- New program to identify researchers with a passion for child
health
- Supported by the State's Future Health Research and Innovation
Fund and Brightspark Foundation
Fellowships worth almost $1 million will be awarded to four early career
researchers to develop their vision and approach to improving child health.
The Fellowships program,
co-funded by the Cook Government's Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI)
Fund and the Brightspark Foundation, has been established to ensure emerging
local expertise in research and innovation stays in Western Australia.
Medical Research Minister Stephen
Dawson said the program was designed to help early-career researchers become
better qualified, experienced and positioned to seek longer term child health
research funding.
The FHRI Fund and Brightspark
Foundation partnership will inject more than $5 million over three years into
the Fellowship program, with an additional $2.1 million being provided by research
entities.
The four inaugural Fellowships, which start next year, will be supported
by Telethon Kids Institute. These include:
- Curtin
University's Ms Denby Evans will study the airways of premature babies whose lung function usually declines as
they age. Ms Evans plans to identify
what aspect of the cell structure and behaviour contributes to lung
disease, opening the door to new
treatments and improved lung health after preterm birth;
- The
University of Western Australia's (UWA) Dr Brittany Dewdney will
explore different ways of removing brain tumours in children. This
work has the potential to change surgical approaches on children and lead
to improved immunotherapy clinical trials;
- Dr Samantha
Carlson from UWA aims to protect more WA families from vaccine preventable
diseases by improving childhood vaccine uptake. Dr Carlson will work with
the community, health care providers, and organisations to codesign
research projects and activities to ensure people are vaccinated on-time;
and
- Dr Hannah
Thomas from UWA will work with
Kimberley communities to identify, understand and action community-led
skin health research. Untreated skin infections can lead to acute
rheumatic fever and subsequent rheumatic heart disease - a preventable
disease.
A total of 20 Fellowships will be
awarded through the co-funded program over three years to improve child health
through research.
Comments
attributed to Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson:
"I am excited to announce these new early career
Fellowships that focus on child health research and will make a significant
difference to young lives here in Western Australia.
"A priority for the Cook Government is how we can
utilise medical research and its outcomes to benefiting and supporting more
Western Australians.
"This initiative is designed to identify local talent
as researchers begin their career. It will support and nurture fresh ideas and
harness the passion and enthusiasm for the benefit of the child health research
sector.
"Congratulations to the inaugural recipients of the
2024 early career Fellowships.
"We encourage and support medical researchers to base
their careers here in the West and be a part of our fast growing medical
research hub that is attracting both national and international recognition."
