SAR’s 2019 Outstanding Junior Researcher Award

10 July 2019

Congratulations to NICM PhD student, Simone Ormsby, who was awarded the Outstanding Junior Researcher Award for Clinical Research at the Society of Acupuncture Research (SAR) Conference in the US held in June.

The award, together with a monetary prize, was given in recognition of Simone’s research project design and findings for her study entitled ‘The evaluation of acupuncture as an adjunct intervention for antenatal depression: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial’.

Her findings revealed significant benefits of individualised acupuncture treatment to antenatal mood, as well as positive feedback from recipients regarding improvements to overall mental health and wellbeing. In addition, the study demonstrated that allied health professionals were supportive of further consideration of acupuncture for antenatal depression.

The Society of Acupuncture Research is the premier research-based acupuncture organisation, and over the past decades has played a pivotal role in directing international research to a high standard. It aims to facilitate the scientific consideration of acupuncture as an adjunct therapy, or an additional option, when other therapies have been shown to be insufficiently effective or plagued by side effects.

Attended by approximately 400 international and domestic delegates comprised of researchers, academics, educators and students, the SAR conference focused on education, translational and clinical research, as well as basic scientific evaluations of the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture effect.

As well as presenting her PhD findings at the conference, Simone was delighted to have the opportunity to be able to network, establishing new contacts for possible future collaboration, as well as joining a special interest group focused upon further research into the scientific mechanisms of acupuncture effect.