The University of Queensland will conduct world-class health research at Ipswich with a $600,000 investment from the Ipswich Hospital Foundation, Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay, AC announced today.
The research will be based at UQ Ipswich and the Ipswich Hospital, strengthening links between the University, the foundation and the West Moreton community.
“The Ipswich Hospital Foundation has taken a superb decision to form this partnership by committing $120,000 per year for five years to a new health research program run by UQ,” Professor Hay said.
“The program will include a new UQ Ipswich professor, expected to start in 2007.
“The funding will prompt a new era for Ipswich as a hub for health research and education, making the region more attractive to health experts.
“The program will also aim to attract new health infrastructure.
“The community will gain from better knowledge of health problems and their prevention, as well as a stronger local pool of health professionals and high-quality students,” Professor Hay said.
The Executive Dean of UQ’s Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Peter Brooks, said the faculty was developing a program to maximise the effect of the Ipswich Hospital Foundation’s foresight.
“The new program will certainly draw on UQ’s strengths in areas including Nursing, Human Movement Studies, Medicine, the Allied Health Professions and Population Health,” Professor Brooks said.
“The new professor and research unit will have a particular emphasis on health capacity building in the Ipswich community and will focus on young people and the challenges they face as they become independent adults.
“It will particularly link the health and education sectors,” Professor Brooks said.
UQ Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Ipswich, Professor Alan Rix said: “The Ipswich Hospital Foundation has shown great foresight.
“It makes perfect sense to locate world-class research at UQ Ipswich, at the heart of one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions.
“This funding will attract more health expertise to Ipswich, to help us better understand the health needs of the city.
“The University is making a long-term contribution to the community, through its teaching of health sciences and its research,” Professor Rix said.
Ipswich Hospital Foundation Executive Officer, Mr Tom Yates, said the new program would extend the foundation’s endeavours to prevent disease.
“Our partnership with UQ will build on our efforts to encourage healthier lifestyles with better nutrition, more activity and good sun sense,” he said.
“The ultimate return on our $600,000 investment will be a healthier community,” Mr Yates said.
Media: For more information contact Fiona Kennedy (UQ Office of Marketing and Communications) 3365 1088 or 0413 380012; Marlene McKendry (UQ Faculty of Health Sciences) 0401 996 847; Loretta Porche (UQ Ipswich) 3381 1068 or 0418 772 819.
