Australian government funds dementia research fellows

The Australian government has committed A$40 million ($29 million) to 76 early career researchers working to find a cure and therapies for dementia.

This comes as part of the Australian government’s A$200 million commitment to boosting dementia research in the country. It follows the announcement in August of the establishment of the Dementia Institute and A$35.6 million for research team grants as its first initiative.

John McCallum, the director of the NHMRC National Institute for Dementia Research, said: “Dementia is the most feared and biggest health issue facing the developed world. If we want to boost research to deal with this, we must invest in new researchers to build the future research workforce. We already know that more than 340,000 Australians are living with dementia, and without a medical breakthrough the number of people with dementia is expected to be almost 900,000 by 2050. This is why boosting dementia research is so critical. Through the collaboration of Australia’s world leading researchers with new Fellows, we can make a difference to finding a cure for this debilitating disease, which has now become Australia’s second leading cause of death.”