 The Stroke Council of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association has presented its most prestigious award to Professor Geoffrey Donnan, Director of the National Stroke Research Institute, and the Department of Neurology at the University of Melbourne. Professor Donnan has become the first Australian to receive the William Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke.
‘I was honored to hear I had received the award, which is presented by the American Stroke Association for Excellence in Clinical Research. This award named in honor of a distinguished clinical researcher in the United States, is rarely awarded to individuals from other countries.’ Professor Donnan said.
The winner of this prestigious award presented a lecture on stroke at the International Stroke Conference an annual event held in the US, and receives a $2000 honorarium plus expenses to attend the conference, as well as a $10 000 grant to the recipient's choice of institution.
‘The Award reflects the high quality of clinical research being carried out in Australia, particularly at the Austin Health, University of Melbourne and National Stroke Research Institute. It also reflects the collaborative nature of clinical Stroke research throughout Australia, through networks such as Neuroscience Trials Australia and the Australian Stroke Trials Network.’ said Professor Donnan.
‘The Educational Grant will allow us to support young researchers to travel overseas to gain valuable research experience.’ He said.
Professor Donnan graduated from the University of Melbourne and trained in Neurology at the Austin Hospital followed by post-doctoral positions at the Mayo Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Professor Donnan was involved in identifying a number of unique clinical syndromes including the Capsular Warning Syndrome and Striatocapsular infarction. He established the North East Melbourne Stroke Incidence Study (NEMESIS) in which the incidence of stroke was determined for the East coast of Australia.
He made early contributions to the establishment of smoking and passive smoking as a risk factor for stroke, aortic arch atheroma and the lack of risk associated with the low dose oral contraceptive pill.
He was co-founder with Professor Stephen Davis of the Australian Stroke Trials Network (ASTN). The first of these was the Australian Streptokinase Trial (ASK). He also has a major interest in the imaging of the ischaemic penumbra and pioneered the use of the hypoxic marker 18FMISO PET.
Professor Donnan has been involved in a number of international initiatives including establishment of the World Neurology Foundation and the World Stroke Foundation. Professor Donnan has chaired the scientific committee or executive committees of a number of international meetings including the 6th International Symposium on Thrombolysis and Acute Stroke (2000), World Stroke Congress (2000) and World Congress of Neurology (2005). He is currently Co-chair of the Education Committee for the World Stroke Congress, Vienna 2008.
Professor Donnan has published over 350 papers in peer reviewed journals, more than 60 book chapters, edited 4 books and has lectured or been Visiting Professor in numerous countries. He has trained a large number of Fellows in stroke neurology who now work throughout Australia and other parts of the world. He serves on a number of journal editorial boards including Stroke (Co-Section editor for Stroke Controversies), Cerebrovascular Diseases (Associate Editor) and Lancet Neurology; and is Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Stroke.
He is Past President of the Stroke Society of Australasia and Past President of the Australian Association of Neurologists. Following the recent amalgamation of the International Stroke Society and World Stroke Federation now renamed the World Stroke Organization; Professor Donnan was elected as WSO President by his peers.
For media enquiries or further information please contact
Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins cljenkins@nsri.org.au 94962889 Mon and Thurs. |
National Stroke Research Institute