Health Professional Awards

This  award acknowledges a member who  has  made an outstanding contribution to the College, generally over  many  years. The  award was  established in 2001.

Nomination by any Fellow or Ordinary member of the  ACPSEM- one award given each year. (For information on proposers' nomination requirements please see form below).

Decision: The winner will be determined by the ACPSEM Board of Directors.

Previous winners include:     John  Coles, Lee  Collins, John  Heggie, John  Drew, Robert Fitchew, Lyn Oliver, Ian Smith, Howell Round, Tomas Kron,  Eva Bezak, Ian (Donald) McLean, Sean  Geoghegan and Richard Dove

Award: Medal plus certificate.

This  Award  commemorates David Robinson AM,  ACPSEM President 1986 -1987, an engineer who  pioneered work in the  field  of diagnostic ultrasound.

This  annual awarded is to assist  a member, of any  grade, to attend the  EPSM conference to present a paper detailing innovative work related to diagnostic imaging or biomedical engineering.

Award: $1200 plus a certificate

Funder:  ACPSEM.

Decision: The  decision will be made by the  ACPSEM Awards Committee.

To see information on previous Award winners since 2018, click ►here.

This  scholarship honours the College's third  President, Richard Bates, who  was Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch. His particular expertise was  in the  field  of signal and  image processing, and  he supervised more than  50  masters and  doctoral students, many of whom are  current College members.

The  scholarship is awarded to assist  a physical scientist or engineer to undertake a period of study or carry out  a research project overseas. The  scholarship is awarded to members whose projects are  perceived to be of broad benefit to the  College or the profession of physical and  engineering sciences in medicine. The intent of this  award is to advance research in medical physics or biomedical engineering.

Prize:  The  maximum value  of the  Scholarship is $5000.

Funder:  ACPSEM.

Determination: The  decision will be made by the  ACPSEM Awards Panel.

To see information on previous Award winners since 2018, click ►here.

This  prize  honours one  of the  founding members of the  College, Boyce Worthley, who was  a senior physicist with  the  Anti-Cancer Foundation, Adelaide. He became the College's first Life  Member. This  prize  is awarded to a younger member of the College for a significant contribution to the profession of physical and  engineering sciences in medicine, generally with  several publications in refereed journals as a primary author.

Prize:  full cover of registration, travel and  accommodation to the  next  College's annual conference as an  invited speaker. The  intent of this  award is to recognise achievement for outstanding work and  to encourage such members to stay  in the profession.

Funder:  ACPSEM.

All fellows, members and associate members of the ACPSEM shall be entitled to nominate persons for the award.

Decision: The decision will be made by the  ACPSEM Awards Panel

Past  Recipients: Wendy Harriss-Phillips, Phillip Bones, Lorraine Holley, Marienne Hibbert, Dale  Bailey, Richard Jones, Peter  Metcalfe, Aina  Puce, Geoff  Tansley, Richard Fright, Steven Meikle, Tomas Kron,  Peter  Hoban, Martin Ebert, Paul  Keall,  Martin Butson, Lois  Holloway, Lisa  Duggan, Loredana Marcu, Zoe  Brady, Michael Taylor, Kathy Willowson and  Nick Hardcastle.

To see information on previous Award winners since 2018, click ►here.

This prize is awarded for the best PhD thesis in Physical and Engineering Sciences with relevance for medicine.

Postgraduate students will have been awarded their PhD at an Australian or New Zealand university from 1st January previous year to 30 June, the current year.  Key criteria include clinical relevance, scientific merit and publications capacity.

Award: $500 plus certificate

Funder: Generously donated by distinguished radiotherapy physicist, Professor Tomas Kron,

Decision: The decision will be made by the ACPSEM Awards Panel.

To see information on previous Award winners since 2018, click ►here.

This prize honours Kenneth Clarke, founding editor of the Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine Journal.

The  prize  is to be awarded annually for the best  paper on original work published in the Australasian Physical and  Engineering Sciences in Medicine authored by a member of the  ACPSEM.

Prize: $500 plus a certificate

Funding: ACPSEM

Decision: The Journal Editor makes the  selection with the  assistance of the Associate Editors. The  decision will be made by the  ACPSEM Journal Editorial Board.

To see information on previous Award winners since 2018, click ►here.

Introduction

The Better Healthcare Technology (BHT) Foundation Clinical Leadership Award has been established in honour of Vera Page Last. Vera worked as a medical physicist clinician in New South Wales Radiation Oncology departments for several decades and was renowned for her dedication and diligence in patient care, and for introducing multiple new techniques and technologies for clinical benefit.  A more complete biography of Vera can be found ► here.

Description

Through this award, the BHT Foundation recognises the often unheralded development work undertaken by medical physicists in the clinical setting which substantially benefits patients.  Such work ultimately enables the safe and effective introduction of better healthcare technologies and promotes the work of clinical medical physicists. This work can be difficult to undertake depending on relevant opportunity, which can be impacted by substantial routine workloads, limitations in support for research activity, remote and rural working locations and external influences such as carer responsibilities and the impact of past discriminatory practices.

The BHT Foundation Clinical Leadership Award in honour of Vera Last was created to provide due recognition for the improvement of patient care within the bounds of economic, resource and social constraints. The award is made through nomination for those responsible for a specific clinically-based “activity”.

Administration

• The award will be made annually, provided financial support is available.
• The award constitutes a certificate and cash amount, reviewed annually.
• Nominations can be made by anyone, and self-nomination is allowed.
• The awardee(s) will be listed on the ACPSEM and BHT Foundation websites, and notifications of the award may be placed in affiliated newsletters and other digital media

Assessment

• Nominations will be assessed by an Award Panel formed by the BHT Board and which can include co-opted non-board representatives.
• The award may be made for more than one nomination in any year, or need not be awarded at all, at the discretion of the award committee.

The accompanying Award Applicant Information Sheet contains information about eligibility, assessment criteria for judging panel and how to apply .   Please read and review this before commencing your application via the Nomination Form.

Download the Award Nomination Form here.

Obligation of Award Winners

Successful award winner(s) will be contacted by the BHT Foundation. There's an expectation that upon acceptance of the winning prize, the award winner will commit to writing an article describing their winning project/activity for publication on the www.betterhealthcaretechnology.org website within 3 months of receiving their award.

The article can be sourced from the content provided in the award nomination. Winning parties can liaise with the BHT Foundation webmaster (or their agent) regarding final length and style of this article.  All required accreditations and content / image copyright acknowledgement will be provided to the prize winners as the sole article authors for this content.

For further information or applicant queries about this award please contact:

foundationawards@betterhealthcaretechnology.org