Precision Health Research and Innovation on display at October Open Day

Western Australia's Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund October Open Day was held at Edith Cowan University with a theme of 'Precision Health'. The event was coordinated by the Department of Health’s Office of Medical Research and Innovation (OMRI) in collaboration with Edith Cowan University and hosted at their Joondalup Campus.

The Minister for Medical Research, the Honourable Stephen Dawson MLC, opened the event, emphasising the importance of precision health which aligns to the FHRI Fund Strategic Objectives and is a key focus area of the WA Health and Medical Research Strategy 2023-2033.

Dr Kristen Nowak, Director of the Office of Population Health Genomics at the Department of Health WA, brought her wealth of experience and knowledge in the area of genomics and precision health and graced attendees as Master of Ceremonies for the day. Mr Danny Ford a Noongar man with connections to Whadjak, Ballardong, Wilman and Yuat clans provided a Welcome to Country. Danny specialises in reconciliation and cultural awareness and has established a reputation as a leading voice in educating non-Aboriginal people in understanding Australian history, Aboriginal culture and ways of working for a better tomorrow.

Keynote speaker Professor Simon Laws, Director of the ECU Centre for Precision Health (CPH) talked about CPH's research focus areas and the potential for precision health approaches to shift the focus of the health system from treatment of illness to protection of health. Attendees were also invited to attend the CPH Showcase coming up in December to learn more about the exciting research underway. Visit the ECU website to learn more about exciting developments and breakthroughs being made by ECU researchers.

A/Director of OMRI, Mr Nasir David provided an overview of FHRI Fund programs open for applications in the November funding cycle and Ms Kerry Mace discussed the importance of meaningful consumer and community involvement (CCI) and how to obtain high scores in CCI for a FHRI Fund application. 

FHRI Fund Advisory Council member, Dr Moira McKinnon spoke of her role as the regional, rural and remote health expert on the Advisory Council and the importance of considering the regional rural and remote context in the prioritisation, design and implementation of funding programs. Dr McKinnon also provided an overview of recently awarded FHRI Fund program recipients. 

To date the FHRI Fund has awarded over $100 million in grants to around 480 recipients, with some $250 million available over the next four years.

Attendees also heard about exciting research and innovation projects and initiatives being undertaken by FHRI Fund recipients as well as UWA Professor Archa Fox's vision for a WA based collaborative, world class, Australian Centre for RNA therapeutics in Cancer, including establishment of a WA-based National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) funded mRNA production facility. It has since been announced that Professor Fox was successful in being awarded a Cancer Research Trust grant to transform this vision into a reality. We congratulate Professor Fox on her success and look forward to the possibilities that this will create for WA.

Speakers on the day included:

• Mr Danny Ford, Welcome to Country
• Dr Kristen Nowak, Director, Office of Population Health Genomics, WA Department of Health
• Professor Simon Laws, Associate Dean and Director, ECU Centre for Precision Health and Professor of Translational Genomics in the School of Medical and Health Sciences
• Mr Nasir David, A/Director, Office of Medical Research and Innovation, WA Department of Health
• Ms Kerry Mace, Consumer and Community Involvement Program Coordinator, WA Health Translation Network
• Dr Moira McKinnon, FHRI Fund Advisory Council Member – Rural, Regional and Remote Expert and Public Health Physician & General Practitioner
• Dr Pauline Zaenker, ECU Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow in the School of Medical and Health Sciences within the Melanoma Research group and Deputy Cancer Biology Stream Lead in the Centre for Precision Health
• Dr Marc Sim, ECU Senior Research Fellow in the School of Medical and Health Sciences within the Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute
• Professor Archa Fox, Professor in the School of Human Sciences and the School of Molecular Sciences, UWA, and an affiliate investigator with the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research
• A/Professor Rakesh Veedu, Head of Precision Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Research within the joint Murdoch and Perron Institute Centre for Molecular Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics.

The programs currently open for applications in the November funding cycle include:

• Co-Funding Partnerships Program
  Designed to establish collaborations and funding partnerships to bring genuinely new non-government funding or maximise the impact of existing charitable funding for health and medical research and innovation to WA. 
  
• Innovation Seed Fund 2023-24
  Provides the opportunity for WA innovators to develop and commercialise their innovation, create high-level health sector jobs and enhance the production/manufacturing capacity of the State.
  
• Major Research Application Support  
  Provides in-principle financial support for research applications being submitted to nationally and internationally competitive grant funding rounds to boost their chance of success.
  
• WA Near Miss Awards: Emerging Leaders 2023-24
  Provides Grants and Fellowships for eligible near-miss applications to the 2023 National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grants program for Emerging Leadership levels 1 and 2.
  
• WA Near Miss Awards: Ideas Grants 2023-24
  Provides grants for eligible near-miss applications to the 2023 National Health and Medical Research Council Ideas Grants program.

A recording of the event is provided below.