The Pearcey Foundation, the Australian Information Industry Association, and the Australian Computer Society held the 2006 IT Victoria/Pearcey Foundation Cocktail and Banquet on Thursday, 28 September. During the Banquet three awards were presented: Senator The Hon Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, has been invited to present the National Pearcey Medal. Victorian Minister for Information Communication Technology, Marsha Thomson has been invited to present The Victorian Pearcey State Award The inaugural Pearcey National Young Achievers Award will be presented to one of the State Pearcey Award Winners from 2006.

Luke Bereznicki, a BPharm(Hons) graduate and current PhD candidate in the School of Pharmacy, UTas, and inaugural recipient of a prestigious National Institute NICS Scholar, was the recipient of the Tasmanian Pearcey Award for 2005 and has now been awarded the Pearcey National Young Achievers Award for 2006. The award is in recognition of excellence in the IT sphere. This is Luke's second prestigious national award this year. Well done Luke. The Pearcey Foundation was established in 1998, and created in the memory of the pioneer of Australian computing, Dr Trevor Pearcey. It provides a channel for recognition of outstanding individual contributions to the Australian Information Technology industry. The Pearcey Award is a State award, and Luke will represent Tasmania at the national finals, aimed at encouraging and rewarding fresh and innovative talent in the IT profession. It is awarded to an individual early in his or her career who has demonstrated innovative and pioneering achievement and contribution to research and development.

Luke was successful based on an application involving the implementation of alternative monitoring strategies to manage patients on warfarin. One of the limitations of warfarin therapy is that frequent pathology testing of the International Normalised Ratio (INR) is required, placing a significant burden on the patient, healthcare professionals and the healthcare system. One of the ways to improve the use of warfarin is to make INR testing more accessible to people taking warfarin - particularly in the elderly population. To this end, point-of-care INR monitors were developed in the mid-1980s but were difficult to use, especially for elderly people. Self monitoring of warfarin therapy, incorporating IT, has developed as a very promising model of care whereby people on warfarin monitor their INR at home and communicate with their general practitioner for dosage adjustment. In clinical studies, self-monitoring has resulted in improved control of INR, reduced clotting and bleeding complications and improved quality of life compared to normal management.   It has been Luke's role to facilitate the production of an IT solution to allow for home monitoring of warfarin and communication with the general practitioners. Luke has conducted focus group meetings to identify the needs of the end users - people on warfarin and their general practitioners. Based on previous research experience and the needs of the end-users, Luke has successfully facilitated the production of a product that will both ensure the safety of the people using it and meet the needs of the general practitioner. The project is underway - having commenced in Ocober 2005. This IT solution has much potential in health care in providing suitable people to monitor their chronic disease states in the home and communicate electronically with heath care providers. An IT solution such as the warfarin home-monitoring project demonstrates that it is necessary for experts to act as facilitators, or 'knowledge brokers' to bring together end-users and IT companies in health care and that this fusion has huge potential to improve the safety of people taking high risk medications and suffering from chronic disease states. Luke's role has been critical in bringing together IT experts, health professionals and patients to create a sound system for the mamagement of warfarin therapy, the success of which could be extrapolated to improve the management of other high-risk drugs and chronic disease states.