Harry Christian Giese AM MBE (1913-2000) was a pioneer of health and education in north Australia and a key founder of Menzies School of Health Research. He was a member of our Board from 19xx to 1995, and served the people of the Northern Territory for 50 years. 

In memory of Harry Giese’s great contribution, the Giese Family, with Menzies developed the Harry Christian Giese Research Impact Prize in 2024. The Prize is designed to recognise an early or mid-career researcher at Menzies whose research has led to measurable improvements, better health policies, expanded programs, or established collaborative partnerships.
 
2024 Prize Recipient:
Dr Steven Kho  
We are delighted to announce that Dr Steven Kho is the 2024 recipient of the Harry Christian Giese Research Impact Prize, for his groundbreaking discoveries in malaria research. 
During his PhD, Dr Kho discovered a large hidden malaria parasite reservoir in the human spleen and a new lifecycle for 2 major parasite species causing malaria, P. falciparum and P. vivax. These groundbreaking findings, are widely regarded as one of the most significant malaria discoveries of the past 50 years. Led by Dr Kho in Indonesia, the research challenged a century-old belief that the spleen is solely responsible for removing malaria parasites. Read more
 
 
Harry Christian Giese Research into Action Award 
The Harry Christian Giese Research into Action Award has supported Menzies researchers from 2013-2023. Recipients of this award helped to strengthen medical education, research and training in remote and regional communities. Learn more about their work below. 
 
 
Ngirramini ngini awarra yimanka api awarra ngawurrangurumiga – ‘We look after the story that we made’
Josie Povey  |  2023
Dr Josie Povey’s project will build on work done during 2019-20 through the Ngawurramangajirri (‘We care for each other’) initiative. In collaboration with community leaders, a Tiwi-language digital resource for mental health and wellbeing will be created, developed and distributed. The aim is to improve mental health literacy, self-awareness and self-management, while strengthening connections to language and culture. 
 
Adaptation of the Vaccine Barriers Assessment Tool (VBAT)
Bianca Middleton  |  2022
Dr Bianca Middleton's (2022) work in validating the Vaccine Barriers Assessment Tool (VBAT) to encourage early childhood vaccination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, aims eventually to be part of a national roll-out. 
 
Improving education and follow-up for severely malnourished children in Dili, Timor-Leste

Nicholas Fancourt  |  2019

Dr Nicholas Fancourt leads a team that aims to improve outcomes for children hospitalised not only for malnutrition, but also for pneumonia. The Harry Christian Giese Research into Action Award will support a Nutrition Worker to lead an education program for 8 months, to better understand the social and cultural drivers of malnutrition, the experience of hospital care and perceived barriers to recovery.

 
Improving the treatment of malaria: working with communities and policy makers to facilitate the translation of research outcomes into better policy and practice
Kamala Ley-Thriemer  |  2018
Associate Professor Kamala Thriemer (2018 award recipient) sends out a regular newsletter about work on clinical malaria trials with communities in Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia. This was started during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when travel and on-the-ground networking became impossible. Visit the Malaria 'EFFORT' project page to read past editions of the newsletter. 
 
Sharing the Diabetes in Pregnancy Story
Renae Kirkham  |  2017
Associate Professor Renae Kirkham (2017 award recipient) is Lead of the Diabetes across the Lifecourse: Northern Australian Partnership, supporting a program with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to break the cycle of type 2 diabetes.
 
Closing the loop on life-threatening melioidosis infections: observational research informing clinical practice change and policy for adults with severe kidney disease
Jaquelyne Hughes  |  2016
Professor Jaquelyne Hughes (2016 award recipient), is the first Indigenous kidney specialist, and Matthew Flinders Professor at the College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University.
 
Supportive Cancer Care Needs Assessment Tool for Indigenous people with cancer - Project Implementation
Gail Garvey  |  2015
Professor Gail Garvey (2015 award recipient) is NHMRC Leadership Fellow at the University of Queensland, Faculty of Medicine, working in cancer care.
 
 Artesunate-mefloquine vs. chloroquine in patients with acute uncomplicated Plasmodium knowlesi and Plasmodium vivax malaria: a randomized open label trial in Sabah, Malaysia (ACT KNOW trial)
Matthew Grigg  |  2014
Associate Professor Matthew Grigg (2014 award recipient) is part of a malaria study across eight sites in Indonesia, including human surveillance for zoonotic malaria; monkey camera estimates; mosquito trapping; and geospatial analysis of human risk of infection. A new Malaysian Army cohort study will look at exposure to zoonotic infections and malaria in those posted to remote forest areas. Matthew's post-doc student Jacob Westaway is analysing parasite strains from East Malaysian monkeys, to see if any are associated with transmission or disease severity in humans. 
 
Azithromycin Bronchiolitis Interventional Study (ABIS2)

Gabrielle McCallum  |  2013
Dr Gabrielle McCallum received this award in 2013, to champion the translation of lung health research into medical practice. Today, her team are studying children hospitalised in Australia and New Zealand for lower respiratory infections and are extending this work to Timor-Leste. She is also completing the editing of a special series, Frontiers in Paediatrics. A gap in the delivery of clinical care to paediatric patients with bronchiectasis, chronic lung disease, as they move into adolescence, has also been discovered.