The aim of this research project is to provide critical new information on the functional changes in brain circuits mediating cognitive-emotional integration during decision-making. This project will use a powerful and unique combination of behavioural, circuit-level, cellular, genetic and imagining tools to assess decision processes in healthy rodent and human subjects, and in animal models of, and humans suffering from, specific psychiatric disorders.
Using Healthcare Wisely: Psychosocial Interventions To Reduce Unnecessary Testing And Treatment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$763,845.00
Summary
Overuse of healthcare (use of unnecessary tests and treatments) is harming patients and diverting scarce health resources from where they are most needed. Effective communication of the problem to the public, patients, clinicians and policymakers is a prerequisite for behaviour change. This fellowship will develop a suite of communication-based interventions to reduce overuse and build a multidisciplinary workforce of researchers to address this urgent problem facing health systems globally.
Building Capacity For Health Services Research In Australia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$697,209.00
Summary
I have developed a programme of applied health services research by winning grants, publications in good journals, investing in PhD and post-doc researchers and engaging with state governments and health departments. In 2011 I set up the Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation that will improve health services by funding health services research, and offering research training for health care professionals. The purpose of this fellowship is to sustain this activity.
Transformed Drug Policies: Integrating Empirical Evidence With Participatory Democracy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$782,370.00
Summary
In my 5 year research fellowship I will lead internationally relevant research on better policy options for illegal drugs, such as methamphetamine, heroin and cannabis. Drug policy can be driven by politics and the media, rather than research evidence. I will generate a cutting edge and fresh perspective with an agile approach to new research that takes into account the rapidly changing field of drug policy. This will provide policy makers with a new framework for evidence-based policy reforms.
Increasing Value, Reducing Waste From Incomplete Or Unusable Reports Of Medical Research
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$788,486.00
Summary
We estimated that the avoidable waste in research - from design flaws, non-publication, and inadequate reporting - results in over $85 Billion annual loss. I will research innovations to reduce this waste. My focus is particularly on non-drug interventions - exercises, dietary changes, self-monitoring, e-health applications – which are often effective but more difficult to use in clinical practice, and being compiled in my recently founded Handbook of Non-Drug Interventions (see RACGP website).
Pathophysiology And Treatment Of Malaria In Our Region
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$951,005.00
Summary
Malaria continues to kill 420,000 people/year. I will lead a team of clinical scientists in identifying how each of the different malaria parasites cause damage to small blood vessels, kidneys and other organs, and will test whether two different drugs can improve these processes and reduce illness. Many of my previous research findings have changed malaria treatment in Australia and across SE Asia, and, where appropriate, I will use new research findings to improve treatments.
Diabetes and heart disease are major causes of premature death, disability and high health care costs in Australia. Better strategies for the prevention and treatment of these conditions are needed. Professor Keech will continue to design and lead clinical trials and related laboratory research to evaluate and develop strategies to improve the lives of people with or at high risk of these conditions. He will also mentor the next generation of researchers.
I conduct research in physiotherapy, especially physiotherapy treatments for muscle contracture. Over the next 5 years I will investigate mechanisms of normal muscle growth and muscle contracture in adults with stroke and children with cerebral palsy. I will also conduct clinical studies investigating prophylaxis for haemophilia, prevention of complications after spinal cord injury, and multi-level surgery for contracture in children with cerebral palsy.
Developing Innovative Pathways For The Prevention Of Lifelong Cardiovascular Risk
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$753,300.00
Summary
My research aims to develop better ways to predict the risk of heart disease, better approaches to disease prevention and treatment and to ultimately develop more effective approaches to implementing these strategies into health care delivery.