On Thursday August 1, the PA Research Foundation celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Over the last four decades, the connections forged with its supporters, corporate partners and the wider PA Hospital community, has created lasting impact on both the foundation and the thousands of patients it has helped.
For more than a quarter of the charity’s existence, Damian Topp has been its Chief Executive Officer.
“When I started, we were bringing in between $100,000 and $300,000 for research purposes,” he said.
“Currently, 300 million dollars has been contributed towards research, patient support, medical equipment and staff education.”
Mr Topp also reflected upon changes to the hospital’s key research infrastructure that has taken place over his 12-year tenure.
“The hospital also went from having a sole research wing to the amazing Translational Research Institute (TRI). This has really personified the hospital’s transformation into a leading academic and research precinct.”
Beyond these core institutional changes, he identified key impact milestones that have left an indelible mark on both the Foundation and lives of patients and their families.
“The introduction of tied funding has allowed for direct support to respective departments and their research programmes. Essentially, we are placed in a better position to help fund the start and continuation of these projects” he said.
“For instance, the allocation of these funds has allowed a research manager to expand his anaesthesia trials both nationally and internationally.”
Another project that stands out in Mr Topp’s mind is the undertaking of preclinical work and a proof of mechanism trial dubbed 'CESTEM' by Associate Professor (A/Prof) Fiona Simpson in 2019. The Foundation proudly supported A/Prof Simpson and her team’s revolutionary research, primarily through the Project Pink fundraising campaign for several years, with the campaign’s main aim to fund research into more effective treatments for breast cancer.
Looking to the future, Mr Topp expects current pressures on the healthcare workforce placed the organisation in a great position to fund early career research that will galvanise clinicians and researchers.
“I would like us to invest more in this space in the hope that these renewed efforts by the Foundation will attract individuals to work within the hospital campus,” he said.
“Good clinicians are those involved in research.”
As the Foundation’s fundraising capacity grows, in the next five to 10 years, Mr Topp hopes to explore the establishment of centres of excellence in cancer diagnosis, cardiac disease and more that would work in tandem with current hospital operations.
Mr Topp said nothing the charity does is achieved without the generous people who choose the Foundation as their place to give.
“On behalf of the Foundation, we are so grateful for all the support from our donors, and corporate partners that got us this far. We look forward to working so closely with you and continue the relationship as we move through the next decade and on to the next 40 years.”
An incredible campus of healing and research - Aove Left: PA Hospital under contruction in 1956. Above Middle: the PA Hospital as it stands today with further expansion underway. Above Right: The Translational Research Institute under construction in 2012.
