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TOP AUSTRALIAN INNOVATORS WIN TOP PRIZES
The American Australian Association awards 12 Fellowships to leading Australian post-graduate scholars to undertake research and study on environmental sustainability, urban development, immunology, stem cells, neurology, and pediatrics at prestigious American institutions such as MIT, Harvard, and Yale. The Fellows were selected from a pool of well-credentialed applicants from Australia’s distinguished institutions, including University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, and Monash University.
The American Australian Association facilitates intellectual alliances and collaboration between Australia and the US. In addition to last year’s Education Fellowship program, the Association awarded three new corporate Fellowships, through the support of Chevron, Amgen, and Morgan Stanley. Since the Association’s Education Fund inception in 2002, over $2.7 million dollars has been awarded in Fellowships to more than 100 outstanding Australian and American scholars.
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Sir Keith Murdoch Fellows |
The Dow Chemical Company Fellow |
Alcoa Foundation Fellow |
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Merck Company Foundation Fellow |
Amgen Fellow |
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Morgan Stanley Pediatrics Fellow |
Qantas Fellow |
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Neurological Fellow |
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The Sir Keith Murdoch Fellowships are named after one of the Association’s founders and father of Association Patron Rupert Murdoch. Corporate Fellowships further support academic endeavors at the highest level. Past Fellows note the Fellowship permits them to “conduct high impact science in multi-disciplinary settings” and “work at the cutting edge” in their fields. Indeed, the Association continues to support leading innovators, advancing important research and embarking on new frontiers.
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The 2010 Alcoa Foundation Fellow
Daniel Khong
University of Melbourne / MIT Sloan School of Management
Research Interest: Business Leadership – Sustainable urban development policy
Daniel specializes in innovative public-private delivery of urban development. Daniel will investigate mechanisms to enable better urban development – covering innovation in governance, regulation, infrastructure provision and business practice.
Daniel has written and presented on design and strategy for mixed-use development to forums including the Committees for Melbourne, Perth and Auckland, and the International Cities and Town Centres Society. In addition, Daniel was involved in the design of the Canada Hotel Redevelopment which was recognized by the Australian Institute of Architects with the Melbourne and Best Overend awards.
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The 2010 Amgen Fellow
Amy Chung
University of Melbourne / Ragon Institute of MIT, Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
Research Interest: Medicine – Immunology
Amy will pursue her post-doctoral research at the Ragon Insitute of MIT, Harvard, and MGH. Amy will investigate an important immune response against HIV, conducting the most comprehensive analysis to date of ADCC responses after vaccination. Data from these experiments will be used to develop future vaccine protocols and vaccine design.
Recently, Amy received the Young Investigator Award at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections held in San Francisco.
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The 2010 Dow Chemical Company Fellow
Peter Macreadie
University of Melbourne / University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Research Interest: Environmental Sustainability – Adaptive coastal management
Peter’s post-doctoral research is aimed at understanding factors of ecological resilience and the capacity of ecosystems to cope with disturbance. Using coastal seagrass as a model system, Peter will run experiments to specifically investigate the importance of coastal food webs in maintaining seagrass resilience.
Peter is well-published in top-ranking journals and has received numerous awards and scholarships in recognition of the quality of his research output. Even as an early career researcher, Peter has already developed an international reputation as a leading seagrass ecologist.
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The 2010 Morgan Stanley Pediatrics Fellow
Elizabeth Newnham
University of Western Australia (UWA) / Harvard University
Research Interest: Pediatrics – Trauma
Elizabeth’s post-doctoral training at Harvard’s School of Public Health will help determine the factors that mediate psychological distress following exposure to violent trauma among children. Elizabeth’s goal is to identify risk factors. The findings will inform the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions for children affected by trauma.
Elizabeth’s evaluation of health programs in clinical psychology is at the forefront of current research. She completed her PhD with Distinction, has attended numerous international conferences and is well-published in leading international journals.
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The 2010 Merck Company Foundation Fellow
Karen Gregory
Monash University / Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Research Interest: Molecular Biology – Neuropharmacology
Karen’s post-doctoral research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center will focus on an important class of receptors to develop therapies for numerous psychiatric and neurologic disorders. She is investigating the receptors to advance drug discovery efforts.
Karen has presented her research at many international conferences, is well-published in scholarly journals and books, and is recognized by her colleagues for her commitment and dedication. Karen's work was acknowledged by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Dowd Foundation.
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The 2010 Neurological Fellow
Bronwyn Graham
University of New South Wales / Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
Research Interest: Behavioral Neuroscience – Modeling of fear and anxiety
Bronwyn’s post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School and MGH provides insight into the gender imbalance in anxiety disorders. Bronwyn will investigate the effect of estrogen on brain regions involved in fear. Using functional MRI, Bronwyn will determine the effect of estrogen on the neural circuitry of fear.
Bronwyn has presented her research at international conferences, published in scholarly journals, and received an award from the National Institute of Health.
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The 2010 Qantas Fellow
Vanessa Kelly
Monash University / Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
Research Interest: Respiratory physiology - Asthma
Vanessa, in collaboration with experts at Harvard and MGH, will aim to develop a non-invasive measure of airway stiffness – a currently untreatable process in asthma. The development of such testing will enable airway remodeling, monitoring of asthmatic patients, and will also be useful in pharmaceutical trials of new airway remodeling therapies.
Vanessa recently received the John Read Prize for Excellence in Physiological Research by the Thoracic Society of Australia, New Zealand and the Australian Lung Foundation.
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The 2010 Australia to US Sir Keith Murdoch Fellows
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Justin Boddey
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research/Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Research Interest: Cell Biology - Malaria-liver cell interactions
Justin will continue his post-doctoral research at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Insitute focusing on the life cycle of malaria parisites. Justin will specifically look at the process of Plasmodium Export Element (PEXEL) in erythrocytes, a human cell type. Justin’s work will establish paradigms about malaria protein trafficking and liver cell remodeling and may lead to a new area of liver-stage research.
Justin has published in several international journals, and presented at international conferences. Recently, Justin received an award from the Australian Society for Parasitology, Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
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Allan Gamble
University of Wollongong / Stanford University
Research Interest: Chemistry – Multidrug resistance in cancer
Allan will continue his post-doctoral research at Stanford University. Allan’s research will involve a new approach to overcome multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer, one of the major causes of chemotherapy failure. This represents a new direction in the treatment of MDR cancer and could extend to other MDR pathogens such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Recently, Allan was awarded a Post-PhD Teaching Fellowship at the Australian National University, where he lectured in chemistry. Allan also received the Royal Australian Chemical Institute prize for best chemistry graduate at the University of Wollongong.
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Renjing Liu
Children’s Hospital - Westmead, New South Wales / Yale Stem Cell Center
Research Interest: Regenerative Medicine – Neurodegenerative disorders
Renjing will pursue post-doctoral research at the Yale Stem Cell Center. Renjing's research will focus on induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are generated from skin fibroblasts, and tailored for each individual. Results from Renjing’s study will bring us closer to developing therapies for degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and address whether these cells can truly be used to replace embryonic stem cells as the “gold standard” for cell therapies.
Renjing has presented at numerous national and international conferences, and received the Douglas Rye Young Investigator Award and the University of Sydney Postgraduate Student’s Prize for Excellence.
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Kenneth Pang
University of Melbourne / Harvard University
Research Interest: Medicine – Genetics
Kenneth is undertaking post-doctoral research at Harvard University, where he is focusing on a newly identified gene, known as SidT2. This gene is present in many diverse species, suggesting that it has an important biological role. Kenneth will investigate the function of SidT2 during mammalian development, especially its role in early life and brain function.
Kenneth has published extensively in international scholarly journals, and has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Australian-American Fulbright post-doctoral scholarship.
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Jane Seto
University of Sydney / University of Washington
Research Interest: Skeletal muscle biology – mouse model phenotyping
Jane will pursue post-doctoral research at the University of Washington’s Department of Neurology. Jane will explore the benefits of synergistic gene delivery aimed at restoring muscle mass and normal dystrophin in older, diseased skeletal muscle. A defect in the dystrophin gene leads to Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive degenerative muscle disease that affects one in 3500 boys. Jane’s goal is to develop and apply gene therapy research in muscle disease.
Jane has published in a variety of scholarly journals, was awarded Best Oral Presentation at the Westmead Association Research Symposium, and the Douglas Rye Young Investigator Award.
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The Fellowships are funded through a series of Annual Benefit Dinners honoring prominent Australians and Americans. Our 2010 Benefit Dinner honors Jim Mulva, CEO of ConocoPhillips and Bill Swanson, CEO of Raytheon. The Benefit Dinner will be held on Monday, November 8, 2010, at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.
Inquiries: Diane Sinclair, Vice President
American Australian Association
50 Broadway, Suite 2003, New York, NY 10004
Tel: 212 338-6860 or diane.sinclair@aaanyc.org
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