2024/25 WA Child Research Fund recipients

A total of $3.9 million has been awarded to seven Western Australian researchers to support research that leads to better health outcomes for children and adolescents in WA.

The WA Department of Health in conjunction with the Channel 7 Telethon Trust (the Trust) established the WA Child Research Fund (WACRF) to provide funding for research activities that focus on child and adolescent health in WA.

The request for applications in April 2025 generated a large amount of interest resulting in 57 submissions to the program.

Following a competitive review process, more than $3.9 million was awarded across seven projects. The activity leads and associated activity titles are listed below, along with the responsible entity:

Recipient Responsible entity Activity title Funding awarded
Prof Chandrakumar Balaratnasingam  Lions Eye Institute Ltd Detecting systemic complications in childhood diabetes using novel, non-invasive retinal imaging  $600,000 
A/Prof Laurence Cheung  Curtin University CHILD BMM: Combating High-risk childhood Leukaemia by Dissecting the Bone Marrow Microenvironment  $591,277  
Dr David Hancock  The Kids Research Institute Australia on behalf of University of Western Australia Interferon-Based Diagnostics for Early Identification of Asthma Risk $599,872
Dr Katherine Landwehr The Kids Research Institute Australia on behalf of University of Western Australia Assessing safety of OM85 treatment in a mouse model of mismatched bone marrow transplant $599,988
Prof Jane Pillow The Kids Research Institute Australia on behalf of University of Western Australia Early Life Interventions and Long-Term Outcomes: A WA Feasibility Study of Preterm Children Exposed to Cycled Environmental Care after Birth $599,958
Dr Bernadette Ricciardo The Kids Research Institute Australia on behalf of University of Western Australia Moorditj Marp (strong skin) - SHARE: developing an inpatient Aboriginal Health Practitioner-led Skin Health Assessment & Research Evaluation initiative for Aboriginal children at the Perth Children’s Hospital $569,548
A/Prof David Sommerfield The Kids Research Institute Australia on behalf of University of Western Australia CLOWNFISH: Clonidine compared with oxycodone following tonsillotomy - a novel opioid free postoperative treatment option              $348,114
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Office of Medical Research and Innovation