Mental health in the spotlight

Professor Helen Christensen has won a major fellowship for mental health, worth $3.75 million. The Kirby Institute was also a big winner in the latest NHMRC funding round.

Professor Christensen, from the School of Psychiatry, who also heads the Black Dog Institute, has been awarded $3.75 million from the NHMRC to harness e-health technologies to bridge translation gaps in mental health.

The work will ultimately save lives, alleviate suffering and have save millions of dollars a year.

“It’s great news because we can get interventions that work from the lab or the clinic into the community faster and better,” says Professor Christensen.

Professor Christensen was awarded one of only two NHMRC John Cade Fellowships for research into mental health.

Two researchers from the Kirby Institute were also successful in 2013 funding round.

Professor Tony Butler was awarded almost $2.5 million for The Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Offender Health.

Professor John Kaldor won the largest Partnership Projects in the country, with almost $1.3 million awarded for a program to improve the quality of sexual health services in remote communities.

“This is a strong result for UNSW Medicine and this work will have a long-term impact on the community,” says the Dean of UNSW Medicine, Professor Peter Smith. “I congratulate these researchers on their achievements.”

The Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek made the NHMRC announcements today.

Media contact: Susi Hamilton, UNSW Media Office, 0422 934 024, susi.hamilton@unsw.edu.au

It’s great news because we can get interventions that work from the lab or the clinic into the community faster - Prof Christensen.