The Jacquot Awards support nephrologists wishing to establish or pursue a research career for the treatment and management of renal disease.

In 1985, Mrs Lorraine Jacquot of Trash and Treasure Australia Pty Ltd established the Don Jacquot Fellowship in memory of her late husband. Following her death in 1992, the RACP Foundation received an additional bequest from Lorraine and the Fellowship was renamed the Don and Lorraine Jacquot Fellowship. Their legacy has allowed for the funding of additional Fellowships and Scholarships over time.

The Awards are co-administered by the RACP and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN). Representatives from the ANSZN Research Advisory Committee and the RACP Grants Advisory Committees (GAC) assess all Jacquot Award applications.

We are all are grateful for the guidance and support of Ian and Zanette Brown and the Rowling family in the administration of these prestigious Awards.

Current recipients

Simon completed his undergraduate medical training at the University of Newcastle and specialist training in Nephrology at The Canberra and Royal Prince Alfred Hospitals. He received his Masters in Medicine (Hons) from the University of Sydney and his PhD at the ANU as an NHMRC/RACP scholar investigating the role of genetic variation in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Simon’s laboratory investigates the genetic and molecular mechanisms of systemic autoimmunity and kidney disease. He leads a national translational personalised medicine program centred at The Canberra Hospital and ANU which investigates complex autoimmunity by identifying potential pathogenic gene variants and demonstrating the molecular and immune consequence of these variants. In collaboration with the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, he also uses this personalised medicine approach to investigate the unique genetic basis of kidney disease in Indigenous Australians.

The Jacquot Research Establishment Fellowship ($90,000)
Dr Prasanti Kotagiri
‘Shared B cell clones in IgA nephropathy’

Dr Prasanti Kotagiri is a Nephrologist and early career researcher with a strong interest in B cell immunology. On completion of her renal specialist training, she undertook a PhD at Cambridge University in Prof Ken Smith’s laboratory. Her work involved studying the immune cell transcriptome and B cell receptor repertoire in auto-immunity, infection and vaccination.

Since relocating to Melbourne, she has continued collaborating with Cambridge university utilising her skills in big data analysis to study the affects the ageing on the immune system. She has been appointed as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne. In addition to her research, she is designing the clinical translation medicine course for second year medical student which aims to help students gain a greater understanding of the contribution of medical research to clinical care. She is also the recipient of a Mckenzie Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Fulbright Future Scholarship.

The Jacquot Research Establishment Fellowship ($90,000)
Dr Melanie Wyld
‘Addressing intersectional sex and gender inequities in kidney transplantation’

Melanie Wyld (B.Econ(Hons) MBBS MBA MPH PhD FRACP) is a transplant nephrologist at Westmead Hospital and senior lecturer at the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. She received her PhD ‘Health outcomes and cost-effectiveness in kidney disease’ in 2019 from the University of Sydney.

She is an early-career clinical researcher with research interests in gender and intersectional disparities in access to, and outcomes from, transplantation, as well as health-economics and quality-of-life in kidney disease. She is a member of ANZDATA’s transplant working group, the renal executive committee of NSW governments Agency for Clinical Innovation and the AIHW CKD expert advisory group.

Jacquot Research Entry Scholarship ($45,000)
Dr Jonathan Bleasel
‘Gene Expression Profiling in End Stage Kidney Disease to Predict Post-Transplant Outcomes’

Dr Jonathan Bleasel is a nephrologist with an interest in transplantation and immunology. He obtained his medical degree with honours from The University of New South Wales in 2014 and completed his basic physician and Nephrology training in Sydney and Dubbo.

Jonathan is undertaking a PhD at Cambridge University under the supervision of Professor Ken Smith and Dr Paul Lyons. His project will explore gene expression patterns in immune cells before and after kidney transplantation and correlate these with relevant clinical outcomes. This research seeks to uncover genomic predictors of rejection and infection in kidney transplant recipients and make progress toward enhanced personalised medicine in this field.

Daniel Christiadi completed his medical degree from Airlangga University, Indonesia. In 2011, Daniel started Basic Physician Training at Northwest Regional Hospital, Burnie. He then completed specialist training in Nephrology at The Canberra, Royal Darwin and Imperial College (UK) Hospitals.

Following Acute Kidney Injury Fellow at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, in February 2021, Daniel started PhD at John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, studying the artificial intelligence application to improve the diagnosis and prediction of patients with kidney disease.

Dr Vanessa Heron is a Nephrologist at Austin Health with an interest in obstetric medicine. She completed her medical degree at Monash University in 2013, graduating with honours. In 2020 she obtained her fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians having completed advanced training in nephrology at Toowoomba Hospital, Monash Health and Austin Health. She then undertook further training in obstetric medicine through Mercy Hospital for Women.

Vanessa is currently undertaking a PhD examining urinary exosomes in pre-eclamptic women with the Department of Medicine at Austin Health and University of Melbourne. Her research aims to help better understand the impact of pre-eclampsia on the kidney and how pre-eclampsia may be diagnosed or treated. Vanessa has been involved in clinical research throughout her career. She has presented at national and international conferences and has published peer-reviewed articles as well as a book chapter.

In 2018 she was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology Shaun Summers Clinical Trainee Award for her research. She is passionate about women's health and has a particular interest in the areas of obstetric nephrology, transplantation and chronic kidney disease.

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.

Dr Daniel O'Hara is a nephrologist undertaking a PhD with the University of Sydney and the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre to explore strategies to improve the standard of care in diabetic kidney disease. His projects include extensive stakeholder engagement with patients and clinicians to investigate barriers to the effective management of diabetes and kidney disease, and the development and testing of interventions to support people living with diabetes, kidney disease and/or heart disease to more consistently use medications that can improve long-term outcome.

He has a keen interest in global health and implementation research to help close the evidence-practice gap in kidney health, including the pursuit of patient-important outcomes and patient-centred care. He is also the Co-ordinator and Lead Editor for the International Society of Nephrology Global Trials Focus, a monthly newsletter with an international audience, seeking to appraise and disseminate the latest clinical trials evidence in nephrology.

Dr. Nasir A. Shah is an early career nephrologist and PhD Candidate at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Working at the intersection of vascular biology, nephrology, and engineering, his work focuses on high flow arteriovenous fistulas, the endothelial cell signaling that underpins their development, and their relationship with cardiovascular disease.

By merging novel additive manufacturing technologies with established biological science techniques, he looks to evaluate endothelial cell signalling using an innovative 3D mimic model based off true patient blood vessel geometries. Beyond the molecular basis of high flow fistula formation, he is interested in the cardiovascular implications of vascular access creation.

Having recruited a multi-disciplinary team including healthcare professionals, molecular scientists, and engineers he will use his PhD to foster cross-disciplinary relationships between researchers and clinicians to promote translational, collaborative work.

Dr Matthew Tunbridge received his medical degree from the University of Queensland in 2014. He received his nephrology fellowship in 2022 after training at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and Royal Adelaide Hospital.

He completed a research fellowship year at the Royal Adelaide Hospital investigating vaccine immune responses in kidney transplant recipients. He is currently undertaking his PhD at the University of Adelaide investigating immunosuppression strategies that promote immune tolerance of kidney transplants.

Jacquot Selection Committee

Associate Professor Carmel Hawley, Co-chair (ANZSN Research Advisory Committee)

Professor Richard Kitching, Co-chair (ANZSN Research Advisory Committee)

Professor Stephen Alexander

Associate Professor Melinda Coughlan (ANZSN)

Dr Meg Jardine (ANZSN)

Professor Graham Lieschke (GAC Deputy Chair)

Associate Professor Rob MacGinley (GAC)

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