- Government awards $3.4 million to establish
collaborative medical research centres
- New Collaborative Centres Program will boost
national and international partnerships
- WA health and medical research leaders
recognised for groundbreaking work
The Cook Government has awarded $3.4 million to accelerate Western
Australia's world-leading research into rare and undiagnosed diseases, gene
therapies and lung cancer management.
The Collaborative Centres Program, a new initiative of the Government's successful
Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund, will develop and enhance
national and international research partnerships, as well as putting WA health
and medical researchers on the world map.
First-round recipients of the Program include clinician-led teams in the
Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS), East Metropolitan Health Service
(EMHS) and North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS).
Grant funding will enable the Rare Care Centre at CAHS to establish a
global leading Collaborative Centre for Research and Innovation Excellence for
Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases (RUD) in WA.
The Centre will drive collaborative, culturally safe research to improve
the lives of the 63,000 Western Australian children, young people and their families
living with RUD and will link world-leading researchers from around the world.
EMHS will establish the Collaborative Centre for Advanced Therapies
(CCPAT), leveraging existing expertise in cell and gene manufacturing at Royal
Perth Hospital, Westmead Hospital in New South Wales, the Alfred Hospital in
Victoria and the Royal Brisbane and
Women's Hospital in Queensland. This collaboration will see a diverse
range of locally manufactured cell and gene products advance the development of
novel medical therapies.
NMHS will set up the Collaborative Centre for Innovative Pleural
Research, building on Western Australia's world-leading management of
cancer-related pleural effusions (abnormal buildup of fluid in the chest) via the
use of innovative new catheters. The catheters support cancer patients in being
able to have the treatment in the comfort of their own home, improving their
quality of life. The new centre will enable WA researchers to share and expand
their expertise in the management of cancer-related pleural effusions and
develop trials for non-cancer effusions.
The Cook Government established the groundbreaking FHRI Fund in 2020,
which incorporated almost $1.8 billion being held under the State's sovereign
wealth fund. Since then, $173 million has been committed to almost 600 projects
supporting health and medical research and innovation in WA with a further $250
million being available over the next four years.
Comments attributed to Medical Research Minister
Stephen Dawson:
"The Collaborative Centres Program is a terrific new initiative under
the Cook Government's successful FHRI Fund to provide a strong platform to drive
forward WA's world-leading health and medical research.
"The number and quality of applicants for the first round of the Program
was very high, demonstrating the depth of Western Australia's research talent
and capacity.
"It is exciting to see such amazing research being carried out here
locally and this new Program aims to propel these achievements nationally and
internationally.
"The grants awarded to establish these new collaborative centres will
provide a great foundation to ensure the research is self-sustainable beyond
the life of the funding Program and continues well into the future."
