Innovative medical research supported by the Otago Community Trust
21 Apr 2011
The Otago Community Trust is helping to build and retain invaluable scientific skills and knowledge in the Otago region with a $75,000 donation to the Otago Medical Research Foundation.
The research grants of up to $35,000 will contribute towards working expenses, wages and equipment over a 12 month period. They are available to local researchers at the forefront of tertiary education and international research.
Increasing numbers of projects funded through the Foundation grants have gone on to attract international support and interest.
Otago Medical Research Foundation Director of Development Steve Davie said “We are very grateful for the grant, it opens doors to world class research in Otago and possible global recognition. Importantly it helps to retain Dunedin’s place as a premium research centre for New Zealand”.
Previous research has been conducted in diverse areas such as preventing the recurrence of varicose veins, snoring and academic performance in pre-schoolers and anaemia in people with chronic kidney disease.
Otago Community Trust Chief Executive Keith Ellwood commented “We support research grants to any area of biomedical research, provided it relates well to issues understandable to the lay person”.
“The benefits are many, we help retain skilled technicians and researchers and give students invaluable experience in the field”, he said.
The Otago Medical Research Foundation was established in 1968 and has provided more than $5 million over the past 43 years to Otago based researchers for medical and health research.