The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS) has a national and international reputation for excellence thanks to a community of highly committed staff. Each year we celebrate the work of our staff through the MDHS Staff Excellence Awards.

In 2025, nominations for awards will be open under three themes: Global, Place and Community; Discovery; and Education in alignment with the Faculty’s strategic plan Advancing Health 2030. Successful nominations will furthermore reflect the Faculty values of Respect, Accountability, Compassion, Integrity, and Collaboration and Teamwork (see Faculty Values). Nominations may be made by peers, colleagues or managers.

The 2025 award winners have now been announced.

All 2025 MDHS Staff Excellence Awards are valued at $5,000 each and will be presented and announced at the end of year staff celebration in December.

The application process has been simplified to make it easier to nominate.

Nominations are welcome from staff in continuing, contract, sessional or honorary* roles. Nominees should have been working at the University for at least two years. Some awards are specific to either academic or professional staff; where this is the case, this is specified in the award descriptions. Team nominations are encouraged, including from interdisciplinary teams across multiple schools and departments. Students can also be part of teams. Please note that self-nomination is no longer permitted.

*Award prizes are for professional development and will be managed as a reimbursement of costs for honorary staff, to reduce any tax liability for the individual.

Nomination guidelines How to apply

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Eligibility

Nominations may be made for academic and professional staff in continuing, contract or sessional roles who have been working at the University for at least two years. Team nominations are also encouraged including interdisciplinary teams across multiple schools and departments. Nominations are welcome from peers, colleagues or managers fostering a culture of recognition and shared celebration of excellence. Please note that self-nomination is no longer permitted.

Nomination to be completed at MDHS Awards Platform by the nominator. The form must include a brief (500-word) description of what the nominee(s) have done that has made a significant difference.

Nominations have now closed for the 2025 awards.

Supporting evidence

Nominators can provide evidence to support the nomination in the respective award category, using the forms of evidence that best makes their case. This can be supported by appropriate evidence, such as feedback from colleagues, students and partners, relevant statistics, stories and references.

Supporting material (optional) is up to three documents. This may include additional feedback, internal and/or external references, websites (URL link or YouTube link) and other supporting documents. The inclusion of supporting material is not mandatory.

Complete and submit your nomination

Submit your completed nomination by Monday 29 September.
The nomination enforces word limits, and page limits must be adhered to - additional pages will not be considered by the selection committee.
All nominations are confidential.

Key Dates

Monday 18 August 2025: Nominations open
Monday 29 September 2025: Nominations close
Tuesday 2 December 2025: Award winners announced at the All Staff End of Year Celebration

Nomination guidelines

For enquiries and submission please contact:

Priya Chand

MDHS-StaffAwards@unimelb.edu.au

Celebrating outstanding,
values-based contributions

Our suite of annual excellence awards celebrate our staff, not only for what they have achieved, but also for how they have demonstrated our core values.
Teams and staff across our Faculty are strongly encouraged to nominate themselves, a colleague or a team for an award. Hear some of our previous award winners as they talk about the application process, what the recognition meant to them and why they recommend applying.

A full list of MDHS Staff Exellence Awards recipients can be found on our Honour Roll.

Learn more about our strategic and values-based recognition and reward

Help us to improve this website

Send us your feedback and suggestions

The 2025 MDHS Staff Excellence Awards were presented on Tuesday 2 December 2025. Congratulations to all award winners and nominees.

Global, Place and Community Awards

Award for Indigenous Health and Wellbeing

Dr Kim Jones
Indigenous Health Equity Unit, Onemda Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing

For excellence in the "Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future" project and contributions to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing.

Award for Partnership and Collaboration for Public Benefit

Two award winners

Professor Eva Alisic
Dr Katitza Marinkovic Chavez
Kathryn Joy
Oliver Eastwood
Hannah Morrice
Isabel Chung
Robyn Molyneaux

Disaster Climate and Adversity Unit, Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

For excellence in the “Homicide at Home” project, addressing the issue of young people bereaved by domestic homicide by placing their needs at the centre of national attention and driving systemic change.

Professor Jane Pirkis
Dr Angele Nicholas
Dr Simone Scotti Requena
Associate Professor Zac Seidler
Dr Maria Ftanou
Dr Justine Fletcher

Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

For excellence in the "Boys Do Cry" suicide prevention campaign addressing Australia’s disproportionately high rate of suicide among men.

Award for Building an Inclusive, Values-Driven Faculty Community

Dr Shurong Lu
Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

For excellence in fostering an inclusive, values-driven academic community, with particular emphasis on supporting culturally and linguistically diverse populations and students across the faculty.

Award for Mentor Excellence

Associate Professor Karen Lamb
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

For visionary mentorship, championing diversity and actively cultivating an environment where others flourish.

Award for Professional Excellene in Demonstrating Impact

Sara Donaldson
Melbourne Disability Institute

For excellence in delivering inclusive, accessible, collaborative and impactful work across diverse communities, especially disability communities, internal and external to the university.

Discovery Awards

Award for Graduate Researcher Supervision

Associate Professor Diana Stokanovski
Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, School of Biomedical Sciences

Award for Interdisciplinary Research

Dr Bao Nguyen
Associate Professor Sam John
Professor Lauren Ayton
Professor David Grayden
Professor Bang Bui
Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff
Dr Lachlan Knight
Mr Max Kaplan
Professor Adam Deane
Dr Yasmine Ali Abdelhamid
Professor Michael Reade
Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones
Professor Gavin Williams
Mr Matt Wingfield
Professor Marcus Watson
Dr Andrew Ronchi
Dr Andre Tan
Dr Emril Ali

Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, School of Biomedical Sciences
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
Department of Physiotherapy, Melbourne School of Health Sciences
Department of Critical Care, Melbourne Medical School
Department of Surgery, Melbourne Medical School
Graeme Clark Institute for Biomedical Engineering
Business Development, Research Innovation and Commercialisation

For the development of a point-of-care, non-invasive handheld device for measuring intercranial pressure through the establishment of collaborations spanning multiple disciplines.

Award for Research Achievements (Early)

Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones
Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Melbourne School of Health Sciences

For excellence in demonstrating exceptional dedication to advancing research to improve outcomes for families affected by incurable genetic eye diseases in Australia.

Award for Research Achievements (Mid)

Dr Sibel Saya
Department of General Practice, Melbourne Medical School

For excellence in pioneering work on implementing genomics in general practice, and contributions to research, leadership, collaboration and community engagement.

Award for Research Achievements (Senior)

Associate Professor Stephanie Best
Department of Melbourne Implementation Research Group, Melbourne School of Health Sciences

For excellence in advancing implementation science in genomic medicine and healthcare sustainability

Education Awards

Award for Sustained Excellence in Learning and Teaching

Dr Sonya Moore
Department of Physiotherapy, Melbourne School of Health Sciences

For excellence in demonstrating exceptional capability for innovative, online, interprofessional education within the Master of Sports Medicine Programme.

Award for Learning and Teaching Achievement

Patrick Bowers
Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, Melbourne School of Health Sciences

For excellence in audiology education through innovative teaching methods, enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes.

Award for Education for Collaborative Practice

Dr Rachel Toovey
Dr Kelly Bower
Professor Lucio Naccarella
Dr Free Coulston
Georgia Bartlett
Zoe McNeice
Dr Alice Rota-Bartelink
Dr Meg Keage
Associate Professor Anthea Cochrane
Dr Kim Allison
Dr Peter Carew
Dr Bao Nguyen
Matt Wingfield
Dr Selwyn Prea
Dr Jessica Stander
Associate Professor Karyn Galvin
Emily Shepard
Associate Professor Kelley Graydon
Dr Tandy Hastings-Ison
Karen Kennedy
Professor Dani Tomlin
Dr Ruth Braden

Department of Physiotherapy, Melbourne School of Health Sciences

For excellence in promoting student readiness for collaborative practice through the Interdisciplinary Research Capstone Project initiative.

Award for Program Innovation

Associate Professor Kwang Meng Cham
Keenan Hellyer
Chris Watt
Dr Andrew Huhtanen
Associate Professor Anthea Cochrane
Dr Jia Jia Lek
Dr Selwyn Prea
Dr Amanda Douglass
Jonathan Ng

Department of Optometry & Vision Sciences, Melbourne School of Health Sciences

For excellence in advancing optometry through the strategic integration of a simulation and technology-enhanced curriculum.

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MDHS Global, Place and Community Awards

MDHS Discovery Awards

MDHS Education Awards

Key Dates

Celebrating outstanding,values-based contributions

Professor Karena Waller

Dr Trevor Steward

Dr Violet Mukaro

Dr Jennifer Perret

Professor Meredith Temple-Smith

Indigenous Eye Health team

The Doherty Institute Communications Team

Learning and Teaching Unit

Professor Cathy Humphreys

Amy Bugeja

Dr Megan Sharp

Associate Professor Lianne Schmaal

National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship

Dr Snezana Kusljic