Great Australian Philanthropy Award Announced
17 November 2016 at 10:29 am
A Western Australian family charitable foundation, set up to address health and education issues, has won the Great Australian Philanthropy Award presented annually by Research Australia.
The Research Australia Health and Medical Research Award was presented to the McCusker Charitable Foundation, which has donated more than $50 million to a variety of charitable projects and not-for-profit organisations in WA in recent years.
The McCusker Charitable Foundation is lead by Malcolm McCusker AC a former governor of Western Australia (2011-2014).
Some of the organisations that have received support from the McCusker Charitable Foundation include the Centre for Citizenship at the University of Western Australia, the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research, Telethon Kids Institute, WA Neuroscience Research Institute, Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Murdoch University, the Australian Ballet, WA Academy of Performing Arts and the Youth Jazz Orchestra.
CEO of Research Australia Nadia Levin paid tribute to the efforts and energy of some of the sector’s biggest names and most promising up-and-comers.
“The best health and medical research requires innovation, drive, creativity and ingenuity, and the 2016 Research Australia Award winners exemplify all of those characteristics,” she said.
The most prestigious award, the Peter Wills Medal, went to Professor Ian Gust AO, in recognition of a lifetime of discoveries, including the Hepatitis A vaccination.
Brenda King from SIDS Stampede was awarded the Advocacy Award for her efforts to raise support and funding for the SIDS research laboratory underway at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
Volvo Car Australia was awarded the Leadership in Corporate Giving Award, for their fundraising and support of the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation.
The Griffith University Discovery Award was awarded to Dr Rebecca Coll from the University of Queensland for her work in the human inflammatory diseases. Highly commended awards were also presented to Dr Felicity Davis, and Dr Michael Livingston.
The Capital Markets CRC Health Market Quality Team was awarded the inaugural Data Innovation Award for their inventive data interpretation.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation and DreamLab (Vodafone and Garvan Institute of Medical Research) received highly commended acknowledgements.
Professor Michael Barton AOM from the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research was awarded the NSW Health Health Services Research Award for his efforts in making cancer treatments more accessible across Australia and the world.
Levin said the nominees for each award category were of an incredibly high calibre, which is a great sign of things to come.
Research Australia was established in December 2000. It was formed as a result of recommendations in the Australian Government’s Strategic Review into Health and Medical Research headed by Peter Wills AC.
The establishment of Research Australia was made possible through the support of its foundation partners, The Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation, The Ian Potter Foundation and The Perpetual Foundation and donors, including the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.
The group provided significant funding over three years enabling Research Australia to build its operational platform.
