UniSA wins support for a new generation of health research
Three young UniSA health researchers have won support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to continue to investigate some of the most significant problems facing populations in Australia today.
Dr Janna Morrison was awarded an NHMRC Career Development Award of $370,000 over the next four years to continue to lead research into the relationship between low birth weight and cardiovascular disease in adult life.
Dr Morrison has been a highly successful researcher, receiving nine fellowships in the past seven years and helping to nurture a strong research base at UniSA in the early origins of adult cardiovascular disease.
Her research examines what factors in the womb may impact on the development of the adult heart.
"My main hypothesis is that a chronic shortage of oxygen reaching the tissues when a baby is in the womb (restricting a baby’s growth) may result in certain vascular and heart adaptations in the fetus to allow it to survive in that environment. My theory is that those same adaptations may lead to an increased risk of heart disease when the baby grows to adulthood."
Two other grants announced this week include an NHMRC Public Health training fellowship which was won by Whyalla-based researcher in population health or epidemiology, Dr Matt Haren.
Dr Haren is engaged in a project to investigate the factors impacting on respiratory and metabolic health in Whyalla families in comparison to those in Adelaide’s North West suburbs.
"There are a lot of issues to contend with when you look at respiratory and metabolic health – biology and genetics, family-patterned behaviours including smoking, physical activity and food choices and environmental factors such as social disadvantage, stress and pollution – all of them can have an impact " Dr Haren said.
"What I’ll be doing is building a picture of how all of these factors interact to impact on the health outcomes of the Whyalla population, there may be important differences between the city and regional SA."
NHMRC support for Dr Haren totals $274,000 over four years.
And in an innovative new project, postgraduate researcher at UniSA, Dr Katina D’Onise will be looking at the impact of early childhood education on the risks of the development of diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Her postgraduate study is being supported with and NHMRC Public Health Scholarship of $96,000 over three years.
UniSA Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation, Professor Caroline McMillen said the support from the NHMRC was a real indication of the development of new depth at UniSA in areas of medical research of major importance for public health.
"I’m delighted that the hard work and promise of these researchers has been acknowledged," she said.