University Alumni Award winners' far-reaching impacts

Congratulations to the three University of Tasmania Alumni Award winners for 2023, who have been recognised for their globally significant work in antimicrobial resistance and sepsis, sea ice and climate change, and nursing.

They are Professor Tim Walsh from the University of Oxford, an expert in antimicrobial resistance (Distinguished Alumni Award); Professor Helen Fricker from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, where she is a global leader in the study of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (International Alumni Award); and Mrs Annabel McKay, a haematology oncology clinical nurse who has been recognised for her philanthropic and education efforts in Cambodia (Young Alumni Award).

The Director of Advancement at the University of Tasmania, Rebecca Cuthill, says the awardees are making notable global contributions to health and our understanding of the connections between sea ice, rising sea levels and climate change.

“We congratulate these exceptional alumni for their wide-ranging expertise and efforts, from discovering and naming two of the most notorious antibiotic resistant genes, NDM-1 and MCR-1, to better understanding the Antarctic ice sheet and its relationship with climate change, and nursing that is making a difference for patients and staff in Australia and overseas,” Ms Cuthill said.

More detail on the 2023 University of Tasmania Alumni Award winners follows:

Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Professor Tim Walsh OBE, DSc, MAE

University of Tasmania qualifications – BAppScMLS1986, GradDip (Immunology and Microbiology) 1989

Tim Walsh is a Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Oxford and the Co-Director and Biology Lead for the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research. He is director of BARNARDS, examining the burden of neonatal sepsis in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ethiopia. BARNARDS also examines infant gut development, maternal protection against sepsis, and the impact of female genital mutilation (FGM) on maternal infections and antibiotic use. He is director of BALANCE, comparing the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in high income countries (Poland, Italy and Turkey) to low-middle income countries (Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya and Sierra Leone) as well as understanding the role of insects in the global dissemination of AMR (AVIAR).

He is advisor to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Antimicrobial Resistance (STAG-AMR), and to the Fleming Fund (London). He holds a Doctor of Science and is a Member of the Academia Europaea. In 2020, he was awarded an OBE for “Microbiology and International Development”.

International Alumni Award recipient

Professor Helen Amanda Fricker

University of Tasmania qualification – PhD 1999

Helen Amanda Fricker is Professor of Geophysics at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. She is a global leader in the study of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, having revolutionised our understanding of how the ice sheet works and how it interacts with the surrounding oceans.

Professor Fricker’s work was cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to establish the physical basis for climate change. She has briefed the Californian Governor on sea-level rise and recently accompanied Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, to Antarctica to highlight the changes underway and discuss the importance of climate research. She was awarded the Martha T. Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica, made a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and has a named Antarctica feature (Fricker Ice Piedmont).

She is the Science Team Lead for NASA’s US$1 billion ICESat-2 satellite mission. This mission is tasked with mapping the world’s ice sheets as they change over time and will deliver unparalleled insights into their response to climate change.

Young Alumni Award recipient

Mrs Annabel McKay 

University of Tasmania qualifications – GradCertN(Specialisation) 2018, GradDipN(Specialisation) 2019, MCN(Specialisation) 2022

Annabel McKay is a haematology oncology clinical nurse at Brisbane’s Mater Private Hospital and an Associate Lecturer and Academic Clinical Facilitator and Supervisor at the University of Southern Queensland.

She has received the Pride of Australia Medal for Care and Compassion, the Australian Nurse of the Year (Graduate Category), and the Professor Catherine Turner Medal for Excellence in Nursing. She was also a Queensland Finalist in the 2021 Young Australian of the Year awards and a Finalist in the Queensland Young Achiever of the Year awards.

McKay, who is also profoundly deaf, has been nominated as an Australia Day Ambassador from 2015 through to 2023 by the Queensland Premier.

Notable are her philanthropic and education efforts in Cambodia, where she has volunteered as a clinical nurse educator to upskill local staff. Her work has helped create policy change and a shift in mindset, demonstrating and creating an environment that elevates staff and patient safety and promotes nursing autonomy, pride and recognition.