MNHS researchers awarded over $49 million in NHMRC Investigator Grants 2026
Source: TrueCreatives.
Projects to develop a novel strategy to preserve fertility and long-term health after cancer treatment, achieve disease modification in Parkinson’s disease and promote climate health risk assessment using big data and emerging technologies are among 26 projects awarded over $49 million in funding to Monash Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences researchers in the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grants 2026, announced today by Federal Minister for Health and Ageing The Hon Mark Butler MP.
The grants were among $55 million awarded to 31 Monash University researchers to investigate Australia’s greatest health challenges. The Investigator Grant scheme is the NHMRC’s largest funding scheme and is a major investment in Australia’s health and medical research workforce. It provides Australia’s highest-performing researchers, across the spectrum of health research and at all career stages, with consolidated funding for their salary, if required, and a significant research support package for five years.
Funding recipients include:
Researcher | Affiliation | Category | Project | Amount |
Professor Mary Herbert | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Leadership 3 | Safeguarding transmission of the maternal genome to improve women’s health and reproductive outcomes | $3,035,320 |
Professor Paul Myles | School of Translational Medicine | Leadership 3 | Leading Global High-Impact Perioperative Clinical Trials | $3,035,320 |
Professor Jamie Rossjohn | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Leadership 3 | A molecular investigation into T cell antigen receptor function and dysfunction in humans | $3,035,320 |
Professor Helen Skouteris | School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine | Leadership 3 | Strengthening Implementation Practice and Research with Equity | $3,035,320 |
Professor Helena Teede | Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation | Leadership 3 | Implementation research and impact: Optimising reproductive metabolic health including in high-risk pregnancies | $3,035,320 |
Professor Andrew Ellisdon | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Leadership 2 | Targeting lysosomal cholesterol sensing to combat aberrant cell growth | $2,574,620 |
Professor Yuming Guo | School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine | Leadership 2 | Promoting Climate Health Risk Assessment Using Big Data and Emerging Technologies | $2,974,620 |
Dr Rhys Grinter | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Leadership 1 | Harnessing AI to develop protein therapeutics targeting Leucine Rich Repeat G-protein coupled receptors | $2,836,100 |
Professor Samuel Forster | Hudson Institute of Medical Research | Leadership 1 | Translating Foundational Microbiome Science into Innovative Therapeutics | $2,668,880 |
Professor Shanshan Li | School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine | Leadership 1 | Towards Safeguarding Maternal and Child Health from the Impacts of Bushfire Smoke | $2,836,100 |
Professor Francine Marques | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Leadership 1 | Harnessing the gut microbiome to transform blood pressure management | $2,836,100 |
Professor Scott Sands | School of Psychological Sciences/Turner Institute for Brain & Mental Health | Leadership 1 | Novel Avenues for Cardiovascular Risk Mitigation in Sleep-Disordered Breathing | $2,599,433 |
Dr Wael Awad | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Emerging Leadership 2 | Harnessing Cancer-Activated Invariant T cells for next-generation cancer immunotherapy | $1,636,800 |
Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor Aidan Burrell | School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine | Emerging Leadership 2 | Targeted Interventions and Enhanced Surveillance in Severe Acute Respiratory Failure | $1,318,400 |
Associate Professor Pablo Casillas-Espinosa | School of Translational Medicine | Emerging Leadership 2 | Redefining Epilepsy Treatment Through Disease Modification and Precision Biomarkers | $1,636,800 |
Adjunct Clinical Professor Simon Craig | School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health | Emerging Leadership 2 | Improving acute care by learning from death, critical illness and adverse events in children | $1,509,440 |
Dr Jacki Heraud-Farlow | Hudson Institute of Medical Research | Emerging Leadership 2 | New mechanisms and targets in RNA-driven inflammatory disease | $1,636,800 |
Associate Professor Aya Mousa | Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation | Emerging Leadership 2 | Precision Medicine in Gestational Diabetes: Exploring Insulin Physiology and Heterogeneity | $1,636,800 |
Associate Professor Matthew Ahmadi | School of Psychological Sciences | Emerging Leadership 1 ` | Advancing secondary cardiovascular disease prevention through digital health and wearables | $697, 615 |
Dr Lauren Alesi | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Emerging Leadership 1 | Developing a novel strategy to preserve fertility & long-term health after cancer treatment | $690,747 |
Dr Peter Eggenhuizen | School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health | Emerging Leadership 1 | Development of a novel engineered T cell based therapy for inflammatory bowel disease | $697,615 |
Dr Shouya Feng | Hudson Institute of Medical Research | Emerging Leadership 1 | Defining the Role of Innate Immune Sensors at the Host–Microbe Interface in Inflammatory Diseases | $697,615 |
Dr Kelsey Grantham | School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine | Emerging Leadership 1 | Statistical methodology and guidance to avoid pitfalls in cluster randomised trials | $697,615 |
Dr Meiling Han | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Emerging Leadership 1 | Reprogramming Bacterial Metabolism: A New Frontier in Overcoming Antibiotic Resistance | $697,615 |
Dr Jia Jia Lim | Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute | Emerging Leadership 1 | Targeting CD1a-restricted T cells for molecular intervention in skin autoimmunity | $697,615 |
Dr Nirosen Vijiaratnam | School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health | Emerging Leadership 1 | Achieving disease modification in Parkinson’s disease | $418,569 |
For a full list of recipients, please visit the National Health and Medical Research Council.