Professor Sarah Whittle).

The RMH Honours Scholarships 2021 have been established to attract the best and brightest into the Honours Program which is the largest program in MDHS. The recipients are selected based on their third year undergraduate performance and who were not offered a Faculty Honours Scholarship. The 2021 recipients are:

  • Claudia Barnes – Burnet Institute (supervisor Dr Paul Gilson)
  • Yangsong Xu – Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (supervisor Dr Andrew Fleetwood)
  • Madeline Carrick – Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (supervisor Dr Sarah Lensen).

The Best Research Award for Master of Biomedical Science was awarded to:

  • Fabian Busby (supervisors Dr Adrian Achuthan and Dr Andrew Fleetwood).

Professor Richard Larkins, James Stewart Chair of Medicine (1984-1987), Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (1998-2003)) and Vice-Chancellor of Monash University (2004-2009), attended to present his namesake award to the 2020 top honours student:

  • Dawson Bi-Even Ling - Department of Medicine and Radiology (supervisor Dr Paul Gilson).

Professor Graham Brown, former James Stewart Chair (1999-2007) was in attendance to present the Graham Brown Prize for Best Student Publication who is judged to have published the most outstanding peer reviewed article as a first author. The winner for this award was:

  • Dr Ramanathan Parameswaran – Functional Atrial Endocardial-Epicardial Dissociation in Patients with Structural Heart Disease Undergoing Cardiac Surgery. Published in the American Journal of Cardiology in 2020.

The Nick Christopher PhD Scholarships honours the legacy of Nick Christopher who was the Manager for the Department of Medicine from 2001 until his passing in 2008. It was a pleasure to welcome Rhonda Christopher who provided background to Nick’s passion for encouraging students undertaking medical research. The recipients of the Nick Christopher PhD Scholarships for 2021 are:

  • Samuel Widodo – Department of Surgery (supervisor: Dr Theo Mantamadiotis)
  • Lucy Caughey – Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (supervisor Dr Michelle Peate)

The Department of Clinical PathologyJ.E Taylor Honours Awardwas awarded to:

  • Mr Alex Wang (supervisor Associate Professor Kais Kasem).