Four Murdoch University staff have been nominated in the Women in Technology Western Australia (WiTWA) awards.
Professor of Computational Medicine and Premier’s Fellow in Molecular Phenomics Elaine Holmes, Associate Director in Digital Innovations Julie Whitlock, forensic scientist Dr Paola Magni and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance manager Dr Sam Lodge now go through to a People’s Choice Award vote, which closes on Monday 23 September.
A judging panel will also assess the nominated women for the WiTWA Tech [+] 20 Awards, with all winners being announced at the WiTWA Conference on 24 October.
Professor Holmes’ important research focuses on applying metabolic profiling and computational modelling of biological samples to progress research on maternal and infant health, liver and gastrointestinal disease and metabolic diseases such as diabetes and dementia.
She joined Murdoch in early 2019 having previously worked at Imperial College London where she headed the Division of Computational and Systems Medicine. She is the author of more than 400 peer reviewed papers and has won several awards including the Royal Society of Chemistry Interdisciplinary Award and Lifetime membership of the Metabolomics Society.
Technology solutions
Ms Whitlock has spent more than 20 years at the forefront of innovative and award-winning technology solutions in both the healthcare and education industries.
She was elected by Murdoch staff to the University’s Senate in 2018, and is a Board Member on Women’s Legal Service WA. She is also a member of the Health Consumer’s Council and the Consumer & Community Health Research Network.
A forensic biologist, Dr Magni made headlines around Australia earlier this year after winning the national FameLab competition – a science communication challenge which sees competitors present their research in just three minutes for a general audience.
Dr Magni’s tales of crime-solving barnacles took her all the way to the international final at the Cheltenham Science Festival where she came fourth. She is also a seasoned TEDx speaker and played an intrinsic role in an Italian CSI drama as a screenplay consultant.
Dr Lodge joined the first phenome centre based at Imperial College London and recently moved to Perth to take up a position at the Murdoch-led Australian National Phenome Centre.
She is a key conduit between the research laboratories and medical practitioners, providing advice on the interpretation of clinical data and results for the purposes of diagnosis and treatment of disease.
Thirteen Murdoch alumni are also nominated for the awards. Blossom Washington, Charlotte Moss, Joanne Watkins, Katherine Iscoe, Melanie Bainbridge, Michelle Helm, Natacha Rogers, Rachna Dhand, Rebecca Platt, Rinchen Lham, Sam Cross, Suzanne Brown and Yvonne Power are all former Murdoch students.
For more information about the nominees go to the WiTWA website.