The recipients of our inaugural Alumni Excellence Awards have been announced! The Awards recognise the remarkable achievements of our alumni community and serve as a platform to honour, celebrate and showcase the contributions of outstanding alumni through their professional careers and/or personal endeavours.
Congratulations to Associate Professor Alex Forrest AO (EMC 1974-1978) who has been awarded our Alumni Excellence Award and Thomas Cullen (EMC 2011-2014) who received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award.
Professor Alex Forrest AO
Alex graduated in Dentistry from The University of Queensland in 1979 and practised in Darwin and in the Flying Dental Service out of Cairns before undertaking further study in Anatomy.
He worked in both Government and private practice before joining The University of Queensland where he lectured in both Oral Biology (School of Dentistry) and Anatomy (School of Anatomical Sciences). He moved to Griffith University in 2005 and became Associate Professor and Discipline Head of Forensic Science at Griffith University before returning to UQ as Associate Professor and Clinical Lead in Oral Surgery at the School of Dentistry in 2018. He joined the RAAF as Reserve Specialist in 2002 and retired in 2020 as Wing Commander. He has now retired from academic life but continues as Director of Forensic Odontology at Pathology Queensland Forensic and Scientific Services.
He has published numerous papers and book chapters and was principal forensic witness in R v Carroll (2000) which changed the Double Jeopardy Rules in all states and territories. He contributed to the Disaster Victim Identification operations in Bali following the Terrorist Bombing in 2002, the South Asian Tsunami in 2024, the Samoan Tsunami and Victorian Bushfires in 2009, and every domestic incident since 1990.
In 2019, Alex was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia for Distinguished Service to dentistry and teaching of anatomy.
Thomas Cullen
Thomas Cullen was raised in Cairns, Far North Queensland, and attended Cairns State High School until 2009. He commenced studies at UQ in 2011 in a Bachelor of Arts/Journalism degree as a resident at Emmanuel College. In 2012 he transferred into a Bachelor of Arts/Laws programme and left the College in 2014 following his appointment that year as Cultural Convener, subsequently writing and acting as assistant director in the 2015 Theatre Restaurant production Back to the Spewture. He graduated in 2018, following a stint as a teacher in Spain in the Auxiliares de Conversación language programme.
From 2019-2021 he worked as the Legal Policy Officer at the National Farmers’ Federation, working to secure a national quad-bike safety regulation and greater protections for farm workers from workplace and sexual exploitation. From 2022-2023 he completed a graduate programme with the Department of Transport, Infrastructure, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, working in the areas of Copyright and Telecommunications Resilience. Since 2023 he has worked in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to implement policy objectives set by the Government’s 5-year National Cultural Policy: Revive: A place for every story, a story for every place.
