HealtheX 2023

During our Prizegiving Ceremony, we awarded over $17,000 worth of prizes - congratulations to the following winners!

Auckland Medical Research Foundation (AMRF) Outstanding Emerging Researcher & Best Doctoral Oral Presentation Award

$1,000 and a $3,000 AMRF Travel Grant
Jess Kelly - Novel Generation of Three-Dimensional Brain Spheroids Using Direct Cell Reprogramming.
Department of Pharmacology
Supervisor: Professor Bronwen Connor

AMRF Doctoral Oral Presentation Runner-Up Award

$700 and a $2,000 AMRF Travel Grant
Sarah Primhak - Treating Impetigo with Antiseptics, Replacing Antibiotics (TIARA): a randomised controlled trial comparing topical impetigo
treatments
Department of Paediatrics: Child and Youth Health
Supervisor: Dr Emma Best

FMHS Second Runner-Up Doctoral Oral Presentation Award

$500
Madeline Shelling - Rangatiratanga o te Kai - Reconceptualising Food Security in Aotearoa
Te Kupenga Hauora Māori
Supervisor: Dr Anneka Anderson

Pacific Clinical Research Network (PCRN) Best Non-Doctoral Oral Presentation Award

$1,000
Sophia Bebelman - Redefining the role of the arylformamidase enzyme in immunosuppressive tryptophan catabolism of cancer
Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre
Supervisor: Dr Petr Tomek

PCRN Non-Doctoral Oral Presentation First Runner-Up Award

$700
Caitlin Macrae - Inhibiting insulin signaling for weight loss in obese female mice
Department of Nutrition
Supervisor: Associate Professor Troy Merry

FMHS Non-Doctoral Oral Presentation Second Runner-Up Award

$500
Mariam Karhiy - A Randomized Trial: Can a Virtual Human Deliver Mindfulness to Reduce Stress?
Department of Psychological Medicine
Supervisor: Professor Elizabeth Broadbent

Auckland Medical Research Foundation Best Poster Presentation Award

$1,000 and a $2,000 AMRF Travel Grant
Ederlyn Perolina - A cell-based platform for studying the effects of ultrasound on neurons following stretch injury
School of Pharmacy
Primary Supervisor: Dr. Sachin Thakur

FMHS Poster Presentation First Runner-Up Award

$700
Gbohunmi ldowu - Dopaminergic retinal neurons in a Dopamine Transporter Knockout (DAT-KO) model
School of Optometry and Vision science
Supervisors: Associate Professor Monica L. Acosta and Dr Peter Freestone

FMHS Poster Presentation Second Runner-Up Award

$500
Malak Alshakhouri - Investigating the Neurosteroid Withdrawal Hypothesis of Pericatamenial Epilepsy using Visual Long Term Potentiation
School of Pharmacy
Primary Supervisor: Dr Rachael Sumner

Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust Best Elevator Pitch Presentation Award

$1,000
Brooke Hawker - Utilizing 3D hydrogels to promote survival and maturation of directly reprogrammed human-induced oligodendrocyte precursor cells
Department of Pharmacology
Primary Supervisor: Dr Amy Mccaughey-Chapman

FMHS-Post Doctoral Society First Runner-Up Elevator Pitch Presentation Award

$700
Jennifer Park - The effectiveness of an internet-delivered intervention for gaming disorder
School of Population Health
Primary Supervisor: Dr Laura Wilkinson-Meyers

FMHS-Postgraduate Student Association Second Runner-Up Elevator Pitch Presentation Award

$500
Nishantika Mitra - Optimising a protocol for the isolation and characterization of plasma extracellular vesicles
Liggins Institute
Primary Supervisor: Professor Richard Mithen

FMHS Maori and Pacific Health Research Prize

$500
Madeline Shelling - Rangatiratanga o te Kai - Reconceptualising Food Security in Aotearoa
Te Kupenga Hauora Māori
Supervisor: Dr Anneka Anderson
 

PCRN Excellent Abstract Award

$200
Lieke Burgers - Transplantation of directly reprogrammed striatal precursor cells into a rat model of Huntington's disease
Department of Pharmacology
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwen Connor

PCRN Excellent Abstract Award

$200
Alice McDouall - Erythropoietin improved recovery of brain activity after mild hypoxia-ischemia in the term-equivalent feta I sheep
Department of Physiology
Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Joanne Davidson

PCRN Excellent Abstract Award

$200
Brooke Hawker - Utilizing 3D hydrogels to promote survival and maturation of directly reprogrammed human-induced oligodendrocyte
precursor cells
Department of Pharmacology
Primary Supervisor: Dr Amy Mccaughey-Chapman

PCRN Excellent Abstract Award

$200
Benjamin Prince - Examining structural plasticity within human heart neurons and its role in Atrial Fibrillation
Department of Physiology
Primary Supervisor: Professor Johanna Montgomery

PCRN Excellent Abstract Award

$200
Melenaite Tohi - Adolescent understanding of the developmental origins of
health and disease concepts: a Pacific perspective
Liggins Institute
Primary Supervisor: Professor Mark Vickers