90 years of NHMRC

00:12: Speaker 1
In 1936, Australia created something remarkable. A national Council dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of every person through science, advice and shared expertise.

00:25: Speaker 1
From its earliest days, the National Health and Medical Research Council united governments, researchers, clinicians and communities. A uniquely Australian partnership that shaped national health policy by boldly investing in Australian research projects that were ahead of their time NHMRC laid a solid foundation for the future and the 90 years to come.

00:49 Speaker 1
Across the postwar decades, NHMRC guided the nation through infectious disease outbreaks, maternal and child health challenges, nutrition standards and early public health campaigns. These were the foundations of a simple idea that still guides us today. That evidence and discovery can build a healthier Australia.

01:14 Minister for Health and Ageing of Australia Mark Butler
Well, congratulations on your 90th anniversary, the NHMRC. Way back in 1936, one of Australian political history's most notorious and significant characters, Billy Hughes, who was then the Minister for health, decided to launch a health and medical research body with two bold, even audacious objectives. Firstly, to punch above our weight in health and medical research. And secondly, to drive research that would deliver better translation outcomes for Australian patients.

01:46 Minister for Health and Ageing of Australia Mark Butler
And since that time, you have delivered 90 years of excellence, integrity and collaboration in health and medical research. This is an extraordinary milestone. I'm so pleased I've had a long association with the NHMRC, having first been the minister responsible way back in 2009. And since that time, I've had the privilege of being involved in so many significant NHMRC initiatives, things that include the McKeon Review of Health and Medical Research. The release of the NHMRC Gender Equity Strategy, and most recently, the recently completed National Strategy of Health and Medical Research, led by my friend and colleague Rosemary Huxtable. That's just naming a few. The NHMRC has delivered a lasting impact for its leadership in high quality research, its rigorous public health guidance, and that strong ethical standards has strengthened our health system and improved outcomes for Australians.

02:45 Minister for Health and Ageing of Australia Mark Butler
Our brightest minds the researchers, supported by the NHMRC, share a vision of building a healthier Australia. Their work gives us confidence that the next breakthrough treatment, medication or cure is just around the corner.

03:00 Speaker 1
As Australia changed, NHMRC changed with it, and early discoveries led to real impact.

03:07 Speaker 1
From the 1970s onward NHMRC emerged as a national leader in public health guidance, research ethics and evidence informed policy funding breakthroughs that transformed how we prevent illness and treat disease. These decades saw extraordinary progress in cancer research, heart disease, immunology, Indigenous health, mental health and environmental health.

03:33 Speaker 1
Many of Australia's most significant research milestones were supported, reviewed or guided by NHMRC. By the turn of the century, NHMRC had become an internationally recognised leader in research, funding, integrity and health advice. Connecting scientific excellence with real world impact.

3:56 Speaker 1
Today, NHMRC supports thousands of researchers across Australia, from the lab to remote communities from early discovery to implementation, we are building a future shaped by evidence, precision medicine, genomics, digital innovation, environmental health research and culturally led approaches to improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

04:23 Professor Yvotte Roe
NHMRC funding allows us to work with our communities partners to really design services to address very complex problems that they want answers to in a way that suits your needs. Getting that research funding has been a means to answer very complex questions.

04:45 Ainslie Cahill AM
I really like the fact that we are working together with a common goal. We are from different disciplines. We are clinicians, researchers, policymakers, health consumers coming together, agreeing with what we want to achieve and striving to achieve it.

05:05 Speaker 1
And we continue a proud tradition working together across governments, disciplines and communities to support research that improves lives.

05:20 Professor Steve Wesselingh
So it's a 90 years NHMRC has played a critical role in building a healthy Australia. We've supported discoveries. We've supported public health. We've been supported integrity, and we've supported ethics.

05:32 Professor Steve Wesselingh
And really over those 90 years, our scientists have made amazing contributions to both the health of Australians but the health of the whole world, really amazing discoveries that have then led to vaccines that are eradicating cervical cancer, vaccines that are saving lives, drugs that are treating cancer, all sorts of amazing developments and guidelines that really have enabled Australians to live a healthier life. But looking forward, it's even more complex and even more difficult. And we need our scientists and NHMRC to be working together even more in the future. We've got climate change, we've got geopolitical challenges, we've got the community questioning, science. And there is an issue of trust in science. And we have a whole lot of health challenges, chronic diseases, people living with 4 or 5 chronic diseases at the same time.

06:35 Professor Steve Wesselingh
We have the potential for another pandemic.

06:38 Professor Steve Wesselingh
We have equity issues across Australia in terms of, people's ability to live in a healthy life. And we have equity issues across the world. So there is so much there, for NHMRC to lead and to fund and to provide advice in terms of guidelines, integrity and ethics.

07:02 Professor Steve Wesselingh
But I am confident looking at the future, because I'm confident about the quality and the excellence of our scientific community. We have this amazing health and medical research community that continues to produce incredible outcomes then understand the complexity and the equity and the importance of inclusion and the importance of consumers and community.

07:27 Professor Steve Wesselingh
And so I am really confident that going forward NHMRC will continue to lead, continue to fund, continue to develop guidelines and ethics. We will do that because of the quality of the scientific community and will do that because the Australian public demands us to do that.

07:51 Speaker 1
For 90 years, NHMRC has helped shape a healthier Australia through science, collaboration and the dedication of thousands of experts to everyone who has contributed to this remarkable journey.

08:04 Speaker 1
We want to say thank you. 

End of transcript