Northern Health is committed to strengthening the research culture across the organisation. To support this growth and boost Northern Health’s contributions to the broader research community, a variety of research grants have been made available:

• Northern Health Foundation Grant ($50,000) – A premier research grant which is a competitive grant based on track record, with a view to building capacity towards Category 1 research success. Only one grant was available under this category.
• Research @ Northern Support Grants ($20,000) – A grant that supports research initiation or establishment at Northern Health. Available to early career researchers, on an equal footing with established researchers. Three grants were available under this category.
• Grants in Aid ($10,000) – A grant focused on supporting research units with funding for equipment, consumables, or external technical support not available within Northern Health. Five grants were available under this category.

The objectives of the Northern Health Research Grant Round are to:

• Support work that benefits the Northern Health’s community
• Support projects that will lead to applications for external grants or funding
• Develop and strengthen the research culture at Northern Health
• Support capacity building and staff development in research
• Increase research productivity at Northern Health
• Support pilot projects or projects where traditional funding sources are difficult to attract.

A large number of exceptional applications were received, and the multidisciplinary Grants Committee led by Professor Donald Campbell were highly impressed by the quality of applications. Applications were carefully reviewed by independent reviewers, with the process overseen by the Northern Health Research Grant and Scholarship Committee, chaired by Professor Geoffrey Donnan.  The committee convened to discuss and recommend the grant recipients for each category.

The Research Executive Committee and the Northern Health Foundation board endorsed the applicants for each grant category, who were officially announced at the Research Grand Rounds today, Wednesday 19 June.

The recipients are:

Northern Health Foundation Grant

• Dr Jason Talevski, Senior Research Fellow at Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED)
  OSTEO-LINK: Bridging the gap in osteoporosis and fracture care across the acute-to-primary care interface.

Research @ Northern Support Grants

• Dr Rowena Brook, Consultant Haematologist and a PhD Candidate
  Use of novel multimodal biomarkers to assess changes in cardiovascular risk in response to type 2 diabetes treatment.
• Dr Heng Khuen Cheok, Emergency Physician
  Personalised Acupuncture at Northern emergency department for Acute pain (PANDA project).
• Dr Hazel Heng, Allied Health Research Lead
  Determining feasibility of co-designing a virtual model of care for people at risk of falls.

Grants in Aid

• Dr. Katharine See, Chief Health Outcomes Officer and Head of Respiratory
  Providing excellence of care through the development and implementation of Remote Patient Monitoring across Northern Health Clinical Leadership, Effectiveness and Outcomes.
• Dr Benjamin Wong, VMO Specialist Anaesthetist
  Use of Machine Translation Earbuds in the Perioperative Setting- a pilot study.
• Dr Siaw Hui Wong, Head of Medical Obstetrics
  Women’s experiences of receiving Medical Obstetrics at Home (MOAH) care at Northern Health: A qualitative study protocol.
• Dr Brendan McCann, Paediatrician
  Characterising IgE mediated food allergy and atopic disease in children of first-generation immigrants in Australia: a hospital cohort.
• Dr Sun Loo and Dr Chong Chyn Chua, Consultant Haematologists
  Establishment of the Northern Health Haematology Tissue Bank.

From all of us at Northern Health, congratulations to all recipients!

Featured image (L-R): Prof Don Campbell, Dr Heng Khuen Cheok, Dr Jason Talevski, Dr Hazel Heng, Dr Rowena Brook, Dr Sun Loo (and Dr Chong Chyn Chua), Eleanor Johnson (on the behalf of Dr Siaw Hui Wong), Melissa Grenville, Prof Geoff Donnan.