- Foreword
- Message from Board Chair & Chief Executive
- 2023 Clinical Research Fellowships
- A message from the RBWH Foundation
- A message from The Common Good
- Metro North Research Excellence Awards
- Research stories
- ICU of the Future
- New approach ruling out pulmonary embolism
- Improving access to healthcare in the prison environment
- Safety and efficacy of peripheral versus centrally administered vasopressor infusion
- COVID-19 learnings set to inform future policy
- Telomere study could provide key to treating debilitating lung disease
- Productive Ward – Releasing time to care
- Brain organoids to revolutionise epilepsy treatment
- Reducing weight stigma in maternity care
- Parkinson’s Disease Check-In program giving people a voice
- Trial brings new treatment for common heart condition
- Teledentistry study shows promise in residential aged care
- Research fellow to boost Oral Health evidence-based care
- Study explores best approach to surgery for painful shoulder osteoarthritis
- The development and pilot testing of a stroke telerehabilitation decision toolkit
- Metro North Health delivers world-first breast scaffold surgery
- Regenerative jawbone hard at work care of collaborative Metro North Health approach
- Jamieson Trauma Institute leads e-scooter and e-bike injury research to drive community safety
- Forgotten fathers in pregnancy and obstetrics
- Putting the Spotlight on nursing and midwifery research
- Improving the health self-efficacy of stroke survivors
A message from The Common Good
The Common Good, an initiative of The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation, is committed to helping people live healthier for longer by sustainably backing research and hospital innovation projects to their completion. The importance of medical research has never been as evident as now, with the astonishing amount of international collaboration seen throughout the pandemic that allowed such a rapid pace of research and discovery. It is imperative that we maintain and extend upon the support and goodwill that permitted these successes by funding research that will provide hope to those suffering today and hope for future generations.
In March 2023 we farewelled long-term CEO Michael Hornby and welcomed our new Chief Executive Officer, Steve Francia. With a key focus on people, outcomes and impacts, backed by experience in the commercial and not-for-profit space, Steve looks forward to The Common Good continuing to grow and evolve.
The Common Good supports and facilitates the work of incredible researchers who are dedicated to making breakthroughs in the areas of heart disease, lung disease, mental health and dementia. Our research focus areas are health issues that touch nearly everyone in some way. Whether it be a friend, a family member or a colleague, we all know someone who is impacted by at least of one these conditions and can benefit from funding research, the effects of which also ripple right across the nation and the world.
Despite the continuing challenges posed by the pandemic, which continued through 2022, we distributed more than $4 million in research funding, supporting 85,000 hours of research time. This included more than $1.7 million in peer-reviewed grants for individuals through the New Investigator, PhD Scholarship, and Research Fellowship schemes; for projects through Innovation Grants; and for key pieces of equipment.
2022 saw the realisation of the ICU of the Future project, which is now open and started accepting patients in the early weeks of 2023. These two new bed spaces address key issues to improve the experience of ICU patients, including reduced noise, regulation of light, better night-time sleep conditions, and other environmental improvements to allow patients to recover.
We were also excited to see the continued, life-saving successes of HEVP-heart transplants in a Trans-Tasman clinical trial, with over 36 lives saved. The Common Good was proud to provide funding for the pre-clinical project led by the Critical Care Research Group. The work of all involved culminated in an organ travelling from the east coast to the west coast of Australia, the longest distance a heart has travelled to date. Not only did this feat result in national media attention, most importantly, it saved the life of a young woman who otherwise would not be here today.
In 2022, we saw the return of the Ekka and the beloved Strawberry Sundae. We were thrilled to have several researchers volunteer their time to whip up some of the delectable and iconic treats. Throughout the course of the show, we served up over 127,000 Strawberry Sundaes – including 20,200 on People’s Day alone.
All of this was only made possible through the extraordinary community and corporate support provided to the Foundation. The Common Good connects thousands of generous individuals and organisations with researchers and projects that matter to them. We continue to maximise donor contributions by operating commercial businesses such as our social enterprise cafes across multiple sites to help offset our charitable operations. The social enterprise model means that when people donate to the Foundation, money goes exactly where it was intended, directly towards medical research.
We are so grateful for the support of our community, whose generosity makes the work of The Common Good and our research teams possible.
We would also like to acknowledge our amazing Alumni. The Common Good Alumni is a way of recognising the hard work of researchers who have completed their grant or significantly contributed to The Common Good’s research projects and agenda. It importantly provides a chance for researchers to stay connected and build collaborations.
To find out more, visit thecommongood.org.au.