The RMH Neurology Fellow wins Stephen Davis Award

Held annually, and in its second year, The Stephen Davis Award acknowledges research fellows at the top of their game.

It is named after Professor Stephen Davis, previous Director of Neurology at the RMH and current director of the Melbourne Brain Centre.

Izanne was recognised for her PhD research on multiple sclerosis (MS), in which she is completing at the RMH and the University of Melbourne.

Her work on MS focuses on therapeutic lag, which is the delay between starting a treatment and receiving the full treatment effect. In her studies, she has used data from international MS registries (MSBase and OFSEP) to estimate the duration of therapeutic lag, and has explored individual patient and disease characteristics that influence the duration of lag.

Izanne’s work as Fellow and as part of her PhD has been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as Brain and Multiple Sclerosis, and she has been a speaker and award winner at conferences by MS Research Australia, American Academy of Neurology and MSVirtual2020.

In addition, Izanne was recognised for her involvement in teaching and mentoring as an exceptional team player in the RMH Neurology department.

After completing her neurology training in South Africa, Izanne was inspired to complete a fellowship and pursue a PhD in Melbourne because of the RMH and the University of Melbourne’s reputation.

“It is inspiring to work alongside such talented academic Neurologists such as Professor Stephen Davis, Head of the MS Unit Tomas Kalincik and Head of Neurology Bruce Campbell,” she said.

“I am so humbled to receive this recognition from some of the major players in Neurology.”

The RMH congratulates Izanne on this award.