Wesley Medical Research Achievements Function 2016

I thank the Chairman of Wesley Medical Research for his invitation to attend this important ceremony and to participate in the presentation of awards.

Wesley Medical Research is a relatively new institution, with an even more recent name, but it is already a significant driving force within the flourishing medical research community in Queensland – and much further afield.

That much was clear to me when I toured WMR’s impressive facilities in November last year.  So too was the fact that high-level capacity in medical research is deeply embedded in the Institute’s “DNA”, given the skills and experience brought to the partnership by the institutions which combined to establish WMR.   

This alliance provides the opportunity to increase interaction within among a larger group of clinician-researchers and to generate new ideas and lines of highly relevant research, as well as consolidate existing programs.

When we “lay” people see stock images of men and women in white coats working in laboratories, we tend to associate them with the search for medical cures.  

That is an extremely important role for medical research institutions, but it is by no means the only one.  Even a cursory glance at WMR publications demonstrates the true breadth of the research effort undertaken here.  

Projects include what might be called “classical” research – on immunotherapy, and on unravelling the mysteries of neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.  

But they also embrace projects including: the review and re-design of treatment regimes for conditions such as diabetes, focusing on Queenslanders in regional and remote parts of our State; programs designed to assist children with obesity; research on the management of mental illnesses; a project to reduce recovery time following hip and knee replacements; and the ongoing management of those crucial tools for researchers, clinical trials and a tissue bank.

The focus of WMR’s research benefits greatly from the institute’s close connection with clinicians in four UnitingCare Health hospitals in the State.

This is of the greatest importance because it is the human dimension of these projects that matters most – preventing illness, improving diagnostic tools, saving lives through new treatments, and enhancing quality of life for Queenslanders living with serious medical conditions.

The life of a researcher, and of those who support researchers, is not all white coats and “eureka” moments. Certainly it may involve flashes of intuition, but it also requires hard work, persistence, precision, attention to detail, meticulous record-keeping, and the maintenance of the highest ethical standards.

As Governor and Chief Patron of Wesley Medical Research, I thank and congratulate the Board, Executive and staff of WMR on their dedication to supporting the invaluable research that takes place within these walls, and the wonderful benefits this, in turn, brings to our communities. 

I thank and congratulate WMR’s generous individual and corporate donors and supporters for their contributions to the institution’s vital work.  

And I am delighted to be involved today in this acknowledgment and celebration of outstanding contributions by individuals and organisations across the broad and complex range of WMR’s activities, from research work and publications, to media and philanthropic support.

In that spirit, I offer my warmest congratulations to award nominees and award winners, whom I look forward to meeting in a short while.

The work of WMR is, rightly, a source of great pride to all those associated with it. 

I wish Wesley Medical Research every success in the future.

Thank you.