Lumen Autumn 2025 - Flipbook - Page 32
World
Our University has more than
170,000 alumni living locally,
nationally and internationally.
Their lives, after graduation,
are as incredibly varied as the
places their careers lead them.
In this section, three of our
Lumen “foreign correspondents”
share their stories.
News
The multi-country project has seen
him travel to some of the world’s highest and most remote vineyards in Tibet,
an area known as Shangri-La, set amidst
jagged mountain peaks above the Lancang
river. Once, a rock the size of a small child
crashed through the window of Reno’s car
when he was driving to the vineyard, landing
in the passenger seat beside him.
Outside of his winemaking career, Reno
is interested in tea. The rich tradition of
growing and brewing regional teas in
China, he says, has more similarities with
winemaking than differences. Like wine, “a
province or a region has its own famous tea.
It’s been selected naturally; it’s grown on the
specific terroir; it’s even sometimes paired
with local cuisine”.
Dr Mark Leedham AM,
Timor-Leste
Reno Liu, Shanghai, China
Reno Liu is a winemaker whose passion
for wine spans continents. As the Penfolds
Winemaking Emissary for Greater China,
he works with Treasury Wine Estates (TWE)
on projects at the frontier of winemaking
and international collaboration.
With a background in bioengineering,
Reno came to Adelaide to study a Graduate
Diploma in Wine Business (2006) followed
by a Master of Oenology (2008). After
working several vintages in Australia, he
returned to China and took up his role
in Shanghai.
Dr Mark Leedham is the co-ordinator of
the Australasian Begg Orthodontic Society’s
Timor-Leste Cleft Lip and Palate Program.
Mark collaborates with fellow University
of Adelaide orthodontic alumni Dr Simon
Freezer and Dr Helen McLean to lead
teams comprised of experienced clinicians
from around Australia and postgraduate
orthodontic students from the University
of Adelaide. Since 2016, these teams have
provided ongoing orthodontic care to
communities in Timor-Leste, completing
38 trips, helping to manage almost 120
patients, and bolstering the field experience
of 15 postgraduates.
Reno is excited by the opportunities
present in an emerging market and his
current project is a multi-country initiative
across China, Australia, France and
the USA.
“China’s wine industry is still young
compared to the other mature wineproducing countries,” he says. “We can’t
just ‘copy-paste’ or take Australia as an
example. We really need to look at this
project from a local perspective.”
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The program, Mark says, offers
significant benefits for those who receive
care. “The orthodontic care we are able to
provide not only aligns their teeth, and
improves their dental health and speech,
but makes a big difference to their lives.”
From his current base of Darwin, Mark
regularly makes the short one-hour flight
across the Timor Sea to Timor-Leste’s
capital of Dili. As a forensic odontologist,
he has also worked further afield with
Disaster Victim Identification teams to help
identify victims in the wake of crises like the
devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in
Thailand, the tragic AirAsia plane crash in
Surabaya in 2014, and the Black Saturday
bushfires in Victoria in 2009.
THIS IMPORTANT FORENSIC
WORK PERFORMED IN THE
WAKE OF DISASTER GIVES A
VITAL SENSE OF CLOSURE TO
THE FAMILIES WHO HAVE
LOST LOVED ONES.
“GIVING A DECEASED
PERSON AN IDENTITY ENDS
THE TERRIBLE UNCERTAINTY
EXPERIENCED WHEN A FAMILY
MEMBER IS LOST IN A MASS
DISASTER AND ENABLES THE
DECEASED PERSON TO RETURN
TO THEIR FAMILIES,”
SAYS MARK.
Mark was appointed a Member of the
Order of Australia (AM) in 2023 for
significant service to dental medicine,
and to professional organisations.
