2025 Honour Roll

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.