HealtheX 2024 Conference Booklet
HealtheX 2024 Award Winners
On behalf of the HealtheX 2024, we would like to thank the presenters, judges, and attendees both staff and student alike, for contributing to the 18th anniversary of the HealtheX Conference.
Additionally, we would like to thank the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS), Auckland Medical Research Foundation, the Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust, the Liggins Institute, the FMHS Postgraduate Student Association, Pacific Clinical Research Network, as well as our newfound supporting partners, In vitro technologies, Mediray and Eppendorf for their partnership and support.
During our Prizegiving Ceremony, we awarded over $17,000 worth of prizes – congratulations to the following winners!
Doctoral Oral Presentation Awards
Auckland Medical Research Foundation (AMRF) Outstanding Emerging Researcher & Best Doctoral Oral Presentation Award
$1,000 and a $3,000 AMRF Travel Grant
Sophie Piesse – Enduring impacts of placental extracellular vesicles on the maternal cardiovascular system in spontaneously hypertensive rats
Department of Physiology
Supervisor: Associate Professor Carolyn Barrett
AMRF Doctoral Oral Presentation Runner Up Award
$700 and a $2,000 AMRF Travel Grant
Carina Donegan – Set and setting the stage: Expectancies of individuals with MDD about to microdose LSD
Department of Psychological Medicine
Supervisor: Dr Lisa Reynolds
FMHS Second Runner Up Doctoral Oral Presentation Award
$500
Ibrahim Mohamed – Evaluating Feijoa for Diabetes Prevention: FERDINAND study
School of Biological Sciences
Supervisor: Associate Professor Jennifer Miles-Chan
Non-Doctoral Oral Presentation Awards
Pacific Clinical Research Network (PCRN) Best Non-Doctoral Oral Presentation Award
$1,000
Jamie Hyde – Huntington’s disease as a whole-body syndrome? Investigating molecular mechanisms of liver pathogenesis in Huntington’s disease
School of Biological Sciences
Supervisor: Dr Renee Handley
PCRN Non-Doctoral Oral Presentation First Runner Up Award
$700
Olivia Hogan – Deciphering the mystery of arylformamidase’ involvement in immunosuppressive kynurenine production in cancer
Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre
Supervisor: Dr Petr Tomek
FMHS Non-Doctoral Oral Presentation Second Runner Up Award
$500
Courtney Brighouse – Unlocking the Brain Drain in Hypertension and Diabetes
Department of Physiology
Supervisor: Dr Fiona McBryde
Poster Presentation Awards
Auckland Medical Research Foundation Best Poster Presentation Award
$1,000 and a $2,000 AMRF Travel Grant
Grace Donaldson – Development of a Non-Invasive Embryo Quality Evaluation Tool for Equine Embryos
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Supervisor: Dr Lynsey Cree
FMHS Poster Presentation First Runner Up Award
$700
Jess Kelly – Novel Three-Dimensional Brain Organoids for Modelling Huntington’s Disease
Department of Pharmacology
Supervisor: Professor Bronwen Connor
FMHS Poster Presentation Second Runner Up Award
$500
Janneke Grundemann – Friend or Foe: Deconstructing cancer-immune interactions using patient-derived tumour models
Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre
Supervisor: Dr Emma Nolan
3-Minute Elevator Pitch Presentation Awards
Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust Best Elevator Pitch Presentation Award
$1,000
Holly Wilson – If they had actually listened to me: Identifying patients at risk of hospital readmissions
School of Pharmacy
Supervisor: Associate Professor Amy Chan
FMHS-Post Doctoral Society First Runner Up Elevator Pitch Presentation Award
$700
Cristal Salatas – Investigating and mapping the factors associated with preterm birth in New Zealand: cross-sectional geospatial study
Liggins Institute
Supervisor: Professor Frank Bloomfield
FMHS-Postgraduate Student Association Second Runner Up Elevator Pitch Presentation Award
$500
Muna Dhakal – Reducing the construction load: Nurr1 variants as switch for viral vector therapy for Parkinson’s disease
Department of Pharmacology
Supervisor: Associate Professor Deborah Young
Additional Prizes
FMHS Pacific Health Research Award
$500
Eden Yin – Global Insights into PINK1 Parkinson’s Disease: A Meta-Analysis of Prevalence, Phenotypic Variability, and α-Synuclein Pathology
Department of Anatomy and Medical Imaging
Supervisor: Dr Victor Dieriks
FMHS Māori Health Research Award
$500
Ariana Andrews – How do we describe health equity? Concepts of health equity in New Zealand media discourse
Te Kupenga Hauora Māori
Supervisor: Dr Donna Cormack
FMHS PGSA Excellent Abstract Award
$200
Greer Pugh – Understanding standing… Exploring vascular properties in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
Department of Physiology
Supervisor: Dr James Fisher
FMHS PGSA Excellent Abstract Award
$200
Sophie Piesse – Enduring impacts of placental extracellular vesicles on the maternal cardiovascular system in spontaneously hypertensive rats
Department of Physiology
Supervisor: Associate Professor Carolyn Barrett
FMHS PGSA Excellent Abstract Award
$200
Borson Wong – Targeting cardiac fructose metabolism rescues diabetic cardiomyopathy in mice
Department of Physiology
Supervisor: Associate Professor Kim Mellor
FMHS PGSA Excellent Abstract Award
$200
Elisa Weiss – The Impact of Western-Style Parental Diet on Offspring Metabolic Health: Initial Parental Phenotype
Department of Nutrition & Dietetics
Supervisor: Dr David Musson
FMHS PGSA Excellent Abstract Award
$200
Courtney Thorne – Bovine lenses as a model for diabetic cataract: assessing metabolic changes in hyperglycaemia
Department of Physiology
Supervisor: Associate Professor Julie Lim