NCIRS is pleased to announce that applications for the Karen Orr Nurse Immunisation Education Scholarship are now open.
This scholarship is dedicated to the late Karen Orr, who was a highly valued staff member of the Centre. Throughout her career, Karen was an exemplary role model for nurses and a passionate advocate for vaccination who made significant contributions to the fields of paediatric nursing and immunisation.
In her role as a clinical nurse consultant at NCIRS, Karen was instrumental in establishing the New South Wales Immunisation Specialist Service (NSWISS), which provides an expert phone advice line for clinicians and a specialist immunisation clinic for children and their families. She also led the development of the Drop-in Immunisation Clinic at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, which offers opportunistic immunisation for patients and visitors.
Karen recognised the critical importance of research and played an active role in a nation-wide National Health and Medical Research Council-funded research project on febrile seizures post-vaccination; she also provided valuable input to the Australian Government Department of Health publication 'Questions about Vaccination'. She contributed to NCIRS publications on vaccine coverage and the evaluation of measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccines in Australia and shared her knowledge at many public and primary health conferences, where she was an inspiring speaker.
This scholarship, which is awarded annually, offers a nurse or midwife up to $1,000 in funding to further their education by attending a conference or course to enhance their immunisation practice.
Previous winners of the scholarship include:
- Rebecca Curr, Immunisation and Surveillance Clinical Nurse Manager, Public Health Unit, Northern Territory Health - Attended Communicable Diseases Immunisation Conference 2022 in Sydney
- Mary Barnett, Clinical Nurse, Queensland Adult Specialist Immunisation Service - Attended Communicable Diseases Immunisation Conference 2022 in Sydney
- Patrick Gould, Mental Health Research Fellow - Vaccine Equity - Attended and presented at the 46th International Mental Health Nursing Conference in the Gold Coast.
To be eligible for the scholarship, you must:
- be an Australian citizen or permanent resident;
- be a registered nurse or a midwife (A List) with current registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency; and
- have an appropriate post-registration qualification as an authorised nurse immuniser.
Applications are open now and close on Friday 5 May 2023.
