Launch of Monash Health Translation Precinct

Monash Chancellor, alumnus Dr Alan Finkel AM writes on the Federal Government's $71 million commitment for a new building and facilities at the Monash Health Translation Precinct (MHTP).

Nearly 400 years ago the English physician William Harvey discovered the real reason why we have a heart.  Prior to Harvey, physicians thought that the role of the heart was to cool the blood; others thought that the heart was the seat of our intelligence and our emotions.

In a series of paradigm breaking experiments, pioneering the use of rigorous scientific procedures, Harvey traced the veins and arteries to discover that the job of the heart was actually to pump blood, and that the blood was circulated back to the heart after its excursion to the lungs or the rest of the body.

Harvey and his successors were clinicians, intent on the creation of new knowledge in order to better care for their patients.

Over time, as the research challenges became more complex, much of the work fell into the hands of non‑clinical researchers.

The accelerating pace of discovery in clinical and non-clinical research has had the unintended consequence of increasing the knowledge gap between ‘front line’ clinicians and “benchtop” researchers.  This gap has reduced the ability of researchers and clinicians to collaborate to bring advances from the benchtop to the bedside.

The Monash Health Translation Precinct has been designed to explicitly create an environment in which the trend towards separation of laboratory and clinical research is reversed.  It was conceived by experts who understand that the key to translation is proximity, combined with active programs to facilitate information exchange.

There is a parallel between this emerging approach in the clinical world and the approach to product development in the engineering world that I inhabit.

In the engineering world, it is now well recognized that the old approach of putting account managers and other barriers between the development engineers and the customers results in slow development and products that nobody wants.  It is actually better to do the opposite, to encourage a tight interaction between customers and engineers, with a rapid cycle of development and testing.

Similarly, at the Monash Health Translation Precinct we will remove the barriers.  Clinical observations will directly drive research questions, and the emerging research solutions will fuel the imagination of the clinicians.  Through this rapid exchange of ideas, the precinct will ensure that medical research meets the expectations of us all, to improve human health as rapidly as possible.

A perfect example of this kind of tight feedback loop between discovery and practice was featured on the front page of The Age today.  The headline article described the work of Monash University’s Professor Euan Wallace and Dr Suzie Miller, who have discovered a way to prevent unborn babies from developing cerebral palsy.  They intend to start clinical trials in a few months.

The importance of this precinct to Monash University cannot be overstated.  As a result of the strategic re-alignments enabled by this project, the Monash Health Translation Precinct will become the University’s primary location for medical research translation.

The substantial funds awarded by the Commonwealth Government’s Health and Hospital’s Fund and announced by Anna Burke today, is the culmination of a seven-year campaign.

Conceiving, funding and commencing the Monash Health Translation Precinct has been and will continue to be a grand exercise.  In particular, from the perspective of Monash University I wish to acknowledge the vision and effort of Professors John Funder and Paul Herzog in imagining and crafting the University’s proposal.

But of course, there were a huge number of brilliant contributors.  On behalf of Monash University I heartily congratulate every single employee and consultant of the Monash Institute of Medical Research, Southern Health, the Prince Henry’s Institute and Monash University itself for your vision and your unflagging persistence.

And I am particularly pleased to extend my thanks to Anna Burke and the Australian government for their foresight and contribution.

This is the start of a great and meaningful adventure.