Image: Burnet Institute Director and CEO and Chair of VicAAMRI Professor Brendan Crabb AC

The Victorian Chapter of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (VicAAMRI) of which Burnet Institute is a member, is urging the Victorian Government to make medical research investment a centrepiece of the state’s upcoming budget.

Victoria’s successful suppression of the second wave of COVID-19 was made possible by strategies developed with expert advice and tools from Victoria’s leading medical research institutes who are well are positioned to lead the state’s economic recovery.

“Australia is one of a handful of countries to have suppressed this virus to potentially manageable levels. This would not have been possible without scientists working side-by-side with government to develop effective responses,” Professor Brendan Crabb AC, Chair of VicAAMRI and Director and CEO of Burnet Institute said.

Across Victoria’s medical research institutes, scientists have led development and validation of new COVID-19 tests and treatments, contributed to vaccine research, optimised public health strategies, and developed modelling.

“It is hard to imagine how we could have responded effectively to this pandemic, and continue to evolve our response, without the rapid, almost real-time, translation of medical research into our healthcare and public health systems,” Professor Crabb said.

With the Federal Government set to nearly double its investment in medical research through the AUD$20 billion Medical Research Future Fund, Professor Crabb believes it’s important to act now to secure this new investment.

“We are calling on the Victorian Government to use the Budget to make new investments in medical research institutes through the Operational Infrastructure Support (OIS) Program and by building commercialisation capacity,” Professor Crabb said.

Click here to read the VicAAMRI statement in full.