Dementia care and mental health treatments are two areas that will benefit from an injection of $125.7 million into health and medical research, announced today by Mark Butler, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing.
Two hundred and ninety six researchers across Australia have been awarded National Health and Medical Research Council awards and fellowships that will enable them to develop their research careers.
“When researchers are given an opportunity to develop their research careers they extend our knowledge of health beyond current understanding.” Mr Butler said.
“Their dedicated work in areas as diverse as basic science and the development of better treatments in hospitals and nursing homes is the key to quality of life for Australians living with dementia, mental health problems and other health issues.”
Professor Brian Dean, of the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, is one of these researchers. He will receive a $630,505 five-year NHMRC Research Fellowship to develop a better understanding of the chemical basis of common mental health disorders, including schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, that could lead to new ways of treating these conditions.
Ms Sharon Andrews, a nursing researcher from the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, has been awarded a $124,000 Translating Research Into Practice Fellowship to extend her work in improving the quality of care for nursing home patients with dementia. She will focus on ways to build better staff-family relationships.
The grants announced today include:
- 121 Training (Post-doctoral) Fellowships, $35,638,102
- 62 Career Development Awards, $24,134,372
- 17 Practitioner Fellowships, $7,289,757
- 86 Research Fellowships $57,355,180
- 10 Translating Research Into Practice Fellowships, $1,304,000
For a full list of all award winners please visit the relevant links below:
- Training (Post-doctoral) Fellowships
- Career Development Awards
- Practitioner Fellowships
- Research Fellowships
- Translating Research into Practice (TRIP) Fellowships
Media contacts:
Samantha Regione, Minister’s Office, 02 6277 7280
Carolyn Norrie, NHMRC, 0422 008 512 or 02 6217 9342