The Turnbull Government will invest $6.1 million to fund new South Australian medical research projects aimed at delivering faster medical breakthroughs for South Australian patients.
The funding will go to the South Australian Academic Health Science and Translation Centre, which is undertaking vital research projects in areas such as bowel cancer, cardiac rehabilitation and reducing the risk of preterm births.
The Centre, which is housed at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), brings together the best minds from hospitals, universities, primary health networks and medical research to work on solutions that can make a big difference to the day to day experiences of patients.
This latest investment from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) builds on an initial funding of $2.2 million to the Centre and will help fund new projects.
Currently the Centre’s researchers are working to ensure that by 2021 all eligible heart patients in South Australia are referred to recognised cardiac rehabilitation services, which will save lives by preventing further heart attacks.
The Centre’s Beat Bowel Cancer Project aims to achieve zero preventable deaths from bowel cancer by 2030 in South Australia by better utilising screening.
Another project is using data from over 5,000 pregnant women to identify those women who are at increased risk of early preterm birth due to an omega-3 insufficiency, reducing the risk of preterm birth.
Project such as these save lives and protect lives. This funding will allow the Centre to deliver new ground breaking medical research projects.
The Medical Research Future Fund is a $20 billion investment in the health of Australians and is the single largest boost to health and medical research funding in Australia’s history.
The 2018–19 Budget provided a record total of $6 billion to Australia’s health and medical research sector, including $1.3 billion for a health and medical industry growth plan to drive a new era of better health care and fuel jobs and growth.