Mon 1 December 2025
Celebrations and honours close out ‘momentous’ MM2025 in Melbourne
Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha) is today celebrating members’ achievements, conference awards, winners of the AdPha Resident of the Year, and newly renamed KC Leong Memorial Registrar of the Year, and a spectacular 1920s themed Gala Dinner to close out the second largest Medicines Management conference in its 64-year history.
AdPha President Assoc. Prof. Tom Simpson FANZCAP (Lead&Mgmt) says the energy, inspiration and sense of connection throughout the 49th edition of Australia’s largest scientific pharmacy conference has been exceptional.
'Not even Melbourne’s unpredictable weather could dampen the spirit of the thousands of advanced pharmacists and technicians, ministers, supporters and guests who have come through the doors over a momentous Medicines Management 2025.
'Every year, our members and their peers arrive more energised, more ambitious, and more determined to push our profession forward — and this year was no exception.
‘With more than 400 presentations delivered by an extraordinary lineup of speakers, Medicines Management once again demonstrated why it remains Australia’s most influential scientific pharmacy event.
AdPha Vice President Brenda Shum FANZCAP (Lead&Mgmt) acknowledged the Scientific Program Committee for its leadership in shaping the conference.
‘The Committee has again curated a program that captures the progress, depth and vibrancy of Australian hospital pharmacy, and its evolution as advanced pharmacy touching complex, top of scope care in more settings.
‘Their creativity, ideas and innovations ensure Medicines Management continues to set the benchmark, and we can’t wait to gather again for MM2026 in Brisbane, 22-24 October next year, our 50th AdPha national conference.’
In the closing plenary, outstanding achievements of emerging pharmacists, technicians and hospital teams were celebrated including Jesslyn Ha announced as 2025 AdPha Resident of the Year; Lead Analgesic Stewardship Pharmacist at Monash Health in Melbourne, Jesslyn was awarded for her presentation: ‘Researching the researchers: perspectives on what makes a good research supervisor’.
In a moving moment, Julian Tran ANZCAP-Reg. (MentalHlth) was announced as the recipient of the 2025 KC Leong Memorial Registrar of the Year Award.
The honour was this year renamed in honour of Kum Chuan ‘KC’ Leong, a Pharmacist Registrar Training Program participant in General Medicine at Eastern Health whose dedication, compassion and commitment to excellence left an enduring legacy on the profession.
Julian, who is undertaking the inaugural Registrar Training Program in Mental Health at The Alfred Hospital, developed and implemented an initiative to ensure safe benzodiazepine deprescribing in the inpatient unit, instigating a change in culture and practice surrounding benzodiazepine prescribing – and deprescribing – in the acute setting of a busy inpatient psychiatric unit.
The 2025 AdPha Members’ Award were also announced on stage:
- The 2025 AdPha Early Career Pharmacist of the Year is Katelyn Jauregui (NSW), honoured for her leadership of a $1.5m national trial on opioid tapering, achievements as Chair of the AdPha Pain Management Leadership Committee, and international roles with the International Pharmaceutical Federation and the International Association for the Study of Pain.
- The 2025 AdPha Technician of the Year is Karen Donn (WA) who as the Senior Technician at King Edward Memorial Hospital has transformed the way the Statewide Obstetric Medicines Information Service manages medication safety enquiries by developing dashboards to track purchasing, compliance and inventory, providing insights that improve both safety and efficiency.
- The 2025 AdPha Hospital Team Innovation of the Year is the Pharmacist-led Parenteral Nutrition Prescribing Team at Fiona Stanley Hospital (WA) led Sharon Selvanayakam, which has has pioneered a new model of care, in which pharmacist prescribers now work alongside dietitians to manage complex nutritional therapies, leading to eased consultant workload and improved documentation; a retrospective study showed shorter hospital stays, fewer electrolyte abnormalities, and more comfort for patients.
At a shimmering Gala Dinner, the MM2025 Conference Award winners were announced:
- Best overall oral presentation: Kym Ramsey
- Best first-time oral presentation: Timothy McNamara
- Best original research oral presentation: Caitlin Deery
- Best case report oral presentation: William Nguyen ANZCAP-Res
- Best pharmacy practice oral presentation: Katrina Orr FANZCAP (ClinTrials, Lead&Mgmt)
- Best technician oral presentation: Mark Clifford
- Best student or intern oral presentation: Madeleine Baldock
- Best overall poster: Kate Collaghan FANZCAP (Generalist, MedSafety)
- Best first-time poster presenter: Margaret Patterson
- Best original research poster: Louise Lord FANZCAP (Edu., Resp)
- Best case report poster: Sonia Wardak
- Best pharmacy practice poster: Jessica Bui FANZCAP (InfDis)
- Best technician poster: Melinda Downie
- Best student or intern poster: Aliyah Petker
- People’s choice poster: Jiseon Jang (233 Evaluation of Guideline Adherence in Perioperative Warfarin Management Among Acutely Admitted Surgical Patients)