Doctoral Thesis Excellence 2024

Dr Laura Nevendorff
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

PhD thesis title: “Contextual influences on sexualised drug use among men who have sex with men in Indonesia.”  - Under the supervision of Professor Mark Stoove, Dr Alisa Pedrana and Dr Adam Bourne (External), in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Dr Laura Nevendorff is a public health researcher whose work bridges research and practice in Indonesia’s HIV response and is currently a senior research officer at Monash University, Indonesia. With over a decade of experience across research, policy, and implementation, her work explores the intersections of HIV service delivery, community engagement, and health systems. The Dean's Doctoral Thesis Excellence Award recognised her doctoral research, which examined the structural and social dimensions of HIV risks among vulnerable communities. Findings from her thesis were published in several leading public health journals and have informed harm reduction programs for sexualized drug use in Indonesia and Vietnam. Through her current role, she continues to support evidence-based public health solutions in complex settings. She remains committed to producing policy-relevant evidence and advancing inclusive approaches to public health.

Doctoral Thesis Excellence 2024 - Industry Engagement

Dr Peter Eggenhuizen
School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

PhD thesis title: “The role of T cells in health and disease”, under the supervision of Professor Joshua Ooi and Dr Poh-Yi Gan, in the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health.

This award is given in recognition of the engagement Peter had with industry during his PhD to translate basic research findings into cell-based therapies for a variety of autoimmune conditions. More specifically, with his supervisor's support, he gained industry partnerships for the preclinical development of engineered T regulatory cell (Treg) therapies to target the autoimmune diseases systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The engineered Treg therapy for SLE was licensed to Amgen Inc, a top US pharmaceutical company. The engineered Treg therapy for IBD was licensed to Biocurate Inc, an Australian bioincubator company. These industry partnerships led to the development and validation of these therapies as potential cell-based therapies for SLE and IBD, which are hoped to have significant real-world impact in improving outcomes for SLE and IBD patients.

Dean's Commendations for Thesis Excellence 2024

In addition to the two award winners the Faculty this year has awarded commendations to nominees of for the Deans awards that were put forward by the schools/institutes across the Faculty. This nomination recognised the outstanding thesis and puts these candidates in the top 5% of our graduates in 2024. Due to the high calibre we are awarding these nominees the inaugural Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence. This commendation will be awarded in a celebratory faculty event scheduled for later in the year.