2024 recipients

2024 RACP Fellows Research Entry Scholarship ($45,000)
Dr Rami Subhi
'Realist Evaluation and Learning in a Multi-country Medical OXYgen Program (REAL-MOXY)'

Rami Subhi is a general paediatrician and global health researcher. He is Head of Unit, Paediatrics, at the Northern Hospital in Melbourne; Research Fellow and PhD candidate at Melbourne Children's Global; and Clinical Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Rami's research aims at addressing the inequity of access to quality acute care services, particularly medical oxygen, in low resource settings.

2024 RACP Research Entry Scholarship ($45,000)
Dr Nicholas McNamee
'Advancing mass spectroscopy-based proteomic applications in clinical oncology'

Dr Nicholas McNamee is currently a Clinical Research Fellow at the Kinghorn Cancer Centre and Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Having studied undergraduate medicine at the University of Newcastle, he was a Junior Medical Officer and Basic Physician Trainee in the St Vincent's Hospital Sydney training network, before completing Advanced Training in Medical Oncology at Westmead and Blacktown Hospitals. 

Dr McNamee is pursuing a PhD at the Children's Medical Research Institute with the ProCan Oncology team, and specifically aiming to advanced mass spectroscopy-based proteomics in clinical oncology. Prior to this, his research has focused on thoracic, gastrointestinal and brain malignancies, and he has also completed a Masters of Medicine (Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Development) through the University of Sydney.

2024 RACP Research Entry Scholarship ($45,000)
Dr James Triplett
‘Shingolipid metabolism and the development of neuropathy in the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

Dr James Triplett is a neurologist and neurophysiologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, with an interest in neuromuscular conditions and neuropathies. He graduated from Medicine from the University of Newcastle and undertook physician training in Western Australia, while concurrently completing a Master of Medicine through the University of Sydney. Dr Triplett subsequently completed a neuromuscular fellowship at Concord hospital NSW and then was the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists (ANZAN) overseas fellow at the Mayo Clinic Rochester where he received further training in neurophysiology and neuromuscular medicine. 

Dr Triplett will be undertaking a full-time PhD in 2024 at the University of Adelaide which focuses on the pathophysiology and pathogeneses of diabetic neuropathy including identifying potential causative mechanisms and biomarkers for diabetic neuropathy. This research will particularly address the association of abnormal sphingolipid metabolism in the development of diabetic neuropathy.

2024 RACP Research Entry Scholarship ($13,000)
Dr Thomas Khoo
‘Improving the prediction, diagnosis and outcomes of autoimmune and statin-related muscle disease affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients'

Dr Thomas Khoo, MBBS, FRACP, is a South Australian Rheumatologist currently completing an overseas fellowship with Salford Royal Hospital and the Manchester Myositis Research Group in the United Kingdom. Thomas has clinical and research interests across the spectrum of autoimmune and statin-related muscle diseases. His PhD with the University of Adelaide explores the genetic determinants, clinical features, treatment response characteristics and healthcare journeys of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples affected by these conditions. Thomas is also a Fellow of the International Myositis Assessment & Clinical Studies Scientific Committee, a member of the international Outcome Measures in Rheumatology: Patient Perspective of Remission in Rheumatoid Arthritis Working Group, and a member of the British Myology Society. He is the current Australian Rheumatology Association Ken Muirden Overseas Training Fellow.

Dr Maeve Hume-Nixon
2024 Aotearoa New Zealand Fellows Research Entry Scholarship ($13,000)
‘Value of azithromycin in pregnancy looking at infant and maternal outcomes'

Dr Maeve Hume-Nixon is a final year Public Health trainee with the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine based in Aotearoa New Zealand, and is due to finish her training in early 2024. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Otago, and was a Rotary Scholar completing a MSc in Public Health for Development (with Distinction) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

She has had a diverse range of experiences in research and public health; ranging from being part of the World Health Organization Acute Respiratory Infection Project, consultancy on healthcare workforce and services development, and working in policy on NZ’s first women’s health strategy and health reform programme. She is currently working at the National Cervical Screening Programme whilst also completing her PhD at the University of Melbourne in international maternal and child health. Her PhD explores the value of azithromycin in pregnancy to prevent outcomes such as death and infection, which will be largely based on a large clinical trial that she coordinated in Fiji. She hopes that this research will inform international policy setting around the use of this intervention; particularly in low and middle-income countries.

2024 Arnott Research Entry Scholarship in Cancer Research ($10,000)
Dr Mahendra Naidoo
‘Real world outcomes for women with Ovarian Cancer: Investigating quality of care using a Clinical Quality Registry'

Dr Mahendra Naidoo is a Medical Oncologist with a sub-speciality interest in Gynaecological and Gastrointestinal cancers. He graduated from the University of Otago (NZ) and undertook physician training at Westmead Hospital (Sydney) and North Shore Hospital (NZ). He commenced specialty training in medical oncology at Waikato Hospital (NZ) followed by a 2 year sub-speciality fellowship at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre focussed on treatment of patients with Gynaecological and Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. He is currently working at Monash Health, Melbourne in the Gynaecology/GI Team. 

Dr Naidoo is a Fulbright Scholar having completed a Masters in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University (2015) . He subsequently worked at the National Cancer Institute at the NIH in Maryland (USA) focussing on designing and reviewing cancer research grants. He is presently undertaking a PhD at Monash University's School of Public Health focussing on improving outcomes in Ovarian Cancer at the National Gynae-Oncology Registry (NGOR).

2024 Arnott Research Entry Scholarship in Cancer Research ($45,000)
Dr Lauren Brown
'Comprehensive molecular and immune characterisation of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in premenopausal women'

Lauren Brown is a Medical Oncologist sub-specialising in breast cancer. She is a graduate of the University of Otago in Aotearoa New Zealand and completed her physician and medical oncology training in Auckland before undertaking a two-year fellowship in breast cancer clinical trials at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. She continues to work there as a Medical Oncologist in the breast team whilst undertaking a PhD at the University of Melbourne under the primary supervision of Professor Sherene Loi. Her PhD focuses on hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in pre-menopausal women.

2024 Jacquot Research Entry Scholarship ($45,000)
Dr Katharine Hegerty
'Incremental dialysis - the consumer experience and the INCremental dialysis to improve Health outcomes for people starting Haemodialysis (INCH- HD) trial'

Dr Katharine Hegerty is a current PhD Student with the University of Queensland and is completing a clinical epidemiology PhD focussed on incremental haemodialysis, the haemodialysis consumer experience and the INCremental dialysis to improve Health outcomes for people starting Haemodialysis (INCH- HD) trial. She is also a kidney specialist working for the Kidney and Transplant Service at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, QLD. She is committed to ongoing development of clinician-researcher skills, education and mentoring within haemodialysis and transplant medicine. She also completes unscheduled night shift work with her 9-month-old daughter and husband.

2024 Jacquot Research Entry Scholarship ($45,000)
Dr Dana Kim
'Non-Invasive Magnetic resonance imaging Biomarkers to evaLuatE histology proven kidney fibrosis in Chronic Kidney Disease: NIMBLE-CKD'

Dr. Dana Kim is a nephrologist and PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney. She completed her clinical nephrology training across the East Coast Network of New South Wales and became a fellow of the RACP in January 2022 before embarking on her early research career. She is a Research Associate at The George Institute for Global Health where she is involved in large international clinical trials in kidney disease. Her interests lie in the early identification of individuals at risk of kidney failure and interventions aimed at slowing the progression of chronic kidney disease. 

Dana's research on the effects of corticosteroid therapy in patients with IgA Nephropathy has received global recognition from the International Society of Nephrology and the International IgA Nephropathy Network. Her PhD also aims to leverage state-of-the-art MRI techniques established in cardiovascular disease to develop a safe non-invasive diagnostic tool to detect patients with early CKD at risk of advanced disease. Dana is passionate about advancing our understanding of kidney-related conditions and improving outcomes at both an individual patient level and broader global scale.

2024 Jacquot Research Entry Scholarship ($39,375)
Dr Lachlan McMichael
'Understanding the patient path to kidney transplantation’

Dr Lachlan McMichael is a kidney specialist & early career clinician-researcher. He is a PhD candidate at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and a research fellow at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His research program is focused on analysing international trends in wait-listing for kidney transplantation, developing administrative measures of eligibility for kidney transplantation in patients with kidney failure and assessing resource utilisation during evaluation for kidney transplantation. 

Dr McMichael completed his medical degree at the University of Adelaide in 2013. He undertook Basic Physician Training at Central Adelaide Local Health Network and completed his Nephrology Advanced Training at the Central and Northern Adelaide Renal & Transplantation Service. He became a Fellow of the RACP in 2021. 

Dr McMichael has completed clinical fellowships in Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada between 2020-2022 and completed a Master of Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology) from the University of Sydney in 2022. Dr McMichael hopes his research will inform contemporary kidney transplant practice by reducing the current variation in approaches to kidney transplant evaluation and optimising resource utilisation.

2024 Jacquot Research Entry Scholarship ($45,000)
Dr Arushi Ramnarain
‘Treatment patterns and outcomes of patients with lupus nephritis’

Dr Arushi Ramnarain is an early career nephrologist and PhD candidate affiliated with Monash Health. After studying medicine at The University of Adelaide, she undertook basic physician training in Melbourne. Thereafter, she completed nephrology advanced training at Monash Health, Eastern Health and The Royal Melbourne Hospital. In 2022 she was conferred her fellowship from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. 

Dr Ramnarain is presently pursuing a clinical PhD at Monash University studying lupus nephritis, a renal manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus, which is associated with adverse outcomes. Her research aims to identify crucial patient, disease, and treatment-related factors affecting morbidity, with the ultimate goal of optimizing disease control, whilst minimizing complications and improving quality of life within this cohort of patients.

Past recipients
Research Entry Scholarships

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