Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) alongside our partner institutes have been awarded $9.3 million in funding from the latest National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grants and Ideas Grants funding rounds, announced this week.
NHMRC recipients:
- Professor Bruce Campbell - Optimising stroke imaging and reperfusion therapies, $2,924,080.00
- Professor Jonathan Kalman - Improving atrial fibrillation outcomes, $2,490,815.00
- Professor Andrew Roberts - Enhancing the activity of BH3 mimetic drugs in blood cancers, $2,588,978.00
- Dr Izanne Roos - Evidence based use of high-efficacy therapies in multiple sclerosis, $674,400.00
- Dr Jessica Day - Establishment of a Translational Myositis Research Program, $674,400.00
- Dr Emily See - Improving kidney outcomes for critically ill patients with vasodilatory shock, $547,080.00
- Dr Anoop Koshy - Enhancing Cardiovascular Risk Prediction in Patients undergoing Liver Transplantation: Role of an Impaired Cardiac Reserve, $504,640.00
Head of Neurology at RMH, Prof Campbell will use the funding to continue his work in developing pre-hospital systems to accelerate emergency treatments, improve the accuracy of brain imaging techniques to guide treatment decision-making and develop improved, widely-applicable strategies to open blocked brain arteries.
“Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia and globally, this funding is integral to improve systems and responses to stroke,” Prof Campbell said.
Head of Cardiac Research and Director of the Heart Rhythm Service at RMH, Prof Jonathan Kalman will continue his work in Atrial fibrillation (AF).
AF is the most common heart rhythm disturbance. It is estimated that a quarter of the adult population over the age of 40 will be diagnosed with AF in their lifetime.
“The proposed, randomised studies will provide new approaches to the routine prevention and treatment of AF and of AF-related complications,” Prof Kalman said.
RMH Haematologist and laboratory researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and University of Melbourne, Prof Andrew Roberts is working to significantly improve survival and quality of life for patients with blood cancers (leukaemias, lymphomas, myeloma), especially where new types of anti-cancer therapy are required because their cancers are currently incurable.
“We will build on our pioneering research with venetoclax, the first of a new class of anti-cancer drug, which is improving outcomes for people with some leukaemias,”
“Over the next five years, my team will work in the lab and in clinic trials to find ways to enhance the activity of venetoclax and new drugs that work similarly,” Prof Roberts said.
The funding is part of $411 million awarded to 229 researchers across Australia to investigate Australia’s greatest health challenges.
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We urgently need to raise $2.5 million for a second CT scanner in our Emergency Department.
This is a vital piece of equipment that provides rapid and accurate diagnosis for trauma and stroke patients like Brianna.