Winners of the Harold Mitchell Foundation Travelling Fellowships for 2008

Sean Byrnes has been awarded the Harold Mitchell Post Doctoral Fellowship.
Sean will attend the Computational Neuroscience Meeting 2008 in Portland, Oregon.

Jacqueline Andrew was awarded the Harold Mitchell Postgraduate Student Travelling Fellowship.
Jaq will be attending the 45th Inner Ear Biology Workshop in Ferrara, Italy. Both winners will also visit a number of laboratories in the area that they are travelling.

We acknowledge the Harold Mitchell Foundation who has generously provided funding to the BEI to support these Travelling Fellowships.

   

 

 

Dr Ben Wei - winner of the 2008 Premiers Award

Each year the Premier's Award for Health and Medical Research is awarded to an outstanding Victorian postgraduate health or medical research scholar. The Award recognises the contribution made by early-stage researchers and is an initiative of the Victorian Government and the Australian Society for Medical Research. In conjunction with the Premier's Award for Health and Medical Research, the Jack and Robert Smorgon Families Award was presented to the Bionic Ear Institute.
Ben's PhD investigated Pneumococcal meningitis post cochlear implantation: assessing the risks and prevention. Infection of cochlear implants is rare but Ben's work has shown that vaccination and antibiotic coatings were shown to reduce the risk of pneumococcal meningitis. Ben's work has received worldwide recognition in the medical research field with publications in several highly respected journals.

Ben Wei (middle) with supervisors Prof. Stephen O'Leary (left)
and Prof. Rob Shepherd, Director of the Bionic Ear Institute (right)