2021 Awards Highlights
With the move of this year's conference to entirely online due to COVID-19, the annual APSAD Awards ceremony was held online within the conference program.
APSAD President Professor Michael Farrell presented the 2021 APSAD Awards for Excellence in Science, Research and Practice. The eight recipients of the APSAD Awards are recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia.
2021 APSAD AWARD WINNERS
![]() Leanne Hides
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![]() Peter Kelly
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![]() Mid Career Award
Nicola Newton
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![]() Cassandra Wright
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![]() First Peoples Award
Moana Tane
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![]() Mentor Award
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![]() Clinician Award
Lynette Bullen
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![]() Advocacy Award
Grace Oh
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Senior Scientist Award Professor Leanne Hides
Over the last 20 years, Leanne has made an outstanding contribution to the development of the evidence base for psychological treatments for primary alcohol and other drug (AOD) and mental health problems in young people. Her wealth of clinical experience working as a psychologist in both mental health and substance use treatment settings has provided with Leanne the skills and knowledge to engage this extremely challenging population in clinical trials research. Much of this research is conducted in partnership with AOD services in real-world clinical settings, to ensure the research can be translated into practice.
Leanne has an exceptional track record in AOD research. She has received prestigious fellowships (ARC Future Fellowship, 2012-2016; NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship, 2017-2021), and has 201 publications including 186 peer-refereed journal articles and 15 book chapters. Her success in obtaining grants is outstanding: since 2010 she has been a chief investigator on 15 NHMRC grants, including leading our recent NHMRC Research Excellence grant (2021-2025). Leanne's outstanding combination of clinical research and implementation science skills will ensure she continues to make a significant contribution to the development of evidence-based AOD treatments and their translation into AOD services.
Her leadership in the field of clinical psychology is evident in her appointment as President of the Australian Association of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (AACBT 2010-2014) and she is the incoming president for APSAD, after serving as the Queensland APSAD representative for 6 years.
Mid Career Award A/Prof Nicola Newton
Nicola is an exceptional research leader with a national and international reputation. As Director of Prevention, she leads a large program of prevention research at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, using innovative digital technologies in large scale trials, and fast-tracking research into practice.
Nicola has developed and commercialised the first effective eHealth prevention programs for substance use, known as Climate Schools. The effectiveness of the Climate Schools programs has been established through seven RCTs in an impressive 14,663 students from 169 schools, and she has provided world-first evidence that eHealth preventive interventions can significantly delay the uptake of alcohol use, reduce binge drinking, reduce illicit drug use, and reduce psychological distress. Of great importance, this evidence has been subject to translation strategies so that her work has reached nearly one thousand schools, more than 26,000 students and 2,300 teachers. Nicola has established an independent program of research, supervising a large team of research staff and students to address the evidence gaps in prevention and the need for improved sustainability.
She has an impressive research trajectory with international and national recognition of her innovative research. She has published a highly impressive 120 peer-reviewed articles, 11 book chapters, 30 reports and 22 drug education resources. Her research has been cited over 3,000 times with average citations per publication three times that of her field (Scimago Journal Rank). Her international standing is reflected in her research being presented >200 times at leading national and international, psychology and addiction conferences, including 22 invited keynotes. As a leading scholar in mental health and substance use prevention, she regularly contributes to public debate. Nicola has attracted over $37 million and led over 59 grants and she is the recipient of 21 national and international awards in recognition of her research excellence.
Mid Career Award A/Prof Peter Kelly
Pete has developed into one of the leading researchers in our field and has established, and continues to lead, an innovative program of research that is focused on improving treatment in the alcohol and other drug sector. His research is conducted at the ‘coal face’ of clinical practice. He is the leading researcher in Australia focused on the non-government treatment sector. This is an often overlooked sector by the research community and it presents enormous challenges for conducting high-quality research (e.g. poorly resourced for research, high staff turnover, traditionally low integration of evidence-based care). However, the NGO sector increasingly plays an extremely important role in the provision of services. The research that Pete is conducting is vital to ensuring high-quality service provision for the large number of Australians accessing NGO services each day.
Pete has established highly impactful partnerships with a range of the leading services providers (e.g. SMART Recovery, We Help Ourselves, The Salvation Army, Odyssey House, Kedesh, St Vincent de Paul). He has done this by really engaging with the clients and clinicians of the services, and working with service providers to deliver highly collaborative research projects. As evidenced by his international leadership of SMART Recovery research, Pete is highly respected both Nationally and Internationally for his research. His work is very well funded by a range of leading State and Nationally competitive funding bodies. Likewise, he has been highly productive in publishing his work (124 journal publications). As recognised by his series of awards (e.g. Excellence in Research Award, National Drug and Alcohol Award; Excellence in Research and Evaluation, NSW NGO Awards), his research is highly valued for the impact that it makes to the field. Likewise, his recent NHMRC success talks to the importance for Pete’s program of research. Pete is the Co-Director of the new NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Alcohol and Other Drug Sector Capacity Building for Outcome Focused, Evidence-Based and Cost-effective Care (2021-2025, Under Embargo). This new CRE is very exciting for our sector and clearly recognises Pete as an important leader in our field.
Early Career Award Dr Cassandra Wright
Dr Wright has made an important and significant contribution to the alcohol and other drug sector since coming to the sector in 2015. This contribution is summarised in a series of papers connected to the development and implementation of the Mobile Intervention for Drinking in Young People (MIDY) intervention. This seminal work produced an internationally unique intervention designed to influence drinking occasions of young people. Based on a series of interactive and tailored text messages, the intervention was co-designed with young people themselves ensuring acceptability. Dr Wright led all aspects of the work in collaboration with her PhD supervisor Dr Megan Lim and findings from initial development of MIDY led to a prestigious National Health and Medical Research Council Project grant being awarded in 2017 to continue the body of work. Ultimately, this pioneering work has advanced the field significantly, highlighting the importance of co-design principles and the potential for using new technologies for intervening during actual drinking events to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms.
Mentor Award A/Prof Cath Chapman
First Peoples Award Dr Moana Pera Tane
Dr Tane has a strong background in corporate leadership and executive management within the Health and Social Services industries in both Australia and New Zealand (Maori Health, health equity, Aboriginal Medical Services, Aboriginal Primary Health Care and Public Health, Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs, Environmental Health). A comprehensive background in Indigenous smoking cessation (NZ and Australia), national training and implementation of the NZ. Smoking Cessation Guidelines to the non-regulated Maori smoking cessation workforce (Aukati Kai Paipa program). Design, development and implementation of smoking cessation training for Aboriginal Health Workers, RNs and GPs providing smoking cessation advice as routine primary health care in very remote Yolngu communities (Laynhapuy Homelands Health Service).
Community-based postgraduate researcher in New Zealand (Master of Public Health - first-class honors) and in Australia, a decolonised research study in East Arnhem Land investigating smoking, stigma and leadership among the
Yolngu people of the region (Doctor of Philosophy, Indigenous Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University. In 2020, Post-doctoral Research Fellow iSISTAQUIT, School of Medicine and Public
Health, University of Newcastle and currently an Associate Investigator on a research project, funded by Global Alliance on Chronic Diseases and NHMRC.
Industry experience in Maori and Aboriginal health promotion, public health and tobacco control (NZ and Australia)
Extensive experience living and working in very remote Aboriginal communities (East Arnhem Land NT, Kimberley WA, Ngaanyatjarra Lands Central Desert) and regional communities (Broome WA, Kalgoorlie, Goldfields, WA). Previous experience (evidence to the Select Committee Inquiry: impact of tobacco on Maori), policy recommendations for clinical governance and oversight (East Arnhem Land and Ngaanyatjarra Lands) and ongoing leadership in strategy and policy design for the Tupeka Kore Te Taitokerau (Northland) Tupeka Kore (Tobacco Free) Strategy (in train). Recipient Australian Postgraduate Award 2014; published author (five publications in international academic journals).
Clinician Award Lynette Bullen
Lynette Bullen is a Wiradjuri woman who has worked in drugs and alcohol for near 30 years in urban, regional, rural and remote NSW. She has held a range of roles, from being a mothercraft nurse in a women’s residential rehabilitation service to an alcohol and other drug counsellor and aftercare coordinator. Since 2012, she has been employed at the Involuntary Drug and Alcohol Treatment Unit in Orange as a Senior
Drug and Alcohol Clinician. She strives to ensure optimum care for her clients (and their family) and has been a leading voice to ensure care delivered in IDAT is culturally safe and inclusive of local services based in the client’s home community. She sees this as key to ensuring seamless care once a client is discharged from IDAT and heads back at home. Alongside her clinical duties, Lynette has been involved with research and research translation for many years. She is the ‘female English’ voice on the Grog Survey App an accurate and acceptable tool designed to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples describe how much they drink. She is a member of the working group advising the development of the Drug Survey App (NHMRC-funded Ideas grant). She is an author of a chapter in an edited clinical text requested by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander alcohol and other drug workforce nationally (published in 2012). More recently, she is undertaking a Health Education and Training Institute (HETI) Rural Research Capacity Building Program through NSW Health. Supported in this study by the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Indigenous Health and Alcohol, Lynette is leading a study that is examining factors that influence referrals of Aboriginal clients to involuntary drug and alcohol care in NSW. Lynette is a member of the Western NSW Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee and in 2020 she received the Western Health Research Network Emerging Researcher’s Presentation Award.
Advocacy Award Grace Oh
Grace Oh is a Senior Workforce Development Officer at the Mental Health Commission (MHC) WA. Grace is the WA Naloxone Project Lead and works collaboratively with alcohol and other drugs and Health services to deliver state-wide WA Naloxone Programs. Grace currently sits on the MHC Overdose Strategy Group and Early Warning System as well as the National Naloxone Reference Group. Grace has 20 years’ experience in the alcohol and other drugs sector and is passionate about innovative Harm Reduction and Peer Education approaches to reduce drug-related harm and deaths in the WA community. Grace is also Principal Consultant for Australian Drug Education & Consultancy, providing drug education for safer events and reducing drug-related harm in the community.
Advocacy Award Information
NEW AWARD CATEGORY FOR 2021
As part of the Society's 40th Anniversary celebrations, we are announcing a new Award Category. The Advocacy Award will recognise the outstanding impact by an individual or a team in the alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs sector who works in the policy and/or advocacy area.
This is the first APSAD Award open to teams and the recipient of the 2021 Advocacy Award will have the opportunity to hold an Advocacy Workshop at the 2021 APSAD Brisbane Conference.
Details for the new Advocacy Award:
The Advocacy Award recognises the outstanding impact by an individual or a team in the alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs sector who works in the policy and/or advocacy area.
Eligibility
- Any individual or team who has made an outstanding impact in policy and/or advocacy in the alcohol, tobacco and other drugs field, and can demonstrate one or more of the achievements below;
- Positive advancement in the understanding of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs issues in a given community or population group, or
- Advocacy for an advancement that is in the public interest (public health or welfare and/or criminal justice), evidence based (evidence that it will work as intended), and has a focus on reducing drug related harm, or
- Positive policy change for the alcohol, tobacco and other drugs field. Change could occur in the following areas but are not limited to; legislative, government, and community, or
- Strategy formation, e.g. strategic thinking, coalition formation, government liaison, key messaging.
Selection Criteria
Evidence of the impact made in the alcohol, tobacco and other drugs field. The nomination should clearly describe the achievements to be honoured, the scope and depth of the impact, and the processes used by the nominee, including for instance strategy formation and the use of evidence to underpin the advocacy/policy.
Further Details:
- Nominations can be for any individual or team that meets the criteria for the Advocacy Award category.
- APSAD Membership is not a prerequisite, nor is it of any advantage or disadvantage during the nomination process.
- The nominator must be a current (financial) member of APSAD. Any member can nominate across multiple Award Categories.
- Nominations close 7 September 2021, the Award recipient is announced in October and is given the opportunity to organise a workshop at the 40th APSAD Conference in Brisbane.
- The Recipients for all Award Categories are announced at the official Awards Ceremony held during the 40th APSAD Conference in Brisbane on 8-10 November.
Head to the Awards page for the Information pack and nomination form.
2020 Award highlights
With the cancellation of this year's APSAD conference due to COVID-19 the annual APSAD Awards ceremony was held online.
APSAD President Professor Michael Farrell presented the 2020 APSAD Awards for Excellence in Science, Research and Practice at the special online ceremony. The six recipients of the APSAD Awards are recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia.
2020 APSAD AWARD WINNERS
![]() Senior Scientist Award Robert Ali
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![]() L to R: Mid Career Award
Suzanne Nielsen &
Mentor Award Paul Dietze
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![]() First Peoples Award
Robert Assan
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Anthony Gill
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![]() Cheneal Puljević
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Senior Scientist Award A/Prof Robert Ali
Associate Professor Robert Ali ( MBBS FAFPHM, FAChAM DPH) is a public health physician and specialist in addiction medicine. Until October 2016 he was the clinical director of Drug & Alcohol Services South Australia; a role he held for 30 years. Currently he is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. Robert is a member of the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drugs, member of the Cochrane Alcohol and Drug Group editorial board and the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence and Alcohol Problems.
The Senior Scientist Award is for a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of substance use.
Mid Career Award A/Prof Suzanne Nielsen
Associate Professor Suzanne Nielsen (BPharmSc[Hons] PhD MPS) is the Deputy Director of the Monash Addiction Research Centre in Melbourne, and is a current NHMRC Career Development Fellow. Suzi has been a registered pharmacist for over 20 years with clinical experience in the treatment of substance use disorders includes in specialist drug treatment and community-based alcohol and drug treatment settings in Australia and the United Kingdom. She has published over 135 scientific publications and given over 170 national and international conference presentations on her research, which has led to a greater understanding of how to identify and respond to prescription and over-the-counter drug-related problems. Her recent work has a focus on reducing opioid-related harm and overdose prevention. Suzi has worked with Australian state and federal governments to reduce opioid-related and other drug harm.
The Mid Career Award is for significant contribution in the alcohol and other drug field.
Early Career Award Dr Cheneal Puljević
Dr Cheneal Puljević is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Services Research and the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland. At the Centre for Health Services Research she is the Program Manager for the Global Substance Use and Mental Health unit, where she conducts and manages a number of research projects related to substance use, including the Queensland evaluation of the Tackling Alcohol-Fuelled Violence Policy (QUANTEM), and several projects using data from the Global Drug Survey. At the School of Public Health, she is the co-coordinator of the CARP smoking cessation trial, and contributes to projects promoting smoking cessation among priority populations. Her primary research interest is smoking cessation among disadvantaged populations, with her PhD (completed in 2018) and current UQ Early Career Researcher Grant focusing on this topic. (https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/22250)
The Early Career Award is for excellence in research relative to career opportunities.
Mentor Award Prof Paul Dietze
Professor Paul Dietze is one of Australia’s leading alcohol and other drug epidemiologists with a significant national, and emerging international profile. He is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and a past ARC Future Fellow and VicHealth Public Health Research Fellow. With more than 20 years’ experience and an outstanding track record, his work has established internationally innovative surveillance systems and applied research designs that break new ground in the public health research into alcohol and other drug use and related harms in Australia. He has produced more than 290 journal articles along with many other reports of significant impact that have changed practice in the area of alcohol and other drugs in this country. During the course of his research career he has received more than $20 million of research funding. (https://www.burnet.edu.au/people/174_paul_dietze)
The Mentor Award recognises an individual who has made an important contribution to mentoring and supporting the career development of clinicians, researchers or students.
First Peoples Award Robert Assan
I am both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. I was born in the Northern Territory, but my cultural background is from Thursday Island.
Training has been a big part of my work. And it gives me great satisfaction – working with health workers and seeing them come along in their ability to help individuals and families around alcohol and drugs. I have been able to offer training and support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers around Australia, and to many other staff. The training helps them work with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people with alcohol or drug problems. I have also worked with individuals and communities, in the Northern Territory and in Queensland, to help them rethink their alcohol or drug use.
My current work involves both training and support of health workers, and one-to-one work with adolescents. This work is at the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville. I like that sense of planting the seed that leads to change later on. You don’t always see the results straight away, but the seed is there. The young people are able to use that information that you’ve given them. I equip people with knowledge and skills and insight that can help them in life.
Recognises an individual that has made an important contribution to the advancement of the health of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori peoples.
Clinician Award Dr Anthony Gill
Dr Anthony (Tony) Gill is an Addiction Medicine Specialist who has worked in the Drug and Alcohol field for around 30 years. He has worked as a clinician and clinical leader primarily. He has held various Drug and Alcohol Clinical Director positions in NSW Local Health Districts and in the past in the NSW Ministry of Health. He is presently a Senior Staff Specialist in the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, and Chief Addiction Medicine Specialist in the NSW Ministry of Health. His interests in drug and alcohol include teaching and clinical service development and redesign, and he has worked extensively with general practitioners to enhance their activities in drug and alcohol.
Recognises excellence and leadership in clinical practice in the field of substance use in any discipline.
2018 APSAD Award Highlights
2018 APSAD Award Winners announced
The APSAD Conference Dinner and Awards was held at Maritime Room Auckland. The recipients of the APSAD Awards are recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia. It is a special experience to formally acknowledge the dedication of our peers and celebrate the quality of their work.

"She is a champion for health equity and an advocate for gender equity and this is reflected not only in her research outputs but in her approach to building the capacity of new researchers. Her supportive approach is highly effective; her students and mentees achieve remarkable success in their careers and progress to make substantial contributions to tobacco research and the community in general. She is an inspiring role model (her young female ECR twitter followers refer to her as their "research idol") not only for productivity and achieving career goals, but also for showing them how to ensure their research makes a meaningful difference to people's lives. Evidence of the effectiveness of her mentoring is in the metrics: she has supervised 19 students, 15 of those PhD students, all on PhD scholarships, and 7 winning awards for PhD excellence from their institutions (University of Newcastle, Monash) or national awards (eg, Council of Australian Public Health Institutions, Cancer Institute NSW)."
2019 APSAD Award Highlights
The APSAD Conference and Awards Dinner was held at the Brooke Street Pier situated on Sullivans Cove in the waterfront area of Hobart.
APSAD President Professor Michael Farrell presented the 2019 APSAD Awards for Excellence in Science, Research and Practice. The recipients of the APSAD Awards are recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia. It is a special experience to formally acknowledge the dedication of our peers and celebrate the quality of their work.
Kate Conigrave; Adrian Dunlop (back); Mark Montebello
Dr Catherine Quinn graduated with a Combined PhD and Clinical Masters in Psychology from Macquarie University in 2015. She currently holds an industry-funded Lives Lived Well Research Fellowship at the School of Psychology, University of Queensland and is a registered clinical psychologist. Dr Quinn is currently working closely with Lives Lived Well, a large alcohol and other drug treatment service, examining the efficacy of novel evidence-based interventions across community and residential treatment settings and the factors that impact their effective implementation.
Michael is a Bardi person and Wingara Mura Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. Michael began his health career when he enrolled into the Aboriginal Health Worker training program in the Kimberley, while working in the general store of his home community of Djarindjin in 1997. Since then, Michael has worked in men’s health in the Aboriginal community controlled sector in Western Australia. He was worked for the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia and helped establish the peak body for Aboriginal community controlled health services in that state. Michael continues to work closely with colleagues in the Aboriginal community-controlled health sector. This includes serving as a member of the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW Human Research Ethics Committee. Michael has worked in research on alcohol and other drugs since 2008, including at the National Drug Research Institute, the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales. Since 2017 Michael has worked at the University of Sydney in the Centre of Research Excellence in Indigenous Health and Alcohol.