Annual Report 1997

THE MENZIES CENTRES 1997

MENZIES SCHOOL OF HEALTH RESEARCH: DARWIN
Director's Report 1997

The Menzies School of Health Research has had another very successful year.

After leading the School through a very important phase of its development Professor John Young AO, stood down as Chairman of the School, because of his other heavy commitments, in favour of Mr Richard Ryan, the Deputy Chair. On behalf of the Governors and all those associated with the School, Mr Ryan paid tribute to Professor John Young AO for his advocacy and leadership as Chairman since 1991. Professor Young will continue as Deputy Chairman and will continue to serve on the Board as nominee of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney.

The School welcomes Professor Stephen Leeder to the Governing Board in his capacity as Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney.

The School was delighted when Mr Richard Ryan was promoted as an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours List. Mr Ryan was recognised for his community service to organisations including the Menzies School, the Northern Territory University and the National Heart Foundation. Mr Harry Giese, a long-standing supporter of the Menzies Foundation and one of the founders of the Menzies School, was made a Member of the Order of Australia during 1997, in recognition of his outstanding community service over many years.

A major development during 1997 was the completion of negotiations to establish the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health in partnership with Territory Health Services, Flinders University of South Australia, Northern Territory University, Danila Dilba Medical Service (Darwin) and Central Australian Congress in Alice Springs. The CRC will bring $2.02 million in new cash funding per year as well as the in-kind contributions from the partners to develop new cooperative research programs to help improve health in Aboriginal and tropical Australia. The CRC is controlled by a representative Board, Chaired by Dr Lois O'Donoghue, AM CBE; she will be supported by Professor John Mathews as Director of the CRC, and Ms Terry Dunbar, Business Manager and Secretary to the CRC Board.

During the latter half of 1997, John Mathews was granted leave by the Menzies School Board and the CRC Board to spend 6 months in Oxford in the Department of Zoology working on ecological aspects of bacterial infection in human populations. This work is likely to result in continuing collaboration between Oxford and Darwin and in more funding opportunities for the Menzies School.

While overseas, Professor Mathews was also able to attend scientific meetings in Germany and Paris, and to attend the Jubilee Scientific Meeting of MRC research in The Gambia (West Africa). He was particularly grateful to Professor David Kemp, Acting Director for the Menzies School and other senior staff for taking on an extra work-load during his time overseas.

The Menzies School has consolidated its links with health service and education institutions providers through the CRC and other arrangements; it has an agreement with the NTU to provide public health coursework teaching, and it enjoys a cooperative relationship with the Clinical School at the Royal Darwin Hospital, recently established by Flinders University in partnership with the Northern Territory government.

Research programs in tropical health are flourishing. For example, Professor Kemp and colleagues have recently succeeded in transferring malaria genes from one strain to another: this will allow important questions relevant to malaria vaccine development to be more directly tested. Only two other groups in the world have achieved similar success.

Dr Nicholas Anstey has developed a program of collaborative research in Indonesia, with a focus on malaria and public health aspects of tuberculosis. During 1997 he won funding from the National Institutes of Health (USA) for aspects of the malaria research; this is a particularly prestigious award.

School staff were also successful in attracting grants from the NHMRC in a very competitive year, with funding to continue work on malaria, Aboriginal ear disease, streptococcal disease and other important projects.

The School recently saw the fruition of an important cooperative project to improve awareness and treatment of rheumatic heart disease amongst Aboriginal children and adolescents. With funding from AMP, Rotary and other sources, clinical staff from different health service organisations worked with members of the Aboriginal Unit at Menzies to develop education and health promotion messages about rheumatic heart disease. These were based on video, songs, posters and booklets, and were specially designed to meet the needs of patients, their relatives and health care workers. An added benefit was that this project brought together many committed people from different organisations to work together cooperatively. Special thanks are due to Geoffrey Angeles, Norma Benger, Jonathan Carapetis and Bart Currie.

The Menzies School is extremely grateful to the Menzies Foundation for its generous financial support to help maintain the position of Director, and for its recent initiative to fund a Visiting Fellowship at the Menzies School; the inaugural Fellowship will be filled in the near future.

This Annual Report also provides the School with an opportunity to express sincere thanks to Dr Eric Wigglesworth, Executive Director of the Foundation, and to Ms Sandra Mackenzie, and to the very many members of the Board of the Foundation who have done so much to establish the Menzies School and to help and support it since 1985.

Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin

MENZIES CENTRE FOR POPULATION HEALTH RESEARCH: HOBART 1997

During 1997 the Menzies Centre for Population Health Research experienced another successful year with continued growth in both acquired grants and staffing levels along with an increase in its international scientific profile. By September 1997 the Centre employed 55 staff members, a vast increase on the three who started with the Centre ten years ago.

This growth reflected increased diversity in funding sources including government and private sector contracts. One such contract was negotiated with AMRAD Corporation Pty Ltd (AMRAD) during 1997. AMRAD is an Australian research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.

This contract, worth $2.5 million over five years, involves establishing a Genetic Epidemiological Unit within the Menzies Centre to discover the genetic basis of a number of common diseases such as osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis and endometriosis.

During the year the Menzies Foundation initiated a Visiting Fellowship program tenable at the Menzies Centre and went on to endorse the Centre's recommendation that the inaugural Fellowship be awarded to Dr Ruth Morley for two years. Dr Morley is a senior lecturer and Head of Clinical Trials Group at the MRC Childhood Nutrition Research Centre in London and will join the Centre to coordinate research activities in the area of maternal and infant nutrition and health and cognition in childhood. Whilst Dr Morley will be based at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, she will spend most of her time at the Menzies Centre in Hobart.

During 1997 Dr David Mackey, a senior research fellow, was the co-author on a paper which was published in "Science". The paper reported on a study which has contributed to a major breakthrough in the identification of a gene that causes the eye disease glaucoma. This is the first time a Menzies Centre Staff member has published a paper in this internationally prestigious journal.

The Centre was privileged to play host to a number of international visitors during 1997 with the highlight being a visit by Drs Ken Rothman and Stan Lemeshow. Both Dr Rothman and Lemeshow were here to lead a four day course entitled 'Epidemiological Study Design and Multivariable Data Analysis'. This course attracted registrants from around the country and overseas.

The Centre's Board has been a very important contributor to the organisation's successes to date and this year was no exception. The Board was instrumental in the continuation of the Centre's strategic plan and as a result two subcommittees were formed. These included subcommittees overseeing the Centre's Public Relations Plan, and a building and physical resources subcommittee whose brief it is to prepare options for future development.

This year one of the Board's longest serving members, Mr Eric Hayes resigned. To fill vacancies two new board members have been appointed. Mr Euan Hills, Managing Director of a major Tasmanian Company, ComputerLand, and Dr Nicholas Gough, General Manager, AMRAD Discovery Technologies joined the Board in November this year. Both Mr Hills and Dr Gough will bring new experience and energy to the board.

In 1998 we look forward to the Centre's 10 year celebrations. A number of events will be held to mark this milestone and to reflect on the Centre's achievements. These events will include an International symposium, an open day and a gala dinner. 1998 will also see the development of the new Genetic Epidemiology Unit. This will involve the expansion of the Centre's physical and personnel resources, which promises to be an exciting exercise.

Menzies Centre for Population Health Research, Hobart