A leading neurologist, palliative care researcher and a GP-turned-politician-turned-GP were among the more than 70 West Australians who received Australia Day Honours.
Professor Graeme Hankey AO received the Officer of the Order of Australia for “distinguished service to medicine as a neurologist and stroke physician, to research, and as an editor and author”.
Professor Hankey, the Perron Institute Chair in Stroke Research at The University of Western Australia, has been involved in epidemiological studies and clinical trials of treatment strategies for acute stroke and stroke prevention.
He has authored or co-authored more than 1,100 publications, including 13 books, 13 guidelines, 742 original articles and a thesis.
Professor Hankey said the honour was a tribute to the help and support he had received from teachers, mentors, colleagues, students, patients, friends and family in his endeavours to be an effective clinical neurologist, researcher, teacher, author and editor.
“And to reducing the impact of neurological disorders on affected individuals, their families and communities,” he said.
“Helping patients and families negotiate and minimise the impact of their illness helps to inspire, teach, train and mentor the next generation of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and clinician scientists.”
Another honours recipient from the Perron Institute was Professor Samar Aoun AM who was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her “significant service to community health through palliative care and aged care research, and to tertiary education”.
Professor Aoun, the Perron Institute Research Chair in Palliative Care at UWA, said the honour was a great vehicle to keep spreading the message of “growing compassion in life and death” and the tangible benefits to communities.
“Thanks to the many colleagues who were part of this journey and who shared and supported this vision, whether in palliative care, compassionate communities, aged care and MND care,” she said.
“In palliative care, it is important to have the community as an equal partner with clinicians in delivering that care, so it is more sustainable and affordable.”
Former WA Deputy Premier and GP Dr Kim Hames AM was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his “significant service to the Parliament of Western Australia, to medicine, and to the community”.
Mr Hames, who was WA’s Minister for Health from 2008-2016, said: “You do a lot of things in government and in work and don’t expect to get any recognition for it, but when you do…I’m really grateful and very happy.
While in and out of Parliament Dr Hames continued to work as a GP, despite suggestions he would have to give it up.
“When I first got in, for the first four years, because the pay of members of Parliament was very poor in those days, and I had six kids, I had to keep working, so I kept doing two afternoons a week in my practice,” he said.
“I was given a hard time over it anyway, still doing a second job, but my pay dropped by half so I had to do it. In the four years after I lost my seat, I went back and did GP work again.”
Other WA honours included Professor Nina Tirnitz-Parker AM from Curtin University who was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her “significant service to biomedical science.”
Professor Tirnitz-Parker is a research academic and head of the Liver Disease and Regeneration Group in the Curtin Medical School, and Liver Cancer Program lead at the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute.
Those awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia include:
- Mr David Robert Booth OAM for service to dentistry
- Ms Christabel Marguerite Chamarette OAM for service to community health, particularly as a psychologist
- Ms Julia Clare Hales OAM for service to people with disability, and to the arts
- Mr Albert John Myers OAM for service to community health, and to children
- The late Dr Patrick John Shanahan OAM for service to dentistry
- Miss Kendall Louise Whyte OAM for service to the community through mental health initiatives.