Major gift to child health research
Generous $5 million gift to fast-track child health research and oversee an Australian-first study of 10,000 couples and their children.
Paul Robertson and Glenn Stevens from the Financial Markets Foundation for Children announce a $5 million gift to the University of Sydney for a new chair of translational childhood medicine. Pictured with Chancellor Belinda Hutchinson AM, Professor Bruce Robinson, Dean of Sydney Medical School, and Professor Stephen Simpson, Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre.聽
Landmark research on child health will be fast-tracked into real-world solutions thanks to a $5 million gift to the University of Sydney鈥檚 from the .
The Financial Markets Foundation for Children Chair of Translational Childhood Medicine will accelerate the pace at which discoveries become solutions, and will work across the University and its affiliated hospitals to transform research into new treatments and therapies, innovative devices, better practices and new lifestyle choices.
鈥淲e are delighted that the financial markets community has given its support to this pioneering research.聽The outstanding leadership and generosity demonstrated by the Financial Markets Foundation for Children will have a transformative effect on research into the factors impacting children鈥檚 health鈥� said , Chancellor of the University of Sydney.
The Chair will also oversee an Australian-first study of 10,000 couples and their children, which will show in unprecedented detail how biology interacts with environment and lifestyle to affect a child鈥檚 health. The study will chart the profound influence on a child鈥檚 health of the health of their parents, their environment in-utero, and their environment in the first years of life.
鈥淲e know that health in early life and pre-conception has an enormous influence on health in later life, to the extent that a woman鈥檚 health before pregnancy could affect not only her future child, but also the health of her future grandchild,鈥� said , Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney.
鈥淭o harness this crucial period in the development of health outcomes could have a profound impact on our rising levels of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and related conditions.鈥�
One in four Australian children aged five to 17 is overweight or obese, and in young children there has been a sharp rise in the incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease risk factors, and numerous other disorders.
The new position, which will also work with the Children鈥檚 Hospital Westmead, responds to an increasing body of evidence pointing to the correlation between declining child health and the rising prevalence of obesity, the increased consumption of nutritionally poor foods, and the decline in physical activity of parents.
鈥淭he Financial Markets Foundation for Children Chair of Translational Childhood Medicine is an investment in the future of millions of Australians,鈥� said , Dean of .
鈥淭his generous gift from the Financial Markets Foundation for Children will allow us to turn our world-leading research into tangible outcomes that benefit as many children as possible, as quickly as possible.鈥�