$1.1M FOR VETERAN HEALTH RESEARCH

The New South Wales Cancer Council and Sydney University will receive Federal Government grants totalling more than $1.1 million for research into health issues affecting veterans, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Danna Vale, announced today.

Minister Vale said she had approved the funding as part of the Federal Government’s Veterans’ Affairs Health and Medical Research Grants Program.

“This Commonwealth funding helps important research into health problems which afflict veterans and war widows, by supporting new and continuing projects,” she said.

“Priority is given to research into prostate disease, alcohol and substance abuse, dementia, post traumatic stress disorder, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, wound healing and potential causal links between exposure to chemical and cancer or genetic disorders.”

Making the announcement on the eve of World Cancer Day, Minister Vale said the NSW Cancer Council will receive $578,750 over three years for research into the impact of treatment for prostate cancer.

“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and with survival rates continuing to improve, the issue of quality of life has become increasingly important,” she said.

“This project will provide information not currently available in Australia about the medium and long-term impact of treatment on quality of life, costs and side effects, to help in decision-making about treatment options.

“The University of Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital campus will receive $309,000 over three years for another prostate disease project, exploring the detection and diagnosis of prostate disease using magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy.

“These non-invasive procedures can identify chemical changes associated with different aspects of prostate disease, providing a significant improvement in the management of patients with early and late stage prostate disease.”

The Minister said the University of Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital campus would receive a grant of $215,000 over three years to undertake research into the molecular pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease.

“These researchers will use the new technology of gene array, which scans thousands of genes simultaneously to find those most altered.

“The researchers have already found changes in a number of genes and plan to study the most promising of these in more detail, with the aim of developing new approaches to disease prevention or therapy.

“These are significant projects with the potential to assist the lives of many veterans, as well as benefiting the wider Australian community,” Minister Vale said.

Media Contact: Rachael Thompson (02) 6277 7820 or 0417 265 289