The 2024 Dean's Awards for Excellence were announced recently and SCS is delighted to report that ten staff members, (including 3 individual and 7 team awards) have been recognised for their outstanding achievement within the Faculty.
Individual awards
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| Prof Ram Nataraja |
Professor Ram Nataraja is an academic paediatric surgeon in the Department of Paediatrics in the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health. He is also the Director of Monash Children’s Hospital Simulation Centre and in this role has built the unit to be a self-sustainable model with an increasing portfolio of virtual national and international courses. He is a pioneer in minimally invasive surgery in children and surgical simulation and also designed the first validated paediatric surgical bench trainer model in 2002. He continues to use innovation and incorporation of novel and emerging technology to increase the impact of education. He has an educational and clinical research background with more than 120 peer-reviewed publications. He is also passionate about educational reform in low and middle-income countries, having led various programs in countries including Myanmar, Fiji, Samoa, and Papua New Guinea, including the innovative PIVOTS program.
"It's a great honour to receive this award from the Dean acknowledging the work we have been doing in the Pacific Islands. None of this would have been possible without the excellent team at Monash Children’s Simulation! There is so much great work happening at the SCS and it’s a pleasure to work with all of you!", said Professor Nataraja.
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| A/Prof Megan Wallace |
Associate Professor Megan Wallace is a teaching and research academic with a diverse suite of senior educational leadership roles. In those roles, she is leading educational changes in undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education. Associate Professor Wallace has played a pivotal role in developing and introducing the largest new component in the MD degree required for accreditation by the Australian Medical Council. She also coordinates the BMedSc(Hons) degree and an undergraduate research-focused unit BME3082, instilling a passion and enthusiasm for medical research in her students. She is also responsible for developing a highly successful suite of short courses for health professionals, leading continual professional development activities for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In these roles, Associate Professor Wallace plays a key role in driving the vital intersection between teaching and research in the faculty, training and mentoring junior scientists and clinician scientists, promoting evidence-based medicine, and increasing the base of research-active clinicians in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
"I am extremely honoured to receive the Dean's Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership. The success of the programs that I lead can be very much attributed to the inspirational and hardworking education teams who ensure that each of our programs are engaging, relevant and have a positive impact on student learning and outcomes", said Associate Professor Wallace.
Dr Kathryn Connelly
Dr Kathryn Connelly: Dean’s Award for Doctoral Thesis Excellence 2023 - Faculty Industry Engagement Award
Team awards
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L-R: Dr Phyllis Chua, Kaylene Hanlon, Dr Meaghan Christian, Dr Peta Tehan, A/Prof Janeane Dart |
Dr Phyllis Chua, Kaylene Hanlon, Dr Meaghan Christian, Dr Peta Tehan, Associate Professor Janeane Dart: Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education: Industry Education Programs - TEAM Undergraduate Certificates (Together Educating & Advocating Matters)
The team established the Undergraduate Certificates of Mental Health, Aged Care Health Essentials and Health Care Essentials, enrolling more than 2500 students These innovative courses respond to industry needs, include co-design with industry, consumers and carers, cross-faculty teaching teams, and diverse student groups and have received excellent feedback.
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| L-R: A/Prof Kiri Beilby, Dr Nicola Rivers |
The COVID-19 lockdowns in Melbourne resulted in a significant reduction in student motivation and engagement as measured through student evaluations (SETU) and attendance in a cohort of postgraduate science students within the Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Medicine. These issues not only persisted but worsened in the two years following, long after public health restrictions were lifted and as the cost of living crisis began to rise. To address the problem, an in-depth evaluation of student experience was conducted through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), resulting in a list of recommendations that were implemented and shown to improve student motivation through SETU metrics.
