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The Queensland Aphasia Research Centre (QARC) brings together people with aphasia, their families and friends, clinicians and researchers in the collaborative development of innovative and novel health interventions that transform lives. At NHMRC's Research Excellence Awards in March, QARC received the 2023 NHMRC Consumer Engagement Award, which recognises an individual, a group of individuals or an organisation that has made a long-term contribution to consumer and community involvement in health and medical research.

Professor Stephen Tong and the team of investigators are revolutionising the treatment of ectopic pregnancy, meaning most women presenting with the condition could be treated medically, rather than surgically. Not only will this make treating ectopic pregnancies safer, easier and more effective, but it may save many lives across the developing world where surgery is not possible.

Diets around the world have significantly shifted for the worse since the 20th century and this has had a highly negative impact on the health of the global population. At the same time, the burden of mental disorders, particularly depression, has increased significantly. Associate Professor Felice Jacka and her team have established new approaches to the prevention and treatment of mental disorders by looking at what we eat.

Medication errors are widely recognised as a major cause of preventable harm and death worldwide, annually costing some $42B globally and $1.28B in Australia.

Having experienced 2 Indigenous internships with NHMRC, Vernon Armstrong has now started his journey in mental health research.

By 2036, the total cost of dementia is predicted to increase by 81 per cent to $25.8 billion in Australia1

Now an ear, nose and throat surgeon, Associate Professor Kelvin Kong was destined for health care. Growing up Kelvin and his sisters were always keen to help his mother, a Registered Nurse, whenever she had a one of their mob come around to remove a suture, tend to a cut or get a vaccination.

'It’s about coming with an open mind and heart, and willingness to deeply listen to community… to have any preconceptions challenged and re-learn ways of doing research' - Dr Veronica Matthews , co-lead investigator, STRengthening systems for InDigenous healthcare Equity (STRIDE)

Early in 2020, the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 team was working on protein modelling to better understand antimicrobial resistance for improved drug development. In March they turned their attention to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which had already undergone many mutations. In September, the team’s work was published in Nature Genetics.

‘The rate of disability among Indigenous Australians is almost twice as high as that among non-Indigenous people'1

The 2020 Commonwealth Health Minister's Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research has been awarded to Associate Professor Eric Chow of Monash University. The award has been presented each year since 2000 and recognises the top-ranked recipient of a NHMRC Investigator Grant in the Emerging Leadership Level 2 category from the previous year’s application round.

The formation of abnormal proteins in the brain has long been suspected to contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Yet many individuals with abnormal protein formations do not go on to develop such diseases.

Since 2008 NHMRC has funded over $680 million in diabetes research1.

Associate Professor Julian Elliott is taking research beyond the clinic with ‘citizen science’ and subsequently scoops this year’s Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research.

Professor Erica Wood is head of the Transfusion Unit at Monash University. Her research describes how blood is used in Australia, and how its use can be improved and made safer and more cost-effective. Through registry data and clinical trials, and studies of novel blood products, Professor Wood and her team aim to improve access and transfusion outcomes for patients.

Welcome to National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) 10 of the Best – Thirteenth Edition, a tribute to the researchers and their teams around Australia who are tackling the health challenges that we face from birth to later life. 

Leukaemia is the most diagnosed cancer in children and the second most common cancer causing death among children in Australia.1 NHMRC-funded researchers at the Children’s Cancer Institute (CCI), in collaboration with researchers at Flinders University and in European laboratories, developed a highly accurate and sensitive technique – known as minimal residual disease (MRD) testing – that enables doctors to improve anti-cancer treatment for children with the most common type of leukaemia.

NHMRC opened the Targeted Call for Research (TCR): Commercial determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health (CDoH) on 4 October 2023. Applications closed on 13 December 2023.