Professor Annette Dobson from the University of Queensland, will receive $124,705 in Federal funding for research into neurodegenerative disorders, under the National Health and Medical Research Council's Strategic Healthy Ageing Program.
Announcing the grant today, the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, said the Queensland study aimed to improve services and reduce the burden on carers looking after people with Alzheimer's Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
"Professor Dobson's project is a comparative study of older people living with two groups of neurodegenerative disorders likely to require different types of support and services," she said.
"By comparing the responsiveness of health services to people living with these disorders under varying circumstances, it will be possible to identify opportunities for improving services and reducing the burden on carers. Participants will be recruited nationally through the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health."
The Minister said eight research projects across Australia would receive a total of $1.7 million, under the NHMRC program.
The other seven projects in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania would each study an aspect of the ageing process to help improve the health outcomes for an ageing Australian population.
"With an ageing population, healthy ageing is very properly a national research priority," Senator Patterson said.
"Each of these projects will, by increasing our knowledge about the processes of ageing, allow us to improve health outcomes for, and the quality of life of, our ageing population or will provide information to help prevent diseases of ageing in the Australian community."