Meet our previous winners
The Science Prizes, Awards and Research Committee (SPARC) administers awards, prizes and grants associated with the annual National Scientific Congress (NSC) of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists. These are divided into “pre-NSC Adjudicated Grants” which are decided prior to the NSC, and those presented and adjudicated by a panel at the NSC as the “NSC Presentation Awards”. Locally Administered Prizes are administered by the relevant State Committees
Pre-National Scientific Congress Adjudicated Grants
Dr Matthew Bright
Annual Research Grant Award Winner 2025
WAVELET-II: Individualised haemodynamic optimisation informed by the lower limit of cerebral autoregulation in a cardiac population
Dr Bright is a consultant cardiac anaesthetist at The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, and commenced his PhD at the University of Queensland. His higher research degree program will use wavelet semblance analysis as a novel method for determining lower limits of cerebrovascular autoregulation thresholds during Personalised External Aortic Root Support surgery. Important outcomes include assessing autoregulation metrics, identifying predictors of impaired reserve, acute kidney injury, myocardial injury, stroke, and delirium due to hypoperfusion injury.
The ASA Annual Research Grant will be pivotal in enabling this translational research by providing essential equipment and protected PhD research
time for Dr Bright to lead study initiation, patient recruitment, intraoperative monitoring, and signal analysis.
Dr Jonathan Chen
Kevin McCaul Prize Winner 2025
Shoulder tip pain during and after caesarean section: a narrative review
Dr Chen is an anaesthetic registrar at The Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne. His winning application was on shoulder tip pain as a complication after caesarean section surgery. This review summarises the available evidence on mechanisms, incidence, and management strategies of shoulder tip pain, and highlights simple, low-risk interventions that may enhance maternal comfort and postoperative recovery.
The ASA Kevin McCaul Obstetrics Anaesthesia Prize recognises the contribution of Dr Chen’s study to drive a prospective study at the author’s institution to understand and manage this common postoperative complication.
NSC Presentation Prize Awards
Associate Professor Jonathon P. Fanning
2025 Gilbert Troup Prize
Associate Professor Jonathon P. Fanning is a clinician-researcher with specialist qualifications in Anaesthesia (FANZCA), Intensive Care (FCICM), and Internal Medicine (FRACP). He completed his PhD at the University of Queensland focusing on perioperative cardiovascular complications and subsequently undertook an MSc in Clinical Trials at Oxford University. In 2021, he was honoured to receive a visiting Fulbright Scholarship to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
With over 15 years in clinical medicine, Jon maintains an active practice as an anaesthetist at The Prince Charles Hospital and an intensivist at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital in Brisbane, Queensland. His leadership roles include Executive Board Member of the Australian Fulbright Alumni Association and Chair of the Queensland Cardiovascular Research Network.
Jon is fortunate to collaborate with colleagues across multiple disciplines and institutions, both nationally and internationally. He values the mentorship he has received throughout his career and endeavours to support the next generation of clinician-researchers in developing their skills and pursuing meaningful clinical research.
He is deeply grateful to receive this award on behalf of a team of researchers and clinicians who have all contributed across The Prince Charles Hospital and the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. In particular, Jon acknowledges his close collaborator Associate Professor David Highton (Director of the Princess Alexandra Hospital Department of Anaesthesia), and two of his PhD students, Dr Matthew Bright (Cardiac Anaesthetist, The Prince Charles Hospital) and Ms Allison Kearney (Clinical Trials Coordinator, The Princess Alexandra Hospital) whom have contributed substantially to this research.
Professor Victoria Eley
Gilbert Troup Prize Runner-up
Professor Victoria Eley has worked as a specialist anaesthetist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital since 2007. Deeply involved with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), she is a member of ANZCA’s Research Committee and Safety and Quality Committee. Victoria completed her PhD in the field of obstetric anaesthesia which remains her key area of interest. She has over 70 peer-reviewed papers, with her research reflecting the needs of patients, clinicians and institutions. Victoria is the Professor and Head of the University of Queensland Mayne Academy of Critical Care and supervises medical students, junior doctors, anaesthesia trainees and specialists in clinical research and research higher degrees.
Dr Madeline Collings
ASA Best Poster Prize
Madeline is a PGY4 anaesthetic critical care resident at Eastern Health currently working as an intensive care registrar. Previously, she undertook her formative years in medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, gaining experience in anaesthesia and intensive care. She has strong interests in peri-operative pain management, health biostatistics and equitable healthcare, as a regular international medical volunteer – most recently with Cambodia Vision. Maddy is eager (but nervous) to commence anaesthetic training at Eastern Health in 2026.
Dr James Molloy
Trainee Members Group – Best Poster Winner
James Molloy is an advanced trainee at Royal North Shore Hospital. He was awarded the Trainee Member Group Best Poster Prize for his presentation Anaesthesia Selection in Endovascular Treatment of Acute Ischaemic Stroke: A Retrospective Single-Centre Analysis. He also received the Robert Hornbook Prize for Anaesthetic Optimisation for Same-Day Discharge Total Knee Arthroplasty, awarded for the best original research on a day-of-surgery theme. In addition, he presented Strategic Sleep Episodes are Correlated with Reduced Fatigue-Induced Impairment in Anaesthetic Registrars during Night Shifts in the Gilbert Troup session. James’s research focuses on improving patient outcomes through optimisation of anaesthetic techniques and perioperative pathways, as well as enhancing trainee wellbeing and fatigue management in anaesthesia practice. He gratefully acknowledges the support of his supervisors, A/Prof Matt Doane, Dr Ben Olesnicky, and Dr Oliver Hambidge, along with Dr Andrew Read and the department for their help in undertaking this research.
Dr Kyle Williams
ASA Trainee Members Group Audit/Survey Prize Winner
Kyle is a PGY2 doctor at Austin Health with an interest in Anaesthesia. He enjoys teaching medical students from Monash University and University of Melbourne and finds it rewarding to mentor and learn alongside them. Outside of clinical work, he is grateful for the opportunity to be involved in healthcare sustainability initiatives through his work with Medical Pantry, helping divert unused hospital equipment and supplies from landfill into medical and nursing education for clinical skills teaching, and now also into secondary schools. He looks forward to gaining further experience in critical care and research in anaesthetics next year.
ASA Research Grants
Dr Michelle Chong
ASA Small Grant Winner 2025
Dr Michelle Chong is the winner of the ASA Small Grant now known as ASA Research Grant for her research proposal: A Pilot Study of Phrenic Nerve-sparing Regional Anaesthesia for Shoulder Analgesia: Cadaveric Evaluation of Combined Suprascapular, Axillary and Lateral Pectoral (SAXI-Pec) Nerve Blocks.
