Health minister Greg Hunt has announced the federal government will invest $33 million for research into health care practices and interventions that focus on people with or at risk of developing chronic conditions.
Mr Hunt said the research will examine new and improved ways to help Australians adopt healthier lifestyles as well as investigate new models of coordinated care for those living with chronic conditions.
The funding will be provided through the Medical Research Future Fund’s (MRFF) Rapid Applied Research Translation (RART) initiative.
The minister said this round of RART grants has targeted primary care research.
A number of specialist centres will receive RART funding for research that can be applied to clinical practice in the immediate future, by creating pathways between researchers and clinical health services.
Specialist centres Advanced Health Research and Translation Centres (AHRTCs) and Centres for Innovation in Regional Health (CIRHs) will receive RART funding for research that can be quickly applied to clinical practice.
Eight research translation centres will receive a total of $33,259,339 from this round of RART funding, with each receiving more than $4.1 million.
The eight centres are:
- Western Australian Health Translation Network;
- NSW Regional Health Partners;
- Health Translation SA;
- Melbourne Academic Centre for Health;
- Monash Partners Advanced Health Translation Centre;
- Maridulu Budyari Gumal Sydney Partnership for Health Education Research and Enterprise (SPHERE);
- Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners; and
- Sydney Health Partners.