Applications open for 2011 Victorian Premier's Award for Health and Medical Research

The Premier’s Award for Health and Medical Research is worth $70,000 in prize money ─ with $16,000 presented to the winner and $8,000 provided to each of the three commendees. The award is an initiative of the Victorian Government and the Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR).

The Jack and Robert Smorgon Families also award a $30,000 prize to the research institute associated with the work of the Premier's Award winner.

"Our Foundation is delighted to support the important contribution made by Victorian institutes to health and medical research, which benefit not only our community but also the world," said Andrew Blode, CEO Jack & Robert Smorgon Families Foundation.

The Premier’s Award for Health and Medical Research celebrates the important contribution early career researchers make to Victoria.

Past winners of the award have worked in a range of health and medical research fields including cancer, diabetes, cochlear implants and tuberculosis.

Dr Julia Archbold, the 2010 winner, has been furthering her research into the role of immune system proteins in organ transplantation both here in Victoria and overseas.

Her award winning research played a major part in helping to explain why patients, who receive donor-recipient matched organs, reject these tissues.

Monash University's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, where Julia Archbold worked, was awarded the Jack & Robert Smorgon Families Award.

Nominations are open until 5pm, Wednesday 16 March.

The winner and commendees will be announced during Medical Research Week in early June 2011.

For further information and to apply online go to the Premier's Award for Health and Medical Research website or call the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) on (03) 9864 0911.