Queen's Birthday Honours for Ms Suzi Carp and Professor Jane Halliday

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The Institute warmly congratulates our previous Chairman, Ms Suzi Carp, our Group Leader of Reproductive Epidemiology, Professor Jane Halliday, and Senior Research Fellow in the Heart Group Professor Igor Konstantinov on their inclusion in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Professor Jane Halliday was named as a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia. Jane is an epidemiologist who measures the impact of potentially harmful prenatal exposures on health and wellbeing of infants, children and young adults. Her work integrates knowledge of genetics, epigenetics, environmental and psychosocial risk factors, and has been pivotal in demonstrating the long term safety of in vitro fertilisation.

She also has a longstanding role in evaluating prenatal genetic testing technologies and a particular interest in accurately communicating genomic information and the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Some of Professor Halliday's key professional achievements include a term as President of the Australasian Epidemiological Association from 2004-8, giving the 2010 Human Genetics Society of Australasia Conference Oration, and sitting on the Australian Health Ethics Committee and the NHMRC Human Genetics Advisory Committee for many years.

Ms Suzi Carp was named as an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to health and medical research, to children and young people, and to the community through leadership roles.

Suzi is a businesswoman and philanthropist who has supported and empowered our most vulnerable citizens and communities, including indigenous communities, and pursued social justice both here in Australia and overseas.

Suzi has been a strong supporter and advocate of the Institute for nearly 20 years. In addition to her membership on the MCRI Board, in 2003 she was invited to join the Development Board (which she subsequently chaired from 2006-2011), and in 2006 she joined the MCRI Board of Directors. In 2016 Suzi became MCRI's first female Board Chair, a successor hand-picked by Leigh Clifford (Qantas Chair from 2007-2018) following his retirement as Chair of the MCRI Board, where she championed people and initiatives that transform medicine, taking big, bold ideas and promptly translating them into real world solutions for patients, their families and the community.

In addition to her Board roles with MCRI, Suzi has been actively involved in organisations where she has helped create impactful change for over 20 years. These include the River Capital Foundation, Australian Communities Foundation, Mirabel Foundation, Igniting Change, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Smiling Mind and Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre.

Professor Igor Konstantinov was awarded a Medal (OAM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to medicine as a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Professor Konstantinov is Senior Research Fellow in the Heart Group at Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at the Royal Children's Hospital, Honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne and Director of the National Paediatric Heart Transplantation Transcriptome Bank. He previously held an academic appointment of Associate (2007-2008) and Adjunct (2008-2011) Professor of Surgery, University of Western Australia.

Professor Konstantinov graduated from the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1992 and completed his clinical training in Cardiothoracic Surgery in some of the world's leading institutions, including the Mayo Clinic in the US and the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada. Professor Konstantinov then obtained a PhD in molecular biology in 2004 from the University of Toronto for his thesis titled "Gene Expression in Cardiac Surgery: Impact of Ischaemia and Re-perfusion."

Congratulations to Suzi, Jane and Igor who so richly deserve these Queen's Birthday honours.