To reaffirm its commitment towards Australia's world-leading medical researchers, the Albanese Government is investing $422 million in funding for the future of our national health and medical research sector.
Announced today are 229 high-performing researchers at all career stages who will share in this total funding investment through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grants scheme.
Around the country, Chief Investigators and their teams will undertake researcher-led investigation that will ultimately lead to advances in knowledge about human health, better health care for Australians and improvements to the economy.
Professor Jayashri Kulkarni and a team from Monash University will be funded to develop life changing, new hormone treatments for women with premenstrual, perinatal and perimenopausal depression.
A program led by Professor Zornitza Stark of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute will accelerate rapid genomic diagnosis of rare diseases among critically ill children, driving innovation to provide comprehensive evaluation to inform policy and practice.
Associate Professor Linda Wakim from the University of Melbourne will lead research aiming to develop a novel universal 'one-shot' influenza vaccine that provides long term protection against both seasonal and newly emerging pandemic influenza strains.
The Investigator Grant scheme is NHMRC's largest funding scheme and plays a critical role in supporting the Australian health and medical research sector by providing a significant research support package and a salary, if required.
Full details of the researchers and projects funded are available to download on NHMRC's outcomes of funding rounds page.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
"This year's crop of incredible researchers will further cement Australia's status as a world leader in health and medical research, and all Australians will benefit from their ingenuity and interest.
"We are fortunate to be living through a supercharged period of discovery and the 229 researcher-driven projects are more proof of that fact.
"The innovation, creativity and dedication of these outstanding investigators will help ensure we have the very best treatments, the very latest understanding, and the most evidence-informed health services."
Quotes attributable to NHMRC CEO Professor Steve Wesselingh:
"NHMRC funds investigator-led research where Australia's highest performing health and medical researchers set out to achieve ambitious goals of improving the health and wellbeing of the Australian community.
"Investigator Grants are highly sought after as it provides recipients with certainty, security and flexibility to pursue an ambitious research program across a 5 year period.
"With the backing of the Australian Government, and NHMRC firmly in their corner, our investigators will undertake outstanding health and medical research - congratulations to all researchers receiving funding today."
Quotes attributable to Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, Monash University:
"New investment in women's mental health to develop new treatments, new approaches, new services and new education is a great step forward for the whole community.
"This research is an innovative development in expanding our understanding of the role of hormones in both the development and the treatment of depression in women at all stages of the life cycle, and particularly for conditions such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder and menopausal depression.
"There is still much more work that needs to be done in addressing women's mental health, and we're excited to continue our work at the forefront of advocating for all women - because women's mental health is everybody's business."
