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General News

14 September, 2023

Former local recognised with prestigious award

Reaching new heights of success, former Maryborough local Damian Castanelli has been recognised internationally on the biggest stage in the medical education field. From studying in St Augustine’s Primary School when he was younger to earning...

By Prealene Khera

Former local, doctor Damian Castanelli won first place at the AMEE conference for his thesis in the field of medical education.
Former local, doctor Damian Castanelli won first place at the AMEE conference for his thesis in the field of medical education.

Reaching new heights of success, former Maryborough local Damian Castanelli has been recognised internationally on the biggest stage in the medical education field.

From studying in St Augustine’s Primary School when he was younger to earning a PhD, Dr Castanelli’s work has taken him a long way — now leading him to win the coveted Doctoral Award at the recently held Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) Conference.

Hosted in Glasgow, the 2023 edition took note of excellency in a range of areas across health professions education with the Doctoral Award handed out to those conducting high quality research relevant to the field.

Dr Castanelli’s award-winning report dealt with the matter of how medical students were assessed on their learning and he said it was affirming to be recognised for that research.

“In recent years in health professions education we have shifted the purpose of assessments more to providing feedback and helping people learn rather than just ranking or scoring people,” he said.

“Although it sounds wonderful, it has been difficult to implement. My thesis showed that trust and relationships are important to overcoming the barriers to using assessments for learning produced by supervisor power over trainees.

“AMEE conference is the largest in the health professions education field with over 4000 attendees and I was very proud to be selected to present my thesis at the conference as I think the standard of the research is very high.”

The award was shared between Dr Castanelli and Dr Will Bynum from Duke University in the United States of America — both coming in first.

“Nine [reports] are selected for presentation at the conference and a top three are then chosen,” Dr Castanelli said.

“I was a little surprised to be joint winner of the award as the other abstracts were impressive.

“It is very pleasing to have such an august panel [endorse] the quality of my work.”

Having grown up in Maryborough, Dr Castanelli said that in retrospect, he could attribute part of his success to his upbringing.

“I was lucky to have a supportive environment at home and at school,” he said.

“My teachers inspired me to work hard and do my best. I think that can still be true today.

“In my teaching now I see young medical students and doctors from country towns like Maryborough becoming specialists and going on to serve communities across the state and beyond.”

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