University of Sydney academics have been awarded two National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Partnership Project grants, and one NHMRC-NIHR Collaborative Research grant. The Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon. Mark Butler MP, announced the successful grants.
The goal of the funding is to establish partnerships among decision makers, policy makers, managers, clinicians and researchers to answer research questions that can improve health and wellbeing.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Emma Johnston commended Professor Novak's successful outcome:
"Professor Novak's research has been shown to have direct impact on improving the lives of babies and children through early diagnosis of cerebral palsy. It is a wonderful acknowledgement by the NHMRC to recognise the importance of this research by awarding Professor Novak and her team funding for a Centre for Research Excellence and a Partnership Project in cerebral palsy research."
Professor Iona Novak was awarded $1.4 million to deliver a mobile health aide to filter effective intervention options for children with cerebral palsy. This aims to overcome the need to understand complex health information, and supports consumers to choose, clinicians to provide, and policymakers to reimburse effective treatments, via a partnership with the NDIS.
Professor Rachael Morton was awarded $1.1 million to advance local and international knowledge about the measurement and feedback methods that facilitate effective use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures to guide clinical care and monitor and improve patient-centered health service delivery.
Dr Kheng-Seong Ng has been awarded the NHMRC-NIHR Collaborative Research grant totalling $1.1 million for his work on the 'Pathway Of Low Anterior Resection Syndrome' relief after Surgery (POLARiS). This research is currently being conducted in trials at the University of Sydney, and is vital work towards improving bowel function and quality of life for patients who have undergone colorectal surgery.