2023 Grants, Fellowships, Awards and Prizes announcement
The 2023 awardees for the Raine Medical Research Foundation grants, fellowships, awards and prizes programmes were announced at an engaging awards ceremony, held over breakfast at The University Club of Western Australia (UniClub) on the 4th of December 2023. Among our honoured guests, we welcomed Dr Katrina Stratton MLA, Member for Nedlands, representing the Honourable Stephen Dawson (Minister for Medical Research). Four of our award recipients spoke about the amazing research being supported by these awards including Raine Robson Fellow, Dr David Preece (Raine Priming Grants), Dr Cele Richardson (Raine Priming Grants), Dr Collin Chin (Clinician Research Fellowships) and Dr Daniel Yeoh (Clinician Research Fellowships).
The Raine Medical Research Foundation came into being in 1957, due to one remarkable woman’s generosity and desire to prevent terrible loss associated with human disease. Since that time, the Raine Foundation has provided in excess of $50 million in funds supporting health and medical research that seeks to improve outcomes for our fellow humans.
For the 2023 round we have awarded more than $3 million of grants for research to commence in 2024. The Research Committee acknowledges the excellent work being conducted in Western Australia and extends best wishes to all applicants for the ongoing success of their research. Congratulations go to the successful recipients.
To view photos from the 2023 Raine Medical Research Foundation Annual Award Ceremony, please click here.
Raine Priming Grants
We are pleased to announce that seven Raine Priming Grants (from 40 eligible applications – 17.5% success rate) have been awarded to early-career scientists who are progressing toward an independent research career. The top applicant in the cohort is named the Raine Robson Fellow.
Dr David Preece: Raine Robson Fellow
Curtin University
Project: Addressing the Loneliness Epidemic in Young People: Bridging Affective and Clinical Science
$237,164.63 – Co-funded by the Raine Foundation, Charter Hall, the Cockell Bequest and the BrightSpark Foundation
Dr Cele Richardson
The University of Western Australia
Project: Goodnight, Poor Sleep: Evaluating a Low-Barrier Solution for Youth Sleep and Mental Health
$233,731.50 – Co-funded by the Raine Foundation, the Cockell Bequest and the BrightSpark Foundation
A/Prof Rajesh Thomas
Centre for Respiratory Health, The University of Western Australia
Project: Improving diagnosis and genomic profiling in lung cancer using a novel EBUS biopsy technique
$95,728.00
Dr Renee Carey
The University of Western Australia
Project: Diesel and dust: Do current mining exposures impact the long-term health of workers?
$242,598.17
Dr Myles Murphy
Edith Cowan University
Project: Harnessing ‘brainpower’ to reduce the burden of hip osteoarthritis
$238,852.00
Dr Andrew Stevenson
The University of Western Australia
Project: Developing next generation cell therapies for enhancing skin regeneration after injury
$241,479.00
Dr Kieran Mulroney
Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research
Project: Personalised precision pathology for bacterial and fungal bloodstream infections
$193,954.00
Clinician Research Fellowships
We are pleased to announce that four Clinician Research Fellowships have been awarded (from 10 eligible applications – 40% success rate) to clinicians who wish to develop their research capability while continuing some clinical duties. All recipients are co-funded by the Raine Foundation and the Future Health Research & Innovation Fund.
Dr Bradley MacDonald
Perth Children’s Hospital
Project: Echocardiographic and clinical determinants of outcome in rheumatic heart disease
$212,943.86
Dr Daniel Yeoh
Perth Children’s Hospital
Project: Optimising diagnosis of pulmonary invasive fungal disease in immunocompromised children
$448,563.00
Dr Collin Chin
Royal Perth Hospital
Project: Clinical applications of place-of-care manufactured CAR T-cell therapy in cancer
$440,440.00
Dr Lisa van der Lee
Fiona Stanley Hospital
Project: Breathe Up
$263,030.00
Research Collaborations Awards
There were 11 eligible applications for the 2023 Research Collaboration Awards, of which five were successful (45.5% success rate).
Dr Abdul Rahman Ihdayhid
Fiona Stanley Hospital, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and Curtin University
Collaborating Institution/s: Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Project: Patient-Specific CT-Derived Computational Modelling to Optimise Outcomes in Aortic Stenosis
$23,420.00 – Funded by the Healy Medical Research Foundation
Dr Kai Chen
The University of Western Australia
Collaborating Institution/s: Weill Cornell Medicine, USA
Project: Advancing single-cell technologies for skeletal biology and diseases
$29,212.00 – Funded by the Healy Medical Research Foundation
Dr Michael Kyron
The University of Western Australia
Collaborating Institution/s: The University of Sheffield, UK
Project: A Cross-Cultural Validation of an Inpatient Self-Harm Prediction Algorithm
$25,618.00 – Funded by the Cockell Bequest (mental health research)
Dr Mahdi Mazidi Sharafabadi
The University of Western Australia
Collaborating Institution/s: University of Western Australia, University of New South Wales, Black Dog Institute (Australia) and University of Exeter (UK)
Project: Assessment and Modification of Biased Expectancies to Predict and Optimize Emotional Wellbeing Across the Perinatal Period
$26,047.00 – Funded by the Cockell Bequest (mental health research)
Dr Jessica Mountford
The University of Western Australia
Collaborating Institution: Umea Centre for Molecular Medicine, Sweden
Project: Comparing genetic variance with environmental risk factors in early onset myopia
$30,000.00 – Co-funded by the BrightSpark Foundation, and the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation (child health research)
Publication Prizes
Three 2023 Publications Prizes were awarded.
Dr Erin Lloyd: Raine Research Prize
The University of Western Australia
Publication: Slow or fast: Implications of myofibre type and associated differences for manifestation of neuromuscular disorders. Acta Physiologica. 2023 Aug;238(4):e14012.
$5,000
Dr Nick Si Rui Lan: Strachan Memorial Prize
The University of Western Australia
Publication: Same-day confirmation of infection Evaluation of Stable Chest Pain Following Emergency Department Presentation: Impact of First-Line Cardiac CT Diagnostic Strategy In An Australian Setting. Emergency Medicine Australasia. 2023 Aug 18.
$5,000 – Funded by the Strachan Bequest (clinical research)
Dr Gizachew Tessema: Raine BrightSpark Research Prize
Curtin University
Publication: Interpregnancy interval and adverse pregnancy outcomes among pregnancies following miscarriages or induced abortions in Norway (2008–2016): A cohort study. PLos Medicine. 2022 Nov 22;19(11):e1004129.
$5,000 – Co-funded by the Raine Foundation and the BrightSpark Foundation (child health research)
Link to Past Recipients
Do consider supporting the efforts of the Raine Foundation by contributing to medical research via our donations page or leaving a gift towards supporting research. More information on that HERE.
Please do keep in touch by ‘liking’ the Raine Medical Research Foundation Facebook page and taking note of our website HERE. Everyone on our mailing list will also be updated when new funding rounds open, so do send these on to colleagues who may be interested.
