Professor Mario Alvarez-Jimenez has been awarded a prestigious Marles Medal from the University of Melbourne, recognising his pioneering work in youth mental health and his development of Orygen’s world-leading digital youth mental health service, MOST.
The Marles medals recognise significant research impact in across academic disciplines, including humanities, science, technology and medical research, and are named in honour of Ms Fay Marles AM, an alumna and first female Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
The Marles Medal for Research Impact in Health and Medical Sciences was awarded to Professor Alvarez-Jimenez, Chief of Orygen Digital, for his outstanding contribution to transforming youth mental healthcare in Australia.
Through the development and national implementation of MOST, his work now supports more than 10,000 young people annually and has facilitated referrals for more than 40,000 young Australians across more than 500 mental health services nationwide.
MOST has pioneered a new generation of digitally enabled mental healthcare, transforming services nationally and informing major health reforms. Professor Alvarez-Jimenez is now leading MOST’s international expansion through the MOST-Nexus project.
Prof. Alvarez-Jimenez said he was honoured to receive the Marles medal, and acknowledged the support of the University of Melbourne as well as the Orygen Digital team.
“I share this honour with an incredibly dedicated team. MOST has benefited from the work of so many talented people, who are all passionate about making a genuine difference to young people’s mental health,” Professor Alvarez-Jimenez said.
“We’re so proud of MOST’s success, and we’re excited to continue the service’s innovation so that we can reach more young people with the kind of support they need most, support that is evidence-based, accessible, integrated with services and potentially life-changing.”
Executive Director of Orygen, Professor Patrick McGorry, congratulated Prof. Alvarez-Jimenez and his team for their significant contribution.
“Mario’s contribution to addressing the youth mental health crisis has been outstanding,” Prof. McGorry said.
“His pioneering leadership in digital mental health has helped transform the way mental healthcare is delivered to young people across Australia, while increasingly influencing models of care internationally.
"Orygen is very fortunate and proud to have such a world-class translational researcher at the forefront of a genuine revolution in digital mental health.
“The Orygen Digital team is world-leading, and MOST, along with the team’s other digital innovations, is not just bridging gaps and transforming the current mental health care system, but demonstrating how innovative thinking can get help into the hands of young people when they really need it.”