(Naomi Pank, is a recipient of the Evelyn Lavu Travel Scholarship)
Congratulations Naomi Pank on receiving the Evelyn Lavu Travel Scholarship.
This $5,000 scholarship provides a person from Papua New Guinea with the opportunity to travel to Australia to participate in training or a collaborative research activity with tuberculosis (TB) researchers.
Naomi intends to travel to Australia next month to attend the TB-CRE Annual Scientific Symposium. She hopes to share her work with TB researchers and broaden her understanding towards improving models of care in TB active case finding, treatment and prevention.
“I hope to honour the legacy of the late Professor Lavu and gain as much knowledge as I can to continue the fight to end TB through this opportunity,” Ms Pank said.
Professor Lavu was a clinician, researcher and laboratory scientist.
She was Director of the Central Public Health Laboratory in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for many years. She was also the first woman to be appointed Professor of Medicine at the University of Papua New Guinea in 2021.
Through this scholarship, Burnet Institute and the TB-CRE honour Professor Lavu’s legacy by supporting promising clinicians, researchers and scientists interested in tuberculosis research and elimination in PNG, through travel and engagement with Australian counterparts.
Honorary Burnet researcher Professor Steve Graham said Professor Lavu was an inspirational and impressive leader in academia and science.
“It was her vision to strengthen laboratory diagnostics for TB and multidrug-resistant TB in PNG. That was the focus of her PhD and is a focus of this scholarship,” he said.
Professor Lavu’s collaborations with Burnet addressed a range of infectious diseases, including parasitic diseases such as malaria, viral pathogens such as hepatitis and HIV, and diseases due to bacteria and mycobacteria.
Professor Lavu provided support to the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region and the PNG National TB Program, and she made important contributions to operational research training on tuberculosis in PNG. She was also a regular valued contributor to the annual symposium of the Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Tuberculosis Control (TB-CRE).
Professor Lavu passed away suddenly in 2021. She left behind a significant legacy.
“Evelyn would be immensely proud of such a legacy to provide an opportunity for researchers from PNG to strengthen their skills to fight TB,” Professor Graham said.
Read more about The Evelyn Lavu Travel Scholarship here.