Three emerging researchers from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases based at The Kids Research Institute Australia have been recognised for research tackling some of the biggest challenges in child health upon receiving 2026 Stan and Jean Perron Awards to help take their work into its next phase.
Michael Dymock, Keerthi Anpalagan and Charlie Holland are among the latest recipients of the awards, which support promising researchers as they develop new approaches to improve children’s health and strengthen the future of child health research.
Michael, a biostatistician within The Kids’ Infectious Disease Implementation Research team, received a Stan and Jean Perron Award for Excellence.
His research is focused on developing innovative statistical methods to help researchers conduct more efficient clinical trials, with the potential to accelerate the translation of research findings into better healthcare.
Keerthi and Charlie were both awarded Stan and Jean Perron PhD Career Launching Awards to support their transition from PhD to postdoctoral research.
As a member of the Healthy Skin and ARF Prevention team, Keerthi is working to improve care for children with Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection.
Her research seeks to develop better, child-specific imaging approaches to help detect hidden sites of infection, with the aim of enabling infections to be identified and treated earlier.
Charlie, a member of our Infectious Diseases Epidemiology team, is investigating whether respiratory vaccines can protect infants and young children against RSV-related disease beyond their intended targets.
Her research generates real-world evidence that could help inform immunisation policy and strengthen strategies to prevent respiratory disease in young children.
The Stan and Jean Perron Awards were established at The Kids in 2005 thanks to the generosity of The Stan Perron Charitable Foundation. Now encompassing three awards – the Excellence Awards, Top-up Scholarships and recently established Career Launching Awards – the program has supported nearly 100 postgraduate students and fellows who have dedicated their careers to improving the health and wellbeing of children.
The awards provide funding for research-related expenses including consumables, equipment, conferences, travel and software, while also helping researchers build professional networks and strengthen research capacity.
First published Thursday 3 September 2026.
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