The 2014 Junior Researcher Support Awards from the Australian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM) recognized researchers focusing on HIV, viral hepatitis, and STIs. Award recipients included: 1) Zoe Stephens, a student researching the impact of overseas hepatitis B vaccination programs on chronic hepatitis B in Australia. 2) James Elliot, a medical student conducting hepatitis C research in a rural Australian city. 3) Dr. Damian Conway, a PhD candidate evaluating rapid HIV testing and barriers to HIV testing among gay and bisexual men in Sydney.

1. 2014 JUNIOR RESEARCHER SUPPORT AWARD RECIPIENTS
The ASHM Junior Researcher Support Awards are designed to foster research interests in HIV, viral hepatitis and
STIs. Awards are given for quality research reflecting national priority action areas. Awards are funded by the
ASHM Domestic Gift Fund with administrative support from the Australian Government Department of Health.
Zoe Stephens
Zoe Stephens is a Bachelor of Biotechnology student at RMIT University in Melbourne completing her
final year of undergraduate study in 2014, with an aim to enrol in post-graduate studies from 2015. Zoe is
undertaking an epidemiological research project in viral hepatitis at the Victorian Infectious Diseases
Reference Laboratory, with a particular focus on hepatitis B. Her research will assess the impact that
overseas infant hepatitis B vaccination programs will have on the future burden of chronic hepatitis B in
Australia. Zoe hopes to continue this research in her postgraduate studies.
James Elliot
James is a final year medical student at the University of Queensland and developed an interest in
Hepatology and Gastroenterology during his studies there. Originally from Cooran in the Noosa
Hinterland of south-east Queensland, he has developed an interest in practicing rural medicine. He has
been completing many of his clinical rotations in the rural centre of Toowoomba, and it is here that he has
been able to conduct his research at a large Hepatitis C service, particularly for a rural centre. James'
background prior to medical school was that of a physiotherapist for 5 years, working in many parts of
Queensland and London, UK. A greater appreciation and understanding for the Multi-disciplinary team
approach to patients resulted and gave James further guidance in his research. He will commence his
Internship this January at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.
Dr Damian Conway
Dr Damian Conway is a PhD candidate at The Kirby Institute, UNSW. He received his medical degree
from Queen’s University, Belfast and has worked in Sexual Health medicine in Sydney since 2001. He was
awarded a Master of STD/HIV Medicine (University of Sydney) degree in 2010 and Fellowship of the
Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine in 2011. His research at UNSW supervised by A/Prof
Rebecca Guy, Dr Martin Holt, and Prof Andrew Grulich has evaluated the performance, acceptability and
cost of rapid HIV testing and barriers to HIV testing among gay and bisexual men in Sydney sexual health
clinics.
Nicole Allard
Nicole Allard is a General Practitioner at Cohealth in Western Melbourne with a clinical interest in
hepatitis B and refugee health. She is a PhD candidate at University of Melbourne researching the
cascade of care in hepatitis B including enrolment in monitoring, adherence to antiviral treatment and
community based interventions. Her research includes understanding the role of General practice based
solutions in improving care and cancer screening for people living in the community primary care” and
has been involved in teaching and content revision of the ASHM course Advanced management of
Hepatitis B for General Practitioners. She represents the RACGP on various committees including the
Victorian department of health blood borne virus advisory committee. She has initiated a special interest
group of Victorian GPs supported by Networking Health Victoria (NHV).

2. 2014 JUNIOR RESEARCHER SUPPORT AWARD RECIPIENTS
The ASHM Junior Researcher Support Awards are designed to foster research interests in HIV, viral hepatitis and
STIs. Awards are given for quality research reflecting national priority action areas. Awards are funded by the
ASHM Domestic Gift Fund with administrative support from the Australian Government Department of Health.
Victoria Sublette
Victoria Sublette is a PhD candidate in Health Psychology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of
Sydney, Australia. Victoria’s research interests are the psychosocial influences on patients’ treatment
outcomes, in which she explores the psychological, practical, and social barriers and facilitators that
influence patients’ adherence to and completion of Hepatitis C treatment.
Victoria has published a systematic review of predictors of Hepatitis C treatment outcomes (2013) and a
qualitative study that examined factors influencing adherence and completion (2014). These studies have
informed the current development of an assessment tool that identifies patients who are suitable for
treatment.
Stacy Leidel
Stacy Leidel is a nurse practitioner, lecturer, and PhD candidate at Curtin University in Perth, Western
Australia. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) and
Master’s degree from Ohio State University (USA) in 2002. After eight years in clinical practice as a nurse
practitioner for underserved populations, Ms Leidel relocated to Perth with her family. She teaches
advanced diagnostics and primary care to nurse practitioner students and maintains an active clinical
practice. Her PhD research is an exploration of opt-out HIV testing from Australian health care providers’
perspectives.
Anna Yeung
After graduating from the University of Guelph in Canada with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in
biomedical science, Anna Yeung completed her Masters in Public Health with a specialisation in sexual
health in 2010 at the University of Melbourne. She began her PhD studies in 2011 to determine the
acceptability and feasibility of the Australian Chlamydia Control Effectiveness Pilot (ACCEPt) using a
mixed methods approach. As part of her research, she has reviewed the barriers and facilitators to
chlamydia testing in general practice, and has analysed the results of the largest chlamydia prevalence
survey done in Australia to date.
Samuel Muraguri Muchoki
Samuel has been awarded a prize for work which will be presented at the 2015 ASHM HIV Conference.
Samuel is a research and policy officer at the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health in Melbourne.
Samuel has recently competed his PhD at the Australian research centre in sex, health and society
(ARCSHS), La Trobe University. His doctoral research explored the sexual behaviours of Horn of Africa
men with refugee backgrounds in Australia. Samuel has worked on HIV-related issues in Kenya and
Australia for over 10 years. His particular research interest is in understanding the intersection between
migration, sexuality and sexual health. Samuel may be contacted at samuelm@ceh.org.au