1. What is health & medical research?
2. Why do health & medical research?
3. Who does research?
4. How is research funded?
5. The Discovery Process
1. What is health & medical research?
Health and medical research is about the search and discovery for a healthier life. We all face challenges to our health, either because of inherited susceptibility or from the environment we live in.
Health and medical researchers seek to build our knowledge about health and disease and to use this knowledge to help people enjoy better health thruoghout their life.
Research aims to gain knowledge about and better understand:
- how the human body is formed before birth and how it functions normally throughout life;
- what goes wrong when ill-health and other medical problems occur;
- what causes these problems;
- how health problems impact on communities or particular groups in the population
- how to effectively prevent, treat and manage health conditions.
This knowledge is translated into action and applied to develop ways to:
- improve and maintain healthy lifestyles;
- prevent or avoid the causes of ill-health;
- detect problems early to improve treatment outcomes;
- create new treatments or cures for health;
- improve or replace existing treatments that are only partially effective or do not work for everyone;
- help individuals, carers and the community deal with the social and emotional impact of disease and health problems
Types of research
Researchers may work on basic scientific research, studying molecules and cells in the laboratory to understand the very essence of living organisms.
Applied clinical research may convert bench-top discoveries to direct patient care or may develop and trial new patient care procedures and treatment protocols. Clinical trials of new diagnostic tools and treatments must comply with government regulation and medical review and approval processes.
Development of new medicine is another process with a long lead time, taking on average 15 years. See the time line showing the steps invovled and average time frames.
Discovery Process Timeline
Public health research is the development, implementation and evaluation of new public health programs or population based interventions. This may apply discoveries from basic scientific research, new clinical research evidence or be based on epidemiological reserach outcomes.
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2. Why do health & medical research?
Health and medical research is about committed human endeavour, striving to improve health and quality of life. It also contributes to economic growth and prosperity through developing new products, new business enterprises and new jobs.
In the last fifty years, medical research has provided us with discoveries that have improved our lives immeasurably. We take it for granted that we are now able to cure many diseases that killed people up until the 1940's. One great achievement, Howard Florey's work to purify penicillin, has averted untold suffering and death of people the world over.
Today we face different life and health threats from those faced by previous generations. Vaccines, healthier lifestyles, new medicines and treatments, and advances in surgical methods (such as organ transplatation, artificial joints and keyhole surgery) have not only increased our life spans, but given us better lives.
Discovery is a labour intensive and lengthy process. Against the backdrop of committed researchers chipping away at the big questions, incremental breakthroughs do occur and each step we take is a piece in a gigantic jigsaw that makes the next piece easier to identify.
Despite making enormous strides in some treatments, we still need to develop better treatments with less side effects, and to ultimately focus on prevention and cures. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes and mental illness now affect large numbers in our population and there are many more diseases we are battling. As we find ways of understanding these threats to health, new threats develop from the environment we live in as the world becomes increasingly industrialised and people's way of life changes.
And it is not just at the individual level. Investment today in treatments and cures reduces the financial burden for taxpayers tomorrow. While millions of dollars are gambled away or spent on non-essential designer goods, few people think about making an investment in life itself. Imagine a world where people don't live in fear of incurable disease, where physical pain can be eliminated and where the elderly do not face the lottery of dementia. INSERT NEW QUOTE HERE
Australia's capacity in health and medical research will have a positive impact on future health budgets since diseases prevented or cured now will not become a burden in our future health system.
Further, Australia has a valuable national asset that can unleash the economic value of this country in future decades. This is an industry where we have very talented, world-class scientists who, if they are facilitated to work with our world-class business minds, can create a valuable knowledge industry for Australia.
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3. Who does research?
Organisations that do health and medical research include medical research institutes, universities and other academic institutions, hospitals and health services, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology enterprises, research consortia, government agencies and health interest groups.
Research is frequently a collaborative endeavour with national and international multi-site networks working together or sharing infrastructure and expertise.
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4. How is research funded?
Further detailed information of funding for health and medical research will be added in the near future. In the meantime, a general description of funding support is given.
Health and medical research funding comes from many sources: governments (Federal and State), corporate, academic and health organisations and the community.
Government
Many researchers are funded by Federal Government grants made through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Australian Research Council (ARC), which is part of the Department of Education, Science and Training.
NHMRC or ARC grants are awarded on merit and most often go to researchers working in universities, hospitals or independently run medical research institutes. A portion of the Federal Government funding is also used for research infrastructure such as buildings and equipment.
Other government programs supporting health and medical research include innovation and biotechnology initiatives, the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC's), science prizes and also the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's primary government research agency.
State Government funding of public hospitals and infrastructure and/or grants to medical research institutes and universities also supports research. In the last few years, State Governments have established biotechnology hubs with special budgets and expenditure to develop policy and foster joint ventures.
Federal and State Governments also provide a range of Government-Industry-Research support schemes to enable formation of research consortia, bringing public and private funding and research expertise together under one umbrella. Often, pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies will joint venture with research institutes, hospitals or government agencies such as the CSIRO.
Corporate
Pharmaceutical companies contribute to health and medical research funding by sponsoring clinical trials and also by funding their own research and development programs.
A growing number of biotechnology companies, both publically listed and private, are being established in Australia and expanding their research and development activities.
Companies from outside the health and medical research sector also contribute through sponsorship (such as funding for Professional Chairs at Universities) or corporate philanthropy (such as retailers donating a percentage of sales to medical research).
The Community
Many people in the community have a strong sense of philanthropy and donate to health interest groups such as public health centres and disease-related charities. Just a few examples of the valuable contribution made by the community include response to special cause appeals and promotions (such as buying pink ribbons or daffodils), donations to hospitals, research institutes and universities, employee donations through salary sacrifice programs and service clubs raising funds for medical research.
Other sources of general community funding includes private investors in listed companies in the health and life services sector, private equity investors in technology companies and philanthropic trusts.
International
Australia has a strong international reputation for achievements in health and medical research and many researchers collaborate with colleagues overseas. Some researchers also attract funding from international sources. Overseas government agencies such as America's National Institutes of Health (NIH), international philanthropic trusts such as the UK's Wellcome Trust and multi-national commercial joint ventures are potential sources of funding for Australian health and medical research.
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5. The Discovery Process
Health and medical research encompasses a broad range of research fields.
Click here to download the Discovery Process Timeline.
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