Major Program Grants
Program Grants are extremely valuable for research teams. These program grants fund a group of researchers to undertake their vitally important projects by expanding the research capacity that they already have expertise in, rather than funding specific allocated project. In a way it’s a kind of “top up”, allowing the researchers to assign the funds over a range of important projects and from our perspective it allows our donors to fund initiatives that, in some cases, are in the final stages of research breakthroughs.
Currently, The Hospital Research Foundation is funding two different research groups with Major Program Grants. Their programs are as follows:
- “The Health Observatory- promoting a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral approach to health innovation”
- “Development and Assessment of novel surgical technologies and their introduction into the Australian healthcare system”
1) “The Health Observatory- promoting a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral approach to health innovation”
Department: University of Adelaide Discipline of Medicine
Head Researcher: A/Professor Robert Adams
$320,000pa- total $1,600,000
5 years
The Health Observatory brings together leaders from the health, economics and social research to help develop new solutions to disease and prevention
The program focuses on:
- Healthy Aging- examining the burden of chronic conditions such as asthma, musculoskeletal condition, cardiac and renal disease and how to manage these diseases as people get older to avoid the health system being completely overwhelmed in the near future
- Health Literacy- HL is about people understanding what it means to be healthy, how to be healthy, why they should be healthy and people being able to have access to elements of the health system that allow them to achieve quality health.
- Limited HL has been shown to be associated with poor health.
- Our researchers are measuring HL in the population & are developing interventions to improve health literacy, which will overall mean a healthier population
2) “Development and Assessment of novel surgical technologies and their introduction into the Australian healthcare system”
Department: University of Adelaide Discipline of Surgery
Head Researcher: Professor Guy Maddern
$320,000pa- Total $1,600,000
5 years
The aim of this project is to progress surgery in patients
- Investigating whether certain surgical techniques to remove cancerous liver tumours have an effect on liver regeneration or liver failure
- Using combination of electrical methods to kill cancer in the liver
- Using various surgical operations in an environment which enables assessment of safety, efficacy and cost- this overall will enable better information to be given to practitioners, patients and hospitals
- Using laparoscopy versus conventional open surgical treatments of colon cancer- a recent study found that laparoscopic assisted colonic resection given significant improvements to gastrointestinal function and length of stay for patients.