On Mon 8 October 2007, NSW Premier Morris Iemma officially launched a unique, Australian-first partnership in schizophrenia research between the Schizophrenia Research Institute (SRI), Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute (POWMRI), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Macquarie Bank Foundation and NSW Health.

At the launch, Mr Iemma opened the purpose-built Schizophrenia Research Laboratory of Professor Cyndi Shannon Weickert at POWMRI and announced her appointment as the inaugural Macquarie Bank Foundation Chair of Schizophrenia Research. The Macquarie Bank Foundation has contributed $1.375 million to the partnership. Professor Shannon Weickert is a world renowned researcher whose work focuses on molecular biology of growth factors related to schizophrenia and brain development.

POWMRI Executive Director & CEO, Professor Peter Schofield said, “The Institute is delighted to host the Schizophrenia Research Laboratory, which will be an important tool in the battle against a debilitating mental illness that costs the Australian community $2.6 billion annually.”

$2.45 million has also been provided by the New South Wales Government to SRI and UNSW to establish Australia’s first Evidence Library dedicated to schizophrenia research and a new Chair in Schizophrenia Epidemiology and Population Health Research.

Professor Vaughan Carr, CEO of SRI said, “This joint initiative is very exciting; the establishment of an Evidence Library supported by a Professor in Schizophrenia Epidemiology and Population Health will allow new information and advances to be disseminated to clinicians with the view to improving the care of patients.”

“This Chair in Schizophrenia Epidemiology and Population Health Research will complement the Macquarie Bank Foundation Chair of Schizophrenia Research through strong collaborative links and, through this, both Chairs will make significant and unique contributions to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia," said Dean of UNSW’s Faculty of Medicine, Professor Peter Smith. The new professorial Chair will be a first for Australia and will conduct population based research into schizophrenia using new and existing databases.

Head of the Macquarie Bank Foundation, Ms Julie White, says the Foundation is extremely proud to be a major partner of SRI and involved with such an important initiative. “Finding answers to this disease will not happen without significant resources being applied to bench top science,” she said.

Professor Vaughan Carr says the $11 million collaboration between so many organisations is an exciting development.

“This unique partnership between government, the corporate sector and the research community positions NSW at the forefront of the Australian schizophrenia research effort, and will facilitate the translation of research into early detection, better treatment and prevention.”

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Media contacts:
Susi Hamilton, UNSW Media, 02 9385 1583; 0422 934 024
Anne Graham, POWMRI, 02 9399 1077; 0411 783 027