NHMRC invests $7.8 million in groundbreaking mental health and suicide prevention research
Posted 18th January 2024 in Research news
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has invested $7.8 million in three pivotal mental health and suicide prevention research projects.
Professor Mathew Spittal from the University of Melbourne will receive close to $2.9 million to establish a real-time suicide and self-harm cluster monitoring system, creating tools to support prompt responses to rising trends or emerging clusters.
“These tools will equip coroners, health departments and primary health networks with the information they need to initiate a timely response to prevent further harm.”
Another project led by Professor Tracey Wade from Flinders University will receive nearly $3 million to develop an online program targeting disordered eating among Australian youth.
“Improving early intervention means that young people will experience better health outcomes, sooner. This is critical in a post-pandemic world where there’s been a three-fold increase in demand for eating disorder treatment."
Another project led by Professor Patrick McGorry from the University of Melbourne will receive $2 million to develop new treatments for young people in the early stages of psychotic illness.
Professor McGorry emphasises, “We urgently need a breakthrough to make ‘precision psychiatry’ – that is, personalising treatment to the individual patient – a reality and move past rhetoric, serendipity, and the time honoured ‘trial and error’ approach.”
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