IN schools, students are encouraged to take part in STEM education and pursue a career in an associated field. Some, hopefully, will take the path towards becoming a research scientist or clinician.
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If you’ve ever met a medical researcher at HMRI, you’ll know that they’re incredibly passionate, talented and hard-working. They are driven to make the world a better place. Many have a personal reason for trying to find better treatments for their chosen disease, and many of their research projects are funded by philanthropic donations, from people in the community who have lost a loved one or who have had a personal experience with the disease they are funding.
This makes medical research one of the most rewarding careers you will find. To be able to contribute to research that will change people’s lives is amazing. Equally amazing is the role of the community in funding research at HMRI – it not only changes health outcomes, it changes the lives of the researchers conducting the study.
Being a medical researcher is a tricky career path to navigate – especially if you are new at it. Most medical researchers are employed on contracts, ranging 1-3 years. This contract relies heavily on National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) funding and due to the highly competitive nature of NHMRC funding (16.4 per cent success rate), it is becoming harder for researchers, particularly in their early stages, to be successful in these schemes.
Philanthropic funding is transformative to a medical researcher. It provides start-up funds for researchers who have a great idea, with a great support network, but with limited data to support that idea. Philanthropic funding is essential to initiate a research project, acquire more data and to increase the chances of being successful in larger NHMRC grants.
With these funds, an important and innovative idea can finally have the chance to change health outcomes.
This is why community plays such a crucial role in medical research, ensuring innovation in these fields continues to thrive. But there are many ways the community can become involved, including participation in a clinical trial or a consumer group to provide scientists with feedback.
In Newcastle, researchers at HMRI are running a number of clinical trials and have access to world-class infrastructure including a whole genome sequencer, significantly increasing their ability to make personalised medicines become a reality.
The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) is also providing hope. The fund is set to reach $20 billion in 2020-21, which will bridge the gap between the health-care system and medical research, so that innovative research outcomes reach the community quicker.
This is Medical Research Week where we celebrate the wonderful work our health and medical researchers do. In Newcastle, a Scientific Meeting was held on June 1 at HMRI. Key landmarks in Newcastle have been lit green to celebrate Medical Research Week and HMRI’s 20th anniversary.
Green symbolises hope. Green is also the colour of HMRI, the place where world-class medical research is being conducted in Newcastle.
So let’s support and celebrate our medical researchers and the important work that they do. It will ensure Australia is at the forefront of the best and most up-to-date healthcare.
