Young Tall Poppy Science Award winners - South Australia 2002

Dr Catherine Coulter, University of Adelaide, whose research work focuses on the essential role of the adrenal gland both before and after birth. The adrenal gland has a central role in maturation of key organ systems before birth, such as the lungs, liver, gut and brain, and in the timing of birth. Therefore, there has been an intense international interest in the factors which regulate adrenal growth and production of main adrenal hormones) before birth. Catherine has made several significant observations on the growth and development of the adrenal gland before birth.
Catherine has also established an Australasian Branch of Women in Endocrinology to facilitate networking opportunities for young women trainee endocrinologists.

Dr Michael Lee, South Australian Museum, whose research interests are in the systematics and evolutionary biology of reptiles, based on molecular, morphological and palaeontological data. He has been particularly interested in the origin and evolution of snakes and has published his research in the world's best journals. Mike joined the South Australian Museum in early 2000 and made an immediate impact with his energy, enthusiasm and lateral thinking. Michael conitnues at the South Australian Museum and University of Adelaide as an Associate Professor.

Dr Holger Maier, University of Adelaide, has years of professional engineering experience in the public and private sectors, having worked at Kinhill Engineers, the Australian Water Quality Centre and as an Australian Volunteer Abroad with the Samoa Water Authority. His primary research interest is the utilisation of examples from nature for solving environmental and water engineering problems. This involved the development of ANN (artificial neural networks) that produced improved forecasts of concentrations of salinity and blue-green algae in the River Murray. 

In 2007 he became Deputy Head of the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering. He was promoted to Professor in 2008.

Dr Vivienne Moore, University of Adelaide, is a social epidemiologist who is particularly interested in the way the social environment and behaviour patterns of individuals can influence their health. In her work, Vivienne focuses on the health of women and children. One of the themes in her research is the way experiences in early life can affect physical and mental health in later life. With other researchers, she is currently undertaking studies looking at women's nutrition during pregnancy and its importance for growth of the baby, the reproductive health and emotional well-being of young women, and the growth and development of children. 

Dr Sandra Orgeig, University of Adelaide, whose research examined the relationship between cholesterol and phospholipids in the pulmonary surfactant system throughout the evolution of the vertebrates. Pulmonary surfactant is a complex mixture of lipids (fats) and proteins that lines the inside of the lungs where it controls the surface tension and reduces the work of breathing. Sandra discovered that the lipid composition of the surfactant system is tightly regulated among the vertebrates, and is dependent on the body temperature of the species. 

In 2007, Sandra moved to an Associate Professor position at the University of South Australia.

Professor Simon Stewart, National Heart Foundation of Australia, began his own research programme as a Cardiac Research Nurse at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 1992 examining ways to best manage chronically ill patients following hospitalisation. In 1997, he published a landmark study showing that a nurse-led, home-based intervention was associated with fewer hospital readmissions and deaths. He was the first non-US based nurse to be awarded the prestigious Martha Hill New Investigator Award by the American Heart Association and the first non-European based nurse to be awarded the inaugural title of Nurse Fellow by the European Society of Cardiology. Simon spent two years at the University of Glasgow, Scotland where he was instrumental in establishing the world-renowned Glasgow Heart Failure Nurse Liaison Service and subsequently persuading the British Heart Foundation to establish a UK-wide service based on his model of care. In 2002 he was subsequently appointed to a "world first" - the National Heart Foundation of Australia/ Roche Chair of Cardiovascular Nursing based at the University of SA. He leads a number of research programs examining the burden of heart disease and the benefits of creating new and more cost-effective roles for cardiovascular nurses in order to minimise the impact of an ageing population.

Simon moved to the School of Medicine at the University of Queensland.