The Dean's Prize

The Dean’s Prize was introduced in 2007 as a way of raising the profile of the scheme within the Medical School and showcasing the high quality of the science that was being done by the scholarship holders in their projects.

This year's Dean's Prize seminar was hosted by The Children's Hospital Westmead on 25 March 2009. Eight students were selected to give presentations about their research projects to compete for the Dean's Prize.

The Dean's Prize was awarded to Michael Smith for his project Acute rheumatic fever presentations in a tertiary paediatric centre under the supervision of Dr Yvonne Zurynski and Professor Elizabeth Elliott at the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

Due to the high quality of the presentations two students were awarded second place. Emily King for her project Novel molecular targets for diagnostics of Infectious Diseases under the supervision of Dr Vitali Sintchenko and Dr Neisha Jeoffreys at the Western Clinical School; and Athina Pirpiris for her project The urethral motion profile as a predictor of stress urinary incontinence under the supervison of Associate Professor Hans Peter Dietz and Klara Shek at the Nepean Clinical School.

The other students nominated, all of whom gave excellent presentations to the seminar, were:
Jordan Basnett
Vanessa Thomas
Ka Pui Katherine Cheung
Yui Murata
Sai Krishnan

Previous Dean's Prize Winners

2008 Dean's Prize Winner

Dominic Balasuriya - The roles of a-actinin-3 in bone cells and bone tissues and the effects of its deficiency in bone density and strength
Supervisor: Dr Nan Yang, Institute for Neuromuscular Research, Children's Hospital at Westmead

2008 Dean's Prize Second Place

Sophie Shu Yi Han - Tandem affinity purification to identify novel IGFBP-3-interacting proteins with the potential to influence cancer
Supervisor: Dr Steve Grkovic, Growth Group, Kolling Institute of Medical Research
Elicia Rodas - The synthetic antioxidant bisphenol protects kidney epithelial cells from myoglobin toxicity
Supervisor: Dr Paul Witting, ANZAC Research Institute

2007 Dean's Prize Winner

Min Zhi Xing - The role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in liver cancer
Supervisors: Dr Nicholas Shackel and Dr Susan McLennan, Sydney Cancer Centre

2007 Dean's Prize Second Place

Stephanie Hing - Development of a novel model for the study of prostate progenitor cells
Supervisor: Dr Qihan Dong, Central Clinical School