UNSW’s Faculty of Medicine researchers have made a significant start to 2009, securing over $82m in grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Some of the highlights include:
- Professor Perminder Sachdev and colleagues, $6.1m to carry out long-term studies into new methods of diagnosing dementia;
- Professor John Kaldor and colleagues, from NCHECR will receive $ 9.1m for research into the prevention and management of sexually transmitted diseases;
- Professor Robert Graham and his fellow researchers, at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, $9.4m to enhance investigations into defects in the development, repair and function of heart-muscle cells that are responsible for adult-onset heart disease.
- Professor Jeffrey Brathwaite and his team was awarded over $8m for “Patient Safety: enabling and supporting change for a safer and more effective health system”
- Professor Nick Zwar was awarded $1.1m to develop a project involving testing a new approach to supporting smoking cessation in general practice
Other awards included the research team, led by Professor Sean Emery and Dr Mark Boyd, at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR) have received a grant of more than $18m from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study the effectiveness of optimised doses of HIV drug treatment, known as antiretroviral therapy (ART). It will potentially extend drug therapy to millions of HIV-affected people worldwide.
Professors George Paxinos and Levon Khachigian secured a $4m NHMRC Australia Fellowships for their groundbreaking medical research in neuroscience and vascular cell and molecular biology respectively
Professor Perminder Sachdev and collaborators received a $2.4m NHMRC capacity building grant, to develop a cohort of young researchers who can translate knowledge of the major neuropsychiatric problems facing Australia’s ageing population.
The Faculty continues to build and grow their research capability in our quest to be recognised as one of the leading medical faculty’s within the “
Group of 8 ” research intensive Australian universities and internationally.
Programs of Study, Interests and Strengths
The Faculty of Medicine has a long history of excellence in biomedical as well as public health research. The diverse range of both stimulating and novel research programs available in this Faculty provides many opportunities for postgraduate study. Such programs are currently being conducted at the UNSW campus in Kensington as well as its Clinical Schools, Centres and Research Institutes.
Research Integrity
A Research Integrity Subcommittee was commissioned by the Faculty Standing Committee to develop a series of recommendations that would establish ways of dealing with grievances and research misconduct as well as more preventive measures to reduce the likelihood of such events.