Australian Road Injury Research Honored By NHMRC

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 25 Dec 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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Australian research into young drivers and road injury has tonight been recognised by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), as an Australian researcher received a major new gong for her significant contributions in the field.

Announced by Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, Dr Rebecca Ivers from The George Institute for International Health received the inaugural NHMRC Achievement Award for Population Health, acknowledging her significant contribution towards young drivers and road safety.

Over the past five years, Dr Rebecca Ivers has built a research program that aims to shape health and transport-related policy, particularly in the field of road traffic injury prevention. Dr Ivers is the Director of Injury Prevention at The George Institute, where she manages research across Australia and developing countries in the Asia Pacific region, ranging from hypothesis-generating observational research to intervention research which has direct relevance to policy.

"My research is aimed at reducing the burden of road deaths and injuries in Australia," says Dr Ivers, who received the NHMRC Achievement Award for Population Health (within 2-7 years post Doctorate). Dr Ivers was acknowledged for her innovation, leadership, and considerable scientific research into road injury prevention.

She is currently leading several major Australian road injury projects include a cohort study of 20,000 novice drivers, a large case-control study of heavy-vehicle drivers and studies examining the effectiveness and use of motorcycle protective clothing. Dr Ivers is also developing new research work in the area of Indigenous road injury.

NHMRC CEO Professor Warwick Anderson was delighted with the high calibre of candidates for the inaugural awards.

'Australia is internationally renowned for its contribution to medical science, and we have a long history of great achievement in the field. The NHMRC would like to recognise and thank those researchers for making outstanding inroads, and hopefully encourage the next generation to be the new great minds in Australian research'.

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Source: Emma Orpilla
Research Australia

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