Pioneering WA health and medical innovators supported
Eight Western Australian innovators will receive a share of over $1 million in funding through the Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund Innovation Fellowships 2024-25 program for their cutting-edge research.
Each Fellowship provides funding for up to 12 months to support projects at key stages of development, such as proof of concept, feasibility and validation, to help them grow.
Innovation Fellows develop effective and acceptable solutions that address unmet health and medical needs or capitalise on opportunities in WA.
The successful recipients demonstrated potential to develop or advance new processes, products, and services that may lead to incremental or transformative change.
The 2024-25 Fellows are working on innovations that address diverse health issues. These include diagnostic solutions for viral-induced asthma, microbiome-based interventions to improve healing in burn wounds, and software designed to prevent vascular blindness due to diabetes.
By building human capability in health and medical related innovation, the Innovation Fellowships program is expected to advance the quality and capacity of innovation and commercialisation in WA and help local innovators secure further funding to support their work.
The Innovation Fellowships 2024-25 program recipients are.
| Activity lead | Responsible entity | Activity title | Grant amount |
| Dr Sandra Agudelo-Romero | University of Western Australia | Innovative Diagnostic Solutions for Viral-Induced Asthma: Towards Timely and Precise Paediatric Care | $130,879.50 |
| Dr Pramod Dorishetty | Ear Science Institute Australia Incorporated | Fabrication of Tuneable Silk Packing Materials for ENT Clinical Applications | $106,569.42 |
| Dr Noor Ul Huda Ghori | University of Western Australia | Development of microbiome-based interventions for improved healing in burn wounds | $111,651.38 |
| Dr Bozica Kovacevic | Curtin University | Non-Invasive Eye Drops for Age-Related and Diabetes-Induced Eye Diseases | $128,438.21 |
| Dr Nipanjana Patra | Pretect Devices Pty Ltd | Technology Optimisation Through Clinical Immersion: Advancing Vedette - A Smart Monitoring Solution for Neonatal Extravasation Injury Prevention | $150,000.00 |
| Dr Danuta Sampson | University of Western Australia | OCTAVA – an Open-Source Software Innovation: A Key to Preventing Vascular Blindness due to Diabetes in Western Australia | $144,749.48 |
| Dr Elke Seppanen | The Kids Research Institute Australia | Advancing immunoassays for clinical proof-of-concept for a novel nasal spray vaccine. | $127,357.60 |
| Dr Shelley Waters | University of Western Australia | The Obesity Off-Switch: Transforming Obesity Treatment | $127,335.45 |