December 22, 2017  Print

Two honours students at the Westmead Institute have been awarded the prestigious University Medal, acknowledging their outstanding academic performance at the University of Sydney.

Orion Tong and Sing-Young Chen were awarded the University Medal for outstanding academic performance
 

Two honours students at the Westmead Institute have been awarded the prestigious University Medal, acknowledging their outstanding academic performance at the University of Sydney. 

Sing-Young Chen and Orion Tong completed their honours degree through a program delivered at Westmead, one of the world’s largest health and medical research precincts. 

Sing-Young achieved an honours score above 90% and Orion scored 97%, the highest honours mark in the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney.

Orion’s research investigates the role of innate immunity in HIV infection, particularly the effects of early antiviral responder cells on the main target cells of HIV.  

“Once we understand how HIV beats the body’s early immune response to get a foothold infection in the body, we could interrupt this and after further research and testing this could lead to a vaccine,” he explained.

“I’m very honoured to receive a University Medal.

“I would definitely like to thank my supervisors Dr Najla Nasr and Professor Tony Cunningham for all their guidance and support this year,” he said.

Orion will continue with the project as a research assistant over the coming year, and is exploring opportunities to undertake his PhD.

Sing-Young’s research investigates how a high-fat diet affects beta-cell gene expression in vivo; an important step towards preventing and treating type 2 diabetes.

Sing-Young said it was a privilege to receive the award.

“It's a huge honour to be awarded a University Medal and I am exceptionally grateful to all those who have taught and mentored me. 

“In particular, I'm thankful towards my honours supervisors, Professor Jenny Gunton and Dr Michael Swarbrick, who have always been so generous with their time and wisdom,” she said.

While Sing-Young is still undecided about the next steps in her career, she is incredibly grateful for her experiences at Westmead.

“As of now, I'm not entirely sure of the path that my career will take. However, I do know that I'm going to use the skills and knowledge that I've gained here to do something meaningful for society.

“This will probably involve doing a PhD in medical research and continuing the search for better health.

“My time at Westmead has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I've learnt a lot here, more than I can describe, and probably even more than I realise. 

“Regardless of where I go next, I'm going to always try my best, find passion in what I do and hopefully do something good for this world,” she said.

40 students completed the honours program in the Westmead precinct this year, which saw a high level of success with 90% of students achieving First Class Honours. 

Program coordinator, Associate Professor Andrew Harman said this is a fantastic result.

“We are very proud of these talented, hardworking students.

“Importantly, this achievement is a testament not only to the students themselves, but to their supervisors and institutions.

“The quality of the supervision, facilities and research opportunities provided at Westmead is on par with the best in the world,” Associate Professor Harman concluded.

Congratulations Orion and Sing-Young.  We are immensely proud of you and we wish you all the best with your future endeavours.  We hope to see you back at Westmead one day.