Monash Partners is delighted to announce a new partnership with FightMND to help establish priorities and guide future investment in Motor Neurone Disease (MND) care.
MND is the name given to a group of diseases in which the nerve cells (neurones) controlling the muscles that enable us to move around, speak, swallow and breathe fail to work normally and eventually die. With no nerves to activate them the muscles gradually weaken and waste in an average timeframe of just 27 months. More than 2,000 people are currently fighting MND in Australia, with two people diagnosed and dying with the disease every day. At present there is no known cure.
Monash Partners and FightMND will work together to enhance the understanding of the MND care research landscape, to highlight emerging areas, and current gaps, opportunities for funding for research and care for people living with MND.
Monash Partners Executive Director, Professor Helena Teede said this partnership aligned with Monash Partners’ purpose to connect researchers, clinicians and the community to innovate for better health.
“For many patients the onset of MND may be difficult to pinpoint and many of the earliest signs and symptoms are commonly overlooked or attributed to other causes. There is currently no truly effective treatment and no known cure for MND. We appreciate the opportunity to help facilitate the translation of the growing body of new knowledge about this aggressive and relentlessly progressive disease into treatment and care options for MND patients,” said Professor Teede.
“Our role within FightMND will be to complete a review of the current research that has been done in relation to care for people living with MND within Australia and internationally, while also establishing a project advisory committee, comprising leading clinicians, researchers and methodological experts across the Monash Partners network. Their input will be crucial and assist in the completion of surveys and interviews with key personnel relevant to the research already done and to be undertaken.”
“From this, it is hoped that opportunities for investing in care-related research and in the provision of care and support are identified.”
“This will hopefully go a long way to improving the lives of Australians living with MND,” said Professor Teede.
FightMND CEO, Dr Fiona McIntosh welcomed this innovative partnership.
“Since 2014, FightMND has invested more than $63 million into innovative MND research and care initiatives to help improve the lives of people living with MND,” Dr McIntosh said.
“Alongside our urgent drive to find effective treatments and a cure for MND, FightMND are committed to ensuring that Australians diagnosed with the disease can live as independently as possible, for as long as possible.”
“Through our partnership with Monash Partners, we hope to identify priorities and new opportunities for investment to improve the care and support available for the MND community across Australia,” said Dr McIntosh.
