Translational research transfers scientific discoveries into practical applications that can benefit patients and society at large.

To be successful, translational research leadership needs to be people-centred and innately collaborative in its drive. Such collaborations enable individual expertise to support a larger framework, thereby facilitating interactions between clinically motivated individuals and their basic science counterparts who may provide skills, knowledge and technology necessary to drive research innovations.

At Northern Health, we are blessed with a committed leadership that has driven collaborative networks across numerous academic institutions and the Northern Clinician Leadership. Recent partnership initiatives between Northern Health, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and La Trobe University are a testimony to the institution’s commitment towards translational goals.

Northern Health has always facilitated translational research while maintaining cultural humility. Indeed, diversity and inclusivity are a strength of Northern Health, and a core feature of its rich potential for translational research impact in its community.

Novel discoveries are not the only defining feature of translational research. New pathways towards managing diseases and a focus on health outcomes also falls in the category of translational science. By understanding the underpinnings of human behaviour and what promotes healthy and unhealthy patient behaviours, we can design better, more targeted interventions to alter and sustain positive, healthy behaviours.

Research training and career development are crucial avenues for ensuring sustained success in translational  research. Transferring research advances to maximise public health impact, requires effective partnerships between biomedicine and  scientists and collectively with patients, healthcare providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Research Week and our continued collaborative efforts at Northern Health will go a long way towards attaining these community directed goals.

You can listen to Professor Kumta on Northern Health’s podcast Visiting Hours.

Professor Shekhar Kumta

University of Melbourne’s Academic Lead, Department of Surgery at Northern Health

Research Executive Committee member