Advancing global medicine

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard and University of NSW president and vice-chancellor professor Ian Jacobs at SPHERE’s launch.

Partnership speeds up medical research impact in south west.

Population health is the big winner of a partnership between leaders in health, education and medical research.

The partnership has been two years in the making and has a multifaceted approach – translating research in medicine and science by bringing some of Australia’s leading minds to share their ideas, knowledge, expensive equipment and staff to deliver solutions to major health challenges.

University of NSW president and vice-chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs is the inaugural chairman of the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE).

“We’re going to create something truly spectacular and deliver to our population and the world,” Prof Jacobs said.

Liverpool’s South Western Sydney Local Health District and Ingham Institute are among the 14 leaders involved. Prof Jacobs said the 17-year wait to translate medical research and put it to use was one focus.

“We have really good healthcare interventions that are not evenly distributed across organisations or populations.

“Western Sydney is where there are inequalities to health. It’s a diverse population with some of the most disadvantaged.”

Prof Jacobs said they have accredited 12 clinical academic streams in cancer, mental health, diabetes, infection immunity, obesity, women’s health, children’s health and indigenous health.

“We’ve got the best clinicians and academics working together in a crosscutting way,” he said. “The seed funding won’t solve everything but as a partnership we’ll be able to use the money more effectively. If we can do this we will generate better healthcare outcomes in all common diseases, speed up and add new innovations and speed up applications.”

Stacy Thomas, Liverpool Leader

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