In May it has been a pleasure to see the widespread recognition of our research, speaking to the quality and significance of IHT research.
Some examples of this that you will find more information on below include an article written by Tracey Bucknall and the PRONTO study team being named the most impactful in 2022 by BMJ Quality and Safety, and research led by Samantha Thomas mentioned in Parliament. My congratulations to Jaithri Ananthapavan who received the 2022 Premier’s Award for Health and Medical Research in Public Health. This is the second consecutive year that the award has been presented to an IHT researcher, an achievement I am immensely proud of.
It was also a pleasure to join Rachel Huxley to host the Victorian minister for health, health infrastructure and medical research, The Hon. Mary-Anne Thomas for a visit to the IHT Hub. She is very focussed on solutions to current healthcare workforce challenges, improving quality of care for women, and improving healthcare access and outcomes for rural and regional Victorians, so there were a lot of areas of alignment to discuss.
With the opportunity approaching to register our votes in a referendum on a First Nations Voice to Parliament, I have found the Uluru Statement from the Heart website useful for further information on the Statement from the Heart and the Voice referendum. There it states, “We ask Australians to accept our invitation to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future”. I feel privileged to have received this invitation to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to progress the Uluru Statement from the Heart and see it as one small step towards greater health equity.
I have enjoyed seeing everyone’s photos and reflections on the recent World Congress on Public Health in Rome and the Preventive Health Conference in Adelaide. Have you seen a great opportunity for IHT to be represented in key local, national or international initiatives? Share it with your supervisors and domain director to ensure others know about it! I am looking forward to participating in the Deakin-Copenhagen partnership event in June, where we will oversee the signing of the next five-year agreement between the two Universities. I am visiting colleagues at Copenhagen University, Aarhus University and Southern Denmark University so let me know if there is anyone you would like me to connect with.
In addition to a number of announcements on health funding relevant to our areas of research, this year’s Federal budget had a couple of announcements informed by our prior research. This included $26.1 million in funding to support Wannon Water in Improving the water quality in Heywood, Portland and Port Fairy. GLOBE and DHE have worked with Wannon Water for some time now to undertake modelling that supported Wannon Water’s business case for great tasting water. Also, the announcement of a National Lung Cancer Screening program, the first new national screening program in almost 20 years. Well done to Anna Ugalde, who led 2 of the 6 workstreams within Cancer Australia’s lung cancer screening feasibility program that contributed to the Government’s decision to implement the new screening program. I also want to recognise others of you whom I know are working on contracts, advisory groups and behind the scenes to ensure greater implementation of evidence informed health policy to improve health outcomes for all Australians.
I look forward to seeing everyone at the next All Members Day on 13 July at Deakin Downtown. We will be privileged to hear the latest on the CDC and Victoria’s health systems from our guest speakers Terry Slevin, CEO PHAA, and Bernice Redley, Victorian health complaints commissioner.
Welcome to our new IHT members:
- Eric Lau, Associate Professor, DoH
- Sadika Akhter, Dean’s Research Postdoctoral Fellow, GLOBE
- Kaara Calma, Researcher, QPS
- Eloise Litterbach, Research Fellow, ACBRD
- Neha Lalchandani, Associate Research Fellow, GLOBE
- Jaimie Poorter, Associate Research Fellow, GLOBE
- Sarah Manallack, PhD Student, ACBRD
- Lia Burns, PhD Student, DoH
- Lousie Tan, Executive and Project Officer, QPS
