Investigating clinical solutions to improve ADHD treatments

This research makes up 2 of 216 diverse projects receiving funding under the NHMRC’s largest scheme — Investigator Grants.

ADHD is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder, characterised by difficulties with concentration, attention, and impulse control.

ADHD is estimated to affect around 1 in 20 Australians – however fitting the criteria for ADHD does not always lead to a diagnosis, despite displaying symptoms associated with the disorder.

Early diagnosis, clinical services and treatment for ADHD has the potential to lead to better health outcomes for the individual, as opposed to being left untreated.

Professor David Coghill from the University of Melbourne will receive nearly $2.9 million in funding to develop and evaluate novel, scalable clinical solutions that improve ADHD outcomes.

Professor Coghill’s 5-year research program will address the most pressing dilemmas facing ADHD clinical services, including the need for more efficient identification of ADHD, more equitable access to care and improved quality of care, as well as improved outcomes for people with ADHD.

Decision making is critical to human cognition and frequently impaired in clinical disorders, such as ADHD. People with ADHD often struggle to assess the risk-to-reward ratio of a decision, which can blow insignificant decisions out of proportion and lead to ‘decision fatigue.’

Professor Mark Bellgrove from Monash University will receive nearly $2.3 million in funding to develop treatment for clinical disorders of decision making.

This project will identify the fundamental brain processes governing decision making by conducting studies across healthy humans, non-human primates, and patients with ADHD.

This funding is part of $379 million awarded through the NHMRC Investigator Grant scheme.

The Investigator Grant scheme is NHMRC’s largest funding scheme and a major investment in Australia’s health and medical research workforce, providing a 5-year fellowship and research support for outstanding researchers at all career stages.  

Quotes attributable to NHMRC CEO, Professor Steve Wesselingh:

• 'Australia has a track record in undertaking innovative health and medical research, that has the ability to significantly improve the lives of many within the community and this is just one example of that research.'
• 'These Investigator Grants will support the health and medical research sector in identifying the treatments needed to help and better understand Australians living with ADHD.'
• 'Congratulations to both Professor Coghill and Professor Bellgrove on these outstanding achievements– I am excited to see how this research progresses and translates into practice.'

Quotes attributable to Professor David Coghill:

• 'Despite increased recognition in recent years only a minority of Australians with ADHD receive a diagnosis, and for those who do the outcomes reported from routine clinical practice fall well short of those we see in clinical trials.'
• 'Building on work I started in the UK and China and have continued to develop here in Australia, we will identify, implement and evaluate the optimal screening approaches for ADHD across a range of high prevalence child, youth and forensic settings.'
• 'We will also deliver transformative approaches to clinical care that place lived experience at the heart of the process and empower people with ADHD and their families in the development and implementation of evidence-based care.'

Quotes attributable to Professor Mark Bellgrove:

• 'People living with ADHD and other disorders frequently experience difficulties with decision making, which is fundamental to human cognition.'
• 'This grant will enable us to identify critical brain networks that enable efficient decisions and the chemicals that modulate these networks. This work also includes using electroencephalograms to identify varying responses to medication.'
• 'Ultimately we are aiming to improve treatment.'