Our Story

  1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. Our Story

Congratulations!

You’ve just discovered one of Perth’s best kept secrets

For more than 35 years, the RPH Research Foundation has been quietly funding some of the greatest minds in Western Australia to develop medical breakthroughs and trailblazing treatments.

We are proud to have helped fund myriad innovative research projects that have improved the quality of healthcare available to all West Australians – and made the rest of the world marvel at the miracles that can happen when you’re daring enough to ask: “What if …?” and discover the possibilities.

Medical advances simply would not be possible without medical research. It’s the noble profession that underpins our health system, from diagnosis and treatment to responding to trauma and preventative medicine. In recognition of this, the RPH Research Foundation (formerly the Royal Perth Hospital Medical Research Foundation) was established in 1983, with the aim of becoming a beacon of hope where extraordinary thinking delivers exceptional outcomes.

We are an independent, not-for-profit organisation that has historically maintained a close association with Royal Perth Hospital to ensure all funds are utilised effectively.

After decades of being a diligent, unsung hero, we’d like to invite you to join us on our journey to turn today’s research into tomorrow’s treatments.

Your support combined with the passion of the people whose work we help fund will ensure a much brighter future for all.

What Makes Us unique

  1. A hospital-centric medical research foundation with its own dedicated research facility
  2. 5000m2 of research offices and laboratories that contain cutting-edge equipment to enable expertise
  3. 3 Biostatisticians
  4. Strong symbiotic relationship with Royal Perth Hospital
  5. String collaboration with most West Australian universities, including The University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University
  6. The Foundation houses the WA DNA Bank on its premises

Our Past, present and future

The Future

An institute of impact and translational research embedded in Royal Perth Hospital with a focus on meeting community need and delivering real health outcomes for Western Australia.

 

  • Supporting research aligned to WA need and priorities while ensuring economies of scale and delivering improved outcomes
  • Focussing on our strengths and leveraging co-funding opportunities that resonate broadly
  • Engage with our remote and regional communities and seek to improve their overall health and well-being
  • Venture Capital funding - enabling WA researchers to bridge the valley of death.

Recent investment in Isopogen, Dr Marian Sturm’s Stemsmart Company.

StemSmart™
A proprietary and life-changing cellular medicine World’s only Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) therapy, clinically-proven to treat life-threatening (refractory) Crohn’s Disease

  1. 80% response / 53% remission
  2. TGA licensed (limited to clinical trials)
  3. Supporting patent portfolio

 

  • Strong Community engagement in project design
  • Wet Lab accelerator program
  • Collaborative funding models that make our facility a place for up-and-coming researchers to ‘springboard’ to greatness
The Present
  • The Foundation’s almost $65 million endowment funds world-leading research in the East Metropolitan Health Service region
  • Leader of the Inaugural Pilbara Sleep Health Summit, which was held in Karratha with Woodside Energy Ltd as the Platinum Sponsor
  • Annual Research Symposium
  • Public Health Lecture Series at City of Perth Library. Topics have included:
  1. Pain is a disease in its own right
  2. It’s an Emergency: How medical research helps doctors make life & death decisions
  3. Heartbeats to Heartbreak: Understanding the dangers of high blood pressure
  4. Food as Medicine

 

  • Providing up to $1.7 million per year in direct research funding including:
  1. Springboard Grants Program – funding and enabling Early Career Researchers
  2. Innovation and Impact Grant Program
  3. Co-funding
  4. Chair in Clinical Research for Professor Marcus Schlaich who heads up the Dobney Hypertension Centre
  5. The Naked Scientists Communication Internship at Cambridge University

 

  • Research impact - educating researchers on how to design their projects with impact in mind
The Past
  • Established in 1983 to fund and enable the work of health and medical research at Royal Perth Hospital
  • Proudly associated with the ground-breaking research programs of:
  1. Professors Barry Marshall and Robin Warren – Nobel Laureates
  2. Professor Fiona Wood, Burns Specialist
  3. Professor Martyn French, HIV research

 

  • Birthplace of the Western Australian Institute of Medical Research (WAIMR) now known as The Harry Perkins Institute
  • Construction of our research facility at 50 Murray Street, Perth in 1993
  • Broad ranging research funding, including clinical fellowships, small grants programs, infrastructure funding rounds, NHMRC top-up funding etc.

  • Royal Perth Hospital Medical Research Foundation Incorporated

  • PO Box 2323, East Perth WA 6892

Go to Top of the page