National Health and Medical Research Council Backs Research Impact for South Australia

Health Translation SA (HTSA) has been successful in its bid to be formally re-accredited as a Research Translation Centre by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for an additional 5 years.

Along with 9 other centres across Australia, HTSA’s reaccreditation was formally announced on April 5th
by NHMRC CEO Professor Ann Kelso.

NHMRC Research Translation Centres are collaborations between health care organisations,
research and education/training organisations and are a key mechanism driving the translation of
health and medical research into clinical practice, policy and health systems.

In order to be reaccredited, existing centres had to demonstrate continued leadership and
collaboration, research excellence, translation of research into health care, and capability and capacity building in research and research translation.

Chair of HTSA’s board, Dr Leanna Read, says that the announcement is a testament to the important role
that HTSA plays for South Australia.

“Now more than ever, we need organisations such as HTSA to support our clinical and academic
researchers to think nationally, and globally, and guide them as they navigate the complex journey
towards successful, and enormously important, health research collaborations and impact” says Dr Read.

Previously called the SA Academic Health Science and Translation Centre, the South Australian
organisation was one of the first four inaugural Advanced Health Research Translation Centres to be
formally accredited by the NHMRC in 2015.

Since then, HTSA has grown to incorporate 11 partner organisations representing academic, research and health care agencies within South Australia.

It is one of 3 Advanced Research Translation Centres nationally that operate with a state-wide focus.
Executive Director Wendy Keech says that HTSA’s re-accreditation reaffirms the NHMRC’s commitment
to reducing research duplication and driving research impact.

“HTSA is about what we can do together that we can’t do apart” says Keech, “by acting as an
independent catalyst and broker, we can accelerate the translation of research into impact to improve
health outcomes.”

HTSA demonstrated its strengths as an advanced research translation centre through its Flagship
Programs, including the SAHMRI based Omega 3 test and treat program.

Program lead and SA Scientist of the year, Professor Maria Makrides, says the input from HTSA has been vital to the project’s ongoing success.

“Those connections, those collaborations - they’ve been so important in helping us embed our project
into clinical and public health practice” says Prof Makrides, “we’re very fortunate to have had the support
of the HTSA team.”

All 11 accredited Research Translation Centres, as well as a number of Emerging Centres, collaborate
nationally as the Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA). Information about AHRA, including its work
on translating research for improved patient outcomes and health systems, is available on AHRA's website.

Further information on the NHMRC Research Translation Centre Initiative is available on Recognised
Research Translation Centres.