The 2022 Early Career Researcher of the Year is Dr Michelle Kennedy from the HMRI Equity and Health and Wellbeing Research Program.

Dr Michelle Kennedy is a Wiradjuri woman who has grown up on Worimi country. She is an NHMRC early-career researcher, partnering with Aboriginal communities to place the power in their hands and address priority areas to improve Indigenous health. 

Dr Kennedy created a smoking cessation program for pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. 

Dr Nicole Nathan is 4.5 years post PhD and has more than 15 years’ experience as a health promotion manager with Hunter New England Population Health, where her primary role is to lead a multidisciplinary team to deliver childhood obesity prevention programs to the community.
Dr Nathan’s multi-award winning work on childhood obesity prevention programs has now been rolled out to over 600,000 students across NSW. Her work has led to children in the Hunter region having a lower incidence of obesity than the rest of the Australian population.

Dr Gardner is an NHMRC Early Career Fellow with the School of Medicine & Public Health at the University of Newcastle, and an honorary clinical research fellow with the Hunter New England Local Health District. He is also a Co-Director of HNEH's Sport Concussion Clinic, an Executive Committee Member of the Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury, and serves as a member of the Australian Rugby Union's (ARUs) Concussion Advisory Group.

Associate Professor Stephen Smith is a highly regarded colorectal surgeon who serves as Director of the Hunter Surgical Clinical Research Unit at John Hunter Hospital while maintaining an almost full clinical workload.

He has developed and led innovative and high-quality surgical projects in three broad areas – infection, pain, and delayed return of gastrointestinal function.

Dr Yoong is a behavioural scientist and experienced dietitian with expertise in practice-based translational research. In her relatively short research career she has developed an outstanding research track record and has established a national and international reputation as an expert implementation scientist in the field of non-communicable disease prevention.

Dr Andrew Bivard work in acute ischemic stroke imaging focuses on patient selection for clot-busting therapies. Together with industry partners, he developed an automated processing program for cerebral perfusion imaging.

With stroke also being a leading cause of disability, Dr Bivard is now coordinating the MIDAS Fatigue Trial at HMRI using the drug Modafinil to assist stroke survivors in overcoming persistent tiredness.