MNHS researchers awarded $53million in NHMRC Investigator Grants

Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences researchers have been successful in obtaining 29 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grants valued at over $53 million, the highest result ever awarded to the faculty since the grants were introduced.

The competitive Investigator Grants provide the highest-performing researchers at all career stages with consolidated funding for their salary and a significant research support package to provide the flexibility to pursue important new research directions as they arise, adjust their resources accordingly, and form collaborations as needed, rather than being restricted to the scope of a specific research project.

Projects combating antimicrobial resistance, assisting infants transition at birth, engaging older people to improve medication management and reducing opioid mortality and harm were among those funded.

Deputy Dean of Research Professor James Whisstock said the large amount of successful grant outcomes was a fantastic achievement by our leading researchers. “We’re very pleased to see our researchers’ efforts recognised and supported by the NHMRC. Our warmest congratulations and best wishes to all recipients,” he said

The MNHS projects awarded are:

Researcher

Funding

School/Institute 

Project 

Professor Jian Li

$2,953,040

Biomedicine Discovery Institute

Combating antimicrobial resistance: From bedside to bench and therapeutics

Professor Mariapia Degli-Esposti

$2,753,040

Biomedicine Discovery Institute

Harnessing the immune system to treat viral infections and their complications

Professor Stuart Hooper

$1,953,040

School of Clinical Sciences

Assisting infants transition at birth

Professor Benjamin Marsland

$2,897,165

Central Clinical School

Harnessing microbes and metabolites to combat respiratory diseases

Professor Elizabeth Manias

$2,897,165

School of Nursing and Midwifery

ENgaginG older people Across transitions of care to improve medication manaGEment (The ENGAGE Project)

Adjunct Professor Marcus Chen

$2,897,165

Central Clinical School

A new model for improved syphilis management and control

Professor Mark Bellgrove

$2,297,165

School of Psychological Sciences

Cognitive neuroscience of human decision-making in health and disorder

Professor Patrick Kwan

$2,697,165

Central Clinical School

Transforming epilepsy outcomes through innovative technologies

Professor Ron Firestein

$2,717,732

Hudson Institute of Medical Research

Targeting the cancer epigenome for therapy

Professor Denise O'Connor

$2,769,655

School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Harnessing research translation science to drive ‘the right care’

Associate Professor Karla Hutt

$2,169,655

Biomedicine Discovery Institute

Protecting the ovary from damage to optimise fertility and endocrine health in women

Associate Professor Paul Lacaze

$2,769,655

School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

The application of genomic technology to public health & prevention

Professor Suzanne Nielsen

$2,897,165

Eastern Health Clinical School

Transforming approaches to reduce opioid mortality and related harm

Associate Professor Vilija Jokubaitis

$2,769,655

Central Clinical School

Multiple sclerosis in childbearing women: Clinical management, consequences and biological mechanisms

Adjunct Associate Professor Daniel Rolnik

$793,095

School of Clinical Sciences

Preventing pre-eclampsia to improve outcomes for mothers and babies

Dr Gareth Gregory

$1,293,095

School of Clinical Sciences

Improving outcomes for patients with central nervous system lymphoma through precision medicine

Dr Ian Harding

$1,586,190

Central Clinical School

The cerebellum-striatum axis in progressive movement disorders

Dr Jessica Biesiekierski

$1,586,190

School of Clinical Sciences

Changing the way we use diet in gut disorders: Generating mechanistic knowledge and clinical evidence to inform integrated management

Professor Joseph Doyle

$1,586,190

Central Clinical School

Accelerating progress toward hepatitis C elimination as a public health threat

Dr Omer Gilan

$1,188,491

Central Clinical School

Understanding and targeting the epigenome in blood cancers

Dr Stacey Ellery

$1,586,190

School of Clinical Sciences

Creatine: The next frontier in nutritional supplements to reduce perinatal brain injury

Dr William Roman

$1,586,190

Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute

Investigating the transcriptional repair program during muscle reconstruction

Dr Adam Shahine

$643,126

Biomedicine Discovery Institute

Lipid antigen mediators of T cell responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

Dr Jane Tiller

$662,040

School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Identifying barriers to public trust and participation in genomic screening programmes, and strategies to address barriers

Dr Julia Stone

$662,040

School of Psychological Sciences

A digital biomarker for circadian medicine: timing is key

Dr Ram Bhusal

$662,040

Biomedicine Discovery Institute

Harnessing ticks' tricks to develop therapies for inflammatory diseases

Dr Rebecca Goldstein

$445,775

School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Diabetes and cardiometabolic risk and prevention in pregnancy and beyond

Dr Romain Ragonnet

$662,040

School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Designing adaptive strategies to drive tuberculosis towards elimination

Dr Shobi Sivathamboo

$662,040

Central Clinical School

Preventing sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: Identifying predictive biomarkers and advancing automated seizure detection for real-time interventions

For more information about the Investigator Grants, visit the NHMRC website.


About Monash University

Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.

With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.

As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.

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