CSL Florey Medal
The 2018 CSL Florey Next Generation Award will be awarded on Monday 26 November at the Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) Dinner at Parliament House in Canberra.
- Release with details of three finalists here.
- Naomi Clarke photos and videos here.
- Hamish Graham photos and videos here.
- Dean Picone photos and videos here.
The CSL Florey Next Generation Award is for a current PhD candidate who has demonstrated outstanding achievement and potential in biomedical sciences, health and medical research. It is an initiative of the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, supported by CSL, to encourage the field’s rising stars.
The biennial CSL Florey Medal honours Australian researchers who have had significant achievements in biomedical science and/or in advancing human health.
In alternate years, CSL and AIPS recognise promising medical researchers at earlier stages of their careers. This year marks the inaugural CSL Florey Next Generation Award, which replaces the CSL Young Florey Medal.
For more information, contact:
- Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863
- Niall Byrne on niall@scienceinpublic.com.au
- or call the office on (03) 9398 1416.
www.aips.net.au
Oxygen halves child pneumonia deaths
A Melbourne student researcher and doctor has helped Nigerian hospitals halve the number of children dying from pneumonia—just by improving training and access to oxygen.
Dr Hamish Graham has been awarded with the inaugural $20,000 CSL Florey Next Generation Award for top PhD candidate in health and biomedical sciences. [continue reading…]
Canberra, Hobart and Melbourne young health and medical researchers vie for $20,000 top PhD student award
- Eradicating gut worms: a path out of poverty
- Oxygen halves child pneumonia deaths
- Smart blood pressure measurement to cut heart risk
Scientists available for interviews
Media contacts: Tanya Ha, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0404 083 863;
Niall Byrne, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0417 131 977, (03) 9398 1416
[continue reading…]
Naomi Clarke, Australian National University
Hundreds of millions of children worldwide are infected with intestinal worms, which can stunt their growth and trap them in a cycle of poverty. Naomi Clarke has shown more can be done to reduce these worm infections worldwide.
Global efforts to control intestinal worms are reducing infection rates. Naomi’s research demonstrates that more can be done—simple changes to program guidelines could benefit millions of children and their communities. [continue reading…]
Hamish Graham, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, University of Melbourne

Targeted oxygen therapy could save the lives of thousands of children. Melbourne researcher Hamish Graham says the key is identifying the children who need it most. He found that providing Nigerian hospitals with equipment and training to measure blood oxygen levels has halved the number of children dying from pneumonia.
Hamish, a paediatrician who has worked in Sudan and Nigeria, is now working to make oxygen—a treatment we take for granted in Australia—available to every child who needs it. [continue reading…]
Dean Picone, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania
Heart disease is the world’s biggest killer, and high blood pressure is the number one warning sign. Dean Picone is developing a smarter way to measure blood pressure, to save lives and prevent unnecessary treatment.
“We’ve been measuring blood pressure the same way for more than 100 years,” Dean says. He thinks modern technology can do better than the standard inflatable cuff method. [continue reading…]
Using viruses to restore sight
Researcher restoring sight Elizabeth Rakoczy (UWA) wins $50,000 CSL Florey Medal for lifetime achievement

Press materials available
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After 160 years, it’s time to throw away the needle and syringe
Nanopatch starts clinical trials in Brisbane, with Cuba next
Rocket scientist Mark Kendall (UQ) reinvents vaccination and wins $25,000 CSL Young Florey Medal
Press materials available:
The 2016 CSL Young Florey Medal was presented at the Association of Australian medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) dinner at on Wednesday 9 November in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra
- Professor Mark Kendall helped create a small rocket for vaccine delivery.
- Then he invented a radically simpler concept that could replace the needle and syringe we’ve been using for 160 years.
- A small square of silicon with 20,000 microscopic spikes delivers vaccines directly to the skin’s immune cells.
- It’s painless, requires a fraction of the dose, doesn’t need refrigeration, and eliminates needle phobia.
- Now human clinical trials are underway in Brisbane, and the WHO is planning a polio vaccine trial in Cuba in 2017.
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The ageing brain can repair itself
National honour for pioneer who found brain stem cells and is now waking them up with exercise
Professor Perry Bartlett from the Queensland Brain Institute at UQ received the 2015 CSL Florey Medal for his discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the brain, and for his leadership of neuroscience in Australia.
Media opportunities
Perry is available for interview in Canberra on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 November
The award was presented by Health Minister the Hon. Sussan Ley on Wednesday in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra
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National honour for pioneer who found brain stem cells and is now waking them up with exercise
Media release
Full profile, photos, and HD footage available at: www.scienceinpublic.com.au/floreymedal
The award was presented by Health Minister the Hon. Sussan Ley on Wednesday 11 November in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra
- Professor Perry Bartlett broke the dogma that the adult brain can’t change and regenerate
- He built the Queensland Brain Institute to expand our knowledge of what the brain can do
- Now he’s starting a trial to put people with dementia on treadmills, in the hope that their neurons will regrow
- Perry will receive the 2015 CSL Florey Medal at the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) Dinner in Parliament House for his discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the brain, and for his leadership of neuroscience in Australia.
[continue reading…]
Professor Perry Bartlett is putting people with dementia on treadmills. He has already reversed dementia and recovered spatial memories in mice through exercise. During the next year he’ll find out if exercise will have the same impact on people with dementia. Then he’ll look at depression.
Underpinning these projects is the idea that the brain is constantly changing and that learning, memory, mood and many other brain functions are, in part, regulated by the production of new neurons. When Perry started exploring the brain in 1977, the mature brain was regarded as static and unchangeable. He challenged this dogma and his work has led to a transformation in our understanding of the brain. [continue reading…]

Saving young lives by the million
Professor Ruth Bishop, 2013 CSL Florey Medallist
By their third birthday, just about every child in the world has had a rotavirus infection. Every day about 1200 children die from it; half a million children every year. That’s changing. We’re fighting back thanks to a discovery made in 1973 by a quiet Melbourne researcher—this year’s winner of the 2013 CSL Florey Medal.
That was when Ruth Bishop, Brian Ruck, Geoffrey Davidson and Ian Holmes at the Royal Children’s Hospital and the University of Melbourne’s microbiology department found a virus, now known as rotavirus. Until the middle of the last decade, it put about 10,000 Australian children in hospital each year with acute gastroenteritis. In the next decade, as a direct result of their research, millions of young lives will be saved.
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Australian bionic ear pioneer Professor Graeme Clark will receive the CSL Florey Medal tonight in the presence of 90 of his peers at the 2011 Association of Australian Medical Research Institute’s annual dinner in the Mural Hall at Parliament House Canberra.
High resolution images of Graham Clark can be found here. [continue reading…]

Here are photos, for press use, of the CSL Florey medal winner for 2011. Videos and images of the presentation will be available after Monday.
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