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Prize presentation
Congratulations to our 2026 Louis Barnett Prize finalists, who presented their outstanding surgical research in front of an online audience on Thursday 2 July.
The winner of the 2026 prize was awarded to Jayvee Buchanan. Congratulations.
Our finalists were:
Sam Emmanuel: The impact of pre-operative biopsy on operative timing and upstaging for lung cancer
Sabrina Koh: Economic Burden of Human Papillomavirus-related Cancers in New Zealand
Megan Grinlinton: Ten Year Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Banded Roux en Y Gastric Bypass to Sleeve Gastrectomy for Type 2 Diabetes and Weight Loss
Wikus Vermeulen: A first-in-human safety and feasibility study of RT-310, a paclitaxel-eluting bioabsorbable intraprostatic implant for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia
Jayvee Buchanan: Performance and failure analysis of real-time surgical computer vision in clinical practice.
2027 Louis Barnett Prize
This event will be held in Dunedin during the Aotearoa New Zealand centenary celebrations in February 2027 (exact date TBC). Entries will open August 2026.
About Sir Louis Barnett CMG
Sir Louis was born in Wellington and was the first New Zealander to gain a Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He returned to Aotearoa New Zealand to a lectureship at Otago Medical School and in 1909 was appointed professor of surgery at Otago. He was awarded the CMG for his services in WWI and was knighted in 1927 after his retirement from the Chair of Surgery.
In the 1920s Sir Louis was instrumental in the formation of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (initially known as the College of Surgeons in Australasia) and in 1927, at the College’s first meeting which was held in Dunedin, he was elected the first Vice-President. He later became President of this College from 1937 – 1939.
A pioneer in hydatid’s research, Sir Louis continued this work after his retirement from the Otago Medical School. He was influential in the establishment of the College’s hydatid register and was also prominent in the British Empire Cancer Campaign. Sir Louis endowed the Ralph Barnett Chair in Surgery at Otago Medical School, in memory of his son who was killed in WWI.