Critical care, climate health and stronger health services to be the focus of Investigator Grant successes
Improvements to acute and critical care medicine, tackling the health impacts of climate change, and driving more equitable, sustainable health services will be a major focus for researchers in our School who recently secured eight Investigator Grants from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council.
The successful grants are a AU$16.5 million investment in our School, that will allow the researchers to take deep dives into clinical questions, design better models of care/health systems, and utilise new technologies and datasets to expand our knowledge.
Head of School Professor Sophia Zoungas says, “I’m so pleased with this result, in part because I know the incredible amount of work that has underpinned all of these successful grants – this is an incredibly competitive scheme in which we typically see only 14 per cent success rate among applicants – but also for the patients and communities that stand to benefit from the continued work of these outstanding investigators.
“Strengthening health systems and services, driving equity and accessibility in healthcare, and tackling climate health are among our School’s key priorities, so this is a really impactful and rewarding suite of projects.”
The projects that received funding include:
Improving access to postpartum contraception through a midwifery model of care
Dr Jessica Botfield, Department of General Practice
Many Australian women lack access to contraception information and services in the postnatal period, leaving them at risk of unintended pregnancies soon after giving birth. Midwives are a well-placed, under-utilised source of contraception information in Australia.
This grant will involve the codesign, implementation and evaluation of a new model of care to better engage midwives in this role, empowering women and improving health system efficiency in the process.
A more integrated, responsive and sustainable learning musculoskeletal health system
Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO, Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal Clinical Trials Network
Musculoskeletal conditions place a huge burden on the world’s population. Poor care and research waste are major contributors to this burden.
Over the coming five years, this grant will allow us to improve outcomes for people with musculoskeletal conditions by embedding living guidelines into usual care, ensuring better value care for challenging musculoskeletal problems, and ensuring the most important research is prioritised.
Guiding and delivering maternity healthcare that is free of weight stigma
Dr Briony Hill, Health and Social Care Unit
Two thirds of pregnant women experience frequent weight stigma, especially in healthcare. It has harmful effects on pregnancy and health outcomes.
This research will address weight stigma in maternity healthcare and guidelines that inform care. It will generate new evidence on women’s experiences of weight stigma and its impacts, update guidelines to be non-stigmatising and implement better care into practice, improving women’s health outcomes in the process.
Evidence to Impact: Solutions for Climate-Sensitive Health Challenges
Professor Karin Leder, Infectious Diseases Epidemiology
The intersection of health, climate change, and sanitation infrastructure is complex, and at its heart lie health challenges including gastrointestinal infections.
Our infectious diseases researchers will apply their vast experience in large-scale, multidisciplinary projects to improve knowledge on the interactions between contaminated environments, microbial risks, flooding, and other climate variables, and to determine research priorities for policy action.
The evidence they generate will inform climate adaptation solutions to improve health and resilience for people globally.
Improving the quality of evidence in nutrition during recovery from critical illness
Associate Professor Emma Ridley, Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre
Globally, an estimated 45 million people become critically ill each year. Survival is common; however, the quality of that survival is a defining challenge, and the role of nutrition in recovery is not well understood.
This new body of work will target consumer-prioritised evidence gaps, define preferred outcomes, and use novel research design to enhance the quality of recovery for survivors of critical illness using nutrition interventions.
Adaptive Platform Trials: Expanding impact
Professor Steve Webb, Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity globally, and is a major driver of ICU admissions. Utilising the novel ‘adaptive platform trial’ design, the award-winning REMAP-CAP trial generated invaluable evidence about best treatment for patients with severe COVID-19 infection throughout the height of the pandemic.
This funding will allow us to use this trial design – that generates reliable evidence, faster and at lower costs than traditional methods – to expand REMAP-CAP, answering new questions about the most effective set of treatments for CAP.
Transforming transfusion research to deliver better outcomes for patients and the community
Professor Erica Wood AO, Transfusion Research Unit
Blood transfusions can save lives, but also carry risks and costs.
This research will improve the evidence for how we use blood, through new clinical trials and developing our national capacity in transfusion data and clinical outcomes reporting. This research will also improve the safety, convenience and acceptability for patients and families, using novel approaches such as wearable technology and re-designed processes to provide more individualised transfusion support in the community and at home.
Climate change, bushfire smoke, and human health: multi-country and multi-omics approach
Dr Rongbin Xu, Climate, Air Quality Research Unit
Human-induced climate change (HICC) has well-documented health impacts, including complex health burdens arising from more intense and/or frequent exposure to bushfire smoke.
This project will add to the knowledge by quantifying global and country-specific bushfire smoke exposure caused by HICC and the related health burden over the last 25 years, and identifying biomarkers and biological mechanisms that can detect and explain the health impacts of bushfire smoke.
The outputs will inform targeted and effective preventions and interventions and promote positive climate actions.
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