Dr Rebecca Winter receives the 2026 Gust-McKenzie Medal at Burnet’s annual general meeting, holding the medal alongside her award certificate.

Published 29 May 2026

Rebecca Winter awarded 2026 Gust-McKenzie Medal

Burnet Deputy Head of Justice Health Dr Rebecca Winter has been awarded the 2026 Gust-McKenzie Medal in recognition of her outstanding contribution to research and public health.

The Gust-McKenzie Medal is awarded to an outstanding mid-career Burnet staff member for excellence in research and public health. It is named in honour of the founding directors of the Burnet and Austin Research Institutes, Professor Ian Gust AO and Emeritus Professor Ian McKenzie AM.

Dr Winter has built a research career focused on improving health outcomes for people affected by drug use, criminalisation, imprisonment and systemic disadvantage.

Her work has examined drug-related harms through imprisonment and release from prison, including the heightened risk of overdose, disrupted healthcare and rapid return to prison experienced by many people after release.

“One of the things that really stayed with me from this work was that these outcomes weren’t simply about individual choices or behaviour,” she said.

“They reflected fragmented systems, interrupted healthcare, unstable housing, financial distress, and very limited support after release.”

More recently, Dr Winter’s research has focused on designing and testing more accessible partnership-led models of care, including hepatitis C outreach in community corrections settings and alcohol and other drug support for women transitioning from prison back into the community.

She said many of the harms experienced by people in contact with the criminal legal system are preventable, but addressing them requires collaborative innovations.

“Many people labelled ‘hard to reach’ are actually being failed by systems that are hard to access,” she said.

“The challenge isn’t really about a lack of effective treatments. It’s how poorly health systems, social systems and policy responses reach the people who need them most.”

Accepting the award, Dr Winter reflected on the relationships, mentors, collaborators, peer workers, clinicians, community organisations and research participants who have shaped her work.

Burnet researchers awarded at annual AGM

Speaking at our annual general meeting, Director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb AC also announced the recipients of three publication awards, the Gust Translational Fellowship and the award for co-design and community impact.

Dr Annemarie Laumaea received the Gust Translational Fellowship for her work on immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies. IgA antibodies are found in mucous membranes, like the glands that produce saliva. They play a key role in disease protection. Dr Laumaea is exploring how IgA-based therapeutics can improve how we tackle pathogens like the COVID-19 virus. With commercial potential, her work could play a pivotal role against future pandemics.

Fenella McAndrew received the Nick Crofts Publication Award for Public Health, for her paper on COVID-19 vaccination modelling. Ms McAndrew simulated a new approach that would align COVID-19 vaccination guidance with yearly flu vaccines. She found this strategy could prevent thousands of hospitalisations.

Dr Damian Oyong was recognised for a paper on malaria immunity research. Dr Oyong explained that malaria vaccines are available, but their effectiveness “remains suboptimal”. Dr Oyong and his collaborators instead tried improving people's immune response using a medication called ruxolitinib.

Dr Kaung Myat Khant was awarded for a study that put co-design at the heart of health services in Myanmar. Co-design means involving communities as partners at all stages of our work. Mr Kaung Myat's paper looked at a new health worker model in the Yangon region. The model expands the role of malaria health workers into integrated primary care providers. The model was met with a 97% acceptability rate among participating health workers across 3 townships in Yangon.

Together, the awards highlight the breadth of Burnet’s research, and our commitment to improving health outcomes through innovation, collaboration and public health impact.

People