2018 Hills Original Award

Congratulations to Dr Amelia Hynen (Class of 2008), the 2018 recipient of the Hills Grammar Original Alumni Award (pictured with Claire Shi, Year 12). Amelia receives the award for outstanding and sustained excellence in the field of microbiology. 

After finishing at Hills Grammar, Amelia Hynen went on to study a Bachelor of Science in Biology at Macquarie University. In her final year of undergraduate study, she completed a research scholarship at the Macquarie University Hospital examining the biochemistry of brain blood vessel abnormalities. Throughout her degree she developed a passion for microbiology and infectious diseases.

In 2012, Amelia pursued scientific research and undertook an Honours research project at the University of Technology, Sydney. Her Honours project in biomedical research characterised the Australian Epidemic Strain 1 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a chronic bacterial lung infection in cystic fibrosis. Upon completion she was awarded first class Honours and the Dean’s Merit Award for Academic Excellence. Continuing her academic research career in 2013, Amelia undertook a Doctorate of Philosophy in bacteriology characterising explosive cell lysis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Her PhD was supported by an Australian Government Postgraduate Award Scholarship and a Research Excellence Scholarship awarded by the University of Technology Sydney.

Throughout her PhD studies she presented her research at several conferences in Australia and in the United States, winning accolades for her presentations. Her work was also published in the scientific journal Nature Communications in 2015. In 2017 Amelia was awarded her PhD and her thesis was nominated for the Chancellor’s Award for the best doctoral thesis submitted at UTS in 2017.

After completing her PhD, Dr Hynen moved into the field of public health. In 2017 she commenced a dual Masters of Public Health and International Public Health at the University of New South Wales. During this time she worked as a research assistant at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at UNSW, examining immunisation coverage in Indigenous populations in Australia. Before graduating from her dual Masters with excellence, Dr Hynen interned at in the epidemiology department of the Global Influenza Programme at the World Health Organisation in Switzerland.

For six years Dr Hynen has worked at UTS as a teaching associate for undergraduate microbiology and epidemiology practical classes and has lectured on microscopy techniques. She currently works as a researcher at Policy Cures Research, a not-for-profit organisation funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her work involves reviewing the science of grants and funding focusing on product research and development for neglected tropical diseases.