Award for excellence in health and medical research

Associate Professor Anton Peleg has received the Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research for his research into hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance.

Peleg, from the School of Biomedical Sciences at Monash University, was presented with the award and medal from NHMRC CEO Professor Warwick Anderson last week as part of Medical Research Week.

This prize recognises the achievement of an outstanding scientist who is a recipient of an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship and has completed their PhD or MD within the last 12 years.

Peleg also received a $50,000 grant to identify how antibiotic-resistant human pathogens cause disease. He will also assess novel treatment approaches that could potentially treat or prevent these infections from occurring.

Peleg, who is also an infectious disease physician at the Alfred Hospital, is particularly interested in multidrug-resistant bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii, as well as the most common human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. These organisms are a leading cause of death in hospitals worldwide.

Peleg’s award builds on a distinguished research career, with highlights including a Young Physician Leaders Award at the 2012 WHO World Health Summit, the 2011 Frank Fenner Award for Advanced Research in Infectious Diseases from the Australian Society of Infectious Diseases, and the 2009 Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Microbiology.

He has published 59 papers in leading peer-reviewed journals and given over 30 invited presentations at national and international conferences.