NDARC researchers win suite of local, international awards
November 2014
Professor Maree Teesson’s pioneering research in the field of co-occurring substance use and mental disorders has earned her two national prizes in as many months.
Professor Teesson, who leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use (CREMS) based at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), took home the 2014 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers. The Eureka Prizes are Australia’s most comprehensive and prestigious national science awards.
In October, Professor Teesson was also named as one of Australia’s 2014 100 Women of Influence. Professor Teesson was one of 10 women named in the ‘Innovation’ category. The awards program is run annually by The Australian Financial Review and Westpac and showcases the country’s highest-achieving women across 10 categories.
Also taking home prizes in October were NDARC researchers Dr Sarah Larney and Dr Natacha Carragher. Dr Carragher was winner of the United Kingdom Royal Society of Medicine’s 2014 Epidemiology & Public Health Young Epidemiologist Prize for her work in developing and evaluating an alcohol policy assessment tool. The ‘Toolkit for Evaluating Alcohol policy Stringency and Enforcement' (or TEASE-16) assesses the adequacy of national policies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and related problems. Dr Carragher and colleagues have highlighted in this edition of Connections the incongruencies between Australia's alcohol policy ranking and alcohol consumption ranking.
Dr Larney was bestowed the 2014 Australasian Professional Society for Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD) Early Career Award, which recognises excellence in research by a postgraduate scientist or researcher who has been working in the substance misuse field for less than 10 years. Dr Larney will receive her award on Tuesday 11 November at a gala dinner at this year’s APSAD Conference. She will also deliver the Early Career Keynote at the APSAD Conference on the topic of ‘Harm production and harm reduction: Prisons and opioid substitution therapy’.
NDARC congratulates Professor Teesson, Dr Carragher and Dr Larney on their outstanding achievements.
