An international research team led by The Kids Research Institute Australia Director and world-leading rheumatic heart disease researcher Professor Jonathan Carapetis and The Kids Head of Skin Health, Associate Professor Asha Bowen, has been awarded a $5 million Synergy Grant by the National Health and Medical Research Council to fill a critical gap in knowledge around acute rheumatic fever (ARF).
ARF, caused by Strep A infections, is the precursor to rheumatic heart disease (RHD) – a serious disease with low life expectancy which disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
NHMRC Synergy Grants – the latest round of which were announced by Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt today – are the most prestigious grants awarded by NHMRC and are designed to support outstanding multi-disciplinary teams of investigators to work together to answer questions that cannot be answered by a single investigator.
The five-year project – dubbed STopping Acute Rheumatic Fever Infections to Strengthen Health, or STARFISH – will bring together a diverse team of researchers from Australia and the United States with skills ranging from research with Aboriginal communities, infectious diseases, molecular biology, environmental health, housing, clinical trials, spatial demography, and data linkage.
Professor Carapetis said RHD was the leading cause of cardiovascular inequality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, but while Australia now had the Endgame Strategy – a comprehensive blueprint to eliminate RHD – there remained a critical evidence gap around preventing ARF.
The aim of STARFISH is to have this extensive and diverse team of researchers investigate the most effective environmental health initiatives to reduce Strep A infections and prevent ARF
Associate Professor Bowen said STARFISH would work closely with participating Indigenous communities over the next five years to provide a ground-breaking understanding of Strep A transmission and environmental health interventions in terms of their ability to interrupt the Strep A chain of transmission and reduce the risk of ARF.
“By the end of the project, we expect to emerge with a series of community co-designed, proven interventions and a set of findings that will be translated into Australian and global RHD guidelines,” Associate Professor Bowen said.
Director of Aboriginal Health at The Kids, Glenn Pearson, is a lead investigator and will oversee the engagement and participation of Indigenous communities.
“STARFISH will build upon already established relationships with our National END RHD Partners to ensure strong Indigenous governance, cultural security, data sovereignty and community engagement at all stages and all levels of the project,” Mr Pearson said.
The project will be led by The Kids Research Institute Australia in collaboration with multiple Australian and international organisations, including The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, Menzies School of Health Research, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, and Harvard University.
Other The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers involved in the project include RHD researcher Dr Rosemary Wyber, Strep A researcher Dr Tim Barnett, health economist Dr Jeffrey Cannon, and Kerry M Stokes AC Chair in Child Health and Professor in Epidemiology at The Kids Research Institute Australia and Curtin University, Professor Pete Gething.
The group will also include associate investigators from a range of additional institutions, including Curtin University, the University of Adelaide, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, La Trobe University, University of New South Wales, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
The STARFISH Synergy Grant will be administered via The University of Western Australia. Professor Carapetis and Associate Professor Bowen also hold appointments with Child and Adolescent Health Services. See the full list of national winners for this round in Minister Hunt’s media release.
Collaborators include:
- The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Menzies School of Health Research (Global and Tropical Health Division)
- Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Department of Microbiology and Immunology)
- The University of Queensland (Aboriginal Environments Research Centre (AERC) & School of Public Health)
- Harvard University (TH Chan School of Public Health)
- University of New South Wales (Centre for Big Data Research)
- Curtin University (Medical School)
- La Trobe University (Department of Mathematics and Statistics)
- South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute Limited
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Paediatric Cardiology)