From improving outcomes for women with endometriosis to a new model of care for tackling heart attacks in First Nations people, Queensland’s brightest medical minds have shared in more than $2.731 million research grants aimed at preventing illness, improving patient care and saving lives.
The Queensland Health Clinical Research Fellowships (CRFs) support clinician researchers to conduct research relevant to their clinical work, with the goal of improving health outcomes and finding new ways to deliver better care.
Senior Intensive Care Specialist and Director of Research in the Adult Intensive Care Service at the Prince Charles Hospital, Associate Professor Kiran Shekar, is one of 18 clinicians to benefit from the current round of funding.
Associate Professor Shekar has been awarded $250,000 for a pilot trial of high flow oxygen and nitric oxide inhalation delivered to patients with severe breathing problems.
Successful trials will allow patients autonomy and dignity while they recover, with a lesser need to be placed on invasive breathing machines and coma while also substantially reducing health care costs.
“I am thrilled to be awarded $250,000 to research and test the use of nitric oxide gas inhalation, in addition to oxygen gas, being delivered in self-breathing patients with severe breathing problems,” Associate Professor Shekar said.
“My research will determine if this reduces lung damage, improves blood oxygen levels, and thereby reduces the need for an artificial, invasive breathing machine support and induced coma.
“This approach will maintain autonomy and dignity of patients while they talk, eat, exercise, and recover, which will subsequently reduce health care costs.
“As we realised during the pandemic, we still have a lot to learn about treating patients with breathing problems both within and outside intensive care units.
“The Fellowship will go a long way in fostering a positive research culture and further strengthen the enabling research environment within Queensland Health.”
Eminent Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine and Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, Professor Louise Cullen, has been awarded almost $250,000 to establish a new model of care for tackling heart attacks with First Nations Australians.
The Powerful Pictures Study will address short and longer terms risks from coronary artery disease and utilise the strengths of First Nations patients and communities to manage these risks.
“Although it is well known that our First Nations community members have significantly more cardiovascular disease at all ages than non-Indigenous people, there remains a significant difference in heart attack and premature death rates,” Professor Cullen said.
“Our research aims to identify underlying coronary heart disease that may lead to a heart attack in First Nations people who come to an emergency department with symptoms of chest pain.
“The research required to prove that any changes in practice are beneficial requires significant effort, time and resources; this Fellowship will help with this.
“This important funding from Queensland Health, with research driven by clinicians and supported with academic partners, goes a long way to supporting clinicians wanting to improve our health care system.”
Conjoint Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital, Dr Akwasi Amoako, has been awarded almost $250,000 in funding for research to develop novel, non-invasive imaging methods to shorten endometriosis diagnosis and improve outcomes.
Endometriosis is a chronic and debilitating gynaecological disease that affects 11 per cent of reproductive-age women, girls and other individuals nationwide, but diagnosis and treatment is often delayed for up to 12 years.
The main reason for this delay is the lack of non-invasive tests capable of detecting all types of endometriosis and hesitancy to perform or undergo invasive surgery, which is currently the only way to accurately diagnose the disease.
Dr Amoako’s research is expected to significantly shorten the time to diagnosis, improve patient outcomes at multiple points across the patient journey by shifting diagnosis from invasive surgical laparoscopy to diagnostic imaging.
“This project brings together a world-class multidisciplinary team of clinicians, academia, healthcare partners and consumers to establish a platform to advance innovative PET/MR molecular imaging technologies in the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis,” Dr Amoako said.
“This will help achieve a more accurate and quicker diagnosis of endometriosis, reduce the need for invasive surgery and personalise treatment pathways.
“An accurate non‐invasive imaging diagnosis is expected to reduce the need for diagnostic surgery in 40 per cent of women with chronic pelvic pain.
“Greater access to accurate and preoperative imaging will allow clinicians to understand the extent of the disease and risk of complications before surgery. This can help to reduce risks and postoperative complication rates. This will improve patient care, shorten hospital stays, and reduce healthcare costs.
“This significant investment from Queensland Health will allow us to now apply the latest advances in molecular imaging, and our advanced genomics methods, at scale, to address the gaps in diagnosis and treatment and provide the integrated clinical framework needed to deliver better patient outcomes.”
Since 2019, the program has awarded more than $10.5 million to 42 clinicians researchers in three rounds, fulfilling a key commitment in Queensland Health’s Advancing Health Research 2026 Strategy.
The strategy is a bold and ambitious roadmap for Queensland Health to become a global leader in research and innovation, transforming health outcomes for all Queenslanders.
In the fourth round another 18 clinicians, in fields ranging from medical, nursing and allied health, each received grants ranging from $20,000 to $250,000.
Their research is focused on improving frontline healthcare delivery and achieving better patient outcomes, not just in Queensland, but around the world.
Round 5 of the Queensland Health Clinical Research Fellowships is now open until 26 November, 2023, with applicants notified in February 2024. For more information visit Queensland HealthClinical Research Fellowships | Queensland Health