14 Dec 2023
Doherty Institute home to 2023 University of Melbourne Excellence Awards recipients
Doherty Institute researchers have been recognised for their remarkable interdisciplinary research and excellence in public benefit at this year's University of Melbourne Excellence Awards.
Each year, the University acknowledges and celebrates outstanding contributions of its academic and professional staff through an Excellence Awards program. This year, nominations were sought from four categories: global, place and community, professional, and research and teaching excellence.
Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Research
Congratulations to Professor Steven Tong, Professor Jodie McVernon, Dr Mark Davies, Dr Katherine Gibney, Dr Patricia Campbell, Dr David Price, Dr Jake Lacey and Dr Ouli Xie, University of Melbourne researchers from the Doherty Institute.
The research team collaborated with colleagues from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and the Faculty of Science to develop mathematical models of the transmission of skin pathogens in Indigenous communities, with the ultimate aim of reducing the burden of disease.
Since 2014, the team of experts in mathematical and computational modelling, epidemiology, clinical medicine, pathogen genomics and microbiology, from across the University of Melbourne have been working to advance the understanding of the drivers of poor skin health and engage with stakeholders to translate these insights into public health strategies.
University of Melbourne’s Associate Professor in Computing and Information Systems Nic Geard, also Director of the Melbourne Data Analytics Platform, said skin pathogens impose a substantial ongoing health burden in low-income settings, as well as among Indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific Region.
“We have overturned dogmas regarding how the Strep A skin pathogen transmits and developed tools to measure and inform the design of new studies. We are particularly pleased that the Lancet Microbe recognised our work in an editorial, stating that our work addresses the Lancet Commission on Culture and Health call for researchers to consider how the social determinants of disease affect biology and not just the other way around,” said Associate Professor Geard.
Collaborators on this project include Associate Professor Nic Geard, Professor James McCaw, Dr Rebecca Chisholm, Dr Cameron Zachreson, Dr Michael Lydeamore, Dr Thiripura Vino and Ms Nefel Tellioglu.
Award for Excellence in Public Benefit
Congratulations to the University of Melbourne’s Dr Juan Pablo (JP) Villanueva-Cabezas, an Epidemiologist and Research Fellow in One Health at the Doherty Institute, and his colleagues at the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute for Global Health.
The team, led by the Nossal Institute’s Head of Education and Learning Professor Linda Rae Bennet, brought together collaborators from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences, the Australian Government’s Australian Indonesian Health Security Partnership (AIHSP) and the Government of Indonesia with the aim join forces and strengthen health systems in the Asia Pacific region.
Between 2021 and 2023, the collaboration saw the development and delivery of a capacity-building course on Foundations in Health Security (FHS). The FHS course addresses the critical need to increase regional capabilities in preventing outbreaks of infectious zoonotic diseases by assessing the risks and associated pandemic potential, as well as responding to these outbreaks.
Dr Villanueva-Cabezas joined the Nossal Institute’s team to contribute epidemiologic and One Health expertise to the development of the course and to facilitate the delivery of the FHS course in Indonesia in 2022 and 2023.
“I am delighted to be part of this interdisciplinary team collaborating with Indonesian stakeholders to establish a community of practice in One Health. This course has resulted in ten One Health intervention projects submitted for funding in the 2024 Indonesian Ministry of Health budget and an invitation by the same Ministry to submit the curriculum for accreditation as a core competency required of government staff,” he said.
Collaborators on this project include Professor Linda Bennett, Dr Tiara Marthias, Dr Mitha Eka, Mr Campbell McKay, Ms Andi Halfpapp, Professor Barbara McPake, Ms Clare Strachan, Associate Professor Angus Campbell, Dr Melanie Bannister-Tyrrell and Ms Sonja Firth.
More about the University of Melbourne Excellence Awards here.