Professor Rob Walker receives the 2024 TJ Neale Award from Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology President Professor Rathika Krishnasamy.
Receiving an award from your peers is always significant, but for Otago Professor Rob Walker a personal connection makes it even more special.
Rob, from the Department of Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, has been awarded the 2024 TJ Neale Award – the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology’s highest and most prestigious scientific award.
The award is made in honour of the late Otago Professor of Medicine T J (Jim) Neale, of Wellington, who had a distinguished career as a scientist and clinical nephrologist.
“I knew and liked Jim, he was a mentor to me. When I arrived in Dunedin in 1989 he helped me set up my research programme here,” Rob says.
“Receiving this award feels like closing the loop somehow.”
A life member of the Society, Rob says while New Zealanders have won the TJ Neale Award before, he is the first to receive it while living in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The award is biennial and recognises the outstanding contribution to nephrological science by a senior researcher who has been engaged in their own independent research programme for more than 12 years (FTE) since PhD acceptance.
Rob, who is also a consultant nephrologist at Dunedin Hospital, has spent decades working in this field.
A serendipitous journey… Rob shares some career highlights after the award presentation.
His significant international contribution to understanding and managing kidney disease has been recognised previously by his peers – last year he was awarded the College Medal by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
Rob says there continues to be a lack of awareness in the community of just how serious chronic kidney disease is.
“Chronic kidney disease affects more than one in 11 individuals. Progressive damage can lead to loss of kidney function and eventual kidney failure.”
One of his current projects is exploring new therapeutic options for managing chronic kidney disease through an HRC - MBIE funded grant for a research partnership with colleagues at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
Rob has more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and is actively involved in both local and international nephrology societies.
He is the Chair of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) Clinical Research Committee, promoting and supporting research in developing countries, and is the deputy chair of the ISN Core Programmes Committee, which is responsible for overseeing programmes supporting nephrology in developing countries. He is co-chair of the ANZSN research advisory committee, and the Pacific working group, as well as a member of the education and training committee.
Rob received the TJ Neale Award at the Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting in Adelaide, Australia on 4 September. In response to receiving the award, he gave a talk titled ‘A serendipitous journey as a clinician scientist’, which outlined the highlights and challenges of his career to date.
- Kōrero by Andrea Jones, Team Leader, Divisional Communications