QIMR Berghofer has been awarded three National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants to support pioneering research projects solving key health and medical across the Australian and international community.
The Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Mark Butler MP, has announced the funding outcomes for the Investigator Grants 2025 on Monday.
Professor Rachel Neale, Deputy Director of the Population Health Program at QIMR Berghofer, will lead research focused on two distinct research programs including balancing the harms and benefits of sun exposure and reducing pancreatic cancer mortality.
Associate Professor Tracy O'Mara, who leads the Endometrial Cancer Association Consortium, will continue her ground-breaking work in endometrial cancer genetics. Her research aims to discover and characterise genetic variants associated with endometrial cancer risk.
Dr Daniel Rawle, Head of the Emerging Viral Diseases lab, will focus on improving knowledge and interventions to combat pathogenic arboviruses. His recent work on the Australian Japanese Encephalitis Virus strain has highlighted the urgent need for new vaccine development.
Professor Fabienne Mackay, Director and CEO of QIMR Berghofer, said the funding would support research that would change how clinicians understood and treated disease and bring immeasurable benefits to Queenslanders, Australians and patients globally.
“The outcomes of this grant round reflect both the quality and importance of the research being conducted at QIMR Berghofer,” she said.
“The impactful discoveries made by our scientists continue to advance human health through pioneering intellect and originality. Congratulations to all the recipients for this well-earned acknowledgement.”
NHMRC CEO Professor Steve Wesselingh congratulated the funding recipients. "NHMRC funds investigator-led research where Australia's highest performing health and medical researchers set out to achieve ambitious goals of improving the health and wellbeing of the Australian community," he said.