Three early career researchers from The University of Western Australia have been awarded Fellowships to improve child health research by exploring ways to remove brain tumours, improve vaccine uptake, and prevent and treat skin infections.
The Fellowships program, co-funded by the State Government’s Future Health Research and Innovation Fund and the Brightspark Foundation and supported by the Telethon Kids Institute, has been established to ensure emerging local expertise in research and innovation stays in Western Australia.
Dr Brittany Dewdney, from the Telethon Kids Cancer Centre and UWA Medical School, will explore different ways of removing brain tumours in children.
“This work has the potential to change surgical approaches on children and lead to improved immunotherapy clinical trials,” Dr Dewdney said.
Dr Samantha Carlson, from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at the Telethon Kids Institute and UWA’s School of Social Sciences, aims to protect more WA families from vaccine preventable diseases by improving childhood vaccine uptake.
“We will work with the community, health care providers, and organisations to codesign research projects and activities to ensure people are vaccinated on-time,” Dr Carlson said.
Dr Hannah Thomas, from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at the Telethon Kids Institute and UWA’s School of Biomedical Sciences, will work with Kimberley communities to identify, understand and action community-led skin health research.
“Untreated skin infections can lead to acute rheumatic fever and subsequent rheumatic heart disease — a preventable disease,” Dr Thomas said.
Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson congratulated the inaugural recipients of the 2024 early career Fellowships.
“I am excited to announce these new early career Fellowships that focus on child health research and will make a significant difference to young lives here in Western Australia,” he said.
The Future Health Research and Innovation Fund and Brightspark Foundation partnership will give more than $5 million over three years to the Fellowship program, with an additional $2.1 million being provided by research entities.
