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Media release
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Description: Health is at hand for all Australians Date: 30 June 2009 |
Type: Media release Contact for further information: |
Health is at hand for all Australians
Newborn babies, Indigenous Australians and people with sleep problems are among the beneficiaries of a raft of new medical research projects that have received funding from the Australian Government.
The National Health and Medical Research Council has awarded grants of up to $2.5 million each for six new Centres for Clinical Research Excellence (CCREs) to carry out high-quality clinical research.
This research is expected to lead directly to improved treatment for patients attending medical facilities such as doctors’ surgeries, hospitals, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and other clinics across Australia.
The multidisciplinary research projects are patient oriented and will focus on translating the resulting evidence into practice as well as training future clinical researchers.
Translating medical research results, or evidence, into clinical practice is one of the world’s most critical avenues for improving healthcare delivery.
The NHMRC grants, totalling almost $15 million, will fund the CCREs for five years, starting this year.
The six centres will specialise in:
- sleep health, with an emphasis on investigating the biology of sleep
- major eye diseases, particularly the four eye diseases that cause the majority of vision loss in Australia
- newborn medicine, focusing on the study of adverse outcomes for the brains and lungs of newborn babies
- rehabilitation for aphasia (the loss of ability to communicate due, for example, to brain injury)
- oral health, in particular the prevention and treatment of oral diseases and disorders and their clinical consequences
- sexually transmitted and bloodborne viral infections in Aboriginal Australians.
An announcement on the Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Aboriginal Health was made earlier this year to coincide with 2009 World Health Day.
The CCRE grants were awarded following NHMRC’s rigorous peer-review process and are in line with the Rudd Government’s election commitment to encourage and invest in excellence in health and medical research that improves the wellbeing of all Australians.
Media Contact
Parliamentary Secretary’s Office: Lisa Sedgwick, M:0421 444 959
NHMRC: Carolyn Norrie, T: 02 6217 9342 M: 0422 008 512 carolyn.norrie@nhmrc.gov.au
2009 Centres for Clinical Research Excellence (CCRE) grant recipients
Professor Ronald Grunstein, University of Sydney, $2.5 million
CCRE in Interdisciplinary Sleep Health
Sleep loss and disordered sleep is now recognised as contributing to mortality, chronic disease and economic health burden. The CCRE in Interdisciplinary Sleep Health (CRISH) aims to investigate the biology of sleep, and to prevent and to treat sleep disorders through a uniquely interdisciplinary approach. The centre will support world-class interventional research aimed to inform clinical practice and alter health policy. The next generation of sleep researchers will be fostered through national and international collaborations.
Professor Tien Wong, Centre for Eye Research Australia (Melbourne), $2.5 million
CCRE for Translational Clinical Research in Major Eye Diseases (TCE-Eye)
The four eye diseases that cause the majority of vision loss in Australia, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataract and glaucoma, impose a significant socio-economic burden, costing our nation around $10 billion a year. This CCRE will fund a world-leading, broad-based, clinical and translational research program in Melbourne and Sydney to tackle these eye diseases. The new knowledge and innovative clinical strategies developed in this CCRE will impact on clinical ophthalmology and the practice of other medical disciplines.
Professor Lex Doyle, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (Melbourne), $2.5 million
CCRE in Newborn Medicine
The CCRE in Newborn Medicine will study adverse outcomes for the brains and lungs of newborn babies. It will establish how often these occur in different types of babies (ranging from very premature babies through to those born on time), investigate the different causes, develop treatments to either prevent or treat the adverse outcomes, determine the long-term consequences into adulthood, and continually re-evaluate the effectiveness of the various treatment strategies designed to improve the health outcomes for newborn babies.
Professor Linda Worrall, University of Queensland, $2.5 million
CCRE in Aphasia Rehabilitation
This national research centre uniquely combines two recent advances in rehabilitation, applies them to rehabilitation of acquired communication disorder (aphasia) and translates them into a clear pathway for clinical management of people with aphasia. This ‘cell to society’ research program integrates a consumer’s perspective into research in the relearning of lost skills after injury. The resulting Australian Aphasia Clinical Pathway will enable and ensure best practice in aphasia services.
Professor Peter Bartold, University of Adelaide, $2.4 million
CCRE for Oral Health
The CCRE for Oral Health will focus on the prevention and treatment of oral diseases and disorders and their clinical consequences. Research will emphasise three areas of clinical care that are critical to the management of oral health, systemic health and general well-being:
1. primary prevention to prevent disease onset
2. diagnosis and risk prediction for oral conditions
3. clinical intervention.
Professor John Kaldor, University of New South Wales, $2.5 million
CCRE in Aboriginal Health: Sexually transmitted and bloodborne viral infections
This proposed new CCRE will bring together the leading Australian institution dedicated to clinical research on sexually transmitted and bloodborne viral infections, and the peak organisation for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services. Working with nominated Aboriginal community-controlled health services, the centre will conduct innovative research that will identify new approaches to diagnosing and managing these infections, while at the same time developing improved clinical guidelines and research capacity within the sector.