Paul Ramsay Foundation helps
effort to eliminate hepatitis C
Paul Ramsay Foundation gives boost
to Australian teachers
14 The Ramsay Way 2018 | 04
Paul Ramsay
Foundation tackles
chronic disease
A world-first eHealth program has been launched,
in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation,
to help thousands of young Australian high school
children reduce their chance of developing chronic
diseases, including heart disease and mental
health disorders.
The program aims to improve young people’s unhealthy
lifestyle behaviours, which a recently published study shows
are well-established by the late teens, co-occur in clusters
and are associated with mental health symptoms.
The study of a sample of 853 18-year-olds, published in
Frontiers in Public Health, found:
• 80% had insufficient intake of vegetables
• 52% reported binge drinking at least monthly
• 42% showed inadequate consumption of fruit
• 33% reported sitting for longer than recommended periods
• 29% reported smoking
• 23% reported failing to meet physical activity guidelines
The online Health4Life Initiative is a collaborative effort, in
partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation. It will be led by
researchers from the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence
in Mental Health and Substance Use, in collaboration with
Northwestern University USA, the University of Newcastle,
Curtin University and the University of Queensland.
Dr Katrina Champion, Research Fellow at University of
Sydney, investigator on the Health4Life Initiative and lead
author of the study, said the high prevalence of the risk
behaviours among the 18-year olds surveyed show that such
behaviours are well established by emerging adulthood.
“Preventive interventions delivered in adolescence before
the escalation of many risk behaviours offer an opportunity
to equip young people with the capacity to make healthy
decisions, increase adherence to national health guidelines
and reduce the risk of later chronic disease and mental
health problems,” said Dr Champion.
Health4Life will be the first eHealth program to concurrently
target six key lifestyle risk factors among secondary school
students, before the onset of chronic disease:
1. physical inactivity
2. poor diet
3. risky alcohol use
4. smoking
5. recreational screen time
6. poor sleep
The researchers aim to recruit 8,000 students from
80 school across New South Wales, Western Australia
and Queensland to test the intervention, which includes
an online school-based program, a smartphone tracker
application (‘app’) and a booster app to help the students
most at-risk.
Australia’s first nationally-coordinated response to Hepatitis C has been launched in partnership with the
Paul Ramsay Foundation at Parliament House in Canberra.
Reaching the 170,000+ Australians who have yet to start
life-saving hepatitis C treatment is the driving force behind
Eliminate Hepatitis C Australia (EC Australia).
EC Australia is a multi-million dollar targeted, national response
to the serious decline in the uptake of highly effective drugs to
cure hepatitis C among Australians living with the deadly virus.
It was launched by Federal Health Minister, the Hon Greg Hunt
MP in August 2018.
Co-ordinated by Burnet Institute, the EC Australia
partnership aims to:
• Eliminate hepatitis C as
a public health threat in
Australia by 2030
• Inform government policy
• Increase hepatitis C
awareness, testing and
treatment for high risk and
vulnerable communities.
The Paul Ramsay Foundation
provided a $11.33 million dollar
grant to allow EC Australia to
bring together researchers,
scientists, government, health
services and community
organisations to deliver a
coordinated national response.
EC Australia Chief Investigator
and Burnet Deputy Director,
Professor Margaret Hellard
said it was critical for
Australians infected with
hepatitis C to be tested,
treated and cured to stop the transmission of new infections
and hepatitis C-related deaths.
“Many people don’t know their status, many are discouraged
from seeking treatment because of stigma, and it’s a tragedy
that they are missing out on life-saving therapies which are so
readily available,” Professor Hellard said.
“We now have the opportunity and the tools to eliminate
this disease as a public health threat. EC Australia can make
sure the tools are applied effectively to improve community
health and make Australia a world leader in the elimination
of hepatitis C.”
Simon Freeman (former Foundation CEO), Prof Margaret Hellard (Project leader), Greg Hunt (Federal
Health Minister) and Prof Brendan Crabb AC (Burnet Institute CEO)
Prof David Gonski AO (VC of UNSW), Prof Maree Teesson AC
(project leader), Simon Freeman (former Foundation CEO)
and A/Prof Nicola Newton (project manager)
The Paul Ramsay Foundation is supporting a visionary education program to improve the quality of school
teaching in Australian classrooms.
Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR) is a unique program that
supports teachers to make a profound and positive impact
on the lives of their students.
University of Newcastle Laureate Professor Jenny Gore and
colleagues, in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation
and the NSW Department of Education, will expand this
program to at least 30,000 additional Australian teachers
over the next five years.
“Great teaching is foundational to the well-being of
individuals, communities, the disciplines and the nation. I am
deeply honoured and truly delighted that the Paul Ramsay
Foundation has recognised the impact and greater potential
of Quality Teaching Rounds,” Professor Gore said.
Originally conceived by Professor Gore and colleague,
Dr Julie Bowe, QTR has revolutionised teacher professional
development.
Working in groups, teachers across all experience levels –
from new graduates to school principals – are empowered
to refine their practice collaboratively in a way that ensures
ongoing improvement.
“Teachers are really excited about this way of working and
the opportunity it creates for them to analyse and discuss in
detail what they are doing and collectively develop ways to
improve teaching practice."
At $16.4 million, the Paul Ramsay Foundation grant is
the largest philanthropic partnership for research in the
University of Newcastle’s history.
In addition to the program’s significant expansion, the
funding will support rigorous scientific evaluation of the
program and the development of a business model for
an outreach hub to support ongoing professional
development.
Prof Caroline McMillan (VC of UNew), Mark Scott
(NSW Dept Edu Director), Professor Jenny Gore
(QTR project leader), John Bush (General Manager, Education PRF),
Robert McLean (PRF Board member)