New Brain Research Facility at The Royal Melbourne Hospital

View by date:

• April
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December

• 2013
  • 2013
  • 2012
  • 2011
  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2006
  • 2005
  • 2004

PDF printable version of New Brain Research Facility at The Royal Melbourne Hospital (PDF 18 KB)

12 August 2011

A state-of-the-art neuroscience facility opened in Melbourne today offers new hope for Australians suffering from acute brain episodes such as a stroke and degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, other dementias and Parkinson’s disease.

The Melbourne Brain Centre at The Royal Melbourne Hospital was officially opened by Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon.

“The Melbourne Brain Centre is a significant step forward in the prevention and treatment of common brain disorders that affect millions of people around the world,” Ms Roxon said.

“The Melbourne Brain Centre is an apt ‘marriage’ of research and clinical facilities that will help to ensure research is effectively translated into improved clinical outcomes.

“Together, the three campuses of the Melbourne Brain Centre will make the Centre the biggest brain research centre in the southern hemisphere, and place it among the top neuroscience institutes in the world.

“The Melbourne Brain Centre was made possible by the Gillard Government’s Health and Hospital Fund and is another example of this Government delivering better health research infrastructure to improve the lives of all Australians.

“These kinds of investments in research facilities will pay Australia back ten-fold over the coming decades”

At the Melbourne Brain Centre, Minister Roxon met a 75-year-old patient who, following a stroke, had recently benefited from the Centre’s new scanning technology and ‘intra-arterial recue’ treatment, commonly called clot retrieval.

“Clot retrieval treatment is still in its infancy, and the new Melbourne Brain Centre will help to further develop the treatment,” Ms Roxon said.

“The Centre will embark on a new trial to assess the effectiveness of the treatment, helping doctors to understand which patients this new treatment is best suited for.”

The Australian Government announced in the 2009-10 Budget that $700 million from the Health and Hospitals Fund would be available for 14 projects to build and upgrade health and medical research and training facilities across Australia.

As part of this commitment, the Government has provided $39.8 million towards the Melbourne Brain Centres at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville and Austin Health.

Collectively all three facilities bring together more than 700 researchers from the Mental Health Research Institute, the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Health, Austin Health and the Florey Neuroscience Institutes.

“We are committed to ensuring that Australia’s medical and health research institutions and our best and brightest researchers have sufficient support and financial assistance to continue to work at the forefront of their fields,” Ms Roxon said.

“The collaboration underlying this project is a key theme of the Gillard Government’s investment in medical research and innovation.”

For more information, contact the Minister's Office on (02) 6277 7220