Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Medical research policy in the land of Oz

Abstract

Annual expenditure on medical research in Australia exceeds 70 million dollars. The scientific community has lobbied the government strongly for an increase in this sum. There has been much less discussion about how the available funds should be distributed. The National Health & Medical Research Council, which provides about one-third of the total support for medical research in Australia has, since 1973, attempted to foster research in various areas of need, while maintaining its traditional support of individual projects. These initiative are seen as important moves towards a national research policy. The complexities of Australian medical research suggest that increased funding of strong research groups as "centres of excellence" is an important objective, but this must be accompanied by steady encouragement of the whole fabric of research in medical schools and teaching hospitals which are the nurseries of the researchers of the future.