The Turnbull Government will provide $2 million from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to Monash Partners to support collaborative health and medical research into ways to make the health system work better for Victorians.
This support is part of a new $10 million Rapid Applied Research Translation program announced in the 2017–18 Budget to turn Australian research into better health outcomes.
Monash Partners is the first Advanced Health Research Translation Centres (AHRTC) to be funded under the MRFF to bring health services, researchers and educators together to find innovative new solutions for everyday health care challenges.
Monash Partners facilitates the collaboration of world-class talent across local universities, medical research institutions, hospitals and primary health care to support better ways to manage patient care.
Monash Partners includes Alfred Health, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Burnet Institute, Cabrini Health, Eastern Health, Epworth HealthCare, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Monash Health, Monash University and Peninsula Health.
The $2 million funding for Monash Partners will be invested in range of projects, which may include:
- Blood Cancer research to improve access to new cutting edge treatments for patients with blood and bone marrow cancer, improving their care, health and quality of life.
- Diabetes Quality Improvement research to scale up an innovative, integrated primary and specialist care models across diabetes, cardiac and renal disease, to drive improved health outcomes and quality of life for patients with complex chronic multiple conditions including diabetes and kidney disease.
- Lung Cancer Care Improvement research to enable monitoring and improvement of the quality of lung cancer care, to ensure that all Australians have access to the best possible, cutting-edge care, whether they are treated in our cities or regional and remote Australia
- Dementia Care Improvement research to develop pathways and models of support and enable this vulnerable population to successfully and safely live at home.
- Cardiovascular Improvement research to reduce the time from acute heart attacks to life saving treatment.
- Outreach Vaccination research to implement a nurse-led delivery platform for influenza vaccine to protect the elderly and vulnerable from infection, in turn reducing the health and economic burden from influenza.
The 2017–18 Budget delivers on the Turnbull Government’s commitment to support Australian medical research.
We are on track to double our current medical research funding, with $1.4 billion allocated under the MRFF by 2020–21 — including over $640 million in 2020–21.
Under the MRFF, $65.9 million will be immediately shared by eight research projects, including trialling new drugs, devices and services, clinical fellowships, and projects to address childhood obesity.
The Government will shortly announce funding for other AHRTCs and Centres for Innovation in Regional Health.