2023 Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Awards - Celebrating Professional, Research, and Teaching Excellence
27 November 2023
The 2023 Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Awards was held on 21 November and celebrated the outstanding contributions of staff to professional, research and teaching excellence.
Hosted by Deputy Dean Professor Paul White, the presentations congratulated awardees for their dedication and innovative approaches to pharmaceutical research and education.
A list of awards and their recipients is below.
Winner: Jenny Lim
Jenny joined the Faculty as a Postgraduate Coursework Coordinator in 2015. She excelled in supporting the postgraduate pharmacy education team, demonstrating exceptional leadership during periods of uncertainty. Currently on secondment as the Academic and Student Services Manager, Jenny displays a fantastic work ethic and empathetic nature in her support of a wide range of student and academic activities.
Early Career Research Award
Winner: Dr Daniel Priebbenow
Dr Daniel Priebbenow’s research focuses on the development of new approaches to accelerate chemical synthesis and drug discovery. Through advanced synthetic technologies including photocatalysis and transition-metal catalysis, his research develops more efficient and sustainable strategies to access existing therapeutics. Dr Priebbenow has published 38 peer-reviewed articles, including 18 as first author and has been awarded various post-doctoral fellowships in the scientific community.
Emerging Early Career Research Award
Winner: Dr Amanda Cross
Dr Amanda Cross is a National Health and Medical Research Emerging Leader fellow at the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety. Her research positions pharmacists as ‘knowledge brokers’ who translate evidence and guidelines into practice to reduce medication-related harm for people living with dementia and in residential aged care. Dr Cross has authored over 30 publications and secured over $4.7 million in research support as a chief investigator.
Faculty Research Award
Winner: Professor Colin Pouton
Professor Colin Pouton’s research focuses on mRNA technology for vaccination and therapeutics. He has been actively exploring delivery systems for the oral administration of poorly water-soluble drugs and therapeutic uses of nucleic acids. Professor Pouton has authored over 180 peer-reviewed papers with over 14,000 citations and has been awarded over $20 million in research grants over the past three years.
Award for Research Enterprise
Winners: PureTech Prodrug Team - Professor Chris Porter, Associate Professor Natalie Trevaskis, Dr Sifei Han, Dr Enyuan Cao, Dr Dan Zheng, Dr Nathania Leong, Dr Garima Sharma, Dr Mitchell McInerney, and Xiaotong Zhou.
Over the last seven years, the PureTech Prodrug team has partnered with Boston-based biotechnology company, PureTech Health to optimise a technology that targets drugs in the lymphatic system by forming prodrugs that mimic the structure of dietary lipids. Their efforts have led to the oral administration of the prodrug, allopregnanolone, which was previously administered to patients with post-partum depression through a 60-hour intravenous infusion. The technology is currently in the second phase of a clinical trial for anxiety and is expected to enter a clinical trial for post-partum depression by the end of this year.
Early Career Researcher Publication Award
Winner: Dr Jianjun (Jason) Cao
Dr Jason Cao is the first author and chief conductor of laboratory experiments involving protein generation in his publication about the structural basis for amylin receptor phenotypes. His research advanced the development of potential treatment for obesity by targeting amylin receptors (AMYRs). It has discovered that the distinct activation of AMYRs by two endogenous peptide agonists, amylin and calcitonin, provides invaluable structural and mechanistic insights, leading to relevant drug development.
Faculty Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision
Winner: Associate Professor Natalie Trevaskis
The Head of the Lymphatic Medicine Laboratory at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Associate Professor Natalie Trevaskis has supervised 16 PhD students in the last five years. She is proud to support the diverse cultural, linguistic, religious and educational backgrounds of her students, including 12 PhD students who identify as women. Under Associate Professor Trevaskis’s supervision, PhD graduates have furthered their careers as National Health and Medical Research Council investigator fellows, Clinical Research Associates, Scientific Editors, Medical Writers, and formulation scientists.
Professional Research Award
Winner: Dr Leanne Hawkey
Dr Leanne Hawkey is the Operations Manager of the Australian Translational Medicinal Chemistry Facility (ATMCF) within the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Under her leadership the ATMCF has grown, supporting more than 20 collaborative medicinal chemistry/drug discovery projects annually. Recently, she supported the Facility’s successful application for the MRFF National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant for the establishment of MedChem Australia, which brings together leading Australian biomedical researchers to discover new medicines.
Citation for outstanding contribution to Student Learning Award (Teaching Associate)
Winner: Zoe Porter
Since embarking on her teaching associate journey in 2020, Zoe has been committed to inspiring her students through her wide range of innovative pedagogical methods. Her dedication to creating authentic learning environments and developing teaching resources continues to improve student outcomes.
Citation for outstanding contribution to Student Learning Award (Early Career)
Winner: Dr Angelina Lim
As the unit coordinator of PHR3141 Comprehensive Care: Pathogens and Host Defence and Treatment, Dr Angelina Lim has redeveloped the unit to enhance student learning. Some of these learning innovations included the use of gamification through a virtual escape room, more authentic assessments, and increased interactive applied sessions. Her students have reported being inspired to practice antimicrobial stewardship at the community pharmacies they work in. Under Dr Lim's leadership, the unit won the Purple Award in Sem 1, 2022 which is based on high Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units (SETU) reports.
Citation for outstanding contribution to Student Learning Award
Winner: Dr Joaquin (Ximo) Sanchis Martinez
Dr Joaquin Sanchis Martinez founded the Chain Reaction Model in response to the transition to online learning during the 2020 pandemic. Inspired by the self-sustaining engagement growth of energy liberated in a chemical chain reaction, the Model fosters initial connections through short face-to-face interactions. Dr Sanchis Martinez has refined the chain reaction to the current educational blended flip-classroom model to create engagement and bidirectionally transfer it from the online to on-campus planes and vice versa. This has resulted in increased student perception of staff accessibility, feedback quality and engagement in this unit for the last three years.
Programs that enhance student learning Award
Winners: Dr Betty Exintaris*, Dr Nilushi Karunaratne*, Dr Suzanne Caliph, and Alistair Thomas
In 2020, in response to the impact of COVID-19 on international students' university experience, this team implemented an academic-led, inclusive faculty community initiative, the Parkville International and Exchange Student (PIES) Engagement Program. This pilot program focuses on providing international student support through communication, social and networking opportunities, and well-being. Over the past 7 semesters, the PIES program has run over 60 events for more than 100 international students annually.
Teaching Excellence Award
Winner: Associate Professor Joseph Nicolazzo
Associate Dean of Graduate Research, Associate Professor Joseph Nicolazzo is passionate about teaching how improved patient outcomes are achieved through understanding the mechanisms by which medicines work. One of his major initiatives is the application of MyDispense, a virtual simulation tool, into laboratory classes within the Pharmacy degree. This resulted in students considering patient outcomes within the laboratories, an implementation by the University of Michigan, and a first-author publication.
Education Industry and Community Award (First time awarded):
Winners: Professor Michelle McIntosh, Dr Tri-Hung Nguyen, Dr Paul Wynne, Ruth Howell, Andrew McIntosh, Dr Charlie Dong, Dr William O’Malley, Dr Shadab Haque, Dr Ken Margo, Dr Maiada Sadek, Dr Yassmin Samak, Christine Tolotchkov , Sally Sim, Aaron Larson, Transon Nguyen, Dr Igor Chekhtman, Dr David Rudd, Rafeed Ferdous, Dr Mikey Whittaker, Megan Faith, Truong Dang, Irvine Setiawan, and Matt Persons
The Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC) is a partnership between the Victorian State Government, Monash University and the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS). It works closely with pharmaceutical and allied industries to provide advanced solutions in formulation development, characterisation, analytical chemistry and scale-up. The MMIC Internship Program aims to support the next generation of job-ready candidates, equipping participants with industry-relevant research and professional skills. It has hosted over 65 students, with 90% of former interns at the graduate level working in the sector or undertaking postgraduate studies. In line with supporting local industry, over 89% of our graduate interns continue to work in Victoria.
Education Leadership Award
Winner: Professor Kirstie Galbraith
Professor Kirstie Galbraith is an internationally recognised expert in practitioner development across the lifecycle of undergraduates to Advanced Practice Pharmacists, with demonstrated leadership in engagement across academic and practice settings. Her local, national, and international leadership in pharmacy practice and education has been recognised with numerous credentials and Fellowships.