Researcher represents Queensland for Women’s Health

Tuesday 08 September 2020

Women’s Health Week centres us and reminds us all about the benefits to the community when we work to improve women’s health. In our current world, it’s even more important to look after your health and wellbeing. Across the country, Translation Research Centres met late last week to address priority areas for women and girls across physical and mental health, recently amplified by COVID-19, and to support career advancement for women in health and medical research.

The Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA), Translation Research Centres have formed the Women’s Health Research, Translation and Impact Network (WHRTN). The Network has received funding of $5 million over five years from the Morrison Government, The Hon Greg Hunt MP and the Medical Research Future Fund.

The network comprises of leaders including internationally recognised women, across the breadth of women’s health, and is committed to:

  • leveraging and strengthening large scale national collaborative effort to improve women’s health
  • partnering, engaging, training and empowering women in priority setting, research and translation
  • building capacity in female researchers across under-represented groups, diverse disciplines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, and
  • delivering research, translation and impact in agreed priority areas.

Representing Queensland, and with support from Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners, Mater Research Professor Vicki Clifton’s work, as one of the Program Leaders of the Mothers, Babies and Women’s Health Research group, and from the Queensland Family Cohort Study, will help bring focus to the support needed for women and girls at this time.

“It’s important that while we continue to experience a pandemic that we are evaluating the impact this has on women and girls, and also how this will influence their mental health and wellbeing,” Professor Clifton said.

“The initiative/network is also focused on developing the careers of women in women’s health. As a women in STEM it would be wonderful to see the future of research in our hands.”

The priority health areas align with the government’s health strategy and include a focus on preconception, pregnancy, postpartum and intrapartum health, reproductive health, sexual health, healthy lifestyle, nutrition, obesity prevention, violence and abuse prevention and recovery, Indigenous health, mental health, chronic disease prevention, and healthy ageing.

The research will include clinical trials, implementation and health services, as well as public health research and translation, with a rapid track to health impact.

Find out more about the Australian Health Research Alliance

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