Pru Pratten Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award

Nominations for the 2023 Awards of Excellence and Pru Pratten Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award are now open.

About the award

The prestigious Pru Pratten Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award (PPMLAA) recognises and honours a sonographer who has made a significant contribution to the profession, and the ASA, over the course of their career.  

PPMLAA nominees will display a desire for excellence, demonstrate outstanding achievements and through their personal efforts have helped to advance the sonography profession. See below for nomination criteria and eligibility. 

Nominations for the 2023 Awards of Excellence and Pru Pratten Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award are now open.

The 2023 Award recipient will be announced and honoured at the Gala Dinner held at the ASA2023 Brisbane Conference. 

In 2023, the ASA Board made the decision to grant all past and future Pru Pratten Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award recipients with Honorary ASA Lifetime Membership, in recognition of their invaluable contributions to the sonography profession and to the ASA. 

Criteria

The nomination criteria include three categories: 

• Service to the ASA – includes presenting at ASA events, writing for Sonography journal, and being active on ASA committees/branches, 
• Mentoring and training – includes being actively involved in the training of others to more formal positions of clinical supervisors or educators, 
• Service to humanity and innovation – includes research, volunteering to outreach communities or the creation of new ways of educating and training sonographers. 

You can find the detailed criteria here

Eligibility 

To be eligible for nomination: 

• The nominee must be a financial and continuous member of the ASA for a minimum of 15 years, 
• Nominees cannot have previously received the ASA Sonographer of the Year, Pru Pratten Memorial Award 
• Nominees cannot be current sitting ASA Board members or ASA staff  

Nominees may also be put forward for the Awards of Excellence in the same year, however separate applications will need to be submitted. 

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Awarded to Michelle Fenech, 2022 

The recipient of the 2022 Pru Pratten Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award is Michelle Fenech. Michelle has made significant contributions to the Australasian Sonographers Association (ASA) and the sonography profession over her career. She has a passion for extending her own knowledge, completing a Masters of Medical Ultrasound as well as a PHD, and teaching others.  

Her dedication to sharing her knowledge with sonographers is extensive, she has presented over 35 presentations at international, national, and local events and conferences over the last 20 years, and has over 14 publications. She has volunteered her time on numerus ASA committees over the years as well as volunteering on international committees. She also has significant years of service on ASA branch committees, special interest groups and numerous program committees.  

Michelle enjoys empowering sonographers with improved knowledge in our neighbouring developing countries such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and the Solomon Islands. In 2016 she was invited by RANZCR to provide training to Radiologists and sonographers from all over Fiji. She also brought sonographers and doctors, who perform sonographic examinations, from Fiji, PNG, and the Solomon Islands to Australia for practical sonographic training for a week under her guidance.  

Michelle uses innovative teaching practices to enhance student learning, incorporating a constructivist approach using playful, interesting, socially driven, and memorable learning activities to enhance engagement and learning experience. This is evidenced by student feedback saying that she has a knack for explaining anatomy in her lectures in such a way that pulls you in and makes you want to learn more. She has incorporated this into all the units (over 15 of them) that she has developed and designed a curriculum for. 

Michelle has won a number of teaching awards over the years, including Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK as well as a Fellow of the ASA.  Her passion, love and dedication to teaching and giving back to the sonographic community sees her mentor others in becoming better teachers as well as improving and enhancing student learning to shape the next generation of sonographers.

The ASA is proud to present Michelle with this prestigious Award. Thank you for your continued service to the ASA, your peers and your profession.