Research excellence: 2019 Best Researcher Paper Awarded

10 December 2019

After reviewing the competitively high standard of research papers undertaken in 2019, NICM has announced their 2019 recipients of Best Researcher Paper Award. This year the award was undertaken across three categories: Postgraduate Student; Early to Mid-Career Researcher; and Senior Researcher Paper.

Congratulations to the below 2019 award recipients:

• Best Postgraduate Paper: Justin Sinclair
• Best Early to Mid-Career researcher: Dr Mike Armour
• Best Senior Researcher Paper: Associate Professor Genevieve Steiner

Justin Sinclair was awarded for his national survey examining the prevalence, tolerability and self-reported effectiveness of cannabis in women with endometriosis. Women who participated reported good efficacy of cannabis in reducing pain and other symptoms with few adverse effects.

Dr Mike Armour's review evaluated the effectiveness and safety of exercise for women with primary dysmenorrhoea, with the evidence indicating that exercise performed three times a week or more, for 45 to 60 minutes each time could provide clinically significant reduction in menstrual pain.

Associate Professor Genevieve Steiner was awarded for her study investigating the links between genetic variations and schizotypy to identify changes that can cause psychosis. This study demonstrated the importance of gene variations in determining particular traits and also highlighted relationships that are dissimilar to those observed in schizophrenia.

Full citation:

• Sinclair J, Smith CA, Abbott J, Chalmers KJ, Pate DW, Armour M. Cannabis use, a self-management strategy among Australian women with endometriosis: results from a national online survey. J Obstet Gynaecol Can 2019;000(000):1−6. DOI: 10.1016/j.jogc.2019.08.033
• Armour M, Ee CC, Naidoo D, Ayati Z, Chalmers KJ, Steel KA, et al. Exercise for dysmenorrhoea. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2019;2019(9):CD004142. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004142.pub4
• Steiner GZ, Fernandez FM, Coles M, Karamacoska D, Barkus E, Broyd SJ, et al. Interrogating the Relationship Between Schizotypy, the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met Polymorphism, and Neuronal Oscillatory Activity. Cerebral Cortex. 2019;29(7):3048-58. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy171