Four exceptional researchers have been awarded the prestigious WA Early-Career Child Health Researcher Fellowship, recognising their bold, community-driven projects aimed at transforming outcomes for children across Western Australia and beyond.
The Fellowships highlight the power of translational research to address urgent health challenges. This year’s recipients span disciplines from infectious disease and microbiology to cardiology, diagnostics and biomedical imaging, each united by a commitment to equity, innovation and impact. Two of the four projects are dedicated to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal children, reflecting a strong focus this year on the communities most affected by preventable childhood disease. The Fellowships highlight the power of translational research to address urgent health challenges.
The new Fellows will be presented with their awards at the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club.
The Fellowship program is managed and administered by BrightSpark and has received generous support by the Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund and the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation.
2026 Fellowship Recipients
- Dr Stephanie Enkel – The Kids Research Institute Australia / The University of Western Australia. Recognise, Detect, Prevent: Building equitable pathways for Strep A skin sore and sore throat prevention. Dr Enkel’s project focuses on recognising, detecting and preventing Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) skin sores and sore throats, infections that disproportionately affect Aboriginal children and, left untreated, can lead to serious conditions including acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Her work aims to build more equitable prevention pathways for the communities most at risk.
- Dr Christopher Mullaly – Murdoch University. Development of a rapid bedside test for detection of neonatal sepsis pathogens. Dr Mullaly is developing a rapid, point-of-care test to identify the pathogens responsible for neonatal sepsis, a leading cause of illness and death in newborns, enabling faster diagnosis and more timely, targeted treatment.
- Dr Wenna Lee – The Kids Research Institute Australia / The University of Western Australia. HEARTS: Heart valve Exploration of ARF and RHD Tissue Study. Dr Lee’s HEARTS study examines heart valve tissue to better understand acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD), conditions that place a heavy and inequitable burden on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, with the goal of informing better prevention and treatment.
- Dr Keerthi Anpalagan – The Kids Research Institute Australia / The University of Western Australia. IMAGE-SAB: Building a trial-ready paediatric imaging domain for children with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia. The IMAGE-SAB project is building a trial-ready paediatric imaging capability for children with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (bloodstream infection), standardising imaging so that future clinical trials can more accurately assess and treat this serious infection in children.
These Fellowships reflect BrightSpark’s decades-long commitment to advancing WA child health through research excellence, collaboration and community engagement. That commitment reaches a significant milestone in 2027, when BrightSpark will celebrate 50 years in operation, half a century of backing the researchers and ideas working to improve the lives of Western Australian children. Each of this year’s projects is poised to shape policy, improve clinical practice, and uplift the lives of children and families for generations to come.