In December, we were proud to host our end of year awards ceremony, as a chance to celebrate the continuous service of our staff and recognize team members who have excelled throughout the year.
Celebrating continuous service:
30 years of service
We’re sending a big congratulations to Mark Mayo for reaching 30 years of service at Menzies. We are incredibly lucky to have Mark as part of our team, who commenced as a lab trainee and is now the Program Manager of the Darwin melioidosis team (with a new bacterium named in his honour), co-lead of the Menzies-Ramaciotti Centre, and Menzies Associate Deputy Director for Indigenous Leadership and Management. Thanks for your commitment to Menzies, Mark!
Image 1: Mark Mayo receives his 30 years of continuous service award from Chair of the Menzies Board, The Hon. Trevor Riley, and Menzies Director, Professor Alan Cass.
25 years of service
We were also pleased to recognise Robyn Liddle on achieving 25 years of service at Menzies. Robyn has been a longstanding member of our Professional Services team as our Database Administrator, supporting countless researchers in data management and extracting information for reporting and analysis. Thanks for your contribution Robyn!
During this ceremony we also recognised 31 staff members who have contributed 5, 10 and 15 years of continuous service to Menzies.
Image 2: Chair of the Menzies Board, The Hon. Trevor Riley, and Menzies Director, Professor Alan Cass, present Robyn Liddle with her 25 years of continuous service award.
Menzies Mentorship Award:
This year, the Menzies Mentorship Award was introduced to recognise staff who provide excellence in mentorship at Menzies, in both a research and professional capacity.
We were pleased to announce the winner for the inaugural Menzies Mentorship Award for academic staff is Professor Bart Currie and winner for professional staff mentorship is Dr Debbie Hall.
During his more than 30 years of work in Darwin, it’s estimated that Bart has supervised and supported at least 200 students, along with many more who have benefited from his inclusive, collaborative approach and ability to bring out the best in others.
Debbie is recognised for the incredible guidance, support and leadership she offers the teams in the Global and Tropical Health Division as well as across Menzies. Her professionalism, importance given to each interaction with the team and support for a positive working environment is greatly valued.
Congratulations Bart and Debbie on this recognition!
Image 3: Recipients of the inaugural Menzies Mentorship Awards, Dr Debbie Hall (professional staff) and Professor Bart Currie (research).
Ryan Family Prize:
The Ryan Family Prize recognises outstanding contributions to Menzies from individuals or groups. The prize winner goes above and beyond in their role to help make Menzies a great place to work.
Thanks to the generosity of the Ryan Family, the winner is provided a professional development prize and a perpetual trophy.
Congratulations to the Menzies Centre for Child Development and Education (CCDE) – Play to Connect team who were the winners of the prize:
- Kaylene Puruntatameri
- Aileen Tiparui
- Maggie Kerinaiua
For more than 5 years, the team based on the Tiwi Islands have worked in close collaboration with Menzies staff and local families after participating in the Play to Connect program themselves.
Over the past few years, the team also piloted a new form of home visit support during the pandemic, support several other Menzies projects on the Tiwi Islands, and were recently involved in 2 Menzies studies, co-authoring 2 peer reviewed papers.
Thanks Kaylene, Aileen and Maggie for your commitment to both Menzies and your community!
Image 4: Ryan Family Prize winners (centre), Maggie Kerinaiua, Aileen Tiparui and Kaylene Puruntatameri from the Menzies Centre for Child Development and Education (CCDE) – Play to Connect team. The team is pictured at the Menzies Darwin Office with Carolin Stock and Professor Gary Robinson who nominated the team for the award.