Monash researchers across Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and Business and Economics have been awarded $6m in National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centres of Research Excellence.
Professor Janet Bray was awarded $3m to address the low survival rates of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests by improving the efficacy of the emergency response.
Every year, over 31,000 of these medical events occur in Australia and New Zealand, and less than seven per cent of patients survive.
"Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are the ultimate time-critical medical emergency," says Professor Bray. "Prompt cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation by bystanders can triple survival rates, but we have extraordinarily low rates of public intervention in Australia and New Zealand.
"This new Centre incorporates cutting-edge technologies to enhance the efficacy and sophistication of the emergency response, fast-track the development of a generation of interdisciplinary resuscitation scientists, and achieve our vision of doubling the national survival rates in both countries."
Professor Dennis Petrie was awarded $3m to co-design sustainable solutions to achieve health equity for people with disabilities.
Professor Anthony Scott, Director of the Centre for Health Economics, said the grants were fantastic news for Australians with disabilities.
"The funding provides a unique opportunity to conduct high quality research to improve the wellbeing of those with disabilities, and will help build research capacity aligned with having an impact on national policy," Professor Scott said.
"Australians with disabilities face poorer health and wellbeing due to avoidable disadvantages like poverty and social exclusion. This collaborative research aims to eliminate these barriers and enhance the environments where people with disabilities work, live, access healthcare and play."
Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Senior Vice-President, Professor Mike Ryan, said, "These NHMRC Centres of Excellence are really competitive and prestigious awards. To have two awarded across both the Faculties of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, and Business and Economics shows the incredible impact and breadth of Monash research. Congratulations to both teams."
The NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence scheme aims to improve health outcomes and promote research translation, supporting collaborative research over five years.
