The Queensland Government has announced the first round of recipients for 2011 under the Queensland Health’s Office of Health and Medical Research (OHMR) fellowship program.

 

The fellowships, which will receive funding totalling $4.75 million over five years, have been awarded in two categories; Health Research Fellowships (HRF) and Clinical Academic Fellowships (CAF).

 

The fellowships are part of the $20.55 million allocated to the OHMR Health Research Fellowships Program.

 

Recipients of the health fellowships and their research objectives are:

  • Dr Daniel Chambers, Consultant Thoracic and Transplant Physician (The Prince Charles Hospital) – to develop innovative methods to identify patients at-risk for lung transplant rejection at an early stage, where intervention will have a meaningful impact on long-term survival;

  • Associate Professor Scott Bell, Director of Thoracic Medicine (The Prince Charles Hospital) – to examine the causes, clinical impact and risks of bacterial infection in adults with cystic fibrosis;

  • Dr David Reid, Staff Physician Department of Thoracic Medicine (The Prince Charles Hospital) – to improve the basic understanding of the interaction between bacteria and the immune system within the lung and use this information to develop innovative anti-bacterial strategies to assist in the treatment of cystic fibrosis and COPD;

  • Professor Amanda Henderson, Nursing Director of Education (Princess Alexandra Hospital) – to refine and embed those behaviour practices in clinical practice that foster learning inquiring with the nursing team which will directly assist nursing students, graduates and staff new to the clinical area to improve patient care;

  • Ms Tania Withington, Team Leader Evolve Therapeutic Services, Child Youth Mental Health (Royal Children’s Hospital) – to enhance the knowledge and contribute to policy and clinical practice, improving the well-being, quality of life and outcomes for vulnerable and disadvantaged children in out-of-home care;

  • Ms Annette Bird, Clinical Nurse Consultant Acute Pain Service (Gold Coast Health Service District) – to refine and update current clinical practice guidelines relating to pain assessment and management of acute post operative pain.

The recipients for the clinical research fellowships include:

  • Professor in Physiotherapy – Aged Care Rehabilitation (The Prince Charles Hospital and Australian Catholic University)  - for research to provide leadership and education for physiotherapy researchers within aged care/rehabilitation.

  • Senior Clinical Academic Fellow - Obesity Research and Prevention (Mater Public Hospital and the University of Queensland)  - to  develop and implement human research studies and education programs regarding treatment and prevention of child and family obesity and diabetes.

  • Nurse Researcher – Mental Health (Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and University of Queensland) – to facilitate research and skills development, and foster a culture of evidenced based practice in nursing.