Clifford Craig Foundation announce medical research grant recipients

Researchers, medical experts, and politicians alike gathered at Peppers Silo hotel on Tuesday to witness the Clifford Craig Foundation announce the recipients of its medical research grants for 2022. Chairman of the not-for-profit group Associate Professor Don McTaggart said $540,914 in grants would be divvied up between four projects.

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The funding follows the previously announced $204,257 for six projects, which is set to continue throughout this year, as well as an additional $183,565 for two projects currently being undertaken at the Launceston General Hospital.

The inaugural recipients of two Early Career Research Scholarships worth $12,500 each were also announced.

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Professor McTaggart said the combined funds from each of the grants represented the most significant annual funding commitment in the Clifford Craig Foundation's 30-year history.

"These projects will further enhance the Clifford Craig Foundation's vision for the Launceston General Hospital to be recognised nationally as a centre of research excellence," he said.

"Further, through these scholarships, we are now helping the next generation of Tasmanian researchers get their start.

"Our community should be extremely proud that, because of its ongoing support, the foundation is able to assist with the delivery of world-class research projects such as this."

One of the projects funded by the foundation was an initiative aimed at better understanding the effects of ketamine on pain outcomes, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, as well as pain treatment experience and patient perceptions.

This work, which received $80,000, is led by academic lead at the University of Tasmania's School of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor Luke Johnson.

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"The money will enable us to explore the long-term outcomes of treating people with the drug, and we'll be able to understand whether we need to keep bringing people back for repeated doses, or if as a result of the drug, permanent change occur to the neuroplasticity of the brain," he said.

A project aimed at better understanding the early pathology and driving mechanisms of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and pulmonary hypertension, led by Dr Romy Sohal, was also provided an $80,000 grant.

IPF is an incurable lung disease, with a survival rate of only three years, commonly found in those aged over 50. Further understanding the disease could enable health professionals to diagnose it earlier, and more accurately.

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Head of Infectious Diseases at LGH, Professor Katie Flanagan, was granted $360,000, spread out over two years, to undertake a world-first trial examining the immune response to COVID-19 vaccines in vulnerable populations. The project will quantify and compare vaccine-induced humoral and cellular immune responses to COVID-19 vaccination between pregnant women and the elderly.

A $24,974 grant was provided to Professor Richard Turner, who is set to undertake the first study in Australia exploring the epidemiology and health economic implications of pancreatitis at a state or regional level. Addressing an area of high need in Tasmania's North and North-West, the project is aimed at exploring quality improvement for patient care and health service delivery, partnerships between academics and health service providers, and an innovative approach for measuring disease burden.

The Early Career Research Scholarship recipients were Emma Szycman, who received $12,500 for her project aimed at improving patient outcomes in disease of the gut through examining the variables and clinical variations associated with inadequate bowel preparations prior to colonoscopies; and Jessica Spokes, who received $12,500 for her project aimed at reducing antipsychotic use in dementia through pharmacist-led intervention.

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