Centenary Edition 2010 - University of Queensland

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2007
LOVE OF PHILIPPINES
LURES LAW EXPERT
Noel Ramiscal, PhD
When Noel Ramiscal completed his PhD
in law in 2007, the decision to return to his
adopted province Calamba, Laguna, in the
Philippines proved the right one.
Through his appointment as University
Prosecutor and Associate Professor
at the University of the Philippines Los
Baños College, Dr Ramiscal has close to
100 students under his leadership every
semester.
His role includes teaching business law
to graduate and undergraduate students, as
well as literature and philosophy courses to
undergraduate students.
He has successfully prosecuted
hundreds of respondents in his time as
University Prosecutor with cases ranging
from misconduct to murder. Now, he serves
as special advocate for the university on
selected crucial cases that involve faculty,
employees and students.
“At the moment, there are only three
lawyers in this academic community of
more than 11,000 people and I am the
only prosecutor and academic with legal
expertise on electronic data,” he said.
“I have been asked and I actually did a
critique of the cyber privacy and cyber crime
bills and I also submitted my own version
of the cyber crime bill as requested by the
Dr Ramiscal with his mother Juanita
Commission of Information Communications
and Technology.”
The Philippine Australian Alumni
Association together with the Australian
Embassy in December 2008 awarded Dr
Ramiscal the first Outstanding Alumnus Award
for his work in utilising what he learned in
Australia for the service of his country.
Dr Ramiscal was also awarded the
Freeman Foundation Fellowship in 2008,
and travelled to Austria to deliver a paper
on the legal implications of electronic data
on business ventures at the Salzburg Global
Conference.
“At the beginning, there were times that
I questioned why I came back, but the call
of public service has always been strong
and my mother, Juanita Ramiscal, recently
retired from public service after 36 years at
the Department of Justice. All these and
more reminded me why the Philippines is
worth coming back to,” he said.
courtesy noel ramiscal
courtesy amy burroughs
2008
PROTECTOR OF
AUSTRALIAN LIVESTOCK
Amy Burroughs, BVSc (hons)
Working on the frontline of Australia’s exotic
disease control is all part of a day’s work for
veterinary science graduate Amy Burroughs.
Based in Rockhampton, Dr Burroughs is
a graduate veterinary officer with Biosecurity
Queensland where she is employed to
protect Australian herds from diseases such
as foot-and-mouth and mad-cow disease,
Equine and Avian Influenza and Hendra
Virus.
Dr Burroughs initially studied veterinary
science with a view to pursuing small animal
practice, however in the last two years of
her degree she developed a keen interest
in public health and emerging infectious
zoonotic diseases – those that can be
passed from animals to humans.
“My role so far has involved going
out to properties in central Queensland
experiencing significant losses in production
or a significant number of deaths in their
animals,” Dr Burroughs said.
“By responding to such disease outbreaks,
we can make sure that if a significant exotic
disease were to enter Australia, it would be
detected sooner rather than later.
“The most exciting aspect of this job is
the opportunity I have to be part of the first
response to incursions of exotic diseases
which could have a negative impact on
animal health, the productivity of Australian
animal herds and human health.”
Dr Burroughs knows too well the
industry implications of a disease outbreak
and is always on the lookout for likely points
of entry into the country, a skill she learned
during her time at UQ.
“The outbreak of disease could threaten
our ability to export and thus would affect
the income of many producers,” she said.
“On a domestic level, the Australian
public may lose confidence in the safety
of our food; again producers would lose
income. There would be a great cost to
industry, the government and to individuals
in the control of such diseases.
“The degree at UQ provided me with
the knowledge of diseases, how to obtain
a thorough history from clients, how to go
out and perform a post-mortem and how to
investigate the outbreak of a disease – all
very important in enabling me to perform my
current role satisfactorily.”
46 UQ – GRADUATE CONTACT // centenary edition 2010