27-11-2023
Dear friends,
The General Sir John Monash Foundation – your foundation – exists in great measure because of the generosity of many people. This newsletter praises the contriobuitions of two board members who made a huge difference, while also celebrating the ongoing impact of Scholars.
Paul Ramadge
Chief Executive Officer
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Two Board members of the General Sir John Monash Foundation – Jan McCahey and Stephen Gerlach AM, who have been stalwarts of the organisation – have announced that they are standing down. Jan, a senior executive at PwC, was elected to the Board in 2012 and more recently was a National Panel Selection member. She has been the longest-serving member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, having been appointed in 2012. Jan led the audit work of the committee for many years. Stephen, immediate past Chancellor of Flinders University, was elected to the Board in 2011, was the South Australian State Panel Selection Chair, member of the Investment, Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, and has served as Chair of the Investment Committee. Stephen has provided wise advice to many aspects of the Foundation’s strategic direction. Foundation Board Chairman Jillian Segal AO said: “We have been so fortunate to have had such long-standing directors of the calibre of Jan and Stephen. We thank them both for their commitment to the Foundation. They will always be part of the John Monash family”.
Jillian Segal AO with Jan McCahey at her final Board meeting this month.
Stephen Gerlach AM with May Samali (2014 NSW Premier's John Monash Scholar).
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Dr Olivia Oliver-Thorne (2005 John Monash Scholar) and Dr Laura Diment (2015 Australian Universities' John Monash Scholar) attended a South Australian Government House Patronage Garden Reception on November 22nd, 2023.
Hosted by Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, Governor of South Australia, and Mr Rod Bunten, the event acknowledged the endeavours of those organisations that benefit the wider South Australian community and celebrated their continuing achievements. On 17 November, in a separate initiative, Foundation CEO Paul Ramadge met the Governor to provide an update on the Foundation’s progress and impact.
Dr Olivia Oliver-Thorne and Dr Laura Diment at South Australian Government House.
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Dr Brendan Jones
Dr Brendan Jones (2019 Chairman's Circle John Monash Scholar) has been invited to join the Global Cardiovascular Clinical Trials Forum from November 30th to December 2nd 2023, to be held at The National Press Club in Washington DC.
The forum is the authoritative meeting place for cardiovascular clinical trial principal investigators, statisticians, industry R&D experts, and regulators from major trans-Atlantic agencies.
During the forum, Brendan will speak to an audience of patient groups, policymakers and legal experts about the industry challenges in cardiovascular cell and gene therapy clinical trial design. He will participate in an expert panel discussing ways to accelerate clinical trials within the field. The event hopes to inspire innovation and therapy developments.
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Ryan Parker
Dustin Barter (2019 Australian Universities' John Monash Scholar) has written two new online articles, published in The Diplomat and The New Humanitarian, discussing the political response to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Dustin is a Senior Research Fellow for the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute and has worked in humanitarian development across Southeast Asia and East Africa. He recently submitted his PhD at the University of Cambridge.
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Phare Health has been granted about $3.1 million in financing to expand its artificial intelligence financial operating system for healthcare organisations. The London-based startup was co-founded by Dr Martin Seneviratne (2017 Roden Cutler NSW John Monash Scholar) and is focused on solving the pain points around medical coding by aiming to streamline administrative processes using AI.
Sharing the achievement on LinkedIn, Martin said: “We all get excited about AI for clinicians, but there is a much more urgent need for AI in the hospital back-office — tackling the iceberg of admin processes under the surface”.
Dr Martin Seneviratne
Scholar nominated for the 2023 Australian Directors’ Guild Awards
The full list of nominations for the 2023 Australian Directors’ Guild Awards was announced last week and includes Alies Sluiter (2015 Australian Cultural John Monash Scholar) for Best Direction in her Short Film, Myth. The full set of awards comprises twenty categories, recognising talent from a wide range of genres, including children’s TV, music videos, animation and feature films. Winners are set to be announced at an awards ceremony at The Grand Electric in Sydney’s Surry Hills on Tuesday, 5 December.
Alies Sluiter
PODCAST: Unlocking the mysteries of the brain with Professor Justin Moore
Professor Justin Moore (2006 John Monash Scholar) served as an Associate Professor in neurosurgery at Harvard in the US and has authored a substantial body of more than 100 peer-reviewed papers. In this week’s episode, he discusses some of his career highlights, including his cerebrovascular neurosurgery research and passion for innovative startups.
In the media
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Dr James Daniell (2009 John Monash Scholar) has been mentioned in an article referencing his research on global risk-sharing systems. The report, titled Risk sharing for Loss and Damage: scaling up protection for the Global South, proposes a risk-sharing action plan to increase financing for countries in the Global South that are among the most vulnerable to climate change and disasters. |
Full story
An article discussing misogyny in India’s political culture has referenced the book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, written by Associate Professor Kate Manne (2006 John Monash Scholar). Kate’s book was published in 2017 and has won the Association of American Publishers 2019 PROSE Award in Philosophy, as well as the overall 2019 PROSE Award for Excellence in Humanities.
Full story