A measure of success
International Association for Suicide Prevention – Early Career Researcher Award Winners
Calvary Mater Newcastle and the University of Newcastle were well-represented at the International Association for Suicide Prevention- Asia Pacific (IASP) conference, at Broadbeach Queensland in May 2022, scooping up two of the three Early Career Researcher prizes.
During the Early Career Researcher pre-conference workshop, participants were given five minutes to describe their research during a round of ‘Lightning Presentations’.
The awards were judged by an expert international panel including Prof Ian Hickie (Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney) and Dr Kylie King (Monash University, Victoria).
Dr Katie McGill, Calvary Mater Newcastle Research Manager in Suicide Prevention and PhD candidate, University of Newcastle, was awarded the ‘Best Lightning Talk’ for her summary on the role and value of clinical case registers for hospital-treated self-harm in improving patient care.
Ms Cynthia Coombe, a proud Worimi descendant and PhD candidate, University of Newcastle, won the hearts of the audience, winning the People’s Choice award for her talk about how she is seeking to better understand the care provided to Aboriginal people who come to hospital after intentional self-poisoning.
Cynthia echoed the voices of Awabakal and Worimi Elders and colleagues Margaret Whitson, Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officer, Calvary Mater Newcastle, and Leonie Garvey, Greater Newcastle Sector Aboriginal Health Unit Manager, as she received the award in the hope that the work will have a ripple effect for First Nations communities, with the research translating into positive change in current clinical practise.
Professor Greg Carter, Director Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, is the PhD supervisor of both candidates, and both women’s research has only been possible because of the unique dataset and case register held at Calvary Mater Newcastle.
Greg said, “Winning two of the three Early Researcher presentation awards at IASP was a deserved honour for Dr McGill and Ms Coombe. It was also a measure of the success of Newcastle based research programs.
“There was extensive competition from other PhD students, particularly from a number of Australian Universities and from a small number of international participants, who presented some excellent suicide prevention projects.”