This year’s Tempe Mann Travelling Scholarship, for overseas or interstate research, was awarded to Ashlea Hambleton. This scholarship is named in honour of Ms Tempe Mann, a teacher and University of Sydney alumni. Ashlea is a 3rd year PhD Student in Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney and a Clinical Psychologist who has a Master of Clinical Psychology (Distinction) and a Bachelor of Psychology (Hons 1).
Her thesis title is Family Based Treatment via Telemedicine for Rural and Regional Young People with Anorexia Nervosa. Sadly Anorexia nervosa (AN), more common among women than men, is the most lethal form of mental illness. Ashlea intends to visit Kings College London (KCL) Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences (IOPPN) which has a leading eating disorder clinical-research centre whose team pioneered the early models of specialised family therapy for AN. During her time at this centre, Ashlea will be observing and assisting with clinical research projects and hopes to embed these findings in her PhD research and project outcome.
As a clinician-researcher Ashlea is working in the bridge between research and practice. She will learn from the team at IOPPN but also share her local experience because Australia has utilised telehealth services more than the UK, although practice is changing due to COVID. Ashlea has already worked with vulnerable communities in her role as a Clinical Psychologist and will be ready to make an impact as soon as she finishes her PhD. She is the first person in the country to try to adapt this therapy to telehealth. We wish her the very best with her work and look forward to hearing more of her research upon her return.
The field of applicants for this year’s scholarship was as impressive as always, and special mention is made of runner up, Erin Humphries. Erin holds a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) (Honours) Chemistry and is also enrolled as a Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Her research work looks at formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues and their use in large-scale phosphoproteomic cancer biomarker studies, to develop a data driven approach to cancer diagnoses and improve treatment decision-making. We wish Erin all the best with her important research and hope to hear more of her progress.
The Tempe Mann Travelling Scholarship was made possible by the bequest of the late Ms Tempe Mann and the generosity of GW-NSW members. We thank them, and the scholarship assessors, for their generous support of this scholarship.