Congratulations to Dr Ganesh Shiva FRACS who was awarded the Jenepher Martin Surgical Education Research Prize at the 2024 Annual Scientific Congress (ASC) in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Dr Shiva received the award after presenting his research on lumbar microdiscectomy competency-based training.

This prize is awarded annually for the best research paper presented at the ASC to encourage surgical education research in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The judges said, “All the papers presented in the Surgical Education session were fantastic, with a wide scope of coverage, depth of inquiry and relevance to surgical training.”

Dr Shiva is recognised for furthering surgical education with research focused on lumbar microdiscectomy competency-based training.

“It is a real honour and privilege to have won the Jenepher Martin Prize this year for a paper related to competency-based training. I hope that my research goes some way towards further developing and enhancing competency-based training in Neurosurgery," Dr Shiva says.

He was selected by a panel of judges with expertise in surgical education for his paper titled Developing an objective assessment of performance for lumbar microdiscectomy: Delphi methodology. [Authors: Dr Ganeshwaran Shivapathasundram, Dr Pramudith Sirimanna, Associate Professor Sarah Aitken, and Professor Vasikaran Naganathan]

The judges praised the paper, noting its maturity of thinking, substantial education research potential, and strong methodological approach.

Since 1999, Associate Professor Jenepher Martin FRACS has generously supported this prize in her name.

“Professor Martin is one of the pioneers in surgical education and a real enthusiast of competency based surgical training. As a young surgeon I owe a great debt of gratitude to her and the RACS competencies she developed, which forms the core of our surgical training,” Dr Shiva said.

Dr Shiva is an experienced Australian-trained neurosurgeon specialising in cranial, spinal and peripheral nerve surgery. He has completed more than 3000 surgeries inhis 10 years of specialisation. He is a visiting medical officer in Neurosurgery at the Sydney Southwest Private Hospital, St George Private Hospital, and Liverpool Hospital.

Dr Shiva completed his Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery at the University of New South Wales and attained his Master of Surgery at the University of Sydney. He completed his Neurosurgery Fellowship in 2021. He achieved further subspecialty qualification in spine surgery through a 12-month post Fellowship Education and Training (PFET) program in spinal surgery at Liverpool Hospital under Associate Professor Mark Sheridan.

The 2025 application process for the  Jenepher Martin Surgical Education Research prize will be advertised on the RACS website and in Surgical News ahead of the 2025 ASC.

You can find more information about the prize here.