$2.731 million for Queensland researchers transforming health outcomes

Published Monday, 18 September, 2023 at 03:29 PM

Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services and Minister for Women
The Honourable Shannon Fentiman

  • The Queensland Government has awarded $2.731 million in grants to 18 clinicians as part of the Queensland Health Clinical Research Fellowships
  • Grants were awarded to clinician researchers in the medical, nursing and allied health fields, ranging in size from $20,000 to $250,000
  • The Fellowships support Queensland Health clinician researchers to conduct critical research to improve health outcomes for patients

Queensland’s brightest medical minds will share in more than $2.731 million in grants for research projects aimed at preventing illness, improving patient care and saving lives.

The Queensland Government today announced the successful applicants of Round 4 of the Queensland Health Clinical Research Fellowships (CRFs).

The Fellowships support clinician researchers to conduct research relevant to their clinical work, with the goal improving health outcomes and finding new ways to deliver better care.

Senior Intensive Care Specialist and Director of Research in the Adult Intensive Care Service at the Prince Charles Hospital, Associate Professor Kiran Shekar, is one of 18 clinicians to benefit from the current round of funding.

Associate Professor Shekar has been awarded $250,000 for a pilot trial of high flow oxygen and nitric oxide inhalation delivered to patients with severe breathing problems.

Successful trials will allow patients autonomy and dignity while they recover, with a lesser need to be placed on invasive breathing machines and coma while also substantially reducing health care costs.

Eminent Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine and Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, Professor Louise Cullen, has been awarded almost $250,000 to establish a new model of care for tackling heart attacks with First Nations Australians.

The Powerful Pictures Study will address short and longer terms risks from coronary artery disease and utilise the strengths of First Nations patients and communities to manage these risks.

Since 2019, the program has awarded more than $10.5 million to 42 clinicians researchers in three rounds, fulfilling a key commitment in Queensland Health’s Advancing Health Research 2026 Strategy.

The strategy is a bold and ambitious roadmap for Queensland Health to become a global leader in research and innovation, transforming health outcomes for all Queenslanders.

Round 5 of the Queensland Health Clinical Research Fellowships and new targeted fellowships in Rural & Remote, Genomics, First Nations and Women’s Research are planned to open soon.

Further information about the Queensland Health Clinical Research Fellowships program is available here.

Quotes attributable to the Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services Shannon Fentiman:

“We’re so lucky in Queensland to have a wealth of talented and skilled clinician researchers, tackling complex health issues head-on and innovating to deliver better care for all Queenslanders.

“It’s why the Palaszczuk Government established the Clinical Research Fellowships program to support our clinicians in conducting cutting-edge research in their fields of expertise.

“Eighteen clinicians, in fields ranging from medical, nursing, and allied health, have received grants ranging from $20,000 to $250,000.

“Their research projects will focus on improving frontline healthcare delivery and achieving better patient outcomes, not just for Queensland, but around the world.

“I wish all Fellowship recipients success in their research projects. I am confident that their findings will transform healthcare in Queensland in the years to come.”

Quotes attributable to Senior Intensive Care Specialist and Director of Research in the Adult Intensive Care Service at the Prince Charles Hospital, Associate Professor Kiran Shekar:

“I am thrilled to be awarded $250,000 to research and test the use of nitric oxide gas inhalation, in addition to oxygen gas, being delivered in self-breathing patients with severe breathing problems.

“My research will determine if this reduces lung damage, improves blood oxygen levels, and thereby reduces the need for an artificial, invasive breathing machine support and induced coma.

“This approach will maintain autonomy and dignity of patients while they talk, eat, exercise, and recover, which will subsequently reduce health care costs.

“As we realised during the pandemic, we still have a lot to learn about treating patients with breathing problems both within and outside intensive care units.

“The Fellowship will go a long way in fostering a positive research culture and further strengthen the enabling research environment within Queensland Health.”

Quotes attributable to Eminent Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine and Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, Professor Louise Cullen:

“Although it is well known that our First Nations community members have significantly more cardiovascular disease at all ages than non-Indigenous people, there remains a significant difference in heart attack and premature death rates.

“Our research aims to identify underlying coronary heart disease that may lead to a heart attack in First Nations people who come to an emergency department with symptoms of chest pain.

“The research required to prove that any changes in practice are beneficial requires significant effort, time and resources; this Fellowship will help with this.

“This important funding from Queensland Health, with research driven by clinicians and supported with academic partners, goes a long way to supporting clinicians wanting to improve our health care system.”

Full list of successful grant recipients –

NAME

PROJECT TITLE

AMOUNT

ADMINISTERING ORGANISATION

PARTNER ORGANISATION

Helen Bailey

The effectiveness of Virtual Reality to better prepare the health workforce to provide maternity care in rural and remote Queensland

$20,000

North West Hospital and Health Service (HHS)

Central Queensland University, University of the Sunshine Coast

Michelle Rathjen

Cost analysis of the Teleoncology Model at Southwest Queensland

$20,000

South West HHS

Darling Downs HHS, University of Southern Queensland

Dr Samuel Chen

Improving infection outcomes in kidney transplant recipients

$99,092

Metro South HHS

The University of Queensland

Dr Matthew Burrage

Novel diagnostic strategies for cardiac amyloidosis

$100,000

The University of Queensland

Metro South HHS, West Moreton HHS

Dr Natasha Roberts

The SUrvive and ThRive intErvention (SURE): Addressing unmet needs for men after prostate cancer treatment

$98,859.50

 University of Queensland

Metro North HHS

Dr Kriti Joshi

The RECLAIM Project: Roadmap to a curE -investigating the CLinical And IMmunological landscape of early Type 1 diabetes in children.

$100,000

Children’s Health Queensland (CHQ) HHS

The University of Queensland

Dr Catherine McFarlane

Diet quality in chronic kidney disease: A plant-based dietary approach to modulate gastrointestinal microbiome and improve management of kidney disease.

$99,999

Sunshine Coast HHS

Queensland University of Technology

Dr Daniel Wilson

Improving treatment outcomes for adolescents with eating disorders

$97,797

CHQ HHS

The University of Queensland, Griffith University

Dr Mahmudul Al Imam

Optimising specialist outpatient consultation pathways in a post-pandemic world

$98,810

Central Queensland HHS

Central Queensland University

Dr Patrick Harris

New diagnostic strategies for antibiotic-resistant infections

$199,078

The University of Queensland

Pathology Queensland

Dr Jessica Schults

Strengthening Hospital Associated Infection Surveillance in Queensland: A Statewide consensus project

$199,918

The University of Queensland

Metro North HHS, Metro South HHS, CHQ HHS, Darling Downs HHS

Dr Karen Davies

Implementation of the Medication Administration Evaluation and Feedback Tool (MAEFT): Knowledge Translation

$199,202

Metro North HHS

The University of Queensland

A/Prof Jayesh Dhanani

Optimising nebulized analgesia therapy for Queenslanders

$199,524.27

The University of Queensland

Metro North HHS

Dr Monica Ng

REduce Complications Associated with Nephrological Tests (RECANT) study

$200,000

Metro North HHS

The University of Queensland, QIMR Berghofer, Department of Health, Pathology Queensland

Prof Louise Cullen

Picture this: A new model of care for tackling heart attacks with First Nations Australians (The Powerful Pictures Study)

$249,648

Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital, Metro North HHS

Queensland University of Technology

A/Prof Kiran Shekar

High Flow Oxygen and Nitric Oxide inhalation to prevent intubation in hypoxic Respiratory failure (HONOR): a pilot randomised controlled trial

$250,000

The Prince Charles Hospital, Metro North HHS

Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals

Dr Clare Burns

Co-design, development and evaluation of a consumer-driven, immersive virtual reality tool to optimise communication rehabilitation.

$250,000

The University of Queensland

Metro North HHS, Metro South HHS

Dr Akwasi Amoako

Evaluation of the Novel Imaging Modality Integrated PET/MRI in the Diagnosis, Staging and Prognosis of Endometriosis

$249,972

The University of Queensland

Metro North HHS

CATEGORY TOTAL

 

$2,731,900

 

 

 ENDS