Patients with conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease may soon have access to personalised and specific care, thanks to a pioneering new research centre.
The Colonial Foundation Diagnostics Centre, announced today, is a collaboration between the RMH, WEHI and the Colonial Foundation.
It’s been made possible thanks to an incredible $21m donation from the Colonial Foundation and will combine research, clinical care and cutting-edge technologies to give patients a more accurate - and quicker - picture of their diagnosis and treatment options.
Around one-in-three Australians have a chronic inflammatory disease, like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and lupus.
But greater ability to test, detect, categorise and monitor these diseases is needed.
The Royal Melbourne Hospital Chief Executive Professor Shelley Dolan said the centre would build on the deep scientific and clinical partnership between the RMH and WEHI and bring precision treatments to patients.
“The Colonial Foundation Diagnostics Centre will enable our teams to gather in-depth information from the blood tests and biopsies we perform on patients, allowing us to better understand their disease and provide improved personalised care,” Prof Dolan said.
“We are delighted to be continuing our close and ongoing partnership with WEHI - and proud that this work will help aid in disease discovery, diagnosis and the translation of results into the best treatments for patients with inflammatory and other diseases.”
The centre builds on the achievements of the Colonial Foundation Healthy Ageing Centre, which the three organisations established in 2019 to pursue a blood test for dementia.
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